British Merchant

Sailed on her sister 'British Trader' in 2003 at the behest of the office in order to gain some 'Gas time' and therefore the endorsement, which I never used in anger.
At that time the top of the trunk deck was still painted green and we were still having to deal with a number of teething problems - she was only 9 months old and I think the Merchant entered service during my spell onboard the Trader.
When and why was the large 'LNG' letters on the hull painted out?

Hi Jim, the words LNG were removed as a SIGTTO recommendation to reduce the highlighting of the type of vessel to. unfriendlies. Don't know how effective that is though....

I guess you would have sailed with Fred on the trader too? I was master on the Merchant from 2006 to the end of last year. Nice ship to work on.

Hi Nick,
I had suspected that may be the case, although there are still quite a few around with LNG/LPG emblazoned on the hull. Makes them look a bit tidier in my opinion, especially around the manifold water curtain area.
Nice ships with regard to accommodation and as I remember the Bridge/CCR electronics appeared to work most of the time and were quite user friendly. Had a real shock when I first joined though, as I'd never been on a ship with an integrated bridge before and had just spent a month attached to the Coastal fleet aboard 'Border Battler' which was 35 years old at the time, with no CCR, no auto tank gauging, no (working) stability computer etc. Previous to that it was River, R, S and A Class for me!
I think the Innovator had found some cracking in her ballast tanks, suspected to be due to vibration, so the Office decreed that we had to fully inspect ALL the Ballast tanks and Void spaces over the course of a month - myself, Chris Billings (C/O) and Dougie Whitson (Cargo/Eng) were certainly kept busy!
Testing the void space bilge alarms was also a joy to behold, crawling around underneath the trunk deck, fo'c'sle, bow thruster space, forward pumproom etc., plus of course the never ending search for 'cold spots'. Kept us fit I suppose.
I did indeed sail with Fred for a brief period, as I recall he paid off a couple of weeks after I joined and was relieved by Mark Tyler. Both good blokes. The other name I remember was the Chief - Dave Humphreys.
The Trader was my one and only foray into the gas fleet, I was banished back to oil soon after!
Have you been moved on to one of the Gem class?

Hi Jim, All names I recognise! The IAS system could be daunting alright! Great when everything was going well, but a bit more challenging when things aren't behaving!!!
The integrated bridge is worth a debate in itself. All good gear, but is it necessary for the weather forecast to set off five alarms!!??

As for me, I have moved on from BP to become a pilot in Cork harbour, my home. Its six minutes walk from my home, and generally a nice place!!! I hadn't intended leaving so soon, but I guess some things you can't plan. Piloting is great, a really enjoyable change, and great variety and challenges. I'm still in touch with lots of the BP gang though.

Nick