ssMaritime.com & ssMaritime.net
With Reuben Goossens
Maritime Historian
Author’s private collection
MS Port
Later names: Akrotiri Express, Daphne, Switzerland, Ocean Monarch
Currently cruising as the MV Princess Daphne
The
John Whitehead Story
The graceful lines of Ms Port Sydney seen at
A Note by the author of ssMaritime: I am most grateful to ex senior 3rddEngineer of the Port Sydney from October 1959 to March 1960, who also sailed on various other ships during his career, for this excellent three webpage feature containing an excellent insight to this remarkable ship and its daily workings. I am sure that we will all be enlightened as we delve into her engine room as well as other facets of the ship and her daily life. If you have sailed on her late in 1959 or the early 60’s we would love to hear from you, especially if you were a shipmate of John Whitehead.
All images, except for those marked otherwise, were taken and provided by John Whitehead and they are © Copyright. Images may not be copied for any purpose, be it for personal use or for publication. Should you wish to use any of the images shown on this site for a specific reason see the photo notes at the bottom of the page.
Reuben Goossens.
Page One
Life
as an Engineer on MS Port
By John Whitehead
John Whitehead seen in 1960
I joined MS Port Sydney as Senior 3rd engineer in London Tilbury docks in October 1959 in order to gain enough sea time for my chief diesel endorsement ticket having sailed most of my sea time on steam driven ships with Ellerman Lines, and curiously I also sailed on the SS City of Sydney as senior 3rd engineer when this ship was involved on April 1, 1958, in the dramatic rescue of almost 1,300 people from the burning Scandinavian migrant ship MS Skaubryn, which of course is another story!
However, getting back to the MV Port
Sydney, I always had an interest in Port Line having served my five year
engineering apprenticeship with R&W Hawthorn Leslie and Co Ltd.
The shapely bow of the Port Sydney – taken whilst in
Yet Port Sydney, a twin screw ship, was
built in 1954 by the famed Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson shipyards on the
Tyne, which belonged to the group that also comprised the “Wallsend
Slipway and Engineering Company Ltd,” where the engines were made under
license from “Doxford” of
The Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson’s shipyard at
Wallsend on
The Port Sydney engine room was extremely well managed, and when in port most of the engineers were on day work servicing and inspecting the main engines and the auxiliary plant. Usually at least one main engine cylinder would be opened up, the pistons would be withdrawn and its wear would be measured and bearing clearances checked (using thin lead wire strips which after being flattened after being squeezed between the bearing halves indicated the existing clearance) and crankshaft deflections would also be measured.
Photographs – Engine
Room
View across control the platform showing starting air
cylinder
The starboard engine control platform
An upper platform view located between the main engines. In
the middle is a spare piston
My four shipmates & Engineers having a tea
break and a laugh in the engine room
Andrew McGregor Snr 4th.engineer
/ Richard A Dow Dall (? engineer) / Peter Nicholson 4th.engineer /
Ian Walker (? Engineer)
John (on the right), as well as the 5thaand 4thhengineers
taking a tea break
The variety of pumps and valves in the engine room
The Fuel Oil pumps operate at 6,000 lbs per sq
inch
Main engine lubricators and fuel injectors
The work was heavy, but it was quite straight forward; our boiler suits needed frequent cleaning as oil seemed to get everywhere, especially after working inside the main engine casings.
There was also quite a contrast between the engine room environment and then later in the day, we were expected to be in the dinning room for our evening meal in our uniforms with clean white shirts together with the passengers, unless of course if you managed to be excused and used the engineers mess in which case it was possible to sit at a small white plastic top table for your meal in your boiler suit!
The engineers mess was a crowded small room especially when in port and all the day workers would converge for their tea break, some sitting on the deck as can be seen in the “tea break” photographs.
Tea is served
Char time means serious concentration
Our 5thhengineer
celebrates his 21sttBirthday at sea
Our Chief Engineer as I recall was Mr. Linklater who tended to keep very much to himself, and he was rarely seen away from his office, where he spent no doubt most of his time checking the fuel and water consumption figures-etc, thus we did not really get to know him as much as our fellow engineers. At meal times Mr. Linklater tended to be seated at the table with Captain Lawrey, along with some of the passengers.
Chief Engineer Mr Linklater
socialises with some passengers in the lounge
Sports deck was wide and spacious as shown in one or two of my photographs, and this encouraged the game of deck quoits with the passengers most afternoons and was frequently led by our Captain. The only problem was (if you can call it a problem) that I was one of the watch keepers in the engine room, at what you might call “odd hours” and my rest period would be at the very time they were playing, thus sleep would be frequently broken by the loud noise of the missed wooden hammer blow on the deck right above my cabin, but this was not the quoits itself! Thus, a lot of sleep would be lost.
Captain
Lawrey and passengers enjoying some deck
quoits
The Captain became such an
expert at deck quoits and he challenged the passengers on every voyage
Postcard from the ssMaritime collection
Go to the John Whitehead Story - Page Two – Also
see the Port Sydney INDEX below for other pages!
*********************************
Port
Classic International Cruises
MV
Princess Daphne
The classic ship that has become the elegant MV Princess
Daphne
From the Cruise-Australia.net collection
Part One: Read about the history of the
Port Sydney
Part Two: John Whitehead Story - Page One - Story & photographs by John Whitehead 3rd Engineer
1959/60
John Whitehead Story - Page Two – The
story continues
John Whitehead Story - Page Three –
Online in the near future
Dave
James Story – Page
Four – Dave an engineer sails home to
Part Four
Why not Cruise on this Ship, or one of the superb Classic Ships still
sailing today
Believe me it is worth it!
Use
the Back button on your browser or Close the Page to return to the previous
page
or go to our INDEX
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Who is the Author of ssMaritime?
Commenced
in the passenger Shipping Industry in May 1960
Also
visit my …
“Save The Classic Liners Campaign” & “Classic Ocean Voyages”