Union Castle at Southampton 1963

[Sean Currie]

Good evening, gents. I'm writing my second book, a novel. I'm ex- Merchant navy myself, but I'm seeking specific information concerning the Union Castle ships that used to bring bullion into Southampton, on or around 1963. Is there anyone who might have sailed on those ships at the time, I'd be thankful to ask you some questions.

Thanks in advance, Sean

[Doc Vernon]

Hello Sean
Dont know if i can help as i was on the Castle Boats in the late 1950's
The Mail Boats (Southampton to South Africa carried the Gold Bullion on each trip from South Africa) Always heavily guarded at the point of loading. This Bullion was transported from the Gold Mines mainly up in the Transvaal, also some from the Orange Free State, by Special Train ,also of course very well protected by Armed Guards all the way to the Dock in Durban
In 1965 there was Gold Stolen from the Cape Town Castle worth about 100,000 GBP ,dont know the entire story but later two Seaman from that Ship were charged with the Theft.
Cheers

An extract

Our ships were also unique in that they were a mix of cargo and passenger ship. This meant that we had seven large holds filled with freezer or general cargo that occupied much of the interior of the ship and thus we had fewer passenger cabins than normal and hence more passenger deck space per person than most other liners. Our major cargo going north was meat or fruit from the Cape in the freezers and Gold from goldfields in the Transvaal, destined for the Bank of England. The gold was normally stored in special vaults in a forward hold . On that trip the gold cargo was greater than normal and a special compartment had been constructed to hold the excess, next to the normal vaults in the same forward hold. (On another ship a year later I relieved the Purser for an hour while he lunched and I myself supervised and recorded the loading of the gold.)

During the passage from Cape Town, a couple of the crew had discovered that ventilation shafts into this temporary area had not been blocked off. They used them to enter the cages and steal ten boxes of the gold bullion, in the standard bars two to a box, valued at about £100,000 but many times that amount today. Gold was worth $35US an ounce back then. The loss was discovered when the ship unloaded in Southampton but for months no trace could be found of the gold.

The entire ship was searched many times before she sailed as usual for Cape Town two weeks later. They had no clues or suspects. Scotland Yard had decided that it was an inside job and that the people responsible must have left the bullion untouched, hidden on board. A strict watch was maintained over the next number of months, probably by undercover officers on the crew and eventually were rewarded when the thieves did make their move. An attempt was made to sell a few bars in Durban. The rest of the gold was discovered concreted into the base of a sand filled container on deck near the stern and was ultimately recovered and returned to the bank. Two seamen were sentenced later to ten years in jail

[vic mcclymont]

On the Vaal in 1970 we always loaded the gold in Durban.
Armed guards surrounded the ship, with guards on board the train, all other loading. / Unloading activity ceased. Guards were also stationed outside the ships bullin room.
Loading gold was an afternoon activity.
Vic

[Sean Currie]

Hello Doc & Vic; thank you gentlemen.
Q. Was the trade referred to as the "Cape Mail Express" service?
Q. In my novel I have the bullion in boxes carried on wooden pallets delivered onto the dock at Southampton (not a U-C ship). Would they have lifted the pallets with hooks or with a wire net?
Q. Approx. how many hours is the Southampton pilotage?
Q. U-C ships went to berths 35/36, yes?
Q. Would they have worked other cargo while the bullion was being discharged?
Q. Did they use the ship's gear, or the dock electric cranes?
Q How many policemen would have been on the dock in Southampton (approx)?
Any thought would be much appreciated.
Thank you,
Sean

[vic mcclymont]

Sean, was always on leave when the ships were in Soton.
Pilotage, from memory two hours approx.
Loading / unloading dockside cranes.
In Soton mailships main electric power generators were shutdown on morning of arrival, restarted ten days later.
Never saw gold unloaded at Soton, small army at Durban for loading.
Vic

[Keith Tindell]

Sean, not sure if you mean dock police, but they were on every gate, and interestingly when it ws pay off day for the crew, we would generally share a taxi, four at a time, so there were a lot of taxis going through the gates on that day. The taxi driver would ask if we had anything that we should not have, (in those days it would be cigarettes, watches or cigarette lighters, ) and we all had baggage passes, which a ten shilling note under the baggage pass meant a straight through with no search. They would have been wealthy policeman on those gates, kt

[vic mcclymont]

It was the same with Customs, we heard of the big raves that that had on the night of the mailship arrival, goods that should have been bonded, drunk by customs and their friends.
Vic

[Sean Currie]

Thank you gents; all good stuff. I wonder if anyone here saw the gold being discharged?

[vic mcclymont]

Sean, some may have seen the wine discharged. Many sampled it on the return to the ship.
Liquid gold.
Vic

[Keith Tindell]

Sean, most of us would not have seen the discharge of gold, when we came alongside, it was a case of square the ship, money, taxi railway stn and home. Hence you may have heard on here reference to the *board of trade wash-up*, not something really proud to do today, but anything hanging about was bunged out of the porthole, including a large amount of cutlery, so dredge the old berths and hey presto, kt