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Black Star Line

22K views 47 replies 21 participants last post by  SteveLew 
#1 ·
Is there anyone out there who ever worked for the Black Star Line? Volta River, Densu River, Ankobra River, Nasia River etc. I recall a Captain in a silk bathrobe who used to grasp the arms of the magnetic compass periscope and bark out meaningless orders in German and another who got thrown into prison for carrying too many deck passengers. A RN submarine coming alongside and offering us a tow; we always had a bad list. Carrying cargo to USA port that didn't exist and the cockroaches that blackened the bulkheads and shared our food. Dear God, it was a nightmare! Is there anyone brave enough to admit they were there too, or did I just imagine it? (Cloud)
 
#27 ·
Capt Tachie Menson

I remember Capt Tachie Menson well and the story is true. It happened aboard the Nasia River in Jacksonville, Florida around 1963.

The captain was quite a ladies man and enjoyed their company in every port. Indeed, he installed extra soundproofing on the bulkhead that separated his cabin from mine which I considered rather thoughtful of him. One day, he left me a cryptic message: ‘Bluco arriving 4.30.’ Bluco? We puzzled over this for some time and the Israeli chief engineer thought that it might be the engine lubricant that he had ordered. As acting chief mate, and not wishing to disturb the captain, who was taking a nap, I used my initiative. A small crane was rigged to haul it aboard and several deckhands stood by (on overtime) to help stow it. We peered up and down the quayside and impatiently awaited its arrival. Eventually, a taxi drew up alongside and from it emerged a fine figure of a woman. We strained over the railings and, with eyes like chapel hat pegs, watched her gracefully ascend the gangway. ‘Take me to your captain,’ she demanded in a husky foreign voice. ‘Of course, Madam, and what name may I give?’ She flashed me a stunning smile. ‘Just call me Bluco, big boy.’

Happy Days? Not with the Black Star Line!
 
#28 ·
I first came across this website in late Aug 2016.
I must say that reading those memoires amazed and amused me.
Considering I logged much more Black Star Line (BSL) sea-time than any of the previous participants, I wish to set the record straight, at least from my own perspective.

My relevant credentials are as follows:
I am a Zim Lines and BSL veteran with 6 years experience in the West African Trade, more than half with BSL. I was born in late 1934 and graduated from Haifa Nautical School in June 1951. I obtained my AB ticket in 1953 and my Master’s in early 1959.
I assumed my first command in Zim in May 1960.

On or about September 1957 I joined the s/s Marsdale in London as a chief officer on a loan from Zim Lines. The vessel was soon renamed “Volta River”, flag changed from British to Ghanian and a complete new crew was signed on. Senior officers were Israelis, junior officers British and Dutch, Crew mainly Ghanians plus several Nigerians. For photo of the vessel please see:
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=...UICCgB&biw=1319&bih=702#imgrc=cz-fFOoyZ5RgjM:

The “Volta River” was the first vessel of the new Ghanian-Israeli joint venture.
On 12 December 1957 we arrived at Takoradi harbour to a tumultuous welcome. A goat was slaughtered and two bottles of gin were poured on the concrete wharf near the gangway, in a stately libation ceremony, cheered by hundreds of well-wishers who included selected members of the cabinet. The latter were headed by none other than the Osagyefo (= redeemer) Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the President and “Father of the nation”. At the URL below one can see the vessel’s senior officers being introduced to the Osagyefo, who is shaking my hand.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/he/d/d7/Wydra-Nkrumah-Volta_River_12-12-57.jpg
First on the right stands Dr. N. Wydra, Zim’s MD at the time.

I left the “Volta River” in 1958 and returned to Zim, where I commanded several ships. I returned to BSL in early 1962, to take over the m/v “Otchi River”, where I served continuous 25 months. That period was the finest of my life. Unlike the “Volta River”, which was a genuine rust bucket, the “Otchi River” was six months old, purpose-built for BSL, under Zim’s planning and supervision. She was air-conditioned, had Sulzer engines, state of the art navigation equipment – the works! Officers were mainly Dutch, with a few emerging young Ghanians. It was a happy ship indeed, especially for me, because my beautiful young wife Ruth accompanied me all that period. I left the “Otchi” only after we decided it was time for us to bring a child to this world.

In 1965 I flew to Glasgow, to join BSL’s new-building “Nakwa River”, which was designed with schooling facilities in addition to her usual freighter’s requirements. She had accommodation for 12 cadets, a classroom, teaching gear and extra chief officer and first engineer, who were responsible for educating the cadets. Those worked and learned on a 50/50 work/study basis. It was a very interesting experiment, which within a few short years bore fruit for BSL. Some of the cadets were exceptionally bright. I remember a personal conversation with one, Simon Kpe was his name, whom I cannot forget after 50 years. I told the young man he was wasted at sea, and tried to convince him to trade sea-going for university studies, particularly electrical or nuclear engineering. He politely declined. I hope that later on in life he changed his mind.

I commanded that vessel until February 1966, when I left BSL and Zim, for the position of Operations Manager in Israel’s new Maritime Fruit Carriers.

Not all with BSL was a bed of roses, though. The new company quickly adopted old colonial habits, two of which I remember vividly. First was the five pounds “dash” (=bribe, commission) each seaman had to pay the crew manager upon signing on. Rumor had it that part of the loot went all the way to the top. I fought it my way – by keeping my crews with me for as long as they wished and not yielding to the crew manager’s attempts to fill his coffer through crew changes aboard my ship. Second was an incident with the MD, who asked me once to bring him from London a crystal decanter. My wife bought a nice one at Selfridges for 25 pounds. I handed the decanter and the docket personally to the MD, who expected me, or ship’s petty cash, to bear the cost. He was very surprised – and indeed upset – to see that I insisted on him opening his wallet… I was young and pretty naïve at that time…

Reading again the captions above, and without any disrespect, I can categorically state:
1. Star Shipping was in fact Zim’s agency in London, but there was no Captain Kahn there.
2. Indeed, Zim masters competed in carrying big (and bigger, and bigger) deck cargos of logs and I participated in that unofficial “competition”. We brought that contest with us to BSL, where at the time 4-5 graduates of my class at the Haifa Nautical School served simultaneously as Masters. The efforts to win concentrated on optimizing stowage, never on “enhancing stability” and endangering our ships. None of us had ever flooded a lower hold, nor overloaded his vessel. Well trained in carrying heavy loads of deck cargo, we knew damn well the effect of free surface on ship stability! Moreover, Zim, and BSL, never paid us a bonus for our efforts and achievements. Nor did we expect one.
3. The story about the Ghanian diplomat and his lemonade, etc., is an urban legend.
4. Captain Gad Hilb was my superior, colleague and friend. In the late 1950s he was one of Zim’s favoured marine superintendents and was transferred to London to look after the BSL fleet. True, in 1946-48 he was in command of several “illegal” Jewish immigrant ships, attempting to break the Royal Navy’s Palestine Patrol’s blockade, which was set to stop holocaust survivors from landing in Palestine. He had a second mate’s ticket at the time and was after long WWII service in the US merchant marine.
Captain Hilb never had a minder, not even when the Palestine Patrol and British MI6 were chasing him and his colleagues. The guy with the eye patch was one of the members of his staff. He lost his eye accidently when he served as a third mate. I knew him too.
5. I agree Dammers van de Heide was an excellent shipping agency.

Over the years I got to know very well the coast between Dakar and Pointe Noire, including the Delta Ports. In 1966, after 15 years at sea, of which 6 in command, I reached self-fulfillment and decided it was time to move on. I left BSL full of pleasant memories. The only contact I had since with West Africa were “Nigerian Letters”, which I still receive from time to time, notifying me of the millions awaiting me in Lagos and Abidjan.
Pushing 82, I doubt I’ll ever visit again that coast, which sometimes I miss so much.

Dr Avraham Ariel, PhD, MBA, Master Mariner
 
#33 ·
I first came across this website in late Aug 2016.
I must say that reading those memoires amazed and amused me.
Considering I logged much more Black Star Line (BSL) sea-time than any of the previous participants, I wish to set the record straight, at least from my own perspective.

My relevant credentials are as follows:
I am a Zim Lines and BSL veteran with 6 years experience in the West African Trade, more than half with BSL. I was born in late 1934 and graduated from Haifa Nautical School in June 1951. I obtained my AB ticket in 1953 and my Master’s in early 1959.
I assumed my first command in Zim in May 1960.

On or about September 1957 I joined the s/s Marsdale in London as a chief officer on a loan from Zim Lines. The vessel was soon renamed “Volta River”, flag changed from British to Ghanian and a complete new crew was signed on. Senior officers were Israelis, junior officers British and Dutch, Crew mainly Ghanians plus several Nigerians. For photo of the vessel please see:
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=...UICCgB&biw=1319&bih=702#imgrc=cz-fFOoyZ5RgjM:

The “Volta River” was the first vessel of the new Ghanian-Israeli joint venture.
On 12 December 1957 we arrived at Takoradi harbour to a tumultuous welcome. A goat was slaughtered and two bottles of gin were poured on the concrete wharf near the gangway, in a stately libation ceremony, cheered by hundreds of well-wishers who included selected members of the cabinet. The latter were headed by none other than the Osagyefo (= redeemer) Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the President and “Father of the nation”. At the URL below one can see the vessel’s senior officers being introduced to the Osagyefo, who is shaking my hand.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/he/d/d7/Wydra-Nkrumah-Volta_River_12-12-57.jpg
First on the right stands Dr. N. Wydra, Zim’s MD at the time.

I left the “Volta River” in 1958 and returned to Zim, where I commanded several ships. I returned to BSL in early 1962, to take over the m/v “Otchi River”, where I served continuous 25 months. That period was the finest of my life. Unlike the “Volta River”, which was a genuine rust bucket, the “Otchi River” was six months old, purpose-built for BSL, under Zim’s planning and supervision. She was air-conditioned, had Sulzer engines, state of the art navigation equipment – the works! Officers were mainly Dutch, with a few emerging young Ghanians. It was a happy ship indeed, especially for me, because my beautiful young wife Ruth accompanied me all that period. I left the “Otchi” only after we decided it was time for us to bring a child to this world.

In 1965 I flew to Glasgow, to join BSL’s new-building “Nakwa River”, which was designed with schooling facilities in addition to her usual freighter’s requirements. She had accommodation for 12 cadets, a classroom, teaching gear and extra chief officer and first engineer, who were responsible for educating the cadets. Those worked and learned on a 50/50 work/study basis. It was a very interesting experiment, which within a few short years bore fruit for BSL. Some of the cadets were exceptionally bright. I remember a personal conversation with one, Simon Kpe was his name, whom I cannot forget after 50 years. I told the young man he was wasted at sea, and tried to convince him to trade sea-going for university studies, particularly electrical or nuclear engineering. He politely declined. I hope that later on in life he changed his mind. I had no contact with Mr Kpe since, but recently I received a clipping from Ghana's Daily Graphic, dated 28 June 1976, reporting that on June 4 that year, BSL's m/v "Korley Lagoon" caught fire whilst discharging goods at Apapa. The fire was so intensive that the Nigerian Fire Brigade, which went to the rescue, abandoned its efforts. Captain Simon Kpe and his crew bravely fought the fire and saved the vessel. They were commended by the Ghaian government for their "act of gallantry, to the best tradition of the seafaring profession."
I suppose Captain Kpe has forgotten me since, but reading that clip pleased me very much: It provided another proof that I was a good judge of character. I have no doubt that a person of Simon's callibre found his place even after the demise of BSL.

I commanded the “Nakwa River” until February 1966, when I left BSL and Zim, for the position of Operations Manager in Israel’s new Maritime Fruit Carriers.

Not all with BSL was a bed of roses, though. The new company quickly adopted old colonial habits, two of which I remember vividly. First was the five pounds “dash” (=bribe, commission) each seaman had to pay the crew manager upon signing on. Rumor had it that part of the loot went all the way to the top. I fought it my way – by keeping my crews with me for as long as they wished and not yielding to the crew manager’s attempts to fill his coffer through crew changes aboard my ship. Second was an incident with the MD, who asked me once to bring him from London a crystal decanter. My wife bought a nice one at Selfridges for 25 pounds. I handed the decanter and the docket personally to the MD, who expected me, or ship’s petty cash, to bear the cost. He was very surprised – and indeed upset – to see that I insisted on him opening his wallet… I was young and pretty naïve at that time…

Reading again the captions above, and without any disrespect, I can categorically state:
1. Star Shipping was in fact Zim’s agency in London, but there was no Captain Kahn there.
2. Indeed, Zim masters competed in carrying big (and bigger, and bigger) deck cargos of logs and I participated in that unofficial “competition”. We brought that contest with us to BSL, where at the time 4-5 graduates of my class at the Haifa Nautical School served simultaneously as Masters. The efforts to win concentrated on optimizing stowage, never on “enhancing stability” and endangering our ships. None of us had ever flooded a lower hold, nor overloaded his vessel. Well trained in carrying heavy loads of deck cargo, we knew damn well the effect of free surface on ship stability! Moreover, Zim, and BSL, never paid us a bonus for our efforts and achievements. Nor did we expect one.
3. The story about the Ghanian diplomat and his lemonade, etc., is an urban legend.
4. Captain Gad Hilb was my superior, colleague and friend. In the late 1950s he was one of Zim’s favoured marine superintendents and was transferred to London to look after the BSL fleet. True, in 1946-48 he was in command of several “illegal” Jewish immigrant ships, attempting to break the Royal Navy’s Palestine Patrol’s blockade, which was set to stop holocaust survivors from landing in Palestine. He had a second mate’s ticket at the time and was after long WWII service in the US merchant marine.
Captain Hilb never had a minder, not even when the Palestine Patrol and British MI6 were chasing him and his colleagues. The guy with the eye patch was one of the members of his staff. He lost his eye accidently when he served as a third mate. I knew him too.
5. I agree Dammers van de Heide was an excellent shipping agency.
6. To those interested in the accurate history of BSL, I suggest they refer to:*“The Black Star Line of Ghana from 1957-1997” by James Tachie-Menson. This is Captain Tachie-Menson's MA thesis, presented to The Regional Maritime University, Faculty of Maritime Studies, Accra, Ghana. This highly interesting do***ent on the rise and fall of the first African shipping line is available on line at :
http://erl.rmu.edu.gh:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/33 and is worth reading.

Over the years I got to know very well the coast between Dakar and Pointe Noire, including the Delta Ports. In 1966, after 15 years at sea, of which 6 in command, I reached self-fulfillment and decided it was time to move on. I left BSL full of pleasant memories. The only contact I had since with West Africa were “Nigerian Letters”, which I still receive from time to time, notifying me of the millions awaiting me in Lagos and Abidjan.
Pushing 82, I doubt I’ll ever visit again that coast, which sometimes I miss so much.

Dr Avraham Ariel, PhD, MBA, Master Mariner
xxxxxx
 
#32 ·
My father was one of the West African cadets from the Gambia to become a Master. He was captain of the BSL vessel, Pra River. He has shared some interesting stories about his time in Liverpool and at Outward Bound in Abodervy, Wales. Any thoughts on where I could find drawing of the Pra River?
 
#34 · (Edited)
In the early 70's, I was fortunate enough to have a job for UKWAL (UK West African Lines) promoting unitisation. It was the period when ED's and Palm Line were spending money flushing level the tweendeck coamings etc in their ships, meant to facilitate the use of fork lift trucks and pallets. Even then we had a strong suspicion that it was all too late as it proved to be, as the maritime tsunami of containers approached rapidly.

Black Star line were a member, and as I had a free hand, I would sometimes decide to visit their London Offices knowing that an invite to lunch would follow more often than not. Without giving too many secrets away, it meant a ride in a chauffeured darkened limo with African music blaring out, a slap up and boozy lunch and an extended afternoon session with all the trimmings. It was a sure fire antidote to the more staid and sober goings on in Elders, Liverpool.
 
#39 ·
Another Black Star Line story that will be of special interest to all Sparkies.
Back in December 1957 I was the chief officer aboard BSL's first vessel s/s "Volta River" (ex "Marsdale") on her maiden voyage. Sparks – I shall not mention his name – was Ghanian, in fact the only African officer aboard.
Late one night, about ten days into the voyage from Dunkirk to Takoradi, I encountered him at the officers' pantry, boiling a big kettle. I wondered what was he doing. First he said he was about to have a cup of tea with his night lunch. I did not buy that story and soon enough he admitted he forgot to order distilled water for his emergency batteries, so he was distilling water himself. After boiling, he said, he will cool down the kettle and use that water to top up the batteries, as required.
The bloke had a UK certificate, I think they called it PMG at the time. A few years later he was appointed a superintendent of marine radio (or something like that) in Ghana. Those were the days!
P. S. I tried to locate Captain Simon Kpe, mentioned in my piece of 24.05.18. I have found his son, David in the UK. He advised me that his father passed away last year, age 80. He was an outstanding person. I was privileged to be his first captain.
 
#47 ·
Another Black Star Line story that will be of special interest to all Sparkies.
Back in December 1957 I was the chief officer aboard BSL's first vessel s/s "Volta River" (ex "Marsdale") on her maiden voyage. Sparks – I shall not mention his name – was Ghanian, in fact the only African officer aboard.
Late one night, about ten days into the voyage from Dunkirk to Takoradi, I encountered him at the officers' pantry, boiling a big kettle. I wondered what was he doing. First he said he was about to have a cup of tea with his night lunch. I did not buy that story and soon enough he admitted he forgot to order distilled water for his emergency batteries, so he was distilling water himself. After boiling, he said, he will cool down the kettle and use that water to top up the batteries, as required.
The bloke had a UK certificate, I think they called it PMG at the time. A few years later he was appointed a superintendent of marine radio (or something like that) in Ghana. Those were the days!
P. S. I tried to locate Captain Simon Kpe, mentioned in my piece of 24.05.18. I have found his son, David in the UK. He advised me that his father passed away last year, age 80. He was an outstanding person. I was privileged to be his first captain.
Hello, we are researching family members and think your man could be a certain Mr Hudson. Was that him? Many thanks, Steve
 
#45 ·
From memory, Pra River was the first of a series of six modern cargo vessels, purposely built for BSL in 1961-63, in Holland and Germany. I think she was Dutch built (Vlissingen). If I am not mistaken, her first master was Captain Wolf Wittelson, who was a little senior to me in Zim Lines and is no more with us. I may be wrong on the point of the master. All those vessels were 100A1 at Lloyd’s.

They were state of the art vessels and holding now a photo of a sister ship, I am perplexed at your comment “with masts similar to the masts on 19th Century commercial sailing vessels”. I see no such resemblance.

I left BSL in Feb. 1966 to become Operations Manager for Maritime Fruit Carriers. That was two years before your trip. I knew very well many of BSL masters at that time, several were my classmates at the Haufa Nautical School. One passed away earlier this month. With respect, none of them used home-made cargo blocks, or such items. Not only that those never existed, I suggest you bear in mind that Ghana at that time did not issue cargo gear certificates, and that service was given to BSL by LRS, who were never ever lax on that issue.

I recall that while BSL and Zim were planning those vessels, the question of derricks or cranes was discussed. Zim consulted it’s masters and chief officers who were experienced in the West Africa Log Trade. Most were for derricks, I think fearing a crane knocked over by a swinging heavy log will render a hatch unworkable in a trade where no shore-cranes available.

Some of the crew, Ghanians and Nigerians, by and large were very good. I had very few crew changes during my 25 months aboard the Otchi River. In fact I infuriated the Crew Manager who used to collect 5 quid for every new sign-on. That was a week’s salary at that time. My action cut that source of his income, which according to him, permeated all the way to the top.

I did not know abt the Pra’s sad end. I hope there was no loss of life there.

As to those books, I used to have some when I acted for 10 years as a chairman of a sub-committee of the Academy of Hebrew Language that dealt with inventing Hebrew version for English Nautical Terms. I gave those away years ago.I suppose your local public Librarian will gladly help you. I have found all librarians world-wide to me most helpful.

By the way, my good friend and ex manager of LANSAL - Lagos and Niger Shipping Agencies Limited - in the 1960a lives in Toronto. He may be able to answer some of yr questions. I suggest you send me a short introductory email for hm, which I shall forward with pleasure.

Good luck!
Abe Ariel
 
#46 ·
From memory, Pra River was the first of a series of six modern cargo vessels, purposely built for BSL in 1961-63, in Holland and Germany. I think she was Dutch built (Vlissingen). If I am not mistaken, her first master was Captain Wolf Wittelson, who was a little senior to me in Zim Lines and is no more with us. I may be wrong on the point of the master. All those vessels were 100A1 at Lloyd’s.

They were state of the art vessels and holding now a photo of a sister ship, I am perplexed at your comment “with masts similar to the masts on 19th Century commercial sailing vessels”. I see no such resemblance.

I left BSL in Feb. 1966 to become Operations Manager for Maritime Fruit Carriers. That was two years before your trip. I knew very well many of BSL masters at that time, several were my classmates at the Haufa Nautical School. One passed away earlier this month. With respect, none of them used home-made cargo blocks, or such items. Not only that those never existed, I suggest you bear in mind that Ghana at that time did not issue cargo gear certificates, and that service was given to BSL by LRS, who were never ever lax on that issue.

I recall that while BSL and Zim were planning those vessels, the question of derricks or cranes was discussed. Zim consulted it’s masters and chief officers who were experienced in the West Africa Log Trade. Most were for derricks, I think fearing a crane knocked over by a swinging heavy log will render a hatch unworkable in a trade where no shore-cranes available.

Some of the crew, Ghanians and Nigerians, by and large were very good. I had very few crew changes during my 25 months aboard the Otchi River. In fact I infuriated the Crew Manager who used to collect 5 quid for every new sign-on. That was a week’s salary at that time. My action cut that source of his income, which according to him, permeated all the way to the top.

I did not know abt the Pra’s sad end. I hope there was no loss of life there.

As to those books, I used to have some when I acted for 10 years as a chairman of a sub-committee of the Academy of Hebrew Language that dealt with inventing Hebrew version for English Nautical Terms. I gave those away years ago.I suppose your local public Librarian will gladly help you. I have found all librarians world-wide to me most helpful.

By the way, my good friend and ex manager of LANSAL - Lagos and Niger Shipping Agencies Limited - in the 1960a lives in Toronto. He may be able to answer some of yr questions. I suggest you send me a short introductory email for hm, which I shall forward with pleasure.

Good luck!
Abe Ariel
Thank you, very much for your quick response.

I appreciate the corrections and insight. I still don't know where I am going with this. I am basically trying to reconstruct memories that are 50 years gone and hope to be able to write about it.

I love the profile of the pre-container general cargo vessels of that vintage and didn't mean disparagement by suggestion the evolution of the rigging from what I see as its origins.
 
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