60 • Summer 2018 • http://www.shipsmonthly.com
Bookshop in Brighton,
whose catalogues I had been
receiving, but it was closed.
Back on the ship, we sailed at
noon for Rouen, in ballast,
heading south across the
shipping lanes on a cloudless
sunny afternoon in a flat calm.
I went into the now empty
No.1 cargo tank (the foremost)
with Chief Officer Arthur
Burden, who was responsible
for the cargo. The ship had five
pairs of tanks, subdivided by a
centreline bulkhead, so she could
load five different parcels. The
tank interiors were epoxy-coated
and the bulkheads corrugated,
which helped drainage and
reduced corrosion. There was
a double bottom under the
cargo tanks for segregated
water ballast, while on the tank
top were heating coils fitted for
thermal oil used when carrying
viscous or hot cargoes.
The side was single hull,
unlike tankers today, which are
required to have double hulls.
When I had a look through
the cargo records in the cargo
control room, I could see just
how many parcels the ship had
carried – no fewer than 200
in the seven months of 1984
already. Arthur explained
about the Framo submerged
hydraulic cargo pumps of
250m^3 per hour each, one for
each pair of tanks, as there was
a sluice valve in the bulkhead,
allowing the starboard tank to
drain into the port tank.Heading to France
As we approached Le Havre,
there were several ships
anchored off, with others
leaving the River Seine. It was
getting dark as we headed
upriver, gliding along almost
silently on the flood tide in
the moonlight, watching the
diners at riverside restaurants
under tree-topped cliffs – no
doubt a romantic setting for
some of them. We berthed at
0100 at Petit Couronne on
the south bank below Rouen.
After deballasting our 800
tonnes of seawater, we moved
to a refinery berth to load two
grades of lub oil: 840 tonnes
at 21°C and 1,780 tonnes at
55°C. In the afternoon we went
ashore to find a bar but none
took sterling and we did not
have any francs, so there was no
slaking our thirst in the heat –
and nobody carried bottles of
water in those days. I set off for
a walk through a nearby village
and woods, before returning
to Grand Couronne. Shell Marketer in dry dock at
Sunderland in October 1984; her
controllable pitch propeller and high
lift rudder are clearly visible. Shell Marketer discharging lub oil from Rouen at Petroleum Haven, Rotterdam. Shell Marketer heading for the
River Seine, with Townsend Thoresen’s
Gaelic Ferry (1964/3,316gt) crossing
her bow for Le Havre.Bulk cargoes being discharged
at Grand Couronne on the
Seine: nearest Spanish Portubide
(1979/1,594g) and Wilhelmsen’s
Tarcoola (1977/64,692gg).