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Allow me to introduce myself. My
name is Martin Davies, I originated from a farming family from
the Welsh farming village of Llanedeyrn, situated five miles
North East of Cardiff. I joined the B & C group as a junior
engineer in April 1967, after reading an advert in the local
paper that Joe Mabbett, Superintendent Engineer from Southampton
was on a recruitment drive & would be conducting interviews in
the Angel Hotel for suitable candidates. My interview was
successful & within days I was allocated my first ship being ss
Sarah Bowater which I joined at the Smith's drydock in North
Shields. My first trip ever out of UK was, what I then
considered a thrilling experience & sea passage to Holmsund in
the Gulf of Bothania. The fact that there was nothing at
Holmsund except for a solitary shed on the quayside stacked with
paper pulp did nothing to dampen my adventurous spirits. I
wanted more resulting in a lifetime attached to the marine
service both ashore & afloat. I stayed with the Bowater fleet
for a total of eighteen months, where most of my time was on ss
Nicolas Bowater (flagship of the fleet) distributing huge rolls
of newsprint to various ports on the East coast of USA. Our home
& loading port was the famous? or maybe I should say infamous
but nostalgic Cornerbrook situated in the Humber Bay on the
Western seaboard of Newfoundland. I refer to Cornerbrook in
those terms due to the many stories that have come out of the
port luring Bowater seafarers back to their "Second Home." Many
married local girls & settled there.
It was in October 1968 that my first
taste of the ever spoken about mail fleet was experienced when I
joined SA Vaal as Junior Fourth Engineer. I stayed with the mail
fleet for the rest of my career with B & C except for a period
on ss Argylshire during 1974/5. The remaining period was spent
alternating between SA Vaal & Windsor Castle completing 48 round
voyages on each. My final voyage was as Junior Second Engineer
on the final voyage of Windsor Castle, completing that voyage
No.124 at Southampton on 19th September 1977.
Whilst on Windsor Castle during July
1973, I met my future wife Terese` (Tess) a passenger, who
hailed from Queenstown in the Eastern Cape. We became married in
December 1975 & after initially setting up home in Southampton
where I spent 1976 studying & obtaining my Class Two Marine
Engineer Certificate of Competency. On new years eve of 1976,
Tess accompanied me on SA Vaal where we sailed to South Africa
to set up home in East London. I stayed with SA Vaal for a few
more voyages before transferring to Windsor Castle for her final
few voyages. The penultimate voyage was most traumatic due to an
outbreak of fire in the generator room, three days prior to
reaching CapeTown on the main Southbound voyage. Devasting
damage occured to the main switchboard & respective wiring, one
of her turbo-generators was rendered out of commission plus
completely blackened paintwork on the bulkheads & deckheads.
Repairs were carried out during the SA coastal voyage & the mail
schedule was maintained with the ship departing CapeTown on
schedule again for the Northbound voyage. Ironically, a couple
of technical representatives from the forthcoming new owner
"John Latsis" were on board understudying the technicalities of
the ship. After staying with the ship for the hand over &
re-naming ceremony to "Margeritha L", I took the next convenient
flight back to South Africa. A month previously, I had tendered
my resignation with B & C to take up employment with the then
SAR&H as a marine engineer in the harbour service.
Our settling in East London was
relatively short lived as I was commandeered to Walvis Bay (the
only position available in the Country so I was told) Hence at
the end of October 1977, we boarded the ever so "slow & slower &
slower" train to Walvis Bay arriving some three days later.
We spent almost four years in that
desert port & made many friends, some long lasting to this day.
During my employ with what became later "Portnet" I moved to
various centres finally ending up in Saldanha Bay as Marine
Technical Manager. I resigned from that position in June 1998 &
since then have been gainfully employed on contractual basis,
initially as chief engineer to the bulk fleet of Safmarine &
then to the offshore industry following the disposal of
Safmarine. For the past five years have been contractually
employed by Smit Amandla Marine (Pty) Ltd on the Dept of
Environment Affairs & Tourism (DEAT) fleet of vessels.
Sadly I lost my wife to cancer in
February 2005, but she did bear me three lovely daughters & a
son whom I cherish. Two of my daughters are married & residing
in Holland & UK respectively. My son & youngest daughter
are students at Stellenbosch University.
I have not kept in touch with past
shipmates but have reached that time of my life where I find
myself looking back at the nostalgic memories of my days with
the mail fleet. Hence perusal of websites. I have commenced
writing my memoirs, what started out as, what I thought would be
a few pages, has turned into a manuscript of enormous
proportions, which has yet to be completed. I have ultimately
settled in Durbanville, Western Cape, & can be contacted thus:-
You may add my details to your staff
register where I look forward to the possibility of
communicating with past shipmates both afloat & ashore.
Photograph -
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