[BITList] Tom in Gympie

[Tom Gardiner]

Hi Colin t . et al

I did not expect my big posting to turn out that way .
Must be something to do with senior moments or the like .
I had intended to comment about how moving around as a child carried 
over into adulthood .
Whatever !! It seemed a nice read .

I chatted about Gympie in vol 3 22 vol 3 23 on 22 23 Sept 08
Maybe you have them in downloads or trash ( never in Junk ) <grin>
I can email them directly if you so desire or repost them here .

Salt end . I had the experience of sailing past the house I was born in 
when on Durenda arriving and departing from Hull . GF was manager of the 
petroleum depot when I was born .

Purnea was May to Dec 1954 .Flown out from London with John Oswald . We 
created some noteriety in the office because we refused to fly without 
our personal effects . That cost more than our air fares .

Purnea staff I can never remember the first chiefs name . replaced by 
John Wood
The third was Ken Farmer to be replaced by John Beech .
4th was John Vietch . Panch was Ray Kelly replaced by a Chinese fitter .
On the deck side , Captain was Ben Rogers , mate Harold Pinter , 2O 
Nobby Clarke 30 John Fulbrook , cadet Ric Carter . It was a friendly ship .

The first chief was a bit of an old woman but never interfered with day 
to day ER work and wore clean whites every day . On arrival in Calcutta 
he dressed one morning in a very stained boiler suit and fussed around 
the ER doorway as the super came aboard . I must have had a peculiar 
expression on my face as the super whispered to me " relax we know him ".
We had an incident , as they say these days , the bottom fell off the 
lub oil cooler .
We had been in inner dock in Calcutta and the water was weird stuff .
I doubt that any reader will believe me , but when the incident occurred 
and after things settled down I picked up the piece of cover and my 
fingers gouged grooves . When it dried out it was once again cast iron 
but retained my finger marks .
OK say "take more water with it " but it is truth .
After the incident happened , John Beech and I were looking for a plate 
to bolt over the end .
Dear chief appeared and grabbed several crew and told them to remove 
manhole covers .
Fortunately I noticed and stopped them . When I pointed out to chief 
that on the other side of the manholes was thousands of gallons of oil , 
he left the ER .
We effected a repair with a plate which supported spare compressor 
valves and included the pressure test ring for the cooler , held in 
place with threaded rod replacing the studs .
Normal operation resumed and continued to NZ .
We were carrying three passengers . They had donned life jackets when 
the ship stopped and were cluttering up the bridge . They were amazed to 
see the arc of water coming out of the ship side glowing with 
fleurescent sea life . I used the big pump to remove the water , it was 
almost level with the floor plates .

It is good to read each others potted histories . We share a lot from 
our BI days but we also have spent many more years doing other things . 
These things are what has made us what we are today .
OK OK , I'll cease the philosophy !!


TTFN

Tom in Gympie