Personal Accounts

Michael Croft
"I spent three months onboard the vessel from late 1983 to early 1984.
The vessel began life named "M.V. Chelwood" built in 1964,belonging to the company France, Fenwick & Co. In 1972 the shipping company Houlder Brothers purchased the four vessels belonging to France Fenwick, "Chelwood" being one of them.
The vessel Oswestry Grange was a typical collier coaster of which there were many carrying coal and other small bulk cargoes around the U.K.coast and near continent.
The vessel when built was probably a good size for the trade it was doing.The vessel itself had a nett registered tonnage of 2725 tons,with her gross registered tonnage being 5440 tons and the deadweight tonnage being 7950 tons.
The accommodation when built was probably state of the art,it was nearly twenty years old when I did my stint onboard and the accomodation had deteriorated a good deal.I suppose a good discription of the ship would be "chatty but happy".As you can imagine the ship did get into a state loading and unloading its cargoes of coal.
The trade the vessel was on when I was onboard was supplying the three South East power stations Tilbury,West Thurrock and Kingsnorth with coal,wether she had done other routes before or not I do not know.
We use to load coal at various jetty or staithes up on the North East coast. The ports being Blyth, Sunderland and Harton which was situated in South Shields also Teesport.Ships occassionally went across to the continent to load coal which Oswestry Grange did the Christmas of 1983,but this only happened once while I was onboard.
Our normal trip was to load coal at one of the N.E. ports,where loading times varied from port to port,I suppose on average it would take between 18 to 24 hours depending on loading machinery breakdowns.
After loading we sailed south which took roughly 24 hours depending on the state of the weather.Unloading time took a little bit longer at the power stations but on average I would say it was between 24 to 30 hours, This could vary depending on machinery lasting the course with out breaking down.We would then sailed back north to start the cycle all over again.
Oswestry Grange finished life travelling up and down the east coast of England in 1985 when it was sold by Furness Withy Shipping Company.( I believe this to be correct).
The vessel as far as I know is still sailing but its had quite a few changes of name. On being sold it became the Stenjohan in 1985, Gina T in 1994, El Billy in 1995, reverted back to Gina T in 1995 and finally Nadi in 2001.


Ian Brouard
I served on the Oswestry Grange as an apprentice deck officer from June 1967 to May 1968.She belonged to Houlder Brothers of London, who's main trading area was South America.She was the third ship in the fleet to carry the name, being built in 1952 at Hawthorn Leslie Ltd, Hebburn on Tyne.She was a general cargo vessel of 9406 tons gross and a deadweight of 13,400 tons. Length 459 feet breadth 62 feet and powered by a four cylinder Doxford oil engine.
Altough there were a few other general cargo vessels in the fleet, she was the only one to have white masts and deck houses, rather than brown as she was built at the yard which built the refridgerated cargo ships.
As far as I can remember the crew compliment was Captain, First Officer, Second Officer, Third Officer, two deck apprentices,Chief Engineer with four other officers , Radio Officer, electrian, Pursur, Cook, second cook, four stewards,Bosun, carpenter, eight deck hands and four greasers.
I joined the ship in Manchester, where I saw for the first time that the tops of the masts and funnel were removed so the ship could pass under the bridges of the ship canal. These were collected at Eastham Locks and fitted before the ship went to sea!
Our first port was Antwerp where we loaded a cargo of steel for Buenos Aires and Rosario in Argentina.Once discharged we proceeded to Paranagua and Santos in Brazil to load a cargo of grain which we brought back to Manchester.
After a spot of leave at home, I rejoined the ship in Birkenhead, but we got caught up in the Seamans Strike and didn't sail for five weeks. This time the cargo was a mix of all sorts imaginable and we topped up with some more in Hamburg before sailing for the Persian Gulf.
We had numerous ports of discharge which included, Bahrain, Kuwait, Daz island, Abadan, Basrah and Khorramshahr.
One thing I remember well was that we dicharged medical aids to Iraq on one side of the river and then arms to Iran on the other.
Our arrival in the Gulf was Christmas Day 1967 and we didn't leave for another three months. The weather was extremely hot and we didn't have any air conditioning!
We were certainly glad to get to cooler climes, sailing south to Cape town where we loaded a grain cargo for Manchester.


Brian Lewis
The oswestry grange,was a ship of the houlder bros line registered in london ,sailing out of liverpool.i made two trips on this vessel. My first trip,only my second trip to sea,aged 17,was on the28 dec 1960,as a galley boy.it was also the last ship i sailed on.joining her on the 11JAN 1965,as a second cook & baker.
The oswetry grange was a cargo ship.opprox 14000 tons.running between liverpool and the east coast of south america.mainly to buenos aires,montivedo,and up the river plate,with its beutifull scenary,to rosario,incidently were their was a corn beef factory.fray bentos,i think.the cows went in one end,and came out the other in a can.
The trips would take approx about three monthes,roughly three weeks at sea,both ways,and ten to twelve days in the different ports.the reason we spent so long in port.our main cargo was grain,and unlike the modern method of loading which takes a matter of hours.in those days the dockers would carry the sacks of grain up the gangway,use their dockers hook to rip the sack,then bleed it into the hold of the ship.
This method of loading suited me very well,as it gave,my self and the rest of the crew a chance to explore the beutiful citys of buenos aries,and montivedo.still the most favourite foriegn destination i have visited.
The crew of the oswestry grange numbered about forty.made up of the capitain,officers,engineers deckhands engine room crew,and catering staff.
my day started at six a.m.my first job,was to put down the dough for thirteen four pound loaves of bread by hand,this involved mixing the ingrediants,then pounding it like a boxer hitting a punch bag.the dough was then left to rise.i then helped the chief cook prepare the breakfast for the crew.after breakfast i would cut the proven dough into four pound peices knead and shape it,then put it into the baking tins,let it rise once more,then put it in a hot oven to bake.while the bread was baking,i would then prepare the deserts that were on the menu for that day,also help the chief cook prepare and serve lunch to the crew.the provisions that were put abourd ship were top quality,and would grace any top class hotel.after lunch we would have a two hour break,after which we would turn to,and prepare and serve the evening meal.after that we would then clean all the work tops,clean the galley floor,finishing the day at six p.m.the deck and engine crew were on four on and four off through the day and night.
The moral of the ship was very good. working and living together the whole crew worked as a team.our spare time was spent reading or in the messroom playing cards,having a beer,recanting stories of places we,d been to,and ships we had sailed on.oh we sailors did have a girl in every port,but thats a story for another day