Herefordshire
David,
I have to confess that after all these years (40) I am having difficulty remembering you. You have set me off trying to recall some facts about the voyage - perhaps you can fill in some blanks for me. The ports were Salonika, Savona (or was it Genoa?), then round the Cape to Assab, Port Sudan, Djibouti for bunkers. We went to Panjang, the location of wasn't known to any of us on board. We loaded manioc in bulk as you describe and then sailed to Antwerp via Durban for bunkers. I think Panjang is located at the southern tip of Sumatra on the Sunda Strait, but I could be wrong. (Lat 5.27 S Long 105.18 E)
The outward cargo of buses and trucks was not the easiest to load. The charterers weren't keen on the old-fashioned concept of lashing the cargo in the holds and tweendecks. I protested vigourously which led to a flaming row between me and the captain until he went down below and had a look for himself. Because we needed the no.2 deep tank for ballast, we finished off with a lot of cargo on deck. The buses had to be stowed athwartships to get them all on and were overhanging the sides. We couldn't stow the derricks in their crutches at no.4 hatch as a result. The captain wouldn't have them lashed in their crutches up the Stulcken kingposts. The end result was that one of them broke loose as we rolled our way around Cape Aghulas and embedded itself and associated gear in some of the buses.
Crossing the Indian Ocean, the Chippy decided that the time had come to let go the port anchor as we were (in his mind) approaching port. Given that we were doing 17 knots and in about 15000' of water, his chances of living to see the ship brought up were somewhat slim. I was just handing over the watch to the 3rd. mate at the time when the Serang came charging up to the bridge to tell me what was happening. We charged up to the focsle in time to stop Chippy from swinging his hammer at the windlass brake and removed him in a none too gentle fashion. He had cleared away both anchors ready for letting go. The captain had stopped Chippy's tap a few days beforehand and DT's were setting in of course. No doubt you will remember standing watch on his cabin while he coped with large green fenders etc. trying to come in his cabin window.
The loading of manioc in Panjang was slow and very dirty. in the middle of loading we had to vacate the berth for a few days, which was a welcome chance to get the ship cleaned up.
The 2/O was Paul Bridgeman who was going for his Mate's ticket and then on to the Humber Pilotage. 3/O was a good lad named Jerry(?)
R/O was Mike Goulbourne with his wife Barbara. There were two other wives on board and two children. The Purser was Alan Reid. I can't remember any more names.
I had another job lined up so that was my last deepsea voyage.
Regards,
Ken