http://www.shipsmonthly.com • Summer 2018 • 59
VOYAGE REPORT
aboard, and was made up of
three courses, with all ten crew
enjoying newly purchased steak.
As well as the captain, there
were two deck offi cers, two
engineers, three deckhands,
the cook and a steward.
We headed back down
the Orwell past Pin Mill and
Felixstowe to load another
cargo at Shell Haven, this time
just petrol and gas oil. I then
visited the engine room with
Chief Engineer Trevor Read.
The big six-cylinder Mirrlees
engine, of 2,700bhp, was
driving the propeller through
a gearbox, while two diesel
generators whined away.
There were four Caterpillar
auxiliaries, which produced
both electrical and hydraulic
power for the pumps, deck
machinery and bow thruster.
Trevor explained that Shell
Marketer normally does 12
knots loaded, using around
eight tonnes of intermediate
fuel oil a day plus a tonne
of gas oil for the generators
and the main engine when
manoeuvring. The main
engine had done nearly
15,000 hours since new;
in other words it had been
running 70 per cent of the
time. I took the opportunity
to look through some of the
logs and operating manuals.
We left for Shoreham on
10 August, keeping to the
traffi c separation zone in The trailing suction hopper
dredger Cosmos (6163g/1980)
heading down the Maas with a
full load of spoil.the Channel. We arrived
off Shoreham in the late
afternoon, but the tide was
too low for us to enter – our
draught was 4.8m. We fi nally
got through the lock and
berthed at Portslade at 2245
just in time to get to the
nearest pub. Next morning I
phoned home from a quayside
phone box, and then took
a taxi to Fisher’s Nautical The grab dredger Samuel Armstrong (364g/1956) helping keep the River Orwell channel clear. Shell Marketer about to pick up
the pilot from Menkar (871g/1977)
to enter Rotterdam.