Well, I’m amazed.
This is the only other place in the world that I have found mention of the “Ross Keletchekis”
I actually sailed her out to the Persian Gulf in Jan/Feb 1967 and left her in Cape Town in May of 1968.
She was indeed the “Tell” and already well past her sail by date even when acquired by Ross Group. I believe that she was previously used to transport wine around the Mediterranean – hence the need for her “ice breaker” bow!
She was converted in Grimsby into a freezer factory/fridge storage/supply ship and when we arrived in the Gulf (after a few delaying adventures in Algeria, Malta and Suez), we were joined by a fleet of fifteen brand new Mexican Gulf type boom trawlers all named after Iranian girls and a number. Miriam 1, Gadam 3 etc.
The whole enterprise, “Ross Persian Seafoods Corporation” was a joint venture between Ross Group, Mr Keletchekis (a Greek tycoon) and, I think, the Shah of Iran! The name was, of course, always shortened to “Ross K” which infuriated Mr Keletchekis.
The fishing boats were mostly skippered by Panamanians with a few Greeks thrown in and the labour was supplied locally.
The fleet captain was a larger that life Texan “Eddie” Edmunds and some of the Panamanian’s names were amazing, “Edwin Winslow MacTaggart “ springs to mind!
The boats caught the prawns, they were headed and tailed alongside and then we sucked them up, mechanically graded them and then froze them into five pound blocks which were boxed with the Ross logo.
When we had sufficient on board, we would go alongside either an American or Japanese reefer and transship at sea. The prawns were not caught for the UK market. In those days, we neither ate them nor could we afford them.
If I remember rightly, the block freezers were not all that reliable and we actually sailed from Grimsby with engineers on board trying to get then working before we arrived on station. I don’t remember that they were very successful (a difficult task out at sea!) so much so that after a year in the Gulf, we steamed all the way to Cape Town for a complete refit.
I didn’t know what had become of her after that as I left from there and didn’t revert to my old job in Ross Group but I am amazed that she lasted until 1981.
I have some photos of her in the Gulf if anyone is interested.
