hi there Positive - by you know how to shake the old cobwebs.
Whilst serving my Apprenticeship at Brigham & Cowan Dockyard in South Shields I worked on several of Ellerman City Line ships and one I remember with great fondness was the SS City of Singapore. The reason I remember her was the boat decks were that rotten with rust, they were cordoned off until the platers could repair them. She sailed into the dock like this - so heaven help em if there had been an emergency and they had had to use a lifeboat, they would have fallen through the decks.
I sailed for Ellerman City Line - on MV City of Columbo 1975-76. Those were the days when it was only the SD 14s that had a workable radar - and radio gear that worked. The rest of the fleet carried a Marconi man to do all the morse code, LIKE YOURSELF, know what I mean
Aye
John E
BLUEBIRD