ShipbuilderMN Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 My simple drawing of the oil tanker Algol. I drew this on a large piece of white card with drawing pens, a ruler, and some French Curves. Then I photographed it with a normal digital camera, and coloured it in on the computer, and finally added the reflections using the free Sqirlz software found online. I am not clever enough to be able to use CAD or things like that, but I probably get more satisfaction by doing it this way! This type of ship is not of any great interest to me, but I made this drawing/plan because I helped to build the real ship, and then sailed in her for 6 months, mainly spent at Galveston Bar unloading 55,000 tons of oil a time from giant tankers, and taking it up to Houston! Probably not of much general interest, on account of being a merchant ship! Bob 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard E Posted May 4, 2017 Share Posted May 4, 2017 That's refreshingly different and an interesting approach to producing the digital image. Whilst this particular vessel might be lacking in character it must still be a privilege to be able to capture your career in models and artwork. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShipbuilderMN Posted May 5, 2017 Author Share Posted May 5, 2017 For those who liked oil tankers, it probably had plenty of character It was the only tanker that I ever sailed in, and it did not appeal to me at all. Excellent accommodation though! Couldn't wait to get back to passenger liners, and that took another two years after I left Algol! Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 Interesting Bob in that I've not heard of this sort of thing before, I guess I thought the big crude carriers berthed at specialised terminals & their cargos would he piped ashore. A shuttle like this sounds inefficient but I'm guessing it was a way to keep an existing refinery in operation. You'd get to know the run well. I can understand the limited attraction though. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShipbuilderMN Posted May 5, 2017 Author Share Posted May 5, 2017 It was quite standard procedure with very big tankers. Some ULCCs were quarter of a milliion tons and could just not reach a lot of the oil terminals. The largest that we discharged was the Norwegian Jarabella, of 128,069 gross tons. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killingholme Posted May 31, 2017 Share Posted May 31, 2017 Is this her? http://www.lardex.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_sobipro&pid=198&sid=3373:DAGLI-Ex-OcelotAlgol-1977-Cammell-Laird-2&Itemid=0 http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=585026 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShipbuilderMN Posted May 31, 2017 Author Share Posted May 31, 2017 Yes, that is the one! Spent six whole months confined aboard it, and only managed about three hours ashore in all that time, and I was glad to leave it. I refused taking the next one out of Cammell Lairds, and asked for a brand new general cargo liner, Silveravon, instead that was on her delivery voyage from Hioroshima to the Mediterranean. Spent over a year in that one, she was renamed Bandama after my first voyage from Italy to Jeddah and back and it was a much more satisfactory life than the Algol! If I had gone back to Algol, that was offered to me, I might have ended up losing my life, as that is what hapenned to one of my succesors! Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killingholme Posted May 31, 2017 Share Posted May 31, 2017 Crickey Bob, sounds like your drawing of Algol was not quite a labour of love... Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeR Posted May 31, 2017 Share Posted May 31, 2017 I'd think serving on a potential floating bomb wasn't very inspiring either. My paternal Grandfather was Merchant Navy - British India Steam Navigation Company prior to WW2, then Ellerman Lines afterwards. No idea what he did during WW2 apart from "reserved occupation, then convoys". He was taken off deep sea sailing and retired by the company largely for health reasons in 1970/71. We recently stumbled across some of the photos he took during the late 1930's including the aftermath of the 1937 Hong Kong Typhoon. He might have been aboard the Talamba but we can't be sure. There are a few onboard shots plus a few showing the Asama Maru high and dry! Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShipbuilderMN Posted June 1, 2017 Author Share Posted June 1, 2017 I never really regarded Algol as a "floating bomb," as we were only carrying crude oil, I suppose oil fumes in empty tanks were the biggest hazard, but we had an inert gas system, where empty or part-empty tanks were filled with an inert, non-inflamable gas. The fire that resulted in two fatalities, was an accommodation fire, rather than a cargo fire, but the ship was repaired. I drew up the plan for the second part of my autobiography of life at sea in the MN between early 1961 and late 1992. During those years, I progressed from Geordie collier to some of the finest passenger liners in the world (including the mighty RMS Windsor Castle, and the once-famous British passenger liner Reina de Mar). Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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