Lewin of Greenwich Naval History & Forum

When I left the RN I joined Mobile Oil Tankers as a Second Engineer. A few photos of some of the ships I served in.

they look big girls Keith , did you enjoy your time on them as you hear differing tales of life bordering between boredom and cost cutting on services ....

The Mobil Pinnacle was the largest I was in. We had bicycles to get around the upper deck & a lift in the Engine Room.

I readily believe that Keith, they look huge but how on earth did you maintain a vertical presence in a rough sea , I would probably have locked myself away unless I was desperately needed

My experience in the MN was, shall I say, an eye opener. As a 2nd Engineer I was also responsible for the electrics, no Electrical Engineers like the RN.
Trips were 4 mths on & 2mths off, sounds good but for the 4 mths onboard there was work 24/7. Food & accommodation were excellent, pay was pretty good too.

If it suited and you were happy Keith " why not" I love anything Mechanical [ runs in the blood] and to my fathers permanent horror I was always taking things apart and reassembling them to see how they worked [ and very few didn't when reassembled ] and I consider myself a practical person so I'm sure I would have been a dab hand at being one had my life not taken a different path

My other love in life was anything to do with water ....in it ..under it ..on top of it , but again it wasn't until latter on in life that these dreams became reality ......still better than never at all eh

One advantage with Mobil shipping was that I could & did take my wife to sea.

Ahh and she had no meals to cook either Eh Keith , so win ...win for her ?

Just found a web site that lists all Mobil tankers, it is AUke Visser's Mobil Tankers & Tugs. I was able to print copies to make up history of my time with Mobil.

A nice oicture of my last sea going ship, the Matco Thames taking on a cargo of crude oil from the North Sea.