In the summer of 1965, I needed a break, both physically and emotionally – I had just completed my fifth round trip voyage from England to Australia on the liner “Fairstar”. She had been converted earlier from the Troop Ship “Oxfordshire” and was now capable of carrying up to 2,000 passengers. The ship and others were owned by a White Russian living in Monte Carlo, Mr. Vaslov – his ships could always be identified with a big blue “V” on their yellow funnels. At the grand age of 22, I was the Chief Radio Officer – quite an achievement as only a year earlier at 21, I was left stranded in Hobart, Tasmania, and was eventually shipped back to England as a DBS (Distress British Seaman) earning one shilling a month – but that is another true story for later.
There were two other radio officers who were both older than me, and we collectively worked for 4 hours on, and then had 8 hours off, and this was a 24/7 routine. Our route was from Southampton (where we had a 48-hour turn around) – through the Mediterranean Sea, and through the Suez Canal to Aden in what is now known as The Yemen; (to take on bunkers – fuel), then a long haul across the Indian Ocean to Fremantle, the port city for Perth the capital city of Western Australia. We then hugged the coast to Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, followed by Melbourne the capital of Victoria, and then Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, followed by our last stop in Australia which was Brisbane, the capital of Queensland. This was followed on the way back to Southampton with stops in Singapore, Colombo, (Ceylon – now Sri Lanka) through the Suez Canal again to Naples in Italy and finally back to the home port of Southampton.
I’ve outlined this itinerary as it was quite a fantastic life for a young guy in his early 20’s – I loved it, but I was really in need of a break. The company was terrific and suggested I take one trip off on full pay, and join the good ship Fairstar two months later. This I did and tripped around France and Italy and also made a side trip to Berlin, and went across Checkpoint “Charlie” to spend a day in East Berlin. But after a month I was getting bored, and still had another month to go.
The company contacted me with the following offer – they needed my help and would I fly to Malta immediately and join a bulk carrier called “Alkaid” – the Radio Officer had died. Their plan was as follows; they would pay me double pay for my time – I had to accompany the ship to Houston, Texas where it would load a cargo of aviation fuel to be delivered back to Malta. The entire round trip would be around three weeks, so there would be plenty of time for me to re-join the Fairstar when it returned to Southampton. It seemed like it was a fair deal, and I flew over to Valetta, the capital of Malta.
You have heard me talk about “Life-Changing Decisions” – well this was not one I made myself, but it certainly changed my life.
Everything went well in Houston and we were headed back to Europe and in the Gulf of Mexico – the ship’s engines had serious problems, and the Captain and Chief Engineer decided that they could not go any faster than 3 to 4 knots. Yes, we did make it back to Malta, but not before my lovely, beautiful liner had docked in Southampton and was already on its way back to Australia. Not many options so I stayed on the Alkaid, where all the other officers were German. She was generally known as a “tramper” – which means she would go anywhere to pick up a cargo for delivery. In addition to jet fuel, the cargo could be oil, wheat, or any bulk commodity.
The next year or so was interesting if nothing else. From Malta, we went through the Suez Canal to Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia, then over to Bombay, India. The next stop was Osaka in Japan, then down to Brisbane, Australia, and back to Himeji in Japan. This is where one of my other stories starts which I called “My Last Ship & How I joined Investor Overseas Services (IOS)”.
But my travels on the Alkaid did not stop in Japan – we then went to Vancouver, Canada on a tortuous trip near the Aleutian Islands – then across the big Pacific to Manila, Philippines, followed by Singapore and then back to Bombay – over to Kuwait and back through the Suez with a quick stop in Algeciras in Spain to have the hull cleaned – this good tramper was on its way to Montreal, Canada – but I got off in Algeciras – the end of my sea career.
