Atlantic City (4)
Comments from the forum - 1
I was Master of the Atlantic City from 8/71 to 1/ 72. Unable to provide exact dates but the activity was as follows:
Savannah/NOLA/Rotterdam/Narvik/Antwerp/NOLA/Ravenna. John Cann. Posted on Forum 24 June 2010.
Never sailed on her as the Atlantic City but did a couple of trips in 1976 and again 1977-78 as Atlantic under the Liberian flag. I remember the trip in 1976 for the sole reason that we arrived in Jeddah early September to be greeted by a massive number of ships waiting to discharge. Flew home some three months later having never got alongside. The crew on that trip was:
Captain T.R. McNulty, C/Off A.M.W. Mitchell, 2/Off S.D.L. Looyd-Jones,
3/Off L.J. Hicks, R/O M.W. Savory, C/Eng R.J. Trigg, 2/Eng A.G. Hodgson,
3/Eng C.J. Morris 4/Eng R. Thomas, Jun Engs J.A. Jones, C.L. Taylor and
I.C. Pearce, Elec J. Kelly, C/Stwd P.F. Akers, Deck Cadets G.P. Eyles and
R.W. Price
The second trip did not start much better in September 1977. After a dry flight from Heathrow to Dhahran Airport ended up dossing down in the arrival area for about 8 hours before the agent showed up with transport for the drive to Dammam. If memory serves me right some of the lads crashed out on the airport floor! Paid off in Madras (another dry state!) in February 1978. Crew list :
Captain J.J. Kalnins, C/Off D.C. Toon, 2/Off G. Sizer, 3/Off A.C. Prosser,
C/Eng R.J. Trigg, 2/Eng J.J. Baghurst, 3/Eng J.N. Haugh, 4/Eng A. Doubler,
Jun Eng N.J. Hunt and J.A. Davies, Elec D.J. Grant, C/Stwd J. Bonner. Mike Savory. Posted on Forum 23 June 2011.
Master Danny Lloyd, C/O ? Thomas.(From Cardiff), 2/O Ken Milburn.
The apprentices were myself, Dave Horn, from Warrington, Rashley Jensen, from Newcastle, and another lad called David who lived in the same village (Newquay) as Capt. Lloyd.
We sailed from the Clyde one wet miserable day for Gdynia in Poland, Here we loaded a cargo of coal for Nagoya. A week or so later we arrived at Port Said, picked up our searchlight and began the canal transit. Those who have made the canal transit may recall that a road runs alongside the canal for part of the way between P. Said and Ismalia. On this occasion the road was packed with military vehicles. Later, the ship was anchored in the bitter lakes to allow the north bound convoy to pass. At this point the pilot disembarked. In due course the north bound convoy passed, but we and the rest of the southbound convoy remained at at anchor with no communication with the shore. I clearly remember walking forward to the foc'sle when two fighter jets flew low overhead, and thinking "each of those planes must have cost millions and they will never be used for the purpose they were built". Many hours later a pilot boarded and the convoy resumed the canal transit. The pilot explained that the delay had been caused by troops passing over the canal into Sanai "for exercises". We finally cleared Suez in the early hours of the following day.
I think it was the following day that we heard that the conflict that came to known as the Six Day War had started. We appeared to have had a close call considering the ships in the convoy that was trapped remained there for 8 years!
The remainder of the trip passed without incident. Discharged in Nagoya in 24 hours before crossing N. Pacific to spend a pleasant 4 weeks loading timber in various ports in Vancouver Island. We then returned to the UK via Panama to discharge in Newport (S.Wales) and Tilbury. My first circumnavigation.
Had a couple of weeks leave before returning to the ship for a 9 month trip, finally paying off in Port Elizabeth.
I returned to the ship some years later as 3/O with J.Cann as master, J. Kalnins C/O and Martin Ingram 2/O.
This was my final trip with Smiths before moving on to T&J Harrisons of Liverpool. Wynford Thomas. Posted on Forum 10 July 2011.
Our trip on the Atlantic commenced in Philadelphia, thence N.O/Rotterdam/Narvik/Antwerp/N.O./Ravenna.
I recall the C/E was Trezise. 2/E Claydon and C/S Parselle.
On the last passage from New Orleans, the Charterers were Italian and we were ordered to disch in Genoa and we bunkered accordingly. On passing Gib, they decided to order us to Ravenna,which greatly increased the steaming time and caused havock re fuel. They then decided to put us into Augusta, Sicily to replenish- and where they provided the necessary charts for the Adriatic!! I recall we were dodging Oil Rigs etc off the E.Coast of Italy. John Cann. Posted on Forum 11 July 2011.
Disclaimer: The statements on this page are the views of the person who posted them on the forum. The events took place many years ago and in most cases rely on those people's memories, and so we cannot guarantee the accuracy although every effort is made to check it.
Atlantic City. Page No.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]Memories from RSL staff. Page No. [1] [2] [3]