Ships that I have sailed on
	Morio

	Many pictures, so slow to load/Llawer o lluniau, felly araf i llwytho
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	I joined the British Merchant Navy in 1966, as deck cadet, with Ellerman and Papayanni Lines of Water Street, Liverpool. Unfortunately with the demise of the British fleet I have had to sail under many flags over the years.
	Ymunais a'r Llynges Marchnasol Frydein yn 1966 fel aprentis gyda cwmni Ellerman a Papayanni o Lerpwl. Mae'n ynffodus hefo'r colliad y llynges Frydenig bu rhaid i fi hwylio dan llawer o fflagiau wahanol tramor .
	Here is a list of the ships/boats/anything that floats etc. that I have served on. If anyone sailed on any of these ships or would like more information please get in touch. I have always kept a diary or workbook and have more information available.
	Dyma rhestr o'r llongau, cychod neu rhwybeth sy'n nofio 'rwyf wedi eu hwylio ar. Os oes rhywyn sydd wedi hwylio ar ynrhyw o'r llongau yma neu eisio mwy o wybodaeth, gohebwch a fi. 'Rwyf erioed wedi cadw dydd-llyfr neu llyfr waith a mae gennyf mwy o hysbys ar gael.
	After browsing through my list any old shipmates or anyone interested why not? Ar ôl pori trwy'r rhestr, ynrhyw hen gyfeillion morwriol neu rhywyn sydd gan ddiddordeb, beth am?
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	I cannot guarantee the accuracy of vessel dimensions. When available I have taken the figures from my discharge books (Unfortunately I lost my first one) or Lloyd's register. However, some are from advertising blurb where owners tend to round up or exaggerate.

	S.S. ARABIA  Oct - Dec 1966.......Owned by Ellerman and Papayanni (CASTILIAN) but on charter to Cunard and renamed. Built about 1955. She was about 4,000 GRT, amidships accom and driven by steam "up and downer" engine. The trip was from Liverpool to Canada/USA (Great Lakes).

		T.S.M.V MERCIAN  Dec 1966 - March 1967........Owned by Ellerman and Papayanni. So called "Market Boat". Miniature version of the larger City Line ships. 1499 GRT. Built between 1945 - 50. Traded to Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Israel. Sailed on this ship again Jan - July 1969. One trip (Capt. T.B.Davies) we rescued the crew off the four masted schooner ELNA off Cape St Vincent.   Mercian entering Leixioes, Portugal

T.S.M.V. DARINIAN

March 1967 - July 1967. Sister ship to the MERCIAN

M.V. FLORIAN

July - Nov 1968. About 3,500 GRT. Built circa 1955. On charter to Swedish Atlantic Line. Three trips from northern Europe to the Great Lakes. One trip we carried 15 race horses from Poland and the Danish Dragon class yachting team!

T.S.M.V. PALMELIAN

Nov 1967 - June 1968. Sister ship to MERCIAN.

M.V.ARCADIAN July - Dec 1968. About 3,500 GRT. Built 1960. Beautiful ship. On charter to Head Line of Belfast. Four trips up the St Laurence Seaway to the Great Lakes. The Ellerman vessels were all built by Henry Robb of Leith and had a distinctive silhouette. I sailed on this ship again, as third mate, from Dec 1970 - May 1971 (to the Med). It was the last Ellerman vessel I sailed on. It was later renamed CITY OF FAMAGUSTA (I think) and I saw it in Antwerp 1976. At this time all the Papayanni ships were absorbed into Ellerman City Line and renamed according to that company's convention. Photo by Skyfotos of Kent

M.V. FLAMINIAN Sept 1969 - Jan 1970. Third Mate. Sister ship to the FLORIAN. Traded to Mediterrenean which was Papayanni's traditional route. Return cargo on the larger ships was often Jaffa oranges from Israel.

Ellerman Lines was taken over by Cunard (Trafalgar House) around 1987. The last one I saw was the CITY OF OXFORD at Leixioes, Portugal, at about this time. Capt. W.Hodson, who had been master of the DARINIAN, was in command. Cunard sold their Ellerman interests to Andrew Weir (Bank Line) Ltd of Glasgow.

Jan 2005............ Andrew Weir sold Ellerman Line to Hamburg Sud in 2003. During 2004 the name was dropped. Another well known British Shipping Company ceased to exist R.I.P.

M.V. LEKNES

Nov 1971 - May 1972. Third Mate. About 3,500 DWT. Built circa 1969. British Flag. Owned by Christian Jebsen A/S, Norway and managed by Tenax S.S. co, London. Mini bulk carrier. Traded East England - Norway - Northern Europe. One trip to New York with fertiliser then brought a cargo of coal from Newport News to Trondheim.

• Dec 1972 - July 1973. Third Mate. Small refrigerated cargo ship about 1,500 GRT. British Flag (Hong Kong). Owners - Mardina Lines, Chicago, U.S.A. ......... Ireland - New Orleans then four trips from Gulf of Mexico ports to West Coast of South America. Interesting voyage. The vessel ended up under arrest on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal. I came home "DBS" courtesy of the British consul.

M.V. BOOKER VENTURE

Aug- Sept 1974. British flag. Owners - Booker Line of Liverpool. Bulk carrier of about 15,000 DWT. Quick trip, as relief third mate, from Cardiff (in ballast) to Narvik in Norway then back to Cardiff with a cargo of iron ore.

• Oct 1974 - June 1975. Cyprus Flag. Owners - JOK Tankers bv, Berg en Dal, Holland. Second Mate. 30,000 DWT Oil/bulk/ore (OBO) carrier .......... Spent the whole six months at Durban, R.S.A. The vessel had been towed in there with a flooded engine room. The steam turbines were rebuilt and the ship ready to sail when a serious fire destroyed the bridge, chartroom, radio room and Master's accomodation. Repairs were still being carried out when I paid off (to get married!).

M.V. LADY SANDRA

• Aug 1975 - Jan 1976. British Flag. Mate. Small coasters. 199 GRT - 380 DWT....... owned by Thomas Watson Shipping, Rochester, England. Trading Thames/Medway/Humber/Tyne to Holland and Belgium.

• Ex. LADY SHEENA (see above). March - May 1976. British flag (Isle of Man). Master. Now owned by Keil Traders, Douglas, IOM. Did another trip on her Jan - March 1977. Mostly Humber or Thames to inland Belgium to load phosphates. One trip to Sharpness in the Bristol Channel.

M.V. FORDONNA

M.V. TOWER JULIE

• June - August 1977. British Flag. Mate. Sister ships. 499 GRT- 850 DWT. ....... Owned by Tower Shipping, London. Traded all round U.K./ Continent.

R.V. GARDLINE SEEKER

• April 1977 - March 1980. British flag. Mate then Master. ............ Owners Gardline Shipping Ltd of Lowestoft, England. First three were close sisters, 450 GRT (shelter decked) built about 1948 in Germany. During their early lives they worked the Norwegian fiords with passengers, livestock and cargo. After Gardline sold them the SEEKER became a pirate radio station anchored in the Thames estuary and later off the Dutch coast. There a couple of good WWW sites covering this period when she was known as Radio Laser and Veronica (M.V. Communicator).

  The LOCATOR was an RAF salvage ship - H.M.S. Blackburn, built 1946 but extensively altered since. She is today (1997) the oldest vessel on the British register still regularly sailing deep-sea. (Noted in Spring 1997 Hydrographic Journal that she was decommissioned.. shame!)

  The Gardline vessels were employed as general purpose survey/research ships and worked for oil and gas companies in offshore exploration. They were also chartered by government bodies for environmental, hydrographic and oceanographic research.

• April - Aug 1980. British flag. Mate on the first, Master on the latter. Coasters 499 GRT - 850 DWT....... Owned by Evan T. Radcliffe S.S. Co of Cardiff, Wales.

M.V. NORTHUMBRIA ROSE

M.V. SILLOTH STAG

• April 1982 - April 1984. Vancouver Island. Deckhand/cook... anything... The first a 10m work launch/cod fishing boat owned by my brother Tom, the next two were cod/salmon fishing boats and the last was a small tug employed in yarding/towing logs.
   

• April - August 1984. Canadian Flag. Mate. A wooden ex World War 2 minesweeper similar to Cousteau's CALYPSO and John Wayne's GREY  GOOSE except this one had been converted to cargo and passenger work. 279 GRT...... Owned by Nootka Sound Shipping, Gold River, B.C. Traded west coast of Vancouver Island - logging camps and Indian villages.
   
  

• Aug 1984 - June 1986. U.S.A. flag (except the LADY BRIGID which was Panamanian). STATE COUGAR, LADY BRIGID and PINE RIVER were converted supply boats, AMERICA II was a purpose built survey ship, the ARCTIC FOX was a converted WW II personnel landing craft and the I'M ALONE was a luxury yacht. I was employed by Cansite Surveys/Comap Geosurveys inc of Calgary, Canada and Houston Texas as a hydrographic surveyor/navigator. The ships carried out 2D/high resolution seismic exploration and environmental impact studies in the Gulf of Mexico, Carribbean, Gulf of Alaska and Beaufort Sea (Arctic).

• June - July 1986. Canadian Flag. Hydrographic surveyor. A landing craft chartered by Cansite Surveys, Calgary. 159 GRT. Carried out a R.O.V. inspection of the electricity cable between the mainland and Texada Island, Georgia Straits B.C.

September 1986 - Returned to the United Kingdom

R.V. PALMER SURVEYOR

• Sept - Dec 1986. British flag. Mate. Converted Smit Lloyd supply boat. ........ owned by Palmer Surveys, Great Yarmouth, England. High resolution site surveys, North Sea.

• Jan - July 1987. British Flag (IOM). 486 GRT coaster. (ex GSNC ship PLOVER). Mate.......... Owned by Callista Shipping, Douglas IOM. Skipper owner - Chris Armstrong. Got caught in a bad gale in the Bay of Biscay on passage from La Pallice to Kings Lynn, Norfolk. The cargo of maize shifted and the focs'le head flooded. A few months after I paid off the same happened off Lowestoft but this time she foundered. Crew all rescued.

PRINCE ALBERT

Aug - Nov 1988. British Flag. Yacht. 500 GRT. Built about 1952. ex Greek inter island ferry. Mate/relief Master. Converted to floating convention centre/gin palace. Cowes - Guernsey - St Helier - Southampton - Ipswich - Chattam.

• Jan - June 1988. Low airdraft bulk/container ship. Mate. 3,500 DWT. 92m LOA. Bahamas flag. ......................Owner - R. Rohwedder, Xanten W.Germany. Northern Europe to Portugal and Meditterrenean. Crew of 5 only.

• Aug 1988 - March 1989. British flag (Gibraltar). Mate. 1258 GRT classic conventional cargo ship built in the sixties - three hatches - derricks. Owned by the Estonian Shipping Co, Cardiff, Wales. Took scrap railtrack from Foynes, Ireland, to Port Sudan in the Red Sea (at a speed of 8 Kts!). General/bagged cargo around the Med and three cargoes of seed potatoes/generals from Holland/Belgium to Tunis. Was weatherbound in Ibizia on her !

M.V. ARDENT

• March - April 1989. Coaster, 499 GRT 1100 DWT. British flag. Relief Master. Owned by Franco-British Shipping. Managed by G.T.Gillie and Blair of Newcastle.

           M.V. TROLLNES     M.V. ROCKY GIANT

May 1989 - March 1990. Hydrographic surveyor. TROLLNES - 9000 DWT bulk carrier converted for dumping rock on pipelines and stabilising around rigs. Owned by Christian Jebsens A/S. ROCKY GIANT 3500 DWT bulk carrier converted for side dumping rock for pipeline and oil rig stabilisation. Both operated by ACZ bv of Gorinchem, Holland.

Since 1990 I have been employed as a free-lance Navigation/Positioning QC consultant representing various oil companies sailing as a supernumary onboard seismic survey ships. Projects have normally been in the North Sea/West of Shetland during the summer and world wide (Africa, New Zealand, Far East etc.) during the winter.

Click here for details of my present work

• 3D Seismic survey vessels working North Sea. DISCOVERY, RELIANCE, MONARCH and REGENT purpose built (the last two sister ships - 95M LOA), CHALLENGER a converted fish factory vessel. Owned by Western Geophysical inc, U.S.A.

• Owned by Louis Dreyfus, France. about 5,000 GRT. 92m LOA. Flag France (Kerguelen Islands). Converted fish factory ship. Built Poland circa 1991. (Burnt out and sank off Trinidad December 2002)

  
  CGG FOHN

  

Owned by Louis Dreyfus, France. Ex ROV support vessel

• Owned by Uksnoy A/S Norway. Hull is sister to MISTRAL but different conversion.Three vessels operated by Compagnie Generale Geophysique (CGG) of Massey, France.

• All owned or operated by GECO-PRAKLA A/S. (since 2000 known as Western Geco as the two companies merged). The flags have changed back and forth - Norway (NIS) - Panama. Operated by Geco-Prakla.

  All 3D deep seismic vessels ranging from 2 to 8 streamer capability. The KAPPA and DELTA were 70m converted fish factory ships dating from the late sixties. The remainder are purpose built. The TOPAZ, SAPHIRE and Diamond are sister ships built in 1991-1993. The BETA, SEARCHER and GAMMA are sisters built 1981 - 1982 but have been lengthened and/or widened in recent years, the first two now 4404 GRT, 90m LOA x 20m beam. The Tau was a one-off vessel built 1983 - 1594 GRT.

  POLAR QUEEN was a polar research vessel owned by Reiber Shipping of Norway, on charter to Geco for bottom cable (OBC) work. 

• Ex SHELL AMERICA. Owned by Eddison Chouest, U.S.A. Flag Vanuatu (New Hebrides). Built U.S.A. 1983. Lengthened and widened recently. Operated by Petroleum Geophysical Services A/S (PGS).
   
   

• Unusual design, triangular shaped hull - 85m LOA x 40m Beam. Built 1996. About 8000 GRT. Flag Norwegian (NIS). Can tow 16 x 4 kilometer streamers. Managed by Rieber Shipping A/S, Norway. Operated by PGS.

  

  
  

  R.V. RAMFORM EXPLORER

In between trips on the deep seismic ships I work as a hydrographic surveyor on various projects - inshore and offshore. These vessels include converted bulk carriers, landing craft, tugboats, launches and specialised ships.

D.P.F.F.P.V. TERTNES

• Sister ahip to the TROLLNES which I sailed on 15 years ago.Rock dumping in North Sea. Owned by Van Oord ACZ from Gornichem in Holland. Dutch flag.

POMPEI

• Side dumping vessel owned by Jan De Nul Dredging of Belgium. Rock dumping in preparation for building a windmill farm offshore Denmark. Belgium flag.

J.F.J.DE NUL

• Big trailing hopper dredger owned by Jan De Nul . Luxembourg flag. Trenching through sand waves for Scotland - Ireland gas pipeline.

• Lorelay. Big DP pipelaying ship. Laid 20Km pipe off mouth of Mississippi.

• DN50. Survey launch. In support of two rock dumpers -Cetus and Pompei - Gas pipeline between Singapore and Batam, Indonesia

• Sandpiper. Fall pipe rock dumper. Norwegian Sector.

• Terramare1. Small landing craft. Bathymetric survey off Felixstowe.

• Tridens1. Ex Dutch fishery research vessel. Site surveys northern North Sea.

• Noordhoek Singapore. Ex anchor handling tug. ROV inspections Morecambe Bay.

• Jbeil. Multibeam survey for pipeline route. Beirut, Lebanon

• DP Eagle. ROV support vessel. Lybian waters. Maltese Flag

• DP Reel. Laying concrete mattresses to protect pipelines offshore Qatar, Persian Gulf. Flag St Vincent and Grenadines

• Multraship Commander. ROV support vessel and pieline route surveys. Southern North Sea.

• Davidson. Old American research ship. Deep tow sonar survey on damage caused to pielines by hurricanes "Katrina" and "Rita" in the Gulf of Mexico2005.

• Mare Oceano. ROV support. Monitoring "touchdown" on two power cables laid across the Strait of Gibraltar. Italian Flag

• Botnica. Large Finnish icebreaker. Chartered for summer (2006) to do engineering work in the North Sea.Well abandonment and wellhead removal.

• Geomaster. Ex Japanese cable ship. Well head abandonment North Sea

• Kommandor Iona. Small site survey vessel. North sea

• Utec Surveyor. Ex Boom defense vessel. Pipeline and site surveys in Nigeria and Ivory Coast. Flag St Vincent and Grenadines

• Rem Etive Brand New ROV/engineering vessel North Sea

• Sentinel. Ex Scotia, fishery vessel. Now ROV work Egypt and Israel. Pipe laying monitoring. Italian Flag

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