SOUTHGATE

SOUTHGATE

SOUTHGATE WAS OWNED BY 'TURNBULL SCOTT SHIP MANAGEMENT'.SHE WAS REGISTERED IN LONDON AND WAS 3687.20 GROSS TONS.HER RADIO CALL SIGN WAS 'GUZF '. I JOINED SOUTHGATE IN BALBOA, PANAMA IN JANUARY 1979. SHE HAD JUST COME FROM MATANZAS IN THE PHILIPPINES, CARRYING A CARGO OF PHOSPHOR BRONZE. FROM BALBOA WE CAME THOUGH THE PANAMA CANAL AND UP THE ORINOCO RIVER TO CIUDAD BOLIVAR ( I THINK IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN  PALUA, WHICH IS A BIT EAST OF CIUDAD BOLIVAR, BUT NEVER COULD FIND PALUA ON THE MAP) FROM  CIUDAD BOLIVAR WE WENT TO LA GUAIRA,VENEZUELA AND THEN UP TO HOUSTON. IN HOUSTON WE LOADED RICE FOR PLYMOUTH IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. I SIGNED OFF ARTICLES IN PLYMOUTH AS ALL OF THE SHIPS CREW, INCLUDING THE OFFICERS WANTED OF THE SHIP, DUE TO FRICTION WITH THE CAPTAIN AND DUE TO SOME PRETTY HORRENDOUS PROBLEMS WE HAD BEEN  PUTTING  UP WITH, BUT I SIGNED BACK ONTO ARTICLES STRAIT AWAY FOR ONE MORE TRIP, AS MOST OF THE PROBLEMS HAD NOT REALLY EFFECTED ME, APART FROM THE NOTORIOUSLY UN-RELIABLE SHIPS ENGINE WHICH HAD STOPPED IN THE MIDDLE OF A TERRIFIC STORM ON THE TRIP BACK TO EUROPE, THREATENING TO CAPSIZE THE VESSEL.ONE NIGHT THE EASTERN SEABOARD U.S COAST GUARD STATIONS WERE PREDICTING 110 FOOT SEAS IN OUR AREA. I STILL REMEMBER SITTING IN THE RADIO ROOM WITH THE VESSEL ROLLING AND LURCHING ALL OVER THE PLACE AND WONDERING IF I HAD CHOSEN THE RIGHT JOB, THE ONLY POWER I HAD IN THE RADIO ROOM WAS FROM MY EMERGENCY BATTERIES  FOR THE  EMERGENCY TRANSMITTER AND RECEIVER, AND THE EMERGENCY LIGHT ( WHICH I HAD SWITCHED OF TO CONSERVE MY BATTERY POWER, THE ROOM BEING  ILLUMINATED BY THE DIAL LIGHTS FROM THE RECEIVER ONLY ) IT WAS IN THE BACK OF EVERYONE'S MIND THAT THE PREVIOUS YEAR A GERMAN SHIP AND A PHILLIPINE VESSEL HAD BOTH BEEN LOST WITHIN A FEW HUNDRED MILES OF OUR PRESENT POSITION. FROM PLYMOUTH WE RETURNED TO SAVANNAH IN GEORGIA AND TOOK ON A CARGO OF KAOLIN CLAY FOR NAPLES AND THEN ANCONA, ITALY. THE SHIPS ENGINE STILL DID'NT SEEM UP TO MUCH, AND STILL PACKED UP ON OCCASION. I PAID OF THE VESSEL IN ANCONA IN JUNE THE SAME YEAR AS I HAD JOINED HER, AND RETURNED TO THE U.K FOR SOME LEAVE.SOUTHGATE WAS SOLD TO A TURKISH COMPANY IN 1983.