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Old 27th August 2017, 20:28
Lucy Knight England Lucy Knight is offline
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Join Date: May 2017
Location: Plymouth Devon
Posts: 116
Two books I have read that might be of interest to those who sailed on Shell Tankers in 70s/late 60s or who were cadets in Plymouth are

From Watford to Woolloomooloo by John Moxley
And
Under a yellow sky by Simon Hall (follow up book to this one is Chasing Conrad)

They are both well written but in different styles.

Both of them were same intake Shell nav cadets 1969 with their college stints at Portland Place Plymouth.

They also sailed together on an old H tanker. All their cadet time was on the old ex Eagle Oil midships/aft H class and V class. Both books can be easily Googled to read comments on Amazon. Both are also available as e books.

John was uncert 3rd mate after he had just turned 19 and on Vietnam run beginning just before the closure when it got really hairy. He had been told the ship was going to all these exotic places like Hawaii to lure him back early and he got that instead.

They describe many of the difficult characters on board in those days and also very open about the extra curricular activities they took part in e.g. Bougis Street.

Both books take you up to the end of their cadetships. Simon's second book Chasing Conrad covers taking his 2nd mates returning as uncert third mate on H tanker and then cert 3rd mate on an M tanker (supertanker built in 6Os). That was first supertanker he had been on and he decided that type of tanker wasn't for him so resigned and then sailed on cargo ships for rest of time st sea.

Both good reads.

NB suggest the men don't give them to their wives to read if they think their hubbies were innocent in port back then.

Last edited by Lucy Knight; 27th August 2017 at 20:36.
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