Some Bank Line Memories

[Finkenwerder]

Sitting here today what brings back the happy memories of sailing with Bank Line are: the Pacific Islands, New Orleans, Aussie, chips with breakfast on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, being alone on the bridge in the middle of an ocean, fabulous meals at Port Pirie (we were there 4 weeks on Avonbank), bulk sugar loaded in Queensland ports, getting ship maintenance done, being hands on with the job, cargo work (the "three dimensional jigsaw"), good Masters, the camaraderie.

The not so happy memories are: getting deep tanks clean, the smell of decaying tank washings, the smell of copra, "strange" Masters, watching a fountain of coconut oil blast out of the ullage pipe in Suva and knowing your calculation was wrong, crawling around some godawful small spaces, being hove-to, being aground, trying to eat some truly terrible Aussie sausages that we took on at Sydney, watching a shoreside cargo pump fall into a deeptank full of mineral oil (the shoreside strop parted), the loudest thunderclap I've ever heard (mid Atlantic)

And many many more memories both good and bad.

[YM-Mundrabilla]

I wasn't aware that there was anything fabulous at Port Pirie (apart from the lead levels).

[jmilcon]

Nice one Geoff!!!

[lakercapt]

I enjoyed my time spent in Port Pire as the people there were friendly. I remember the train went down the main street. Loading concentrates using ships gear took several days with no night work nor weekend.
Several times and enjoyed it more when we were recognized. Certainly better than Whyalla !!!