[ChiefCharles]

Attached picture is of the Brunei Bay Lay Up mother ship, British Gull 15,500 DWT, alongside (if I remember correctly) the 265,000 DWT British Ranger. Quite a size difference! The Gull was taking on fresh water, HFO and diesel fuel from the Ranger which was placed in lay up after leaving the builders yard at Nagasaki. Captain Sainty was the Gull Master who deftly brought the Gull alongside to the admiration of this Engineer. The fuel and water were discharged from the Ranger with her own pumps powered by her Diesel Alternator. Sometime in 1976 I believe - Roger

[John_F]

Roger,
Was that A.E.Sainty? I sailed with him on the Gannet & Guardian when he was Mate & I was uncertificated 3/0 - nice man & very helpful. Did he ever marry?
Kind regards,
John F.

[ChiefCharles]

John, Yes it was A. E. (Tony) Sainty. He was rotating Master of the Gull throughout her time as the mother ship in Brunei Bay with another very good BP Master, H. Brown. As far as I know he was not married as he never talked about a wife or family. He was a great organizer and well liked by ship staff.
Have not heard of him since 78/79.
Regards - Roger

[jonsea]

I too served on the Gull as 3/O under Tony Sainty in '81 when he repeated the excercise by taking her alongside the Purpose (I think) prior to its departure to its final resting place. A fascinating piece of seamanship!

Jon

[trevflstn]

I was 2/0 on the Gull / Purpose as we transfered the operating base from one ship to the other in 1981. Tony Sainty was the captain and there was a rumour that he had been offered an job by the Sultan of Brunei when he retired. No idea whether it was true

[kevjacko]

Hi gents,

My Uncle Tony Lesley was Catering officer on the Gull during this time I'm pretty sure. I am ex BP and heard during my time (1981 thro 1989) that he was a hard taskmaster to say the least. He sadly crossed the bar a few years back now.

[red devil]

I sailed on the British Gull as 3/0 in 1973, a short while before she was converted.I enjoyed my six month stint on her, everybody got along well and the Indian crew and food was super!All of our time was spent in Australian and N.Z. waters with the exception of two weeks in Singapore drydock! Very different to my time on various crude carriers.
I also sailed with Capt H. Brown as second trip apprentice on the "Splendour" he was such a nice guy and looked after us like a father. He liked nothing more than the chance to do a bit of shiphandling and took every opportunity to lower a lifeboat and go ashore!

[clarkie59]

I spent 5 months on the Trident in Brunai Bay. I was telling my son in law all about what fun we had and described the "Terible Conditions we had to put up with" being paid an additional sum for it and the fact we had to spend Sundays on an Island in the sun lazing on a beach drinking just so we could face the next week! I was remeniscing in my mind when I thought about the way things were and for the life of me I could not remember how we heated the domestic hot water! Everything else is still very clear in my memory but not that. Can someone remind me.



Age and over consumption of alcohol does terrible things to the memory!

[JAO25]

Hi, I am new to the site so I hope this posts. I was on the Gull in 1980. Tony Sainty was still there. When he retired from BP he set up a rival lay-up unit backed by local interests.

[kevinmurphy]

I am not ex BP, but I worked for Labuan Shipcare, which was set up by Tony Sainty, I did a year there 85-86, the company was set up i think about '83, local business man & others who got sainty to run things. Sainty was the MD of the company, there were a couple of ex BP lads there Andy Smithers lecky being one. We lived ashore.
Sainty suffered some ill health having a couple of heart attacks I beleive. He definitely never married.
"Lassa" had a max 10 ships in there care compared to BP 40 or so, I beleive that the Lassa operation was taken over by BP in about 88 as the whole layup scene was a lot smaller.
Kev

[John_F]

Kevin,
Thanks for that info on Tony Sainty. Sorry to hear about his health problems but not surprised. He was a very conscientious, hard working man but always had time to help junior officers. I wonder if he is still alive?
There is a link to the BP site here:
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_inte...p_shipcare.pdf
Kind regards,
John.

[trevflstn]

I was in Brunei as 2/O on the Gull and the Purpose base ships from November 81 to March 82. Turned out to be my last trip with BP and to sea.
I was talking recently about that time and tried to find some pictures of the laid up ships, especially the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Cedros (aka the black pig). I have searched the gallery with no success but computers and me are not aways entirely compatible. Can anybody help please.

[twogrumpy]

Originally Posted by trevflstn

I was in Brunei as 2/O on the Gull and the Purpose base ships from November 81 to March 82. Turned out to be my last trip with BP and to sea.
I was talking recently about that time and tried to find some pictures of the laid up ships, especially the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Cedros (aka the black pig). I have searched the gallery with no success but computers and me are not aways entirely compatible. Can anybody help please.

Remember all three, but sorry no pix.
Spent most of my time on base, but did get to Cedros once, what a wreck, remember the long drop down to the emergency firepumps on the UST boats?

[trevflstn]

Indeed the Cedros was a bit of a wreck but we were told that the hull was of very good quality steel for use as a salt carrier hence she was kept and not scrapped. Spent many days doing the 3 monthly anchor lift by compressed air power alone.
Gave plenty of time to read the incident and accident books that had been left on board. They made interesting reading with some amusing incidents recorded of how crew members managed to injure themselves.
The emergency fire pump inspection on the UST boats was also an interesting experience, I can safely say that they are the longest vertical ladders I have ever seen let alone climbed, we guessed at about 100 to 120 foot. Okay going down but bl***dy hard work climbing back up.

[gadgee]

Thumbnail of Cedros attached. Think it is the right ship?

[twogrumpy]

Originally Posted by gadgee

Thumbnail of Cedros attached. Think it is the right ship?

Don't think so, looks a little flash for the Cedros, and a little larger, could well be wrong though.

[trevflstn]

Not sure if it the right ship or not. Time plays strange tricks on the memory and as mentioned it was a bit of a wreck in Brunei.
Thanks anyway

[gadgee]

Phil

Thumbnail a bit small but she was built in 1966 for National Bulk Carriers. 173152dwt, length 304m, beam 43m, steam turbines 15kts, listed as bulk/oil carrier. Black funnel and black hull. Makes her over 16 years old when you saw her.

[twogrumpy]

You must be right, certainly went down hill quickly!!
Is it allowed to have two ships of the same name?

[gadgee]

Mention is made here of Cedros being a salt carrier. National Bulk Carriers were operated by Daniel Ludwig who had interests in the Cedros Island salt trade. I am pretty sure that this is the ship in question.

[twogrumpy]

Quite right Paul, with that further info. must be the right one.

[ChiefCharles]

Does anyone remember "Super" - my Cockatoo on the Gull at Brunei. Photo attached. I often wonder what happened to him (maybe her). Used to get teased terribly - Joe Parkinson one of the Second Engineers during my tenure being his worst tormentor. Joe had the scratches to prove it too. His perch was placed outside the Officers Bar and covered at night with a sack to shut him up. Super was on the Gull from 1975 - ????

Roger

[ChiefCharles]

In 1976 George King came to visit the British Gull at Brunei and toured the Resource and Ranger which had been placed in lay up in late 75 and early 76.
Not a very good photo and I cannot remember many of the names.
Seated - George King, Capt. Harry Brown and myself. Behind me to the right is Les Scott, Electrician ex British Reliance. Behind Capt. Brown is I believe Third Engineer ... Slater? and behind him to the right is Colin Hyman, Catering Officer. Happy times - great bunch of staff. Anybody else recognize themself?

Roger

[Ralphb]

I was an engineer on "Resource" "Reliance" & "Ranger".
Commisioned each ship in Nagasaki, then brought them to Brunei for lay up.
Next trip I joined "Gull" for 5 month tour in Brunei.
We looked after another VLCC as well, I think she was called "Jamara"

[2LongGone]

I was out there as 2/0 from Feb 1983 till June 83. By then Purpose and Norness were base ships with over 6o laid up vessels. Only got photos of the base ships and the tenders. I hung around until the last batch of redundencies when the first set of crewing agencies were set up. Decided to come ashors at that juncture.