Bank Line intruder, but loved the Brock ships. Is it true that the Maskeylia was the first British ship with ac winches?

 

Maskeliya (1954) was the first British ship with a/c winches. These were two winches at No 4 hatch. They had been replaced by the time I joined as a sprog in '67 by steam winches - Clarke Chapman Silent Steam. (I think) I remember being told that they needed someone standing by almost permanently at the contactor room ( a locker next to the sampson post) while working cargo with them. I believe Maskeliya also scored British firsts with her bi-pod masts and epoxy coatings.

 

I am another Bank Line intruder who was involved in the discharge of Well boats at Tilbury. In those days, the sight of kyanite rock ore being thrown by hand into 30cwt roped wicker baskets for overside discharge to lighter seemed rather a retro exercise even for conditions prevailing in mid-sixties Britain. The variety of goods carried made those ships like floating emporiums of the East!

Keith

 

I was also told that she only had through fore and aft access on the starboard side through the bridge deck. Any truth in that?
Nice looking ship, but they nearly all were.

 

I did hear or read somewhere that Maskeliya's domed funnel was a precursor to Cunard's (Ivernia class ?). Guinea Pig design? - I don't know. Brocklebank's next class, Masirah, Makrana, etc., also sported the domed funnel.

On Maskeliya the Chief Engineer's accommodation extended to the ships side making the port side a blind alleyway. On Maturata, Maskeliya's sister ship it did not.