BP Trader class vessels

[Lewis McColl]

Got a text yesterday from an old ship mate. He was telling me the LNG Carrier, British Trader is being handed over to her new owners next week. She is currently in Dry Dock in Korea. The Trader class consisted of the British Trader , Innovator & Merchant. I sailed on all 3 of them but my favourite was the British Merchant joined her on her maiden voyage in 2003 and did nearly 4 years on her. These ships had the best accommodation of any ship I ever sailed on, even down to a heated bathroom floor, Climate control air con, it was possible to have my day room at temperature at xx and my bedroom at xx so day room 25degrees and bedroom at 19 degrees luxury.
Basically these ships are now just to expensive to run now as they are steam turbine ships and therefore uneconomical now. LNG carriers use the boil off gas to fuel the boilers, this is how the Cargo tank pressures are controlled. Now on new builds they reliquefy the boil of gas so instead of burning the gas it is cooled down again to become a liquid again so it becomes at least -161 degrees C.
These ships were totally computerised, it was even possible for me to load or discharge the ship fromthe comfort of my cabin, not that we ever did, but the facility was there. I could monitor cargo operations from my cabin and on more than one occassion either had to go to the CCR and advise the duty officers they were getting the stagger out of sync.
Lovely ships enjoyed my time on them.1393936046053.jpg

[Doc Vernon]

Sounds like a nice Ship Lewis ,with all that Luxury did you do ant work at all?? LOL
Must have been nice aboard her where the Crew good! I am sure they would have ben
Cheers

I recon a vast difference from my late Brothers old Ship the British Aviator!

[Bengy Roberts]

Got a text yesterday from an old ship mate.

Lovely ships enjoyed my time on them.

had some fun BP in seventies,,bad feeders tho BENGY

[robpage]

Having been with British and Commonwealth when I moved to Gulf oil having a huge cabin with your own shower was like the height of luxury and the air conditioning was variable . And I think the worst nightmare must be was on the Old Clan boats where they had all the catering in one cabin of about 12 Bangladeshis a very tight space . In my 20 years we seem to have moved a long way forward when it actually came to your comfort

[Captain Kong]

My next door neighbour many years ago, around 1964ish, saw me going away to sea, and decided he would go, He joined BP as a Deck Cadet and eventually became Master.
Then he was home on leave and BP told him they were all finished as they were flagging out, and if you still want a job contact an "Agent" in Hong Kong.
He didn't like it much after that and got a job on Big Orange in the Gulf servicing Oil Rigs and eventually met a man who wanted him to be a partner in a ship building project in Saigon. Viet Nam. so he and his wife moved there.

In 2002 I was in Perth and saw a Building on fire in Saigon with a lot of people trapped, the fireman's ladder could only reach up to three floors, the flours Four and Five was were the people were trapped. I flew home and then I heard, His new Office was on the top floor and they all died, including my friend.
David Wallwork.
Sad to go all that way to Australia and see him trapped and dying in Saigon. I didn't know he was there at the time..

[Lewis McColl]

Brian a tragedy, Senior Masters & Chief Engineers walked away with £100,000 +in redudancy payments when BP flagged out, even middle rankers got £20,000+they allkept there BP pensions. Agency men as we became known , no pension scheme and classified as contractors. Yes we were paid decent money and had good conditions so no real complaints. The one thing that really did pee me off was they decided to flag the ships under Isle of Man flag. By doingthat we them became classified as sailng on a British flagged ship. At they time they did it thay moved the manning agency from Dorchester Marine IOM to BP manning Singapore. Why did they do that, Easy so BP shipping would not have to pay the employers Class 1 NIC's. But because we were now classsed as sailing on a British flagged ship we eneded up paying the employees Class 1 NIC's. So instead of paying a self employed Class 2 NIC @£480.00 a year mine went upto just under £5000.00. I was talking to a Capatain I sailed with on the British Merchant recently, he has now retired. Like a lot of BP lads today he decided to ignore the NIC demands. He has been served with notice of required back payment for NIC's £70,000. He has done a runner and lives in Spain.
I never really enjoyed working for BP.

- - - Updated - - -

Doc these ships were the cream of the BP fleet as regards comfort. In the same period BP also took delivery of what was called the Bird class tankers. Single berth cabins and tandem bathrooms horrible ships.

[happy daze john in oz]

How conditions have change since our days.

I have been able, illegally maybe, to see some of the quarters for crew on cruise ships.
It is very close in some parts to a first class hotel, single cabins for many, doubles as well and some for married couples.

Catering conditions with a variety of foods from all around the globe to satisfy the needs of all crew.
Bars, gyms, international phone facilities and many other conditions we could have only ever dreamed of.

[Lewis McColl]

The thing is John , while crew comfort has improved as well as food, not being able to get ashore and have a few beers and a good night out without the worry of some jobsworth standing at the top of the gangway waiting to pick you off with a Breathalyser has done nothing for crew moral.
Some of the best times at sea had to be sitting on a mooring rope a case of cold beer on the go a couple of the lads with a gutar , mouth organ and usually someone playing the spoons or the bones and a good sing song and a bonus a BBQ on the go as well.

For all the comfort I had on the Trader class ships I would gladly have turned the clock back for the good times I had from when I first shipped out. Still as many of us have we have our memories.

[vic mcclymont]

Lewis,out of interest are you saying that cannot consume alchol on any ship or is it just BP.
A friend of went on a P & O cruise a few years ago, on their tabe was engineering officer who plied the table with drinks,and the engineer consumed a fair few himself.
Vic

[Lewis McColl]

Actually Vic BP are one of the few tanker companies were you can still get a beer, a lot of it is low alcohol, maybe 1.5% max is less than 3%. Also limited to less than 21 beers a week, there is no wine or spirits at all on board, at Christmas time 2 bottles may appear and that is only because the master has tapped the Chandler up for a freebie. I suspect your friends P&O cruise ship the Engineer was maybe using an OCS account and he was bending the rules somewhat. The D&A alcohol level is less than what you can legally drive a car in the UK. BP are ruthless when it comes to the D&A policy.