[John Rogers]

At one time we were the last ship to leave Montreal,the river was full of ice and we could hear it against the hull as we went down river, as for heat we had a steam pipe running through the six man cabin back aft next to that big steel steering gear,it kept us awake some nights, but after awhile you forgot about it.
We were below the deck under the mess,our air-conditioning when, and if we needed it was the wind chute out of our porthole,not used much on the N. Atlantic runs.

John.

[holland25]

On the Saxon Star/Empire Strength,built in 1942 in Belfast. The R/Os cabin was on the port side of the Captains Deck. It wasnt a bad size and nicely fitted out with bunk, decent sized wardrobe and desk in dark wood possibly mahogany.The light fitting over the bunk was either copper or brass.The deck would have been red composition with a strip of carpet. There was a wash hand basin provided, and a fan. I think the heating was by a radiator,because the one in the Radio Room couldnt be turned off and as a dispensation from the Captain I was allowed to keep my watch, through Panama, without a shirt.The Radio Room and Bridge was accessed by a ladder situated in the alleyway between the Captains Cabin,which was the whole of the front of the width of the accomodation,and my cabin. On the Starboard side of the deck was a Pilots Cabin, I often suspected that this was where the other two R/Os lived during the war. At the top of the ladder the door forward led to the bridge and the after one to the Radio Room, which was the whole width of the accommodation, with a porthole at each end. From memory the bulheads were painted steel. A couple of decks down there was a little used officer's smokeroom which faced forward and from memory not badly fitted out,again in dark wood,and on the main deck forward was the officers,dining saloon.

[steversonqld]

Gday Gary
You mention WAIHEMO which was a Park boat laid down as Fort MACKINAC and launched as DOMINION PARK. She had an early admiralty Canadian manufactured radar and a gyro but had no auto pilot

WAIRATA was one of only 2 American built C1-As (shelter deck)that operated under the British flag. The other was Buries Markes LA ESTANCIA. She also had originally one of those antiquated radars and gyro and I think auto pilot .
Interesting her running mate WAIRIMU was the first C1-B (full scantling)built for the USMC as CAPE ALAVA in 1941. Both were motorships and why the British companies did not acquire any when the Norwegians bought 27 of the class makes me wonder
Iain Steverson

[NoR]

Originally Posted by holland25

On the Saxon Star/Empire Strength,built in 1942 in Belfast. The R/Os cabin was on the port side of the Captains Deck. It wasnt a bad size and nicely fitted out with bunk, decent sized wardrobe and desk in dark wood possibly mahogany.The light fitting over the bunk was either copper or brass.The deck would have been red composition with a strip of carpet. There was a wash hand basin provided, and a fan. I think the heating was by a radiator,because the one in the Radio Room couldnt be turned off and as a dispensation from the Captain I was allowed to keep my watch, through Panama, without a shirt.The Radio Room and Bridge was accessed by a ladder situated in the alleyway between the Captains Cabin,which was the whole of the front of the width of the accomodation,and my cabin. On the Starboard side of the deck was a Pilots Cabin, I often suspected that this was where the other two R/Os lived during the war. At the top of the ladder the door forward led to the bridge and the after one to the Radio Room, which was the whole width of the accommodation, with a porthole at each end. From memory the bulheads were painted steel. A couple of decks down there was a little used officer's smokeroom which faced forward and from memory not badly fitted out,again in dark wood,and on the main deck forward was the officers,dining saloon.

Saxon Star became the Redbrook. There is a book about her here.

[Bosun ken]

G'day Steve , now you have touched on something I knew of but just forgotten about the park boats which were running to New Zealand in the late '40,s, you could help me with their names as they were then , There was the Waitomo , the Wairata , Waitemata , Wairuna and one more .They were running to N.Z. Just before the Canadian Seamans Union strike. I am a bit vague on the rest of the history of these ships,and it seems that you know much more than I do,wait a minute the Waihemu.

[Bosun ken]

Gee,s going from bad to worse Wairimu , at that time sounded like Waihemu. Another thing I failed to mention ,about the Wairata , I always thought it was a C.2. A certain friend of mine " ring bolted" from 'Frisco ,back to N.Z. In the late forties , no names !! But you could know who I am referring too

[lakercapt]

After a bit of rummaging found a photoghraph of my first ship S.S. Firby which was a coal fired "Ocean" ship built in US.Firb2y.jpg

[Bosun ken]

[quote=Bosun ken;576078]Gee,s going from bad to worse Wairimu , at that time sounded like Waihemu. Another thing I failed to mention ,about the Wairata , I always thought it was a C.2. A certain friend of mine " ring bolted" from 'Frisco ,back to N.Z. In the late forties , no names !! But you could know who I am referring too[/QUOTE.
G'day Steve, Sorry, I thought you once sailed on the N.Z.coast as you had the histories of these ships ,as they all had Maori names,The person I was referring to was " Pincher " Martin , General Secretary of the New Zealand Seamans Union, a man well respected on both sides of the Tasman, R.I.P. Bill.

[steversonqld]

Bosun Ken
The Canadian Australasian Line purchased 4 Park Boats all 4 originally under Canadian Flag and Crews. Two were retained with Canadian crews Waikawa and Waitomo with mainly Aussie master and officers
The other two Waihemo and Wairuna were changed over to NZ crews after a couple of years but all 4 ended up registered in Wellington. Waitemata was converted on the stocks at Burrards and mainly ran from NZ Ports and was always with a NZ crew.They all ran via the Pacific Islands to WCNA.The two C1's C1-A Wairimu and C1-B Wairata
ran from NZ/Aussie to Indonesia/Singapore/Malaysia/ India/Ceylon in
combination with British India (all part of the P&O Group who manipulated the operation). Incidentally it was the Union Co. with a complete monopoly in this part of the world that prevented P&O going down the finacial gurgler in the 1930 depression

[Bosun ken]

G'day Steve. Thanks very much for clearing the picture,I have stories in my mind about these ships ,but they will have to remain there.Thanks again.

[Bosun ken]

On the " Empire Darwin " ,we had a contraption, at the top of the mainmast, more or less like the old T.V. Arials , and it spun around .It was manned by navy personnel .Some one said to me after, that it was an early type of radar is that correct ? Anyhow it appeared to be secret at the time...1943.!

[Bosun ken]

I have I pad ......no back button

[Arthur Miller]

Originally Posted by Alistair Macnab

Can't have you thinking that no one reads your signals! Frankly, I never sailed on any of the British-built 'standard' WW11 ships but visited a few operated by my company in the '50s.
Bank Line had several of these ships:
"Hazelbank" ne 'Empire Franklin" Readhead's coal burner
"Hollybank" ne "Empire Southey" Shorts coal burner
"Etivebank" ne 'Empire Aden' Bartrams coal/oil burner
"Lochybank" ne "Empire Honduras" Shorts coal/oil burner
"Shielbank" ne "Empire Takoradi" Gray, steamer.

The fact that most if not all were coal burners (don't know about the "Shielbank" but probably coal) made them dirty and unpopular but nice and cheap to buy. Remember we're talking about Andrew Weir's here!

Anyway, the bridge as I remember it was very simple. A binnacle with a steering wheel amidships and another binnacle above on the monkey island. Electronics were provided by Marconi so there would have been a wet paper depth machine. One E.R. mechanical telegraph inside the wheelhouse on the starboard side. Can't remember a smoke detector cabinet and definitely no windscreen wipers or rotary clearview windows. Wind-up 'field' telephones to the fxl, aft, ER and Master and voicepipes to the ER and Master.

That's it!

Perhaps there had been some original military stuff but by the time Bank Line got hold of them, these would have been removed. On the 12 "Liberty" Boats Bank Line bought, the ice-water drinking fountains in the accommodation had been removed!

Cheers!

The Lochybank was my first ship. On one of my early bridge stints, I recall a bulkhead switch with a large notice beneath it in red. This said
N.U.C. I dare not ask what this meant, but I soon learnt