Welsh City (2)
Broken main engine crankshaft. Part 1.
In March 1961 I obtained my 2nd class certificate after studying at South Shields marine college for 6 months.
I joined the Welsh City at Belfast on 15th June 1961 and the vessel sailed to load bagged sugar in Cuba for discharge in Japan.
Capt: Syd Leebetter, C/O: D L G Jones, 2/O: Tony Lightfoot, C/E: Bertie Lester, 2/E: Eric Poingdestre, J2/E: Jim Scott,
We loaded in Cuba and that was the time when Castro’s coup was about to take place. There was a lot of unrest and some of our mail went missing when a train was blown up.
A couple of days after we had passed through the Panama Canal at 0730 hrs when I was on watch there was a very loud mechanical noise coming from the forward end of the main engine crankcase. I was at the top of the engine room with the Serang and ran down to the engine room and the junior engineer had stopped the engine, but it was still revolving slowly wnen I arrived at the controls. When the engine had finally come to a halt the crankcase was carefully checked for any hot spots and the crankcase doors were opened. Nothing could be seen at first and the turning gear was engaged. It was only then that the damage to the crankshaft was seen.
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The two photos above show the fracture in the crank web. The No.2 main bearing has been removed.
The photo on the right shows the fracture from the other side. The No.1 bottom end bearing and con-rod have already been removed. |
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Continued on next page.
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Welsh City. Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]Memories from RSL staff. Page No. [1] [2] [3] [4]