discussion

Galeomma was a twin screw shallow draft tanker with triple expansion steam engines which were built by Geo. Clark She was completed in 1946 for Curacaosche Scheeps. Maats. (Dutch Shell). In 1953 transferred to Compania Shell de Venezuela Ltd. Then in 1961 to Shell Tankers (UK) Ltd. on 11 May 1962 arrived at Blyth to be broken up.

Full steam ahead.

Terry Whalebone Cannot be the chief with those overhauls?

Great photo.

steviej 007 Thats what I thought, must be the Second.

best shot

very good

This is way off topic, but in the NY Times obit for Hopkin, the headline for the listing below his was "Gas Kills Gas Inspector." lol -- Seen on your photo stream. (?)

More on topic – Apparently, Hopkin had moved to Chicago to pursue his career just before the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 (the one famously blamed on Mrs. O'Leary's cow). Having lost everything but the clothes on his back in the fire, he moved back to Detroit where he lived until his death.

Robert Hopkin was my great-great grandfather.

In the Navy, many young men chose to enlist as coal passers rather than serve in the deck crew because the pay was significantly higher - $22 per month for a newly-enlisted coal passer versus $16 for a newly-enlisted landsman. The extra pay was well-earned since the work of a coal passer was among the most difficult, dirty, and dangerous duties in the U.S. Navy. Frederick Wilson, a water tender in the U.S. Navy recorded the work of the coal passer as follows: "When on watch, his duties consist of getting out, or passing, coal to his firemen, and in some ships it is no snap to handle 40 or 45 buckets of coal, each weighing 145 or 150 pounds, in a temperature of perhaps 150 [degrees] to 175 [degrees]… & has to haul the ashes from the ash pans and load and send up buckets of ashes. He is put to work also at cleaning bilge strainers when they become clogged up with coal dirt and ashes. At times he has to put on the fires when a fireman plays out. He has to stow coal in the bunkers when they coal ship. Has to go in the boilers and knock off scale and scrape out mud, and scale and clean out bilges in port…scrub paintwork and paint, clean off pumps, polish bright work, and do any work he may be put at…goes in the back connections of the boilers and cleans out the soot and ashes from there and also in the smoke pipe…any old place that is hard to get at and dirty. It is hard and awfully dirty work and it is work that is never done. If he has any time off, he is at drill…” In addition, coal passers were the first line action against bunker fires, wherein they had to dig into the pile of coal, expose the burning embers, and either shovel the coal to the boiler furnaces or douse the fire with water, while living is a mass of super-heated air, with smoke and other noxious gases. Also, in action, a coal passer was in a bad position. Should the ship founder, his chances of escape were not good, and in many cases, if working close to the active boilers, a hit to the boilers and the tons of boiling water they held meant a horrible death. Lastly, a coal passer, living among the coal bunkers and the heat, could seldom ever get fully clean. On OLYMPIA, men exited the bunkers and boiler rooms by climbing ladders that led directly to the Firemans’ Washroom, where they would attempt to clean up so as not to carry their dirt and dust out on the clean decks." Presumably, the career of a coal passer in the merchant marine was similarly arduous.

Another Bain/LOC photo of coal passers: www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2163482898/in/p...