Silvia Sofia
Comments from the forum - 2
I sailed as E/RO on both ships and had the joys of celebrating both their 1st birthdays in 1980.
When I rejoined the Silvia Sofia in 83, the 'A Team' Sports Shirts were prevalent but worn by an 'elite' few, but after a 'F Troop' response we all got to wear one.
In Roger M's radio room photo, you can just see the telex installation. This was supposed to be installed in Long Beach when I was onboard, but the £$%£"*& agents arranged for it to go on the Bibi, but forgot to tell Mexico City. TMM of course went into telex mode, so I inevitably was taking very long messages (loading plans etc) enroute to Japan via San Francisco Radio, who did not offer a word count but 'timed' his high speed morse transmissions instead. David Thompson. Posted on forum 26 October 2013.
Re the new-fangled telex installations there was a push to upgrade all the RSL ships, including the managed TMM ones. I went on a short preparatory training course held by the suppliers, SAIT, in Glasgow prior to the introduction of this kit.
Shortly after I joined m.v. Bibi in 1983, a shore electronics agent then did the telex installation, with me closely assisting!
Armed with my new-found knowledge, when I moved to m.v. Silvia Sofia, I then had to put this to the test and received various boxes of the shiny new telex kit to install.
IIRC, we had a few days in Hong Kong and so this was the ideal opportunity to install the new system. I found it quite an interesting job as it required various skills, adapting the cabinets and benches and all the interconnecting wiring to the radio consoles. I also recruited help from our intrepid Engineering team, particularly in drilling holes in the steel deck and then tapping them for the necessary earth bolts. Fortunately, we didn't hit any cables or pipework underneath.
I seem to recall we had various "supers" on board at the time, including Gordon Walker who kept an eye on the telex installation. I guess this may have been because this was also the changeover of flag from UK to Bermuda.
Hopefully, others will remember/confirm some of this - I am happy to be corrected as I may have got a bit confused over some of the times or places after all these years. Roger Miller. Posted on forum 27 October 2013.
I suspect it was nothing to do with the impending flag change, more the location !!
I took the Bibi from Liberian to UK Flag (Kobe - 26/6/80) with only one hiccup:
Failed the radio survey as the 2182 Khz Emergency Transmitter had no dummy load, so had to 'rewire' the aerial switching box for connection and passed the following day.
(I had to do the same on the Silvia Sofia when I joined some 4 months later). David Thomson. Posted on forum 27 October 2013.
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.
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