[scossie]

G'day Maties..I remember the Scotstoun taking on oil (as a junior Eng)And the Chief told me to take soundings from a bunker..And as my eyes took on the big picture..I realized that the ship had a tilt in its kilt..I thought..Should I!!!!!!!.And thought better of it..Then at sea...His lordship demanded to know why I took a wrong reading...Was'nt his fault...Was mine for not speaking up..
As I learned in Australia..You are as good as your master..Cant win them all.. (Night)

 

[tunatownshipwreck]

Would you have been on the Scotstoun in 1971? She spent some time at anchor in the Columbia River during the great West Coast longshoreman's strike that summer, occasionally tying up at Astoria for water and provisions. I remember some tension between the Chinese crew and the officers after the captain tried to fire them all in Japan just previous to sailing for the US, he even had their water shut off. I met a deck cadet named Ian, we were both 17 at the time. I can't recall the names of a few others I met (but the faces still come to me).

 

[scossie]

MV Scotstoun

G'day Matie ..I was on the Scotstoun in 1960...Had a great time...As had everyone in my era..Who was willing to go fur gold...And be Adventuer'us...
Greattttttttt daysssssssssss....Awrabest...Scossie'' (Applause)

 

[tunatownshipwreck]

G'day Matie ..I was on the Scotstoun in 1960...Had a great time...As had everyone in my era..Who was willing to go fur gold...And be Adventuer'us...
Greattttttttt daysssssssssss....Awrabest...Scossie'' (Applause)

Unfortunately I never had the chance to trace your footsteps. The "Scotstoun" I visited was built in 1964.

 

[David Scott]

Life on the Scotstoun

I was on the Scotstoun during the period you are talking about. Bert Robertson was third engineer (since deceased after a fall on a flight of stairs) Kenny Greenwood was one fourth engineer and I was the other (he won the star prize of Mikimoto pearls at the annual fund-raiser at the seaman's mission in Yokohama and gave them to his bride-to-be in Vancouver). Vernon Fiefer was the German (dispensation) second engineer and a hard task-master but a pretty good guy. Dallas, yes, the Dallas Bradshaw came on as radio operator for a while. Willie Winton was third mate and I suppose if I think hard enough I will come up with some of the other crew. What a great ship...... Motorcycles from Japan to the US and grain from Canada back to Japan. I remember the strike, well we stopped their overtime and that of course was a big part of the Hong Kong crews wages..... so it wasnt really surprising. What I remember most are the Sundays when we would open up the sliding door in the aft of the saloon and have a stir-fry with the BEST Nasi Goreng I have ever tasted, washed down with a few cold ones. But I also remember the Paxman generators and what a pile of rubbish they were.
I joined the ship in Yokohama, paid off six months later in Astoria and Bert and I travelled by Stagecoach bus down to Long Beach where we had a holiday with Eddie Glennie, a Scots cargo surveyor and a magic weeks holiday. I had forgotten half of the things until I blundred across this web site and your post. I remember it once took fourteen extra days to get to Japan. Having taken the north great circle, storm after storm pushed us back and days when not a word passed between us at mealtimes, thats how bad it was..... BUT the sight of land and the Motomachi calling, sauna parlours (well their showers were better!!) and Kirin beer, life was sweet again. I have photographs of the ship I can scan and post if anybody is interested. Oh boy I had a lot of fun over the years.

 

[John Cassels]

Would that be Willie Winton from Millport ?.

JC

 

[David Scott]

Yes Willie was from Millport. He said that he and his brother ran the ferry across. Every time (and that was a lot) that Willie would have a drink he'd sing "There's not a team like Adrossan Winton Rovers". Any idea where he ended up?
Scotty.

 

[tunatownshipwreck]

I was on the Scotstoun during the period you are talking about. Bert Robertson was third engineer (since deceased after a fall on a flight of stairs) Kenny Greenwood was one fourth engineer and I was the other (he won the star prize of Mikimoto pearls at the annual fund-raiser at the seaman's mission in Yokohama and gave them to his bride-to-be in Vancouver). Vernon Fiefer was the German (dispensation) second engineer and a hard task-master but a pretty good guy. Dallas, yes, the Dallas Bradshaw came on as radio operator for a while. Willie Winton was third mate and I suppose if I think hard enough I will come up with some of the other crew. What a great ship...... Motorcycles from Japan to the US and grain from Canada back to Japan. I remember the strike, well we stopped their overtime and that of course was a big part of the Hong Kong crews wages..... so it wasnt really surprising. What I remember most are the Sundays when we would open up the sliding door in the aft of the saloon and have a stir-fry with the BEST Nasi Goreng I have ever tasted, washed down with a few cold ones. But I also remember the Paxman generators and what a pile of rubbish they were.
I joined the ship in Yokohama, paid off six months later in Astoria and Bert and I travelled by Stagecoach bus down to Long Beach where we had a holiday with Eddie Glennie, a Scots cargo surveyor and a magic weeks holiday. I had forgotten half of the things until I blundred across this web site and your post. I remember it once took fourteen extra days to get to Japan. Having taken the north great circle, storm after storm pushed us back and days when not a word passed between us at mealtimes, thats how bad it was..... BUT the sight of land and the Motomachi calling, sauna parlours (well their showers were better!!) and Kirin beer, life was sweet again. I have photographs of the ship I can scan and post if anybody is interested. Oh boy I had a lot of fun over the years.

We must have met then. I was on the ship much of the time when I wasn't unloading tuna boats that summer. The strike actually lasted into the fall. I ate dinner with the HK crew a few times, with all their Maoist decorations on the walls, hung out in the ship's lounge with you guys a few times. I recall a bunch of women you met in Vancouver BC came down to see you, and there was a bit of a problem finding one who would sit with the captain, as if he was without a lady nobody could have one. Somebody gave me a bunch of Japanese collapsable lanterns that advertised different Japanese beers. The last one of those burned in my house fire last year. You might also remember the wild girls from the all-female "job Corps" trade school in Astoria. Good, good times.

 

[John Cassels]

David;
Last saw Willie when I was mate on the Eurofreighter and Willie was 3rd.mate.
that would be about 1975 or so.

Was only ashore with him once and that was one time too many as he succeded
in getting into a fight with some locals in a bar in Le Havre within 30 minutes
of arriving. I happened to be passing at the time and got roped in .........
enough said.
Never seen him since .

JC

 

[David Scott]

The Scotstoun life.

The captain on the Scotstoun was Ian Grant from somewhere on the west coast of Scotland, maybe even down the Clyde. I never saw him after Astoria but I heard later that (well ahead of his time!!) he told the cabin crew on a flight back to the UK he had a bomb in his suitcase. Early retirement from him I guess. Perhaps having Dallas Bradshaw our lady radio operator on board had something to do with not having the girls there. Ian and Dallas used to swear at each other all the time, her on about his drink intake and him returning with observations on her ideas of morality. It was a hoot.

 

[John Cassels]

David;
Knew Ian well ; enough said.

Have a feeling (figurativly speaking) that I met Miss Bradshaw when she joined
the Erskine Bridge as I was leaving. It was a female RO in any case.

JC

 

[David Scott]

The Scotstoun

There was another Scotstoun, I Joined her in Gdansk, picked up prefabricated houses in Oskarsham, Karlsham and Esjberg, a trip into Newcastle for some more general cargo then out to the Gulf where we crept about for four months waiting to see which port would take us first. I remember filling my wardrobe the underside of the bunk and every other available space with boxes of Tenants, since we knew beer would be hard to come by in the Arab States.

PS I came across another thread where you said you knew C/E Donald Balloch. I sailed with him on the Swiftness and the Sealness and I'm sitting looking at a photo of him and Les Rutter going ashore in Albany or Burnbury for horseriding lessons! Well thats what he told me.
Scotty.

 

[JimC]

Do you know if Ian Grant would be about 72 now? If so it is possible he was at James Watt same time as me in 1952. I understand he served his time with Clan Line.

JimC

 

[randcmackenzie]

Ian Grant

Do you know if Ian Grant would be about 72 now? If so it is possible he was at James Watt same time as me in 1952. I understand he served his time with Clan Line.

JimC

Yes, he was ex Clan Line.

He relieved the Mate on Denholm's first Industria in 1967 when I was Second Mate, so the age would be about correct.

He was from the Clyde coast somewhere, I think.

 

[John Cassels]

Ian Grant was from Dunoon. Last heard of around 1990 when he was
presented to us ( Cast ) via an agency for a position as Master.

 

[vickentallen]

donald balloch 2nd Eng Morven? was he from the Orkneys? If so sailed with him 64 nice guy..
Vic..

 

[John Cassels]

Donald Balloch was another member of the "Gourock Navy " , happily retired
and still living in Gourock.

 

[muldonaich]

Donald Balloch was another member of the "Gourock Navy " , happily retired
and still living in Gourock.

he took out cast husky did he not john? kev.

 

[John Cassels]

he took out cast husky did he not john? kev.

That's right Kevin , but he didn't stay long in the Cast group unfortunatly.
He was ( is ) quite a character.
Last time I was back "home " 5 years ago , saw him and his wife at the
Greenock Tesco checkout. He was standing filling all the shopping bags.
He didn't see me so I sidled up behind him and whispered " wanna buy a
second hand Sulzer ". The resulting roars of laughter stopped the rest of
Tesco.
Sailed with Donald many times , last time being the Atholl Forest around
1978. Can't remember all the details but we got stuck in ice in the Baltic
for 5 days with no power , both Gennys failed amd the emergency one blew
up when it was started. After 5 days , Donald came up with the idea to
manhandle one of the bottles from the CO2 room down to the generator
flat and use that as starting air. It worked . Great guy.

 

[muldonaich]

That's right Kevin , but he didn't stay long in the Cast group unfortunatly.
He was ( is ) quite a character.
Last time I was back "home " 5 years ago , saw him and his wife at the
Greenock Tesco checkout. He was standing filling all the shopping bags.
He didn't see me so I sidled up behind him and whispered " wanna buy a
second hand Sulzer ". The resulting roars of laughter stopped the rest of
Tesco.
Sailed with Donald many times , last time being the Atholl Forest around
1978. Can't remember all the details but we got stuck in ice in the Baltic
for 5 days with no power , both Gennys failed amd the emergency one blew
up when it was started. After 5 days , Donald came up with the idea to
manhandle one of the bottles from the CO2 room down to the generator
flat and use that as starting air. It worked . Great guy.

yes him and bob cotter made a great team sadly bob has crossed the bar best regards kev.