PROUD SHIPS

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] on the time the touch of a woman's hand has sent Vella down the [Music] wavs half a world away in Indonesia men's muscles have made tibia fast to her birth just two ships in a fleet of hundreds the pipelines will fill them up with anything from gasoline to bitumin oil in one form or another for these ships are tankers in these days they're everywhere here's Gilla flying the flag of Holland probing the dawn Mists of the Mery bringing oil from South America orina flying the red duster moving into Mina eladi in the Persian Gulf then through the blaze of suiz and port side pass the gate posts of the Mediterranean molter and jalter butting the Atlantic swell with her cargo of Kuwait crw you find the tankers steering for the heart of the United States up the Mississippi to New Orleans and Baton Rouge you see them in the wide bends of the hogi mured at Singapore and tarakan loading beneath the tall towers of Cardon Venezuela nowadays 1th of all the merchant ships afloat are tankers they're a new branch of the traffic and profession of the sea you can always tell a tanker she has her funnel and engines at the stern and she's never in Port for long she can't be this world runs on oil and the tanker's business is to keep it running look down from the North Pole and see how the oil moves around the circle of the globe from the fields to the refineries where the black crude is manufactured into products the tankers form the floating chain between then there's a second chain tankers again carrying the products from the refineries out to the the consumers and all the time the consumers are sending in fresh demands across the globe to the hub of the whole system to the center that controls the operation of the fleet in our case we work from London of the 2,000 odd tankers in the world we operate about 450 200 of these are our own Dutch British French the rest we Charter by time or Voyage as and when we need them in this office the oil you want is fitted into the worldwide pattern of Transportation here the tankers are rooted out of Arctic Waters may be into a coral Lagoon or sent from Borneo to India or Norway or South America it looks humdrum enough filling in forms allotting tanks but somehow through it all you can smell salt water this ship might be linger or navella orella or Helix in fact she's liparus and I'm chief officer in her 9,000 tons of fuel oil and bitman that's our cargo and we're bound from Cura in the West Indies to Fall River Massachusetts USA we call it the dollar run we carry a compliment of 46 29 men 14 officers three apprentices and one cat at least it's one at the moment come into the saloon at the head of the table the master Captain Seer 40 years he's been at Sea Mrs Seer is with him next the chief engineer and his wife it's her first voyage Trotter the second engineer he see his ghosts then Sparks with the news of the world at his ear then me on the left with a Second Officer X Navy but not a bad type on the bridge pedy the third officer comes from belly hully I think or is it B Luby and on watch in the engine room the third engineer yep auxiliary is okay main motor temperature's normal bearing's running sweet she won't fall apart this side of home home my day they'd have t men for talking of home on the outward voyage and things have changed nothing but paper now forms and figures I sometimes wonder whether I'm a master Mader or an electronic brain I made my first trip just 40 years ago I was a pretty cocky Apprentice then like the all until one day the Le scubbers came up and hit me in the face that taught me that the holds no respect for man or ship [Music] we used to watch the wind now we watch the engines doing it all for us I often wonder what the old hands would have thought of all this modern chromium of ours the men that fought the yards with the clouds cutting overhead and the Sea snarling at them from below mind you I've no regrets life at se is better now a great deal better and why not the sees your business it might as well be as much like home as you can make it especially when you can take your wife [Music] alone oh there's no end to it gain books to pass the time off watch yes and culture too especially on the dollar do you suffer from corns or bunions is it a misery to walk an Agony to dance why not give your feet a real treat all right don't get personal corns are not it's my watch again and number two is waiting to be relieved it's true what the old man said life at Seas changed even in my time and tankers are a good birth but even we have our ups and [Music] downs the war was one of them have you ever felt a ship actually sinking beneath you have you ever been towed away behind a ubo to heaven knows where you laugh about it now now but you didn't at the time they turned some of us into Mech ships too Merchant aircraft carriers with a flight deck over the tanks and a compliment of planes to keep an eye out for the wolf [Music] packs in our business you're in the thick of it in any War whether you're when the Western approaches or the Indian Ocean or off the coast of Korea your friends are shouting for you because you've got the stuff they need to fight [Music] with but it's a far cry from war to Fall River Massachusetts and that's where we are now coming in to tie up and discharge our cargo there's Charlie the pumpman this is his big moment down down down he goes down to his beloved pumps he's got 3,000 tons of fuel oil to discharge and 6,000 tons of bitumin through the pumps through the hoses into the tanks ashore and when he's finished it'll be cast off full ahead and back for more [Music] I that's it back for more back to Cura for another load we're running light now and if there was anything of a sea we'd be bouncing like a but the weather's a blooming Marvel not much to write about this time never is when the weather's good even the boson happy he whistled a tune the other day the old so and so he's had the whole crowd sweating their heads off washing and painting all over the ship we started on the poop last Tuesday and moved forward till we were working right up in the eyes of the ship jippy the carpenter is busy with his windless and pumps is tinkering with the valves in his cargo lights even the engineers are working the there's energy for you by the way how's Gwen getting on at home still painting the town red a tanker is like a girl you know always demanding attention especially the tanks every ballast trip you have to get them ready for the next Lord that's the chief officer's business he has a look see and decides what's to be done and then the blocks go down and get on with it it's a Mucky job cleaning tanks and no one sorry when it's done and the lids go down again when I get my next leave I'm going to cut down that dead tree outside the house I thought of that yesterday when we were greasing down the standing rigging that's a nice job for a fine day we shackle a bosen's chair to the stay and lower the boys on the ends of gantlin they rub the stuff into the wire rope on their way down it's a preservative of course but if you ask me what the recipe is I Shan tell you because it's a patent Brew made up by you as truly patent and portent and one day it'll make my fortune I hope meantime it's good for the soul to watch other chaps working Ah that's bill again it happens to us once a week and No Nonsense this trip it was off Puerto Rico while we were going through the Mona passage and no sooner are the boats down and up they have to come [Music] again then on top of all that fire drill keep us on the Hop don't they well you can't Grumble after all we carry a dangerous cargo and in spite of that our ships are the best bet there is on the insurance Market that's a reputation worth keeping so having told you all the news I'll close the Bon's gone below all's well on deck and tomorrow we'll be back in Cura Sou if there's one place every tanker man knows it's Cura the signal station and the harbor entrance then acre after acre of the huge Refinery spreading like a gigantic spider with a million legs there's a leg tanker with a cargo of crude from maraio and now we're moving in past the big Pon tomb Bridge standing open to let us through we know every fathom of the passage by heart and the pilot knows it better [Music] let's [Music] go there we are safe and snug now to load again and back to Fall River I suppose Urgent Message sir hello what's up this time [Music] hello Mac Western planets ground we'll have to find a ship to replace her would Pella be any good patella John we can't spare her anyway she'd have to clean tanks there lulus or padena paladina well she's about due in Cora but it'll take 3 days to discharge and load up the cargo we need what about larus larus yes we'd have to replace Place her on the dollar run she's got the right cargo all right John you'll catch her at Sea she ought to be sailing just about now Master liaris now proceed Dublin discharge bitan thereafter United [Music] Kingdom away come on there haven't you got those spots peeled yet come in two cents would peel the freckles off his ugly m [Laughter] [Music] nice message for you sir proceed Dublin thereafter United Kingdom confirm bunkers sufficient so it's [Music] home Bas steer over 59° 5 9° sir the turn for home the Veer of the wind the swing of the Horizon the Ark of foam circling a Stern it's now that you remember the promises you made the day your last leave ended the things you swore to do in the spare time you wouldn't have the sailors a split man half a float and half a shore there'll be expectations waiting of a kind that can't go unfulfilled better get on with it hold Infinity in the palm of your hand and Eternity in an hour 3 4 5 6 chronometer 11 hours 23 minutes 14 seconds and the barometer's falling oil under your feet and the kick of a laden tanker facing heavy weather [Music] Co you're down here and all the kicks and bumps can't stop the motor pushing the old girl home yep watch those miles roll W for Stern on the riv counter to find a ship's position by the use of position lines obtained from two different observations comes easy after 40 years 8 bells and 8 again noon to midnight and the watches change once [Applause] [Music] more hold Infinity in the palm of your hand steady as you go [Music] oil under your feet on deck and the wkak of hot oil in the engine room below nothing like it for a queasy stomach windforce nine this is quite a [Music] blow old shot has seen another ghost course 05 9° log 93 wind Norwest Force 8 This Will Blow itself out in 48 hours [Music] [Applause] there you are Petty B Huli or is it B lubi and that's that oh well one Trip's much like [Music] [Applause] another and liparus stands for all the tankers and the men of all the nations who sail them up and down the world outbound homebound light or Laden carrying their vital caros wherever orders take them the ocean tankers proud ships all of them guard speed them on their courses and bring them safely home [Applause] [Music]