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Hi There, My Dad was a steam and diesel engineer back in the 1950's and 60's. He sailed with Christian Salvesen, did two whaling seasons down to South Georgia on the tanker Southern Garden. He spent some time on North Sea Trawlers out of Aberdeen where he worked as the service and installation engineer for British Polar Engines of Helen St, Govan, Glasgow. He swallowed the anchor in 1966 and moved to New Zealand to work for Union Steamship Co as a specialist engineer on Polar Engines. But, he worked on all sorts, I recall Doxford, Sulzer, Widdup and other names being bandied around whilst I listened in as a kid. So, I still like listening in on sea stories so carry on and I'll chip in if I can!

Greetings Tweediekiwi and welcome to SH. Bon voyage.

Tweediekiwi,

Welcome to SH.

Neville

Must have been a great guy to survive Polar F10, F20 & F30. 😆

I survived Doxford, Pielstick and twin British Polars but I think Widdup would have me beat.

Hi There, I don't know about him working with F series Polar - In his day it was M40M series, MN's were just coming in - 6 and 9 cylinder engines installed in trawlers and ferry boats that were built in Aberdeen. He put the engine in an Orkney ferry called the Orcadia. That was one of my favourites, probably because it didn't smell of fish and cod liver oil!
So, what were the F series like? What ships were they in?

Yeah, Dad worked on Pielstick engines on a RORO ferry in NZ here. V.noisy high pitched motors - I recall being taken down the ER and having to wear ear muffs. What ships were you on that ran them?
Widdups were made in Yorkshire and were put in trawlers and small cargo vessels. The old man said they were prone to breakdowns, but, so were his polar engines - I recall him being called out to breakdowns on them all over Scotland and as far away as Iceland to fix them.

Nice to meet you Neville, or should I call you Sparks? I wanted to a RO but when I went to apply the Marconi School in Auckland was just closing down. Ended up being a telephone tech with NZPO.

Tweediekiwi

Welcome to SH. Good to have you aboard.

A warm welcome aboard from the Philippines. Please enjoy all this great site has to offer

The F series were 250mm bore and we had V16 F20s and V12 F30s in Star Offshore Not much fun

Son of a Polar Man, did Dusty Springfield pull your units?

hello and welcome from Havelock North
 

Hi #1. Hope you enjoy the site. Without checking I don't think the Southern Garden was a tanker. I think it was a catcher. Happy to be wrong. Ex Southern Satellite myself

Hello all,
This thread from the warsailors site may be of interest.
http://warsailors.com/forum/archive/...p-1,39790.html


regards
Roger

Definitely a tanker.
https://bn1302files.storage.live.com...&cropmode=none
https://bn1302files.storage.live.com...&cropmode=none
And here's your Southern Satellite alongside in South Georgia.

I gather you're talking about an engineer in Aberdeen and not the country singer?
I didn't hear Dad mention that name ... but he knew and worked with a lot of people, so, it's possible.

Ooops, I submitted three photo's there but they got very BIG in transit. Hopefully the moderator will resize them or educate me on how to do it properly?
I'll try again.

Greetings Roger and welcome to SH. Bon voyage.

Never heard it called that

The late, great Dusty Springfield sang "Son of a Preacher Man"

SOUTHERN GARDEN (1947 – 1960) Tanker.
O.N. 168211. 8,923g. 5,101n. 499.0 x 64.1 x 31.7 feet.
Q.4-cyl. (25-3/5”, 33-3/5”, 52” & 74-4/5” x 52”) and low pressure turbine by the shipbuilder.
9.1919: Launched as GEDANIA by Howaldswerke, Kiel (Yard No. 587) Baltisch-Amerikanische Petroleum Import GmbH, Danzig.
10.1920: Completed.
1933: Sold to Waried Tankschiff Rhederei, Hamburg.
1939: German Navy supply ship and oiler.
4.1.1941: Captured by HMS MARSDALE at position 43.38N 29.15W
1941: To Ministry of War Transport, London ( Gow, Harrison & Co, Glasgow, managers) and renamed EMPIRE GARDEN
22.8.1941: Registered at London.
1947: Sold to The South Georgia Co., Ltd, (Chr.Salvesen & Co. Ltd), Leith and renamed SOUTHERN GARDEN.
25.7.1960: Arrived at Inverkeithing for demolition by T. W. Ward Ltd, Sheffield.

Thanks for the History and the Music Lesson
 

All that history about the Southern Garden is fascinating. I have probably heard Dad talk about it at some time but I'm sure he didn't know all of it. When he shipped out from Grangemouth ( or Port Bannantyne?) in 1957 the CE, Magonegall was all Dad called him (a large and very fit heavy drinker who came to the ER in clean overalls and white gloves!), called him to his cabin and showed him a plan of the ship. Macgonegall pointed to a pipe above his head and asked Dad where it went and what it's for, so he spent about a week crawling all over the ship finding out. Then he was spot-tested every time he saw the Chief or one of the engineers. He spent a lot of time on refrigeration, working on the salt flat cleaning coils and maintaining generators, packing glands and fixing steam leaks before he got to work on the main engine. I guess that's what 6th Engineers did?

With Salvesens he also sailed on the Hadrian Coast and the Fidra, coasting around Britain and trips to Norway for timber. He loved Norway and was always talking about how clean and beautiful Oslo and Trondheim were.

Dad took me on board the Southern Garden one day when I was four. As we walked along the deck, Captain Magnus Polson(?) approached with his full uniform on. I'd never seen anything like it and, as kids do, I asked the wrong question. "Are you a sailor?" He and Dad had a laugh and he said yes, he was a sailor. Great memories.

And I get the Dusty Springfield reference now ... I thought you were taking about someone's nickname, a guy who pulled pistons or something. Sorry, bit slow some days now.

A good post!

When I was a lowly Cadet and just about to ship out for the first time, the very scary Superintendent Iain Dalglish asked us during one of his Tuesday evening lectures,"What is the first thing you find out in the engine room?"

I was the first to reply,"The location of extinguishers and their type, emergency equipment and BA sets!".

No one else responded. After a long silence, he said,"That is the second thing.", long pause,"The location of ladders and the emergency escape routes is the first thing that you learn. How may steps up or down, how many footsteps, and in which direction to the nearest escape route?"!

He then went on to tell us that fire is the most feared peril on board ship and, in the event of a fire, we would be blinded by the smoke. It was our duty to ourselves, and the company, to survive any emergency: "Remember", said Daggy, "a ship can easily be replaced. Not so easily, a good, trained engineer!"

Regarding your father's experience with the Chief, this is a normal activity when one is new on a class of vessel. It involves considerable "bilge diving"! Which is the line, where are the valves, what type, any bypasses, where does it originate and terminate? All duly noted in your breast pocket notebook, recorded cleanly between watches, a veritable "working manual". And why trace the lines? The valves are normally identified by brass disks, sometimes with a tag number to id from the P&ID drawing, stating the fluid and direction, e.g. SW INLET - Okay, that is on overboard suction - Where does it attach to the hull - SAFETY!

Unfortunately, many times the discs are removed during maintenance or painting and are not replaced correctly! This is where your first hand knowledge comes into play - As per the Chief's demand to your father!

Best Regards,
Dave

"What is the first thing you find out in the engine room?"

The electric kettle and the engineers alarm.

ES, Daggy would have hung, drawn and quartered you immediately, and merely with a glance! We were always "Boy" until we had seatime under our belt. Then we were "Mister". He was a legend!!

And what is the first thing you find before you go to the ER? The lift! Ha ha!

Yes, as a lowly cadet, it is imperative to find out where is the electric kettle or coffee maker, and woe betide you if you forgot to bring a new packet of coffee down.

On standbys, when there were wives on board, we would get them to send down bacon butties via the lift! We would hang around like Pavlov's salivating dogs waiting for the "open door" light to come on!

Rgds.
Dave