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J & J Denholm

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#1 · (Edited)
There must be SN members who have fond (or not so fond) memories of their times sailing under the "Diamond D." Let's hear them!

From memory, the following is a list of Denholm owned and managed ships from the late 60s to early 80s. There are probably mistakes, but it's a start. I know that there were 90 to 100 ships in the company at that time and I would love to hear of any additions to the list. I've named 85 ships and those I sailed on are highlighted in blue.

Additions to the original post are shown in red:

Al Dhrafrah (Tanker), Andros (Geared Container), Anglia Team (OBO), Arctic Troll (Bulk Carrier/Car Carrier), Arisaig (Bulk Carrier), Asiafreighter (Container), Asialiner (Container), Athol Forest (Geared Bulk Carrier), Avon Bridge (OBO), Bibi (General Cargo), Braveness (Bulk Carrier), Broompark (Bulk Carrier), Burmah Agate (Tanker), Burmah Endeavour (Tanker), Burmah Enterprise (Tanker), Burmah Gem (Tanker), Burmah Opal (Tanker), Burmah Pearl (Tanker), Burmah Peridot (Tanker), Carronpark (Bulk Carrier), Cast Fulmar (OBO), Cast Narwhal (OBO), Cast Puffin (OBO), Cast Tern (OBO), Chelsea Bridge (Bulk Carrier), Chemical Explorer (Tanker), Chemical Venturer (Tanker), Clarkavon (Bulk Carrier), Clunepark (Bulk Carrier), Coastal Corpus Christi (Tanker), Coastal Hercules (Tanker), Conon Forest (Geared Bulk Carrier converted to Geared Container), Craigallian (Bulk Carrier), Crinan (Bulk Carrier), Dunadd (Bulk Carrier), Dunelmia (General Cargo), Duncraig (Bulk Carrier), Dunkyle (Bulk Carrier), Eden Bridge (OBO),
Erskine Bridge (Bulk Carrier), Eurofreighter (Container), Euroliner (Container), Gallic Bridge (Bulk Carrier), Gastor (Gas Carrier), Gina Maria (General Cargo), Holness (Bulk Carrier), Industria (General Cargo), Letitia (General Cargo), Loch Lomond (Reefer), Loch Long (Reefer), Loch Maree (Reefer), Morar (Bulk Carrier), Mountpark (Bulk Carrier), Muirfield (OBO), Nestor (Gas Carrier), Nordic Ambassador (Tanker), Nordic Clansman (Tanker), Nordic Commander (Tanker), Nordic Crusader (OBO), Nordic Louisiana (Sulphur Carrier), Nordic Texas (Sulphur Carrier), Norvegia Team (OBO), Scandia Team (OBO), Scotspark (Bulk Carrier), Seatrain Bennington (Container), Seatrain Saratoga (Container), Sevonia Team (OBO), Silver Bridge (OBO), Sir Alexander Glen (OBO), Sir Andrew Duncan (Bulk Carrier/Cadet Training Ship), Sir John Hunter (OBO), Spey Bridge (OBO), Stirling Bridge (Bulk Carrier), Stonehaven (Tanker), Stromness (Bulk Carrier), Suecia Team (OBO), Sugar Trader (Bulk Carrier), Sugar Transporter (Bulk Carrier), Tor Anglia(RORO), Tor Hollandia (RORO), Troll Lake (Bulk Carrier/Car Carrier), Troll Park (Bulk Carrier/Car Carrier), Troll River (Bulk Carrier/Car Carrier), Vancouver Forest (Geared Bulk Carrier converted to Geared Container), Wellpark (Geared Container/Cadet Training Ship)
 
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#2 ·
neil maclachlan

Hi Gulpers,
Very interesting reading,a number of Denholm Line ships were registered in my home town of Greenock,I think they were associated with the sugar refineries in Greenock "Tate and Lyle" as lyle originally came from Greenock,also some of their ships were called after parks in Greenock
Reading your list of ships, was the ship( bulk Carrier) "Crystal Cube" not one of theirs,i think she was built in Scotts Yard, I remember her being launched. Scotts is no longer there and was once the oldest shipyard in the world, still in existance up untill they closed her down.
When I was at sea and came across a Denholm Line ship I used to look at their stern and feel very proud to see my home town as it's port of registry.
Neil Maclachlan
 
#3 ·
Neil,

Thank you for your reply.

I'm originally from Gourock so J & J were my local shipping company too!
You are correct about the '.....park' ships, they were originally owned by Denholms and named after Greenock parks. I think there was a bit of leeway given there because I am not aware of any Scotspark in Greenock!
The town had two sugar refineries, Tate & Lyle and Westburn. The two sugar ships in my list belonged to Tate and Lyle but were managed by Denholms. There were also other 'Sugar' ships which were owned and operated by Sugar Line and Athel Line.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Gulpers said:
I've just read one of Ruud's posts which has reminded me that the Chelsea Bridge (Bulk Carrier) was also managed by Denholms in the 70s.

Ruud - you have more information than Lloyds at your fingertips!
Ahoy Gulpers,
Well I'm using Lloyds Register Shipfinders as well[14 complete series,first dated 1959+ Cd-rom]and do have a large database and photos[+/-300.000] and what I do have is "good looking/searching on the internet" (*))
 
#7 ·
Hi Gulpers,
Nice to meet a local lad on the internet. Talking about The Park boats,I remember-"The Wellpark, Lylepark,Clunepark and Mountpark" they were called after parks in Greenock district,although I don't know where Mount park was(sounds like a church?) The Burma named ships were they at one time The Burma Oil Company? The Athel tankers used to discharge in The James Watt Dock.
This computer business has made it a small world---great in't it?
Neil
 
#8 · (Edited)
Neil,

Small world indeed. Some of the Park names are a bit of a mystery. There was a Mount School, Mount Kirk, Mount Pleasant Street but I can't think of a Mountpark ........ other than the ship.

Burmah ships - yes all owned by Burmah Oil. Oddly enough Burmah Petrol Stations were not common in Inverclyde but there was one in Cardwell Road, Gourock ..... at the top of Steel Street. The last two Burmah Tankers which Denholms managed were ULCCs "Burmah Endeavour" and "Burmah Enterprise" weighing in at DWT 457841. There is a picture of the "Burmah Endeavour" in the Gallery/Tankers.
 
#9 ·
Re Denholms.
I was involved with Denholm over many years and for three years worked in their Houston Office. We managed, among other very interesting vessels, a Burmpac vessel, Burmpac Bahamas. VLCC built in Italy with 1000mm bore Fiat engines and they were monsters. They also managed two further sisters Blue Fin and Yellow Fin.
Spent many sleepless nights whilst involved.
 
#325 ·
Burmpac Bahamas



Hi

I did three trips on the Burmpac Bahamas as Chief Engineer. First time with the Italians who initially crewed her.
It was a wreck. Diesel gensets destroying themselves, TA Condesor end cover collapsing. Boilers contaminated with oil.

I left here in the Bahamas with only one working generator when she was taken off charter as she was unable to sail.
 
#10 ·
Denholm

The smaller bulkers - the 'park boats as previous threads - were actually owned by J. & J. Denholm - while most of the managed stuff was Denholm Ship Management Ltd, so a better title for the forum would probably be just Denholm .....

There was a lot more Parks - to check just plug in denholm in the 'owner' field & leave the others blank - in the ClydeSite Clyde Ships Database - for a good listing of Clydebuilt Denholm ships.

Now just where is that old pile of Denholm News' ..... ???

b.rdgs/back to 16
 
#11 ·
Coastal Corpus Christi & Coastal Hercules

From the Denholm News' Summer 1980 issue


%<---------------------------------------------------------------

"These two 338,000 tons deadweight ULCCs recently came into management after having been laid up in Loch Striven since being built by Harland & Wolff, Belfast for a consortium which went into liquidation before the ships were completed. One of the vessels was laid up for 18 months and the other for 10.
The contract for completion was taken over by Coastal States Corporation of Houston, Texas but the delivery of the vessels has been the subject of arbitration and only at the end of March was agreement finally reached and Denholm given the go-ahead to reactivate them.

It meant an intense, round the clock operation for the Denholm people involved working together with a team put on board by Harland & Wolff, but on 9th May the two vessels were parted from their side-by-side position in the Loch and with the aid of half a dozen tugs Coastal Hercules moved out into the Clyde and then on to Lisbon for drydocking. A few hours later she was followed by her sister.

The contract to manage these vessels was won in the face of very stiff competition from both British and foreign competitors. This is the first time that Denholm has managed ships for Coastal States Corporation. It is expected that the ships’ trading pattern will be between the Middle East and an anchorage off Corpus Christi in the Gulf of Mexico.

Great credit must be given to all who took part in the combined effort of winning the management contract and getting the two ships ready for sea in such a short space of time.

Captain F. Keddie and Chief Engineer Robson are aboard Corpus Christi while Captain W. Coutts and Chief Engineer Moffat are aboard Coastal Hercules.
Footnote: the breaking-out of two such large ships on the one day from Loch Striven was considered to have some news value as well as being an historic occasion, so arrangements were made for both BBC and TV cameramen to be in a helicopter above the two vessels just after their separation.


Both showed the resultant film on their news programmes that same day.
Denholm News was also represented, hoping to get a suitable picture or two for the magazine. Unfortunately, 9th May was the dullest morning in an otherwise glorious six week period and some persistent drizzle made conditions just a bit difficult.

This edition’s cover picture, however, while not as sharp as it might have been in better conditions, certainly captured the event in no uncertain manner.

Length Overall: 36721m
Breadth: 554m
Deadweight: 338,000 tonnes @ 22.5m draft
Shaft HP: 36,000 Harland & Wolff/Stal-Laval steam turbine
Speed: 14.4 Knots
Complement: 12 officers, 22 crew

%<---------------------------------------------------------------
 

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#13 ·
Airds,

Brilliant contribution, thank you. Sadly all my copies of Denholm News were binned years ago .... I never thought I'd need them again, so everything is from memory I'm afraid.

I'd forgotten about the Coastal ULCCs, but your pictures brought their story flooding back to me. I now remember the article you quoted from.

Just as an aside, as you can see from me original post (which I will update with the Coastal ships), I sailed on the Nordic Crusader. Flew from Glasgow to Amsterdam and joined the ship in Europort, expecting a quick trip to Vitoria (Brazil) and back to Europort. When I got on board, the Old Man was running about in a fluster trying to find out where Loch Striven was because we were going to lay up. Even worse, we were going into Scott Lithgows in Port Glasgow for a replacement boiler. Oh joy ... thought I was going to Brazil only to pass my house three days later, en route to Port Glasgow. When we eventually escaped from PG, we anchored off Largs for a week, awaiting the Avon Bridge so we could raft together in Loch Striven. We were the first pair of ships in the Loch... it got a bit busy after that!

Many yarns about that lay up , but I'll save them for another time.

Your suggestion about changing the thread title is valid. I thought that the J & J Denholm title would encourage contributions from members who were involved with the company before they followed the management route. OK, Denholms it shall be .... if I can change it.
 
#15 ·
Loch Striven (Gallery)

Paul,

Thanks for drawing my attention to the pictures. During my time in the loch, the ships which were laid up were; Nordic Crusader, Avon Bridge, King Richard, King Charles, Mobil Astral and Mobil Daylight.
 
#16 ·
neil maclachlan said:
Hi Gulpers,
Very interesting reading,a number of Denholm Line ships were registered in my home town of Greenock,I think they were associated with the sugar refineries in Greenock "Tate and Lyle" as lyle originally came from Greenock,also some of their ships were called after parks in Greenock
Reading your list of ships, was the ship( bulk Carrier) "Crystal Cube" not one of theirs,i think she was built in Scotts Yard, I remember her being launched. Scotts is no longer there and was once the oldest shipyard in the world, still in existance up untill they closed her down.
When I was at sea and came across a Denholm Line ship I used to look at their stern and feel very proud to see my home town as it's port of registry.
Neil Maclachlan
Very interested in your comments about the Park ships from Greenock. The original Lylepark was built in 1929 and having read the Denholm History pblished a few years ago I was under the impression that their ships were a;ll named after local beautyspots......As an ex-navigator myself I was always under the impression that the Lylepark was a "sugar" boat so it is interesting to note that it might well have been the park rather than the ship which was connected to Lyle Sugar refining.....

Chris
 
#17 ·
Gulpers said:
There must be SN members who have fond (or not so fond) memories of their times sailing under the "Diamond D." Let's hear them!

From memory, the following is a list of Denholm owned and managed ships from the late 60s to early 80s. There are probably mistakes, but it's a start. I know that there were 90 to 100 ships in the company at that time and I would love to hear of any additions to the list. I've named 86 ships and those I sailed on are highlighted in blue.

Additions to the original post are shown in red:

Al Dhrafrah (Tanker), Andros (Geared Container), Anglia Team (OBO), Arctic Troll (Bulk Carrier/Car Carrier), Arisaig (Bulk Carrier), Asiafreighter (Container), Asialiner (Container), Athol Forest (Geared Bulk Carrier), Avon Bridge (OBO), Bibi (General Cargo), Braveness (Bulk Carrier), Broompark (Bulk Carrier), Burmah Agate (Tanker), Burmah Endeavour (Tanker), Burmah Enterprise (Tanker), Burmah Gem (Tanker), Burmah Opal (Tanker), Burmah Pearl (Tanker), Burmah Peridot (Tanker), Carronpark (Bulk Carrier), Cast Fulmar (OBO), Cast Narwhal (OBO), Cast Puffin (OBO), Cast Tern (OBO), Chelsea Bridge (Bulk Carrier), Chemical Explorer (Tanker), Chemical Venturer (Tanker), Clarkavon (Bulk Carrier), Clunepark (Bulk Carrier), Coastal Corpus Christi (Tanker), Coastal Hercules (Tanker), Conon Forest (Geared Bulk Carrier converted to Geared Container), Craigallian (Bulk Carrier), Crinan (Bulk Carrier), Dunadd (Bulk Carrier), Dunelmia (General Cargo), Duncraig (Bulk Carrier), Dunkyle (Bulk Carrier), Eden Bridge (OBO),
Erskine Bridge (Bulk Carrier), Eurofreighter (Container), Euroliner (Container), Gallic Bridge (OBO), Gastor (Gas Carrier), Gina Maria (General Cargo), Holness (Bulk Carrier), Industria (General Cargo), Letitia (General Cargo), Loch Lomond (Reefer), Loch Long (Reefer), Loch Maree (Reefer), Lylepark (Bulk Carrier), Morar (Bulk Carrier), Mountpark (Bulk Carrier), Muirfield (OBO), Nestor (Gas Carrier), Nordic Ambassador (Tanker), Nordic Clansman (Tanker), Nordic Commander (Tanker), Nordic Crusader (OBO), Nordic Louisiana (Sulphur Carrier), Nordic Texas (Sulphur Carrier), Norvegia Team (OBO), Scandia Team (OBO), Scotspark (Bulk Carrier), Seatrain Bennington (Container), Seatrain Saratoga (Container), Sevonia Team (OBO), Silver Bridge (OBO), Sir Alexander Glen (OBO), Sir Andrew Duncan (Bulk Carrier/Cadet Training Ship), Sir John Hunter (OBO), Spey Bridge (OBO), Stirling Bridge (Bulk Carrier), Stonehaven (Tanker), Stromness (Bulk Carrier), Suecia Team (OBO), Sugar Trader (Bulk Carrier), Sugar Transporter (Bulk Carrier), Tor Anglia(RORO), Tor Hollandia (RORO), Troll Lake (Bulk Carrier/Car Carrier), Troll Park (Bulk Carrier/Car Carrier), Troll River (Bulk Carrier/Car Carrier), Vancouver Forest (Geared Bulk Carrier converted to Geared Container), Wellpark (Geared Container/Cadet Training Ship)

In your list you mention that the Lylepark is a bulk carrier.in the photo I am currently looking at of the second Lylepark taken in 1951 she is plainly a conventional cargo ship,,,,does this mean that there was a third Lylepark?

Chris
 
#18 ·
Chris,

Thank you for your valuable comment. I see from the internet that you have spent some considerable time researching the Lylepark(s). I must admit that, as I said in my original posting, I am working from memory and there is every chance that I am mistaken. It could be that, since I’m originally from the Greenock area, over time, I have convinced myself that there was a 70s Lylepark. I’ll amend the original list accordingly.

At least I’ve achieved my original objective which was to engender some discussion about Denholms. They were such a large company from the late 60s to early 80s, I would have thought there would be more input on the site.

Could you possibly give me Publisher’s details and the ISBN of the Denholm’s history which you mentioned? I would love to get my hands on a copy.

Thanks again and keep correcting any more mistakes I’ve made!
 
#22 ·
Came across this site purely by accident and have sailed on many in Gulpers list.
Just joined.
Denholms from 1963 - 1981.
Name's John Cassels also originally from Gourock but came ashore in 1981 in
Antwerp and been here ever since.
Must be plenty old diamond "D"s out there
JC
 
#421 ·
Hi there!

Jim Currie here. Joned Denholm in 1953 as Apprentice on 'Ormsary'. This, I believe was denholms first adventure into non-conventional cargo vessels. She was a small bulk carrier running mostly between UK and Spain, N. and W. Africa with Iron ore. I left denholms in 1961 after a year as 2Nd mate on the 'Naess Sovereign'. I had been on the 'Naess Trader' (Same as Ormsary) and the 'Norscot' (Tanker). I was also on the 'Gaelic Fidelity' (ex British Fidelity') which was scrapped before actually falling to bits!.
 
#26 ·
Another few for the list and these are only the ones I sailed on;

Naess Cavalier 1965
Naess Pioneer 1969
Naess Talisman 1968
Jersey Bridge 1970
Baknes 1970
Clarkeden 1972

Morar was the free pistoned gas engine and holds a place in the history
books as the only British ship to pass Cape Wrath 5 times in one day
with the ships head on the same heading. Morven was a geared bulk
carrier.

Don't think the "drunken Duncan"was the cadet ship, that was the Crinan.

Cast Narwal was (if my memory is correct) not an OBO but designed only
for oil or ore.
Not trying to not-pick chaps ! only trying to help things along
JC
 
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