01.08.2020 - 23.10.2020
04.01.2020 - 24.06.2020
04.11.2019 - 27.12.2019
m/v St Helena (ex MNG Tahiti, RMS St Helena)
Captain
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After few days onboard and having had several walk arounds and seen how knackered she actually was I truly wondered how they managed to reach ol' Blighty from UAE in the state she was in. They had after arrival sat a while in Southport before plans were made for moving her to Birkenhead. My chief mate onboard was an elderly chap from North London. The rest of the crew was Filipino except the Chief Engineer that also was an old retired Scouser and he also had a Polish Engineer and Indian ETO to support him. I was related the story of how the mate had been part of the crew inspecting St Helena in Ras al Khaimah and then put her in sea-going state for a transfer to UK via Suez. The Polish Engineer and ETO were remnants back from the RMS era.
As I was in South Africa on vacation I got out of the blue an email from Allan Wilson asking if I would be interested in joining St Helena for major refit and then sailing her. After a bit of digging I realized it was the ex RMS that was the last one of its kind and had been servicing St Helena island with mail and supplies as well as passenger capacity.
The RMS had made regular traffic from UK to St Helena Island and less frequently also to Tristan da Cunha and Ascension Island, which apparently were highly popular for travelers and locals alike. The completion of the airport on St Helena put an end for that trade and the British Gov't had sold her overseas in early 2018 to a private operator. This was met by great consternation of the locals who had enjoyed m/v St Helena for almost 30 years and they still kept their beady eye on her with great interest. She was renamed MNG Tahiti, reflagged under St Kitts & Nevis and put under a non-IACS class where she then worked as a floating armory in the Middle East for the security trade that was prevalent due to the piracy scourge off Somalia. This may have proven to be a poor decision or the security business wound down and the supply was possibly oversaturated to meet the demand for this kind of operation so in a matter of months she came out on the market again.
Old bridge
New bridge panels
New scanner being installed
New bridge, having a break between surveys
Here enter Extreme E and Wilson Yacht Management that thought she'd be a suitable platform for their intended new race formula with the floating paddock. The races were planned to be so far apart that the paddock and cars would be able to be transported by sea to the next venue thus supposedly cutting down on emissions vs flying the gear in airplanes. St Helena fit into the plan as she had 2 large holds and great passenger capacity as well as saving her would give a picture of re-purposing (or "up-cycling") old tonnage instead of building something new from scratch (and using up earths finite resources). She was purchased in Oct 2018 and subsequently renamed back to "St Helena" (which raised another drama among the Islanders).
RMS solution, smoking table on top of fuel tank air vent
As I was still employed on Ventum Maris I had a thought for few days about the pro's and con's and then subsequently decided to resign to take on this unique project in UK. This was partly also due to the toxic experience I had onboard. Crewing issues that should've been tackled even before I joined had been left for me to sort and then it became political and wasn't solved properly. I felt like not getting the backing from Owners and office that the matter deserved and as such I couldn't do my job properly. In the light of this I thought that the new St Helena project even with a considerable cut in pay would be better for my peace of mind and that was that. I replied Wilson my acceptance of the position and subsequently my resignation to Campers & Nicholson who managed Ventum Maris. Wilson then quickly wanted me onboard so I had to cut my leave short and pack my bags for UK.
The old m/v Sarsia abandoned in West Float
I flew into Manchester and was met by the DPA Bob Lough that I knew from years back since m/y Titan. Together we made our way to Birkenhead that I recall having visited back in 1993 when I worked on m/v Atlanta Forest, we had discharged and loaded cargo in West Float where St Helena was now tied up at. Birkenhead is located opposite Liverpool on the Wirral peninsula by the river Mersey and on the side is river Dee. There is a great writeup of the Wirral history here. In Roman times Dee was the more popular river that led to Chester but as it silted up then Liverpool's rise as a shipping hub started by Mersey. As the weeks went by I enjoyed weekends exploring the surroundings of Birkenhead.
Tintin themed artwork put onboard
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Tintin themed artwork put onboard
Artwork put onboard
The St Helena looked a bit sorry but afar still impressive and not too bad, her lifeboats had already been taken off and stored at the shipyard premises, also her aft teak deck had been dismantled and stored. As I would take closer look at in the coming months I would come to change my opinion pretty soon. The outgoing Captain had already left the vessel for reasons unknown to me. Anyway, the cabin was empty and all I had to do was move in.
The old man's cabin was quite spacious cargo ship style with a sleeping room, office and own bathroom. The office also functioned as a small saloon with sofa and table for guests. It was of course just under the bridge on the starboard side corner with a view forward and to starboard. Out on deck one could see both hatches and the double crane perched in between them. We sat with Bob for a beer in the saloon and caught up with St Helena and then we carried on sailing on the Blue Funnel Line that is Bob's favorite.
West Float after WWII (?) (courtesy Wirral history)
After few days onboard and having had several walk arounds and seen how knackered she actually was I truly wondered how they managed to reach ol' Blighty from UAE in the state she was in. They had after arrival sat a while in Southport before plans were made for moving her to Birkenhead. My chief mate onboard was an elderly chap from North London. The rest of the crew was Filipino except the Chief Engineer that also was an old retired Scouser and he also had a Polish Engineer and Indian ETO to support him. I was related the story of how the mate had been part of the crew inspecting St Helena in Ras al Khaimah and then put her in sea-going state for a transfer to UK via Suez. The Polish Engineer and ETO were remnants back from the RMS era.
West Float after WWII (?) (courtesy Wirral history)
Now her certificates had all elapsed and basically we were only waiting for Owner's to give the go ahead on worklist and then the refit to commence at Cammell-Laird's. Without certificates we couldn't sail anywhere and I think I would have refused sailing her anywhere looking at the condition she was in. Going to the yard also included dead ship transfer to the dock, towing the ship past he central hydraulic tower through Alfred docks locks into the river Mersey and then into the graving dock at high tide. The refit also entailed bringing her back under Lloyd's Register (LR) class and re-registry back under the British ensign with MCA passenger ship class I standards with only a provisional registry certificate to start with. The "re-entry into Class" with LR was not going to be an easy feat, we had the local surveyor onboard for a walk around as well as MCA (representative of Flag) had their surveyor coming onboard for initial surveys. The state of the vessel had them both flabbergasted.
Sunset in West Float
Sunset in West Float
At West Float
Bidston dock
At Bidston dock
At Bidston dock
At Bidston dock, spring day
At Bidston dock
At Bidston dock
As the weeks rolled away the chief mate resigned and the Polish engineer also disappeared from the picture and Wilson tried to hire replacement crew which was very difficult given the project and the state she was in. We promoted our 2/O to C/O but he was too young and inexperienced for the job and eventually he also left us after having wringed his ankle tripping over mooring lines during a dead ship movement. Another 2/O left us during the weekend having been unable to muster enough courage to serve his resignation, written down as deserted in the articles after office called his mother (NOK) who said he is live and well but doesn't want to talk to anyone. Another chap got thoughts of grandeur and started voicing off to our project manager of how the works should be done so he got short shrift and eventually also resigned. After that we got a visit from MCA following an anonymous complaint which was cleared.
The old hydraulic plant, still as she was bombed during WWII
Tugs entering Alfred dock
Old dock masters office?
We all still lived onboard and cooked our meals there, as she was built 30yrs ago to British naval standards, the crew still only had public showers and toilets that didn't sit well with everyone, the shower area was further run down as it was above the pool and it had rusted and evidently leaked down below. Most crew were accommodated in the officers quarters, the deck below the bridge and then the rest were on the main deck in crew quarters as well as few in the 3rd class guest cabins behind the dining room. Conditions are not ideal in a refit scenario but we made the best out of it and everyone had a place to sleep and eat as well was taken care of with working gear and health care.
Weekends were sometimes communal efforts in the galley
West Float and Liverpool, Bidston graving dock up left, Cammell Lairds yard down right
(courtesy of Google maps)
Eventually the works started and we got things going on at the defunct graving dock in West Float called Bidston Dock, we had been towed there by 3 tugs and moored inside a secure area controlled by Cammell Laird. The docks gates didn't work anymore and it was overshadowed by a huge crane, the plot beside us was a grassy field occupied by angry geese, originally there had been more graving docks but they had been filled in. I was told a story by the locals that the designer of the docks eventually committed suicide in one of the graving docks as it became clear that the vessels they could accommodate would have been much larger had they been built more to an angle instead of straight angles to the water. Now the size was restricted to about 105m as the opposite shore became a factor, at angle much longer vessels could have been fitted in, true or not, I don't know. Enroute we had also passed the last ship Prince Charles had been in command of, a sorry half sunken derelict wreck today in Gillbrok Basin. Nearby were also laid up an old RFA ship, Fort Rosalie, she had taken part in the Falklands war back in the 80's, now she was mothballed and waited for buyers.
Works consisted more of stuff that we could do afloat and the graving dock stuff was saved until later. The genset was still running as the infrastructure at West Float was lacking any modern amenities. The whole area actually looked the same as when I had been loading there in the early 90's, in fact, just more run down. There were many areas with new developments underway, e.g. old flour mills converted to residences, so I guess in due course West Float will only be for leisure use or maybe even filled up. Originally it was planned to be a canal to run up to Hoylake to another port but it never happened and came to be called the "great Wirral con" as the Liverpool port owners bought up the canal land from the owners at an highly inflated price.
The Great Wirral con (courtesy Wirral history)
Big jobs were putting the cargo gear back in service (and Class) as well as checking the mooring winches and lifeboat davits. The forward anchor winches had bent axles with some hairline cracks and as one could imagine, new axles were not available off the shelf so we got Class to approve reconditioning of them and the yard eventually got them done very nicely. The cargo hatch machinery (McGregor patent) was working but the rest was corroded solid. Crew worked hard to get everything apart and we spent hours chipping them free from rust and grime, eventually painting them and putting them back together with grease and new nipples.
The angry geese on the other side of the fence in Bidston
Works were going pretty well and we made good progress until the world was hit by the news of Covid epidemy. In the beginning works continued but then eventually slowed down and stopped altogether as we were put on the sidelines because we were not considered "essential works". We still had all crew onboard so we made good use of them and started working ourselves on the cargo hatches and superstructure that had more than enough holes to patch. We were well "hidden" away at Bidston so we could crack on while the world kept on wrestling with the epidemic. In case anyone remembers, the winter was very mild and the spring even better, would not have thought it was British weather.
Taking lifeboats back onboard
The superstructure had in the end over 500 holes patched up in one way or the other, all the exterior lighting fixtures were renewed (LED lights) as well as the brackets needed for them. All windows had the slow work of getting the rust off the frame and then painting them so that rust would not run off them again. It was slow tedious work as one did not want to break the window pane. We also had a team of Romanian workers making the guest cabin toilets water tight (lot of rusting around shower trays and water fittings) and painted again. It was very dusty work and was going on for weeks. Then they continued by demolishing all officers cabins below the bridge in way of the luxury VIP suites.
Some corrosion holes we discovered
Some corrosion holes we discovered
Corrosion on deck
Ventilation gooseneck replaced
Interior stripped and ready for laminators
The swimming pool was eventually cut out and suddenly the project had an additional space of 20sq.m. for their disposal and it was decided to be built as a lab which again posed more issues re: classification depending what actually was going to be in the lab. All guest cabins were also spruced up, instead of changing everything the Extreme E decided on laminating each cabin to a more "sportier" color scheme. Light fixtures were here also changed into LED. The guys doing the laminating were ordinary car laminators so this was by far the largest job they ever had done. The open aft deck got a resin covering that mimics teak (Bolidt) as the old teak proved a hard task to get installed back on as well as any new teak procurement would be arduous and expensive and against the ethos of Extreme E.
Officers "dayroom"
Old mans cabin
The navigation bridge was also completely renewed as the gear in there had come to their end of life and had no support available, the new navigation equipment became a fully certified paperless bridge with Furuno electronic charts, radars and other auxiliary equipment that is required these days. Most of the layout remained the same but a lot of old dilapidated furniture was thrown out and the bridge looked more professional than it had. The amount of useless cables the technician, Craig Asquith, doing the work found in the panels and switchboards was staggering, also the fire detection system was made addressable and the sprinkler system was upgraded.
Hatchcover machinery bits dismantled for chipping/ cleaning
The sad part about the accommodation was that the whole allocation was altered and officers were moved down to crew deck, captain and chief engineer lost their forward view and were relegated more aft. The old officer cabins were opened between each other into 2 massive VIP suites sharing the forward view. Now the old mans cabin was the ex radio officer's quarters with one measly window on the side providing daylight and it was also partly obscured by the lifeboat. It eventually came all together and worked somehow but the public showers and toilets was a continuous gripe for the crew that knew higher ranks had their own. The time had ran past St Helena, lot of space had been taken for guest use and crew had been cramped together so the atmosphere was not the best considering recreation and welfare.
Blackstones open
Blackstones open
Blackstones open
Part found inside exhaust line during overhaul
Meanwhile, the main engines got a lot of deserved TLC, they were the original Mirrlees Blackstones K6 Major ("blacksmokes" by the comedians) so spares were hard to come by as they also were 30yrs old. Same engines are (were) used in most Scottish Isles to run backup generators. Engines were overhauled and safeties reinstated, in the engine room a massive exhaust boiler was removed, 2 other boilers were refurbished. Numerous pumps were also rebuilt, valves were renewed and the list went on. We discovered that the originally installed foodwaste tank had simply been discarded (not a trace could be found) by the ex. RMS crew so we had to build a new one. Also the air-conditioning had to be totally refurbished as parts had been discarded from the air handling units after they had stopped working so our project manager was sort of redesigning the whole system again, ducts had to be fixed as they were rusted through.
Props off for overhaul after cleaning
When the covid epidemy slowly ebbed and things started opening up it was time to move St Helena to the main graving dock at Cammell-Lairds and so one day we were towed once again out on the Mersey and into the dock. There we had our rudder checked and propeller shafts pulled and bushings checked. Luckily they all passed muster and they could be assembled again and propellers too, she had 2 controllable pitch propellers in the aft with one single rudder, no bowthruster. This was only made to cross oceans with minimal drag and to anchor off the St Helena island, tugs were used in other ports so she had no special gear to maneuver. We also needed to put in a ballast water treatment plant and it would be whole new chapter in this story if I would start explaining it here, long story short, it was getting done.
Pool taken off
New tank manhole collar fitted
Cutting shipside
Welding tanktop
Funnel after the logo was removed
Plates being fitted
At same time the metal workers started working on her hull, holes were cut and shipsides became smooth again as well as classification items on the tanktop was repaired, other hotworks included various items on deck like railings and other stuff that had corroded away. Meanwhile other trades started pressure washing the old paint off. Then lifeboat davits required a fair bit of hotwork too. Funnel had a big hole behind the St Helena logo that was discarded as well as the monkey island had the odd hole leaking into the bridge and office. After this the paint started come on the vessel, antifouling and superstructure had all to be painted and soon enough she had a new livery on. The new look was already giving local news sleuths wind and we were featured in several news outlets for it.
Rescue from enclosed space demo of tripod
The end of the refit became as usual quite hectic and lot of things were coming together, the owners were breathing down our neck but we still only had 24hrs in a day. Crew recruiting was becoming better and we soon had full complement that were much more motivated than the early days failures we had had onboard. Surveys became more intense but we slowly passed each hurdle required towards Passenger Class 1 certification. Myself, I had to pass examination of the UK law and procedures of maritime law before I was granted a certificate of equal certification of my Master's license which I successfully got. Safety equipment had to be passed as well after the lifeboats (now refurbished) were lifted back onboard to the fully serviced davits and various drills had to be demonstrated to MCA and LR to satisfy levels of crew ability to act in an emergency. In the end our team achieved full Class I UK passenger ship with no memoranda outstanding.
In Cammell-Lairds graving dock
In Cammell-Lairds graving dock
In Cammell-Lairds graving dock
In Cammell-Lairds graving dock, stabiliser fin
During this time Extreme E finalized their cargo manifest and stowage plans were made to ensure best stability and minimal damage to gear. Owners suggested to me a totally different loading plan that would have capsized the vessel and it became a bone of discontent. In the end I skipped diplomacy after several attempts to explain and exercised my overriding authority and informed that loading will be to achieve best stability and safe stowage.
Extreme E rally cars arriving
Test loading of rally car
Containers on in Liverpool
Containers on in Liverpool
Enroute Falmouth
Sunset in Irish sea
Arriving Falmouth approaches (unknown photographer)
Our arrival "squiggle" on our plotter
Then it was time to cross the river Mersey and we docked the last time in Alfred dock and loaded the full paddock and cars in Liverpool and sailed her to Falmouth where some last overhaul of the generators had been scheduled to be carried out before departing for Saudi Arabia. The weather was not too pleasant enroute and we tried the single engine cruising with poor outcome but I put that to our Chief Engineers inexperience with the settings. Arrival to Falmouth had excellent weather and I moored her alongside the A&P Falmouth yard in a beautiful swing without tug assistance. Later in afternoon Wilson called me to tell me the Owner wished me to disembark asap without explanation. That was the end of it, next day I handed over to my other number and left. St. Helena will be carrying Extreme E SUV vehicles on world-wide rallies, itinerary commencing early 2021. Pax/ crew capacity: 170/50 (230 in total). DW: 3130 t. Management by Wilson yacht management
St Helena alongside in Falmouth
Postscript: Now in 2024 rumors are coming out in maritime news that St Helena would be for sale again so I guess the Extreme E concept didn't pan out after 3 years of operation or maybe they are investing in a newbuild. I've seen her in media and she truly has traveled the world in various exotic locations like Saudi Arabia, Greenland, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Uruguay and South Africa. Selling her though might not be an easy feat as she still is a 30yr old wheezing and farting old cargo ship and definitely not electric yet, far from it. Furthermore, they have another 5 year survey coming up that is a big one too. Quickly thinking anyone who would be willing to throw some money in there would look at re-engineering her and possibly installing a bowthruster and new cargo handling equipment. Accommodation would surely need gutting and putting in new too with new lifesaving equipment and mooring winches. In the engine room I think most of it could be modernized and upgraded/ replaced.
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