fractured hulls. The Blue Funnel line never lost a ship
in peacetime, and received an excellent reference in
Winston Churchill’s memoirs.
I joined the Blue Funnel Line as an Assistant
Engineering Officer, and following initial training and
coasting two main-line vessels, the ‘Hector’ and the
‘Pyrrhus’, I was offered either to sail supernumerary to
New York on the Queen Mary, and join a Blue Funnel
ship named ‘Menestheus’ destined for the Far East,
or to sign on to ‘Talthybius’ who they were bringing
back into service, following several years laid up in the
Carrick Rhodes.
The Carrick Rhodes are in Cornwall and comprise
a deep natural harbour created by the last ice age. This
has long been a place where ships out of service could
be laid up for long periods of time.
It was the time of the six-day war between Israel
and Egypt and when President Nasser closed the Suez
Canal, and Blue Funnel had two ships, the ‘Agopenor’
and the ‘Menelaus’, trapped in the Bitter Lakes on the
Suez Canal. I was offered the opportunity to serve
on one of these ships whilst they were out of service.
There would be increased rates of pay, in recognition of
the boredom aspect, as well as the danger of being in
a war zone. I decided to opt for Talthybius, as she was
bound for the Far East and the excitement of those far
away places was very appealing.
I first met up with Talthybius in Glasgow, and when
I arrived at the King George fifth dock, she was a rusty
hulk, that looked ready for the scrap yard.
She and a sister ship had been brought back into
service to replace the two main line ships stranded in
the Suez Canal.
Whilst Blue Funnel operated regular services that in
the main ran like clockwork, they had tramp steamers
that tided up after main line ships, as well as sailing
there and back with a full cargo. This was to be the roll
of Talthybius, and when I was offered the position of
Assistant Engineering Officer I was told that we would
be away up to five months, and amongst her ports of
call would be Shanghai in the PRC (Peoples Republic
of China), which at that time was caught up in the
Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, headed by
Chairman Mao Zedong.
The thoughts of going to China at this time appealed
to me greatly, as it was a closed society and Blue Funnel
ships usually called at the British colony of Hong Kong.
This was to be a rare opportunity and I saw it as a great
adventure.
When I told some of my colleagues what I had
volunteered for, they fell about laughing. I had never
seen a Victory ship and was used to the comforts
available to officers on mainline ships, like the
Hector and Pyrrhus on which I had completed my
initial training. I recall that onboard the Hector my
accommodation comprised a well fitted out day room
with a beautiful roll top desk. There were no port holes
rather, large windows with wonderful views of the
open sea. My cabin on Talthybius would have measured
no more than 3m x 3m and there was one port hole
which was positioned such that it was useless to view
through.
I coasted Talthybius from Glasgow to Swansey in
South Wales, where we took on board steel products
from nearby British Steel at Port Talbot. We then
returned to our homeport of Birkenhead where the
remainder of loading took place. It was a work of art
in those days prior to containerisation and specialist
teams loaded cargo according to where it was destined
and at what stage in the voyage it would be discharged.
The ships hold comprised of deep bottom tanks that
could either be filled with liquid or dry cargo. Above
these tanks were several decks that were individually
filled with cargo and the capped off before another
deck was completed above. We took onboard many
products including machinery, motorcars, to things like
toothpaste and corn flakes.
When all the holds were full, they then took on
board deck cargo mainly comprising barrels of oil.
These were strapped down with steel cables for safety
and security in the event of heavy weather.
Before we embarked on voyage 43 to the Far East,
I was allowed to visit home for one-week leave. Upon
my return to the ship, we were all set to go and to my
distress I discovered that I had left my uniform black tie
at home. I just found time on the Saturday morning to
nip to the uniform shop and purchase another tie.
Back on board, I was off watch whilst we put to sea
and with other colleagues stood out on deck observing
as tugs arrived to guide us out into the River Mersey.
The ship was moving steadily away from the key side,
when I spotted a man running down the dock with
a small parcel and shouting “package for Pownall”. As
he approached the ship we were several yards from the
dockside, but he threw it as best he could, and it landed
not far from where I was stood. It was my original
tie that my Mother had posted. It was amazing that it
arrived as it was addressed to the ship in Birkenhead.
That episode over, we moved out into the river, right
opposite the Liver Buildings, and gradually Talthybius
picked up speed, and we were on our way.
With the Suez Canal closed, we were heading down