Shaw Savill Line Memories

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During my days at secondary school my best friend's father worked on the docks at Hartlepool. He operated the swing bridges and the lock gates. Often, after school, David and I toured the docks on our bicycles. When David's father was on duty we would call in his control cabin for a cup of tea and view the impressive passing ships. Back in those days I didn't imagine that I would become a seaman myself.

Back in the 1960s, in the Hartlepools, it was quite common for young men to go away to sea. In 1963, after completing my apprenticeship as an electrician at the local steel works, I became a merchant seaman when I joined Shaw Savill and Albion line. On boarding my first ship it was a culture shock when I was taken into the engine room. The massive main engines and the complex amount of auxilary equipment with numerous piping systems was an amazing sight.

My first trip to sea was quite an experience. It was like being an apprentice again. There was a lot of names and phrases to pick up that were totally new, it was like a new language. Shaw Savill and Albion line had a mixture of passenger and cargo ships. The large passenger ships did seventy-seven day round the world voyages. I only served on the refridgerated cargo vessels. Most were around eleven-thousand gross tonnes with twin diesel engines, our main routes being to Australia and New Zealand. Outward bound from the UK we carried general cargo made of everything imaginable. Homeward bound, depending on the season, the cargo would be mainly dairy, fruit or meat produce.

My first voyage took me round the world, out through the Suez Canal and Indian Ocean. We discharged in five major Australian ports then after loading in five New Zealand ports we crossed the Pacific Ocean, calling in at Tahiti then through the Panama Canal. After crossing the Atlantic Ocean we discharged at four continental ports and the UK. At school I was very poor at geography. At sea, like many others, I had a Daily Express map of the world on my cabin bulk head. Checking progress around the world improved my geographic knowledge.

Looking after the electrical equipment on board, our maintenance tasks were split into two periods. At sea we worked on the equipment which would be used during our time in port, example the twenty-two deck winches capstans windlass and portable cargo cluster light fittings. Our time in port was spent maintaining the engine room equipment, which had been running for twenty-four hours a day and often for many weeks non-stop. At sea the engineers worked a three watch system made up of four hours on and eight hours off. The electricians were on day work. Occassionally at sea, major engine breakdowns occurred. The Chief Engineer would split the watches into two, normally working six hours on and six hours off. The electricians changed onto these rotas and worked alongside the engineers. Sometimes these breakdowns lasted a few days. We didn't get much sleep in the six hour break period. After a shower, grabbing a bite to eat and a couple of beers.

I remeber the "Leckies" job was considered the King's job by most engineers. To work day work and enjoy working on deck in the tropics was just a cruise compared to us watch keeping engineers on 4 hr watches. I started and finished my sea going period with shaw Saville and remember many an enjoyable time running between Europe and Australia & New Zealand(I now live in Oz since 1966) . I worked on the Afric which carried general cargo but was designed for wool bales, unfortunatly it was designed for N.Z. wool bales which were a different dimension than the Ozzie ones and inevitably we loaded wool bales in Oz. This ship had a beautiful 9 cylinder M.A.N 2-stroke diesel the only problem recurring was scavenge fired and the occassional loss of the govenor. I could see a better way of being an engineer at sea and transfered to the refrigeration side where we also worked day work on the way out and reverted to 4 on 8 off on the return trip. The other ships I sailed on were the Doric, Cymric, Delphic, and afew others doing coastals. I spent a wonderful New Year in the early 60's as we had a collision in the Elb going into Hamburg on the "Afric" and spent about 3 months under repair in the Deutswarf shipyard that year we started the New Year celebrations by sounding the ships horn at midnight to commence the celebrations. I would like to catch up with some of my old mates who I sailed with but in this big world we seldom cross paths. Jakie Orr the little Irishman and Tommy who both shared some time in shore escapades come immediatly to mind, wherever they are may health and happiness be with you. Thank you for reminding me of the good times I had at sea (it is natural to forget the bad times of which there were a few). Mikke Fielding ex Shaw Saville Engineer.Posted on 16/04/2010 at 03:59:00

Hi, I too served as an electrician with Shaw Savill from 1967 to 1969 & completed 3 trips aboard the SS Athenic, luckily just missing the trouble in the Suez, when at least 1 Shaw Savill ship was stuck in the bitter lakes, I thoroughly enjoyed my short spell at sea & have since found out that the Athenic was scrapped in 1969, so I imagine by the dates I must have done the last trip carrying cargo, Trevor Magnus Posted on 10/10/2010 at 04:21:54

Hi I too served 2 trips on the DORIC 1955 as a steward, I live in Australia. posted 6 May 2011.Posted on 06/05/2011 at 08:03:18

I joined the Athenic as ableseaman in Auckland to make up the deck crowd , we took her to the breakers via the states and Montreal in fact I was the last British seaman to steer her we berthed alongside the Blue Funnel ship Sarpedon which was undergoing demolition that was another great company that I was lucky enough to sail with . Posted on 21/05/2011 at 18:33:07

I joined Shaw Savill as a deck apprentice 1970 and my first trip was on the Megantic-Following that was the Zealandic,Suevic etc-also 6 months on the Crusader run. Great times were had by all with lots of fond memories,some mot to be repeated. I moved to Australia in 1979 and went into the Offhsore industry. Nickname when I started was Zebidee from Magic Roundabout. Posted on 19/08/2011 at 01:09:39

Can anyone help? I am researching the ports used by the Shaw Savill Line in New Zealand that the Athenic would have stopped off at, in the early 60's. I have been told that Napier was a stop off point, also Wellington and Auckland. Is this information correct? Are there any other ports that may have been used? thank you!Posted on 31/10/2011 at 18:01:31

Hi Regards to your query I can't vouch for the early 60's but the trip I did on the Athenic in 1968 to N.Z. we stopped at Aukland, Wellington, Christchurch, & Bluff, I was there a Month after the Wahine ferry sank in Wellington, hope this helps TrevorPosted on 09/12/2011 at 10:30:49

Hi i also sailed on the Athenic.as a elecy. my first trip was about 1963.We called at all the ports mentioned but we also spent two weeks in Opua in the Bay Of Islands loading lamb.We had a great time there we had the film Dr No and i showed it 26 times to all the locals.The 1st elecy was Geoff Tong i .was 2nd and the 3rd was a chap called Bob cant remember his second name.Finished my time at sea with SSA in 1970 as 1st elecy on the Cymric. Harry GibbonsPosted on 21/12/2011 at 13:21:29

hi mike feilding, sailed with you on the Delphic.had some good times. Met our wives at the same time. have two children-son and daughter--son travels regularly to U.K and Scotland and continent. Hope you and yours are well- Don CoghillPosted on 30/01/2012 at 05:54:02

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