Hostile Waters

[Tony Taylor]

You will find that Shell ships was in these waters during this time I myself was on the Amoria and Vibex from Feb 67 till Aug 67 (i was transfer from Amoria to Vibex in Singapore) around this time one of Shell A class ships came under attack with a loss of life of a crew member.

the Amoria sank alongside due to limpet mine; was refloated and put back in service.
Hemisinus was hit by rocket, through ch stewards port. bulkheads were still full of shrapnel holes when I was on her. Another had a rocket thro engine room and out the other side but I cant remeber which one.

[Tony Taylor]

In 1971 ,when I was HM in Wyndham in WA the Shell tanker @HYRIA@ did occasional R & R trips to ozzie as a release from the Vietnam trips. Had some great parties.My wife worked at Wyndam Hospital and the first indication of the ships schedule used to come from the 2nd mate who new a sister st the hospital. So I would notify terminal and agent of ships schedule.
Master was a Gordon Scarfe. He invited the WA Governor for afternoon tea, which was much appreciated. The Governor left the ship over 2 hours behind schedule as they were old friends from Welsh Rugby days.

I was in Wyndham in 70 on Harpula, we filled the swimming pool with clean water before we arrived. Was a continuous party from arrival till sailing; sailing was slightly delayed due to engineer apprentice being adrift, but was fortunately spotted on bankside along from jetty saying his goodbye with a young lady. Probably the best port visit I ever had without going ashore.
Also sailed with Capt. Scarfe - first class in all respects.

[Jim Fitt]

SS Helisoma, SS Haustrum & MV Amastra were all damaged in Vietnam. I previously compiled an article on each one for a Ship Society house magazine. They are in Word documents and can be forwarded by email. Give me an email address and I will forward them to you if you wish. Jim Fitt

[Bryan Portwig]

Morning All

Do any of you know of any ships that sailed to or through the Vietnam waters between 1967 and '71. I'm doing some research for a family friend ;looking for details of a relative who served during those years.

Thanks in advance

Bren.

hope this helps just google rgds

[Bob Garroch]

Morning All

Do any of you know of any ships that sailed to or through the Vietnam waters between 1967 and '71. I'm doing some research for a family friend ;looking for details of a relative who served during those years.

Thanks in advance

Bren.

I sailed into Vietnam on Shell Tankers on countless occasions during the war during 1967 (Tet Offensive) 1968, 1969 and 1970. Heldia, Hanetia, Hemisinus, Hemicardium. Mostly carried JP4 for the American air-force. Ports where Saigon, Chulai and Danang. 1967 was very exciting. The Americans protected us by having a destroyer at the bow and astern firing their guns non stop. Marine Phantoms dropping Nalpalm along both sides of the river. In Saigon there was a Howitzer battery adjacent to the ship firing its guns between the bridge and the foremast.. In Danang we used to berth at the end of the airport to discharge our cargo. I used to watch the B52 taking off all day. Once in Chulai. the Americans advised us that the North Vietnam Army where advancing and they where evacuating the base. They left us there unable to move we were to big to manage without the aid of a tug. Captain evacuated the ship and the crew where assembled on the quay awaiting their fate. That was rather scary.

[david spengler]

I was JOS on the Haustellum and she did that run for a while. I joined her after her last run up to Vietnam in 1968 and we thought she was heading back to UK for scrapping but ended up taking a load to South America and the Caribbean. Bit of a nightmare as she had a hole in her from American percussion grenade being a bit to close to her then picked up another hole in a cyclone in the Indian ocean. We were on water rations due to cost of water in the gulf and then our fresh meat provisions in Dar-es-Salaam were returned as unfit for consumption, so food rations down to Cape Town. She wasn't very reliable and quite a few times we were drifting while engines were being fixed, probably because she didn't want to go to the scrap yard Apparently she didn't get scrapped for a number of years after I happily got off her.

[david spengler]

- - - Updated - - -

I sailed into Vietnam on Shell Tankers on countless occasions during the war during 1967 (Tet Offensive) 1968, 1969 and 1970. Heldia, Hanetia, Hemisinus, Hemicardium.. Captain evacuated the ship and the crew where assembled on the quay awaiting their fate. That was rather scary.

Hi Bob, you can't leave it there, what happened next??????

[Martin Buckman]

I sailed on Shell Tanker "Hygromia" from Singapore to Vietnam during Jan to July 1970. Great fun . Double pay .Bullet proof jackets and jockstraps. UN blue helmets. Anti percussion grenades chucked all round ship as we went up river. Big gun firing shells into jungle at intervals during the night. Every time gun fired , jetty shook and ship vibrated and cockroaches fell from overhead pipework. Had some good times and good runs ashore. Sailed out with best mate Roy Baxter.Both on deck. Fond memories. Martin Buckman.A.B.

[Leonard Friend]

Hi possibly the axina a shell tanker, a story I heard is that it may have been fired at by a rpg rocket

[Bob Garroch]

Our first trip to Saigon 1967 Tet Offensive. we arrives at Vung Tau and anchored waiting for the pilot. The Marines boarded with our security detail. They started by throwing anti-personnel mines overboard. I was chatting to a 19 year old Marine when he started shouting at a Viet-Cong floating towards the ship in a coracle. At 10 meters he raised his M16 and shot him between the eyes. The Viet-cong dropped into the water and sank.

We proceeded up the Mekong with two destroyers one at the bow and one astern. They started shooting all over the place. Then Marine Phantoms dropping Nalpalm on either side of the ship. That was interesting
We arrived at the oil terminal to an appalling stench of rotten bodies. There were lots of bodies floating around the terminal. We had to post deckhands at the stern to push the bodies away from the engine room water inlet
The destroyers stayed anchored off our port side shooting onto the opposite bank along with Phantoms still dropping Nalpalm. This was backed up by the gun battery located on our starboard side shooting between our bridge and the foremast below the radio antenna. I was standing on the bridge wing and could feel the shells passing by. I could even see them in my peripheral vision.
We were discharging Jet Fuel JP4 and during the night the adjacent gun battery started throwing flares up, which lit up the night and all the guns started up again including machine guns with tracer firing in all directions. The problem we had was the flares landing on the deck which we had to fight off with hoses.

As we were leaving the second mate at the bow noticed a mine tied to the anchor cable and floating against the port side tanks. we called MSTMS (shipping control) and they dispatched a helicopter to drop some Seals into the water, tie the mine to the helicopter which dragged it away and dropped into on the shoreside.

That was my introduction to the Vietnam War. Our further trips were not as interesting.

I forgot to mention that when we were in Chulai and evacuated the ship due to North Vietnamese troops being close. We never found out what happened we witnessed the US troops evacuating the airbase in helicopters . They then returned about 18 hours later as if nothing had happened. In the meantime our crew were in panic mode. First time I saw a Liverpool crew crying in fear.

When we discharged In Danang we berthed at the end of the runway. I used to enjoy watching the B52's taking off, (Being a pilot myself I appreciated the skill it must take to fly one of those aircraft). Its interesting to know that the B52 has rockets to assist in taking off, even with eight engines.
One night the Viet-cong blew up a munitions store, which was adjacent to our discharge pipelines. We quickly dropped the hoses and moved into the center of the harbour. We watched the scene for five days it was like a miniature atom bomb a big blue ball. amazing sight.

In Danang the american fire power was 24 hours a day, in all directions. At night the scene was tracer fire everywere. We took our lives in our hands going on deck.

AS we left Danang one night, the radar indicated a very large target one mile off the port bow. Suddenly an Aldis light started flashing the international code for "You are standing into danger" The Captain did not understand why??? As I was answering, the night lit up orange, flames flew across the sea towards us and the sound of the sky ripping apart, as a 16 inch shell flew through the bridge and landed on the shore side. It was the US battleship New Jersey. What a sight to see that constant fire power as the shells screamed over. We crept away into the darkness with our tales between our legs.

There is lots more. When you get used to war you get very blase about it. I used to love watching Phantoms ,as a pilot to see the Phantoms at 100 feet dropping those Nalpam canisters and then hitting afterburn as it cascades across the land, it is a sight that lives with me everyday.