Voyager 1
Comments from the forum - 1
I had some involvement with this ship back in November 1985.
I had been Master on the Silvia Sofia for my usual voyage this one ending on the 3 Nov 85 in Oppama. I had been ordered by Cardiff to attend a TMM ship called the MAYA in Hitachi's Osaka yard after leaving the Silvia.
Accordingly, I left the Silvia as noted and traveled by the Bullet train to Shin Osaka where I was met,checked in the Holiday Inn where I met Capt Cardenas from TMM. We both went to Hitachi's Osaka Yard to board the MAYA. I was basically there to assist the Master, Mike Bellamy with flag and name change.
When I joined, the Smith staff already on board were Master: Bellamy, C/O Ian Woollard, 2/O Jeremy Hudson, R/O Vince Cullen, C/E Mo Green, 2/E P J Prendergast, 3/E John Henry Davies and Ch.Stwd.Bob Pierce. The usual bunch of suspects!!
Everyone was assembled in the Chief's cabin all looking pretty cheesed off and no wonder. A quick walk round the deck soon revealed the poor condition the ship was in.
She had two enormous rail-mounted deck cranes with self discharging gear.
Peter Roberts C/O joined the next day
The next two days I was involved with the paperwork dealing with flag change from its present flag to a Panama registry and helping our lot put the ship through a Load Line and Safety Equipment survey.
The flag/name were officially changed on the 7 Nov 1985 to VOYAGER I and I went to the Mexican Consul to hand over the Mexican flag, Certificate of Mexican Registry and other documents. So now we had another big vessel with big problems to manage. Name VOYAGER I Call Sign 3EKA4. On the 8 Nov the VOYAGER I sailed from Hitachi Zosen and berthed in Osaka's commercial port.
I returned home on the 10 Nov and straight away received orders from the Griff to fly to Savona Italy as a CSMS Super to attend the Mexican bulker AZTECA, for flag and name change, but that's another story. Bryan Boyer. Posted on forum 10 September 2010.
Hello Brian. Your message brought back mixed memories of that mighty vessel. When I took over from you, I was met by a delegation of officers as soon as I got in the accommodation saying that they were going to walk off and was asked by the Electrician to look at his cabin, having seen the state of it I should really have turned round and walked off myself! The Officers accom was a palace compared to the crew's which looked like a bomb had exploded down there, doors hanging off with chains and padlocks on them, potholes in the alleyways worse then our roads this last winter! Toilets virtually unusable etc. Anyway in the end we turned that ship round and after 3 months on the Mexican coast it was a very happy ship and no one wanted to leave! In fact it was one of the happiest ships that I have been on. Many stories to tell when I feel in the mood but for the time being memories of Captain Cardenas - as you said I took over from him and one of my first jobs was to take over the ship's cash from him - another major mistake on my behalf! I ended up with USD 50 more than was declared and being honest ( In Cardenas's words apparently 'The trouble with Bellamy is that he is too honest'!) I mentioned the fact. For some reason Capt Cardenas did not take back the extra USD 50 however during the course of the trip I got constant messages from him to arrange for it to be passed on to him. In the end I think I did arrange for it to be returned but with a note saying that was I not also entitled to my 10%. Mike Bellamy. Posted on forum 10 September 2010.
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.
Voyager 1. Page [1]Memories from RSL staff. Page No. [1]