America Star

[David Fox]

I asked Bert Wady if I could sail on an "A" Boat. So April 1976 he sends me down to Avonmouth to join the America Star.
Never volunteer.
So on arrival who did we have: Ron McIntosh C/E, Ted (The Bed ) Fleetwood 2/E, Dave Geekie 3/E, Paul Blathwayt 4/E, Dennis Smith J/Eng and myself as the 5/E. I had sailed with Ron & Ted on the old Welly when she threw a side rod and Ted stories in the bar were well known around the fleet, so expected a good voyage. Another BSL character was Dudley Eckworth as Master.
When we arrived in Port Melbourne and following a bit of shore side work, some Tee shirts appeared.
They were your typical washed out green that Sulzers appeared to be painted but had a logo on each.
SULZER WORKS TEAM ON LOCATION. [b] I think Dennis had come up with this part.
Then below were various new names for the Engineers. C/E: TECHNICAL DIRECTOR, 2/E: MANAGER, 3/E: FOREMAN, 4/E: CHARGE HAND, 5/E: OIL DRAG, J/E ? (Memory escapes me after 37 years)
The 2nd and I had both read a book outward bound about a coal burner and the stoker/trimmer was called a Coal Drag as he would drag the coal out of the bunkers to the furnace fronts. Being on 8/12 watch I got the name I did. The emphasis being on the Oil not the Drag.

You should see below photos of two of the tee shirts that have stood the test of time. Mine had been demoted to a rag in the garage then washed, photographed and with the use of MS Paint the black marks "shopped" out. The other Tee shirt is Paul Blathwayt's who kindly donated the photo to the cause.
These Tee shirts went down very well.
After a good run on the Aussie coast spending several weeks in Port Melbourne a week or so in Brisbane and a night in Sydney we were ready to return UK-wards. The visit in Sydney did allow photos of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera house during Standby and a visit to a BYOB BBQ restaurant where you cooked your own steak and took your own wine in, something quite unique to us British but a good night had by all. We bought from a "bottle shop" (if that is the correct term) a bottle of local Australian wine, a "wine for laying down" laying down and avoiding, with a bouquet like a camels armpit, but after two glasses, "she be right".

The port of discharge for the Aussie beef or was it lamb was Thessaloniki in Greece (often called Salonika in the holiday brochures) at which we arrived during the middle of summer. Dave Geekie negotiated with Ted that we start at 4am and worked until midday. This allowed us to work in the cool of the dawn and get some bronzy time in ashore if required. The first few days were a little rough, but we got into the routine. It was just as well as we were changing rotary exhaust valves and retiming the valves afterwards on a hot engine. We would see Ted about 6 am sometimes and then at breakfast but not often at 4 am. Everything worked out well.
After discharge we sailed south to Malta to lay up waiting for a cargo, Mediterranean Moored, anchors out stern ropes tied to bollard ashore. As we had done all the heavy work, it was just pottering about those jobs that you never managed to get to.

When we arrived in Malta passing the Admiral’s place in the fort, the cadet Peter Dawson (Now Captain) nipped down aft to dip the ensign as a mark of respect. Not quite sure of the timing but the agent came aboard and said he would arrange for some nice young ladies to come on board for a party and BBQ. We were doing our bit for international relations, showing the flag and all that. So that day Dudley Eckworth decided not to shave in the morning and leave it until just before the party. We were all expected to be in uniform and smart.
About midday a launch (admirals barge) staffed by WRENS in tropical gear!!!##### arrives at the gangway and one skips up asking for the captain.
He was wanted immediately to go over to see the Admiral.
On arriving in the Admiral's quarters escorted by the WRENS (I bet he enjoyed that) he was met by his lordship in full uniform and two other chaps in civvy suits. They turned out to be the Masters of a P&O and a Shaw Savill cargo ship.
Dudley was congratulated on dipping the ensign on arrival. No doubt the Admiral looked down his nose at the other two masters not attending in uniform and Dudley's unshaven face was never noticed.
Needless to say the party that night was a huge success on the boat deck bedecked with the contents of the international flag locker and signal flags, the Chief Steward Billy Bishop doing us proud on the comestible front.
A day or two after the party most of us paid off from Malta but Ted took the ship to Duluth in the Great Lakes for potatoes stopping at Gibraltar first to have a bit lopped off one of the masts. I understand the ship got out of the St. Lawrence not long before it froze up.

Maybe you were on that voyage and can add to the tale. I have blisters on my finger tips after that. Or on the following voyage for spuds!

I often wonder if Ted, Dave or Dennis read this website and what are they doing now. Sadly, several years ago, Ron rang FWE for the last time.
David Fox
Foredeck photo courtesy of Paul Blathwayt 4th Engineer at the time.

[David Fox]

Tee shirt from Paul Blathwayt former 4/Eng from that voyage.

[David Fox]

Tee Shirt David Fox 5/E of said voyage.

America Star.JPG (96.68 KiB) Viewed 24912 times

[A.D.Frost]

Dave looking at your photo.of the AMERICA STAR,Melbourne seems to have been a bit of a blur.So I thought you would like a reminder of your RD experiance.

An't alf hot Mum

Sulzer.jpg (93.22 KiB) Viewed 24873 times

[David Fox]

Received this from David (havachat) Payze from Australia, by email regarding his experience on the America Star. Thought I’d had a few bad ships, but it seems Dave had a beauty.
Read on.
23/05/1979 to 11/07/1979 KGV to Capetown to Rotterdam to Sheerness
Good to know someone had a reasonable experience on that ship. Picked the ship up in KGV off Dave Bentley. At least 3 liners on the aft deck (additional ones borrowed from sister ships on the Ecuador banana run at the time) from the previous voyage, carbon stalactites on the engine room handrails and pools of oil on the plates in the middles.

They took longer to cross the Atlantic than Christopher Columbus and were holed up somewhere in the Caribbean waiting for parts after their turbocharger fire.

David Hapgood Vestey's son in law came down to the middles in his Saville Row suit and $200 shoes apologising for having to send us out to Capetown with the vessel in the state that it was.
The short story is our record was 5 scavenge fires at once on a couple of occasions, a liner change at sea, threw a leg in the Allen with a full fridge cargo, #3 D/G fracturing cooling bolt pipes and water loss such that you would smell the grommets burning before the header tank alarm fired (turned out the bedplate frames in the double bottom below the genny were fractured), so back to one genny#2 while up to12 Ruston heads were lifted to renew burnt grommets (and it happened a couple of times) and had to call into Freeport to get water to get to Capetown; broken tube in JW cooler to plug and an engine room fire (scavenge space explosion flicked oil up on the rotary exhaust valve with flames being drawn toward the Fwd turbo) and we had a scavenge fire up when this happened.
The first trip 4/E contrary to all expert opinion saved us from further grief by stopping the job. Before we started on the fire we had to put the turning gear in to stop internal distortion of the running gear.
Before we could pull the liner the engine room crane was found not be working. Tommy Brabbs the Electrician suffered from vertigo so the Barbadian 2/Electrician climbed up to the crane (we were at sea at the time) with Brabbsy shouting up instruction from the top plates.


That’s the short version. Not bad for 6 weeks and my 2nd ship as Chief.
Word was that Liverpool office were running a sweep as to how many hours past the Azores before we called a tug.

Rotterdam to Sheerness was another circus.

Coasting to Birkenhead after Sheerness, we heaved to at Lytham St. Annes after picking up the Mersey pilot, the anchor winch clutch decided to slip after 13 years. Another delay.

After I left the ship it was drydocked at Birkenhead. As the water went down so did some of the 120+ ton of HFO from a cracked coffin plate below No. 2 DB.

The next I heard was from a surveyor in Kuwait. HFO was found in No. 3 hold amongst the cargo. A HFO tank lid gasket had been left off after the drydock.

I also heard C/E Charlie Ballingall had to stop at Capetown for 3 days on a South America to Persian Gulf run with a load of bananas because a generator support bearing had run.

I cannot thank the 2/E Roy Hendricks and the engineers for the effort put in to get us home and as always in my experience the Barbadian engine room crew were excellent.

The Master (Possibly Captain Rowe) was one of the most tolerant men I have ever sailed with but even his patience was tested at the end. None of the engineers wanted to get off ("we have just about cracked this job") but as the “old man” said by the time we got to Rotterdam 3 days late but with the fruit cargo intact we were all gaga.
The cause of most of these problems: only 2 turbos (the Halifax onward had 3) lifting the RPM from 113 to 117 Full Away after lengthening, the larger Allen replacing the original 4 cyl Ruston requiring more air and finding (by using a windmill type air flow meter) the engine room fans due to a build up of corrosion on the grilles and corrosion on the fan blades were supplying the engine room with 50% of air requirements resulting in the RD Sulzer not being able to scavenge fully and elevated Ruston exhausts at over 1000 Amps.

I guess the America Star was the Imperial Star of our generation.

Happy days

Dave Payze.