Ore Carriers
This section covers the four iron ore carriers built for the North Yorkshire Shipping Co which was a joint venture between Bolton SS and the British Iron and Steel Corporation, BISC(Ore).
Their names echoed the "R" naming convention of the Bolton fleet but, instead of artists, North Yorkshire towns were to be the inspiration.
Each one entered service on a 15 year charter to BISC(Ore) and brought cargo back from many ports either side of the Atlantic such as:-
Almeria
Murmansk
Narvik
Nouadibou (Mauritania)
Seven Isles
Vitoria
A 12 hour load and 24 hour discharge was the norm with a pretty uncomfortable voyage in between.
mv Ribblehead in the Bay of Biscay February 1965
Courtesy of Chas York 2nd RO on his first trip
1st Hand
The sea going staff did not particularly enjoy working on them:
'Dull, repetitive work, going out in ballast, and ore is a heavy cargo which makes the ships throw about with something of a pendulum motion'.
Captain Copping
The superintendents didn't like them either:
'They were a headache, no time to do repairs and you never knew which port they were going to'.
Donald Grierson - Engineer Superintendent
With a ten second roll when loaded, they were not at times the most comfortable of vessels. When rolling into a bow or beam swell, the roll could be suddenly stopped by the by the incoming, the result being that articles not secured would follow their previous trajectory and leap into the air. After seeing flying hot mugs of tea and chart room paraphernalia scattered, we quickly adjusted.
One of the most alarming sights on the carriers was to stand at the end of the accommodation tunnel and see the whole length of structure "corkscrewing" in any sort of bad weather, but we were told that if they didn't do that they'd break up. That was O.K. then !
Once loaded 13.5 K tons of ore at Seven Islands in 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Bob Mawson - Deck Officer late 50's and eary 60's
Rievaulx officers dining saloon - mates table nearest (port side), engineers table farthest (starboard side), Captain, Chief Engineer, Chief Officer and Second Engineer centre.
Note painting of Rievaulx abbey.
Rievaulx apprentice cabin (obviously just before Sunday rounds!)
I wonder if the flowers are freshly picked or if its the same vase as the one in the saloon carried around by the photographer?
All had a 4 cyl Doxford main engine, the first three having 2x oil-fired scotch boilers supplying steam auxiliaries and Rievaulx being the last built had Ruston diesel generators powering electric auxiliaries.
Not one of 'ours' but they were all much of a muchness
Control stand L to R:-
Electric Fuel pump to maintain 6000 psi for starting (note DC faceplate starter)
Fuel pressure regulator handwheel used to maintain 6000 psi when running
Air start lever
Fuel admission lever with notched stop
Reversing lever
This is a much larger 6 cylinder engine of the type fitted to the Ore Carriers
Getting rid of the scotch boilers transformed this class of vessel completely.
Gone was the soot blowing, boiler blow down, chemical testing and dosing.
No more smell of black oil and graphite, condensate and steam.
If only the first three had been the same!
The Doxford main engines also had their own engine driven pumps giving them total independence from their auxiliary pumps (while they were running) and could continue running at full speed even during a blackout, which was quite surreal.
But then again if they'd all been like Rievaulx we wouldn't have had the dubious pleasure of experiencing this lot:-
Steam generators were by Belliss and Morcom with twin cylinder compound engines similar to this one now in Bressingham Steam museum
Steam pumps were usually Weir direct acting Simplex
or Worthington Simpson (simplex or duplex).
Steam winches for opening the MacGregor hatches were very similar in appearance to this one which has obviously seen better days. Engineers 'Field Days' (2 hours unpaid overtime, either before or after watch) spent fixing these things after being wrecked by the combined efforts of the sea and crew was all part of the job.
Does anyone have info of other types of machinery?