Busiris
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Had the pleasure of sailing on the Bus twice, one as a cadet and then again as a Junior Engineer. She was a pig of a ship to work on but we worked hard and played hard. Had the pleasure if you can call it that of taking her to the scrap yard in Kaoshung, delivering her on 12 July 1976, after a final trip that went from bad to worse as the cargo she picked up in the Med went solid in the tanks. Even the heating coils couldn't move it all and quite a few weeks was spent in Pusan having it dug out.
Chief I believe was a Wilf Thompson.
Chief I believe was a Wilf Thompson.
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Joined in Curaco 4/6/74 and left in Fredericia 18/8 74. What a ship, far better than those horrible gas thingys.
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2,505 Posts
Yes welcome to the site, enjoy it and the members banter. Look forward to your input, my last ship with Trident was the "Ardlui", a mercy dash to get someone off for their wedding. He made it I am glad to say!!. I signed off ten days later, had a few days leave and then flew out to Fiji to join the "Himalaya"...and very shortly after that my own wedding in Sydney.
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Is that the Martin Landour that I joined Busiris with in Curaco, we left in Boston. I seem to remember that before we joined there had a been a leak of inert gas into the void around the tank and that 3 people had been killed.
I didn't know that 3 people were killed in the void space on the Busiris. You could be thinking of the Garmula in Santos. I left her in the Gulf as she was loading for there. The 3 killed were the Captain, Mate and relief Mate. I am afraid that my memory isn't what it was and I cannot remember their names. I should remember the Captain's name as he was the mate when I joined the Ottawa in drydock in Hebburn for my first trip in 1968. His wife was on board at the time he was killed and I visited her afterwards when I was on study leave in South Shields. It was strange that it should happen to him as he was one of the most safety minded Old Men I sailed with. I know that Chris Hatcher flew out to the Garmula in Santos afterwards as I was stand by Lecky in Moss for the Garbeta and he was the stand by mate.
Chris P
Chris P
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As I suspected my memory let me down. I did'nt think it was the magic Bus.
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126 Posts
I was R/O on the Bus in 1975, joined in S. Shields drydock, we were there for 6 weeks. They kept finding things wrong, then as we were alongside the repair berth almost about to leave, another ship collided with us and we had to go back into drydock for repairs!
When we eventally sailed we had a good run, Caribbean/US east coast then back to Europe for a bit before I paid off in Las Palmas.
She had a bad reputation, but ran very well when I was on there. Captain was Mike Hanna, Chief was Martin Smith.
When we eventally sailed we had a good run, Caribbean/US east coast then back to Europe for a bit before I paid off in Las Palmas.
She had a bad reputation, but ran very well when I was on there. Captain was Mike Hanna, Chief was Martin Smith.
Yes I think I remember about the 3 deaths on Garmula. Weren't they in the duct keel at the time.
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2,044 Posts
The deaths in Brazil is really stretching my grey cells. There may well have been a tragedy on Garmula but I am almost certain there were two, or perhaps three, people killed on Gambada in 1974. I left Gambada as R/O in Ras Tanura during February 1974 and she was loading for Brazil. I can well remember my wife coming to me in great distress a couple of weeks later showing me an article in the Telegraph which said that the C/O and 2/O on Gambada had been killed in Brazil. This was particularly upsetting as the C/O was a great guy but infuriatingly I cannot remember his name. He came from Skipton and his wife was expecting their second child at the time and I am fairly sure he had relieved Chris Hatcher in Japan about a month previously. I cannot recall the 2/O either. It seems rather unlikely that P&O gas carriers would have two separate fatalities on the Brazilian coast and I wonder if the names have got mixed up.
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55 Posts
It was the Garmula
Hi Tony,
The incident on Garmula happened, as far as I can work out, about a month after I paid off her in Kuwait I think, but it could have been Ras Tanura, I really must dig out my old discharge books.
I joined her in the Gulf as extra Lecky, she was my first gas tanker, in the April of 1974 and we went to Houston. We then came back to the Gulf and swung around the anchor for about 6/7 weeks, before getting orders for Brazil. As I already had done four months on board, and my son had been born while I was on leave before joining her, the Chief, Hilton Foreman, who had relieved Brian Lonsdale if my memory is correct, arranged for me to be relieved as the return trip to Santos was reckoned to be another 6/8 weeks. I am almost certain that I left her towards the end of August so the accident would have occurred around the end of September or beginning of October.
The three killed were the Captain, was his surname Watson?, the mate and relief mate, who was due to take over as mate on returning to the Gulf. I think you are right about the mate coming from somewhere around Skipton, I cannot remember his name, but I do remember that he was a really nice guy. There was a fourth person with them who raised the alarm.
I heard afterwards that they were inspecting the void spaces either side of the duct keel. After removing the inspection covers it is thought that, although they carried out a gas test, for some reason they did not do an oxygen test and died from asphyxiation. As I said in my earlier post, I used to use Chris P but didn't post for a long time and couldn't remember what name I had used before, so restarted as Superlecky, of all the Old Men I sailed with he was one of the most safety conscious and why he didn't do an oxygen test is a mystery.
Hi Tony,
The incident on Garmula happened, as far as I can work out, about a month after I paid off her in Kuwait I think, but it could have been Ras Tanura, I really must dig out my old discharge books.
I joined her in the Gulf as extra Lecky, she was my first gas tanker, in the April of 1974 and we went to Houston. We then came back to the Gulf and swung around the anchor for about 6/7 weeks, before getting orders for Brazil. As I already had done four months on board, and my son had been born while I was on leave before joining her, the Chief, Hilton Foreman, who had relieved Brian Lonsdale if my memory is correct, arranged for me to be relieved as the return trip to Santos was reckoned to be another 6/8 weeks. I am almost certain that I left her towards the end of August so the accident would have occurred around the end of September or beginning of October.
The three killed were the Captain, was his surname Watson?, the mate and relief mate, who was due to take over as mate on returning to the Gulf. I think you are right about the mate coming from somewhere around Skipton, I cannot remember his name, but I do remember that he was a really nice guy. There was a fourth person with them who raised the alarm.
I heard afterwards that they were inspecting the void spaces either side of the duct keel. After removing the inspection covers it is thought that, although they carried out a gas test, for some reason they did not do an oxygen test and died from asphyxiation. As I said in my earlier post, I used to use Chris P but didn't post for a long time and couldn't remember what name I had used before, so restarted as Superlecky, of all the Old Men I sailed with he was one of the most safety conscious and why he didn't do an oxygen test is a mystery.
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219 Posts
The only one incident at that time that I recall was on the Garmula, as described. I was a first trip cadet on the Ardshiel at the time, and company sent a circular to all ships about the incident. Everyone on board was shocked.
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2,044 Posts
It seems highly likely then that the incident as reported in the Telegraph got the name of the ship wrong. It struck home with us because Gambada, as wrongly reported, was our old ship. The memory is also quite likely to be at fault at this distance.
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I was on the Bus July 1974 (Mina al Amhadi) to Dec 1974 (Europoort I think), my first trip. More commonly known as baptism by fire. C/E was Wilf Thompson. Lecky was Hughie Kerr (say no more).No 3 Cargo pump had blown up before I joined oh and the turning gear had also seen better days. Still good memories.
Garmula incident
Hi gents,
The Captain that was killed was Don Watson and I am sure the 1st Mates first name was Joe. I sailed with Don on the Ardshiel he was 1st Mate at the time and a smashing bloke. His wife Ruth was on the Garmula at the time. Joe had been Mate on the Gambada with me before the incident. The lecky on Garmula at the time was John Chadwick and the cargo engineer who was on the rescue party was George Stag. Very sad incident
Regards Mick
Hi gents,
The Captain that was killed was Don Watson and I am sure the 1st Mates first name was Joe. I sailed with Don on the Ardshiel he was 1st Mate at the time and a smashing bloke. His wife Ruth was on the Garmula at the time. Joe had been Mate on the Gambada with me before the incident. The lecky on Garmula at the time was John Chadwick and the cargo engineer who was on the rescue party was George Stag. Very sad incident
Regards Mick
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