[John_F]

mv British Swift

Indra,
Some more details of the British Swift.
She was built by Scotts Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. of Port Glasgow & completed on 24.10.1959. After 16 years service with BP she was sold on 21.11.1975 to Noah Shipping of Tehran & renamed Noah VI. On 19.5.1982 she was in collision with a vessel named Cast Gull in the Persian Gulf. She put into Bahrein & was reported to be still there in 1989 & that was the last to be heard of her but I expect someone on this site will know what her ultimate fate was.
Like Paul Jarvis, I too sailed on 2 of her sisters - British Gannet & British Trust - & very nice little vessels they were too. They were all motor vessels as opposed to steam ships, hence the prefix "mv."
I have attached a photo of her.
Photo & details from Norman Middlemiss - The British Tankers

 

[John_F]

Tank Cleaning

Janbonde,
In between the Butterworth & the gunclean system, there were the Victor Pyrate machines. These were very similar to Butterworths but had an additional arm (3 instead of the Butterworth's 2). In BP at least, the supertankers tended to use the Victor Pyrate machines whereas the smaller ones stuck to Butterworths. At that time (50s & early 60s), there was no such thing as a slop tank & all the sludge was just pumped directly over the side. On the supertankers, tank cleaning would start as soon as the discharge port was left behind & oil trails could clearly be seen in the Western Approaches. Try doing that today.
Regards,
John F