Seascape
The Suez Canal, the 6-Day war and the problems
encountered.
Bob Asplet
Written up from a diary kept during the time spent on board the Port Invercargill in the Great Bitter
Lake, Suez Canal.
Jersey
March 2007
This is a brief narrative, based on my
diary of events written during the
relevant period.
On the voyage across the Indian Ocean we
were following the events in the Middle East,
where tension was building between Egypt
and Israel, half-expecting orders to divert
towards the Cape of Good Hope. This was not
to be, and we followed our orders to take
bunkers at Aden, prior to steaming up the Red
Sea to Suez.
After bunkering we set off for Suez – listening
to the BBC world service which reported on
the Middle East situation, but we were
reassured by the statements from President
Nasser that the canal would remain open –
provided other nations refrained from
interfering in the crisis.
We arrived in Suez Bay at noon on June 4th
and anchored in the merchant ship anchorage
to await the next northbound convoy2. At
0547 on June 5th we left the anchorage to join
the convoy as Number 8 of the general cargo
section. At this time we were unaware of the
dawn attack on the Canal by Israeli aircraft. As
we entered the canal we heard distant
gunfire, but assumed this to be the Egyptian
army on manoeuvres. We were disillusioned
when passing the military airfield of El Kabret
(about 1 mile west of the canal), where we
had a ringside view of several Israeli aircraft
strafing the airfield before heading east across
the canal between the ships of the convoy at
what appeared to be mast height.
We – the senior Officers - held a hurried
conference on the bridge and decided that
there was nothing we could do except
2
1
Port Invercarill, 10.483 grt owned by Port Line
was built by Harland & Woolf, Belfast in 1958
Passage through the canal usually took between
eleven and sixteen hours at the low speed of 8
knots.
The Suez Canal, the 6-Day war and the problems encountered.
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MV Port Invercargill
On arrival at Aden, we found that the port was
in the midst of a strike of the Oil Terminal
operators, and so we were diverted to Djibouti
for bunkers. Unfortunately, a large number of
other ships were also diverted, so there was a
delay of some two days before we bunkered.
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In 1967, I was Chief Officer (1st Mate) on
board the refrigerated cargo ship Port
Invercargill1 bound from Melbourne to
Avonmouth with a mixed cargo. The ship
had been refitted in Belfast in 1966, and
had sailed from the UK in early
September 1966. In June 1967, when we
were only a week away from home after
nine months trading away from Europe,
the Six Day War broke out between Israel
and her Arab neighbours and we found
ourselves trapped in the Suez Canal.
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continue along the canal. The only defence
we were able to mount was to close the
watertight door between the engine room and
the shaft tunnel and to man the emergency
steering on the poop in case the bridge was
hit. To find out what was happening ashore,
we provided the Canal Pilot with a transistor
radio so that he could translate the local radio
news for us. From this we gleaned the
information that a state of war existed
between Egypt and Israel. Much later, we
found out that the initial Israeli attack had
been from the west – with Israeli aircraft flying
along the Mediterranean out of radar range –
before flying in to the west of Cairo and
catching the Egyptian defence looking the
wrong way!
us, homeward bound from Australia. We were
told that the grounded tanker had been refloated and was under way some distance
behind the southbound convoy. In order to
allow the Northbound ships to proceed, the
US tanker – we now knew she was the African
Glen - would anchor at Ismalia and allow the
tanker section of the convoy to proceed. It
appeared the Canal Authority had decided to
allow night-time navigation as we were
ordered to get under way at 1920. This
changed just as we had the anchor under foot.
All general cargo vessels were ordered to stay
in the Bitter Lake. The Tanker section was
ordered to increase speed until they reached
the Eastern cut, where they were to remain
overnight. The southbound convoys were able
to continue towards Suez, and were clear of
the Bitter lakes by nightfall.
The following morning – June 7th – we waited
for orders, but received none. It was assumed
that the Egyptian army was moving troops
across the canal on pontoon bridges. The
tanker section was clear of any such bridges
and cleared the canal.
m.v Agapenor
British
m.v. Boleslaw Beirut
Polish
m.v. Djakarta
Polish
m.v. Killara
Swedish
m.v. Lednice
Czechoslovakian
m.v. Melampus
British
m.v. Munsterland
German
m.v. Nippon
Swedish
m.v Nordwind
German
m.v. Port Invercargill
British
m.v. Scottish Star
British
m.v. Sindh
French
m.v. Vassil Lvvsky
Bulgarian
Apart from the Port Invercargill, the British
ships were all Blue Funnel Line.
We all felt very sorry for the American vessel,
being completely cut off from the remaining
ships.
The Suez Canal, the 6-Day war and the problems encountered.
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We reached the holding anchorage in the
Great Bitter Lake about noon. We found out
from the Pilot that at about the same time as
the airfield attack, an American tanker
carrying grain had run aground just inside the
Canal at Port Said, blocking the canal. Even
without the warfare, this would have caused
considerable disruption and the canal
Authority decided to keep the two
southbound convoys moving. (Because of the
imbalance of shipping movements, there were
two Southbound and one Northbound convoy
each day.) We were advised that we would
remain in the anchorage until the following
day. We also received instructions to black out
the ships at anchor, and the southbound ships
were tied up in the canal at dusk. On the
following morning - June 6th we were joined by
a small convoy of eight ships - including
another British ship – the Scottish Star – like
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The result of an Israeli air raid
On the evening of June 7th the canal was clear
of merchant shipping except for 14 ships, 13
of us anchored in the Great Bitter Lake, and
the US merchant ship Africa Glen at anchor at
Ismalia. The ships in the Bitter Lakes were
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At this stage, all on board were concerned that
our families would be worried about us. We
were able to communicate with the UK direct
and the Master had kept the company
informed of the position, but he had banned
private radio telegrams on the grounds that
these would clog communication channels. I
was not in agreement, as we did not know
how much information was being given to our
families. [It turned out that they knew a lot more
than we did, most of the time!] As a result, I was
not able to send a personal message home
until June 11th.
The Egyptian authorities sent a message to
every ship - on a frequency not normally used
- instructing all ships in the canal to cease all
radio traffic.
One ship responded and
received this message – all the other ships
read the transmitted message but did not
acknowledge receipt. Apart from the one
ship, all other ships were able to operate their
transmitters, and if challenged could plead
ignorance of the instruction.
On June 8th the Canal Pilots were
withdrawn, and it was obvious to us all
June 9th and 10th were very quiet in our area,
however, the British ships started to get more
talkative and discussed shortages and policy
over the VHF radio. We were in fairly good
shape, with no serious shortages – but were
short of tea, so we arranged to swap some
with Melampus who was short of potatoes
and yeast. We - the Brits - thought that all
ships should be together on this – but as we
were working on open VHF channels, felt sure
all the other ships knew what we were
planning. We heard the two Swedish ships
talking together, but couldn’t follow their
conversation! [Much later, we found that only the
4 British, one German, both Swedish and the
French ship had VHF radio – and the French ship
never spoke to any of us!]
June 10th. Two of our seamen went swimming
over the side without permission and swam to
the Melampus about 400 yards away. They got
there easily enough, but got into difficulties
coming back upwind and had to be rescued by
our motorboat. The ‘Old Man’ gave them a
good dressing down but he did not stop
swimming.
A watch on the Canal
June 11th. A busy day for us. Some 150
Egyptian soldiers reached the east bank of the
lake. Melampus was closest to that shore and
reported that a soldier had swum out to them
(about 2 miles) and that there were some
other soldiers in the water. They informed us
they would launch their motor boat plus three
The Suez Canal, the 6-Day war and the problems encountered.
3
The Great Bitter Lake
that the Israeli troops were getting closer to
the canal as we could see explosions inland to
the east of the canal. All ships were ordered
by radio from the Canal Authority not to put
boats in the water, or to communicate with
the shore.
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At this stage, the Canal boat crews and
Electricians had been taken ashore. Ships
transiting the canal were required to carry
Canal boats and their crews to allow ships to
tie up in the canal, and the electricians were
required to operate the Canal searchlights
which had split beams to illuminate the canal
banks during the night time transits. Because
of the imbalance of shipping, Port Invercargill
had been asked to carry an additional four
boats – making six in all – which came in
useful later.
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Monday June 12th. We got more adventurous
– one of the Polish boats was first over to the
beach but there didn’t seem to be many
stragglers on the beach, but plenty of
abandoned boats for them to use. We
expected the pilot launch would come to pick
up any boats that were used, but by lunchtime
there was no sign of the pilot launch and we
could see two loaded boats making slow
progress in our general direction. The ‘Old
Man’ sent me off in the motor boat to collect
them, and give them water and a little food,
We found the troops very thirsty, some of
them in a bad way, in fact one died before we
got them over to the western shore. I towed
them all the way to the western bank and in to
a jetty, which appeared to be part of an army
camp, as there were other soldiers and an
army truck there. I spoke with an army officer
– I addressed his as ‘Captain’ but as I was not
familiar with army rank badges, and he was
probably much more senior than an Army
Captain. He thanked us in excellent English,
and asked if we needed anything – we had
used most of our water, so were glad to top
up our supply. The temperature on board ship
had been around 100oF and I suspect was
quite a bit hotter in the open boat, so we
needed to keep drinking plenty of water. I was
asked if we would take the boats back to the
eastern bank – five men in civilian clothing
volunteered to take the boats into the beach,
and although I did not land, we took them
fairly close to the beach. We had been out in
the open boat for about 5 hours without
shelter in the middle of the day and we began
to get some idea of what it must have been
like in the desert. Just before dark one of ‘our’
boats was seen coming away from the beach
and a Canal motor boat took it in tow – we
could see more than five persons in the boat,
so they must have found some more
stragglers. We were surprised at how little
help the Egyptians were offering to their own
men. As neutrals we did not wish to be seen
to be helping their war effort, but to help men
who had arrived at the lakeside with no
supplies, or means of crossing seemed to be a
humanitarian act. We heard on the news
(BBC) that the Israeli’s said they did not want
prisoners, and would prefer the Egyptians to
walk back to the canal.
June 13th. The Canal launches have been out
and about early, so we have not gone towards
the east shore – we could see a few troops on
the beach, but not large numbers. We had a
conference with the other British ships –
Melampus is short of meat – we were able to
supply some. Scottish Star is short of
The Suez Canal, the 6-Day war and the problems encountered.
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Both Port Invercargill and Melampus sent
messages to the Canal Authorities to say there
were boats full of soldiers on the lake, and
later on a pilot launch appeared to pick them
up. Although we did not venture out again, we
saw several ship’s boats on the move taking
empty canal boats across to the beach for
further stragglers.
and to tow them to the other side, or at least
as far as necessary.
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spare canal boats - the idea being to pick up
the swimmers and give them the canal boats
to do as they liked with. The lake is about 6
miles wide so they had quite a long row. When
the Melampus’ boat returned they passed
what information they had to us. Together
with what we could see from the ship, we
persuaded the ‘Old Man’ to allow me to take
our motor boat, with five canal boats in tow
towards the beach. I had strict instructions not
to close the beach, and not to approach close
to any Egyptian manned boats. Melampus had
told us that some of the soldiers on the beach
were armed - mainly with rifles and submachine guns. Acting strictly to orders I
abandoned the boats about ½ mile from the
beach, and about 200 yards from a boat full of
soldiers (I later discovered this boat only had one
oar). Ahead of me the Djakarta had sent three
boats, but had approached the beach much
closer than my orders would allow. Very much
later I found out that the Poles had landed
their Doctor to tend the injured on the shore
under a canvas awning. Having abandoned
the canal boats, I returned to the ship. While I
was out, Melampus had sent her boat with
some tea, and Munsterland had been to
collect our doctor to treat a sick passenger,
and had returned our Doctor.
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own fresh water – I tried some and it tastes
quite good. The question is can we make
enough to satisfy demand – we have about 20
days supply on board at present, but if
necessary this can be drastically reduced. We
all feel that supplies should be eked out to last
40 or 50 days if necessary. The non-British
ships have not joined in our ‘common market’
yet – maybe they feel it is best not to have
anything to do with the Brits. Have not heard
anything from the American ship –[Found out
later that they did not have a VHF set.] Shortly
before 8pm two water barges were seen
coming up from the South, both came to us
first, as we were the most southerly ship – we
sent one to Agapenor as she really needed
water but the French ship grabbed him first.
We took water ourselves from the other
barge, however the ‘Old Man’ was upset that
we had started taking water as some of the
other ships might have a greater need than us,
so after taking about 60 tons we sent the
barge off to the Agapenor.
June 14th. Big excitement – the Pilot boat came
alongside bringing the Company agent and the
ship providore. The latter took orders for
supplies – we wonder when we will see the
supplies, but at least it is a step in the right
direction. We showed a film on deck last night
– despite the blackout restrictions – no
complaints from either side. A lot of activity
on the east bank today – jeeps and a
helicopter – we could not identify the
nationality!
June 17th. The Ships Agent called by VHF from
the ‘Nippon’, saying he had received a
message from the British Interests Section of
the Canadian Embassy – Canada has been
appointed our ‘Protecting Power’ as there is
currently no British Embassy in Egypt. The
June 18th. Finally got the passengers off at
18.30. I understand they will spent the night in
Cairo, then fly to London via Athens. The other
British ships have been told which crew
members will be taken off; we have no such
instructions from our Owners.
June 19th. Message from owners giving details
of crew to repatriate – mainly boy ratings and
the older crew. Of course the usual happened,
some that are listed to go would like to stay
and visa versa! Just as well the decision was
left to the London Office. No word as to the
departure date.
June 21st. Our repatriation crew members
were collected this afternoon – had been told
yesterday that they might go yesterday
evening. We now find that the other British
crews will not go today, so from being the last
to hear they become the first to go!
We met some of the American ship’s crew
today – [diary does not mention how they got to
us] They came to borrow movies, in
conversation they told us their ship had been
to Viet Nam and stayed there for 11 days
The Suez Canal, the 6-Day war and the problems encountered.
5
ran our generators on heavy fuel oil quite
successfully, but it gave the engineers a lot of work
maintaining them.) We have started to make our
message was that they could evacuate all the
passengers, and all the crew who wanted to
go. Had a conference (Master, Chief Engineer
Purser and myself) to decide what would be
best, and in the end agreed on a minimum
number to keep the ship operational, but
would not make a decision until the Company
had been consulted. Master told all
crewmembers that no crew would be going
yet. The passengers didn’t want to go, but we
talked them into agreeing – all except for the
supernumerary Doctor and his wife (Our
Doctor was Australian, but of Jewish descent
so we understood some of his reasoning. He
had wanted to accompany us in the boat
when we went to pick up the stragglers, but
the ‘Old Man’ refused to let him go with us.
Stores boat alongside, crew pleased to see
plenty of Tuborg Lager amongst the stores!
Water boat came back again, so no water
worries for the moment. Passengers supposed
to leave this evening but informed at 9.30pm
that they will go tomorrow at 3pm.
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lubricating oil, Agapenor may be able to help –
we could have, but as we are trying to keep
our refrigerated cargo (fruit) cool, we have to
use more generators. Fortunately we have
plenty of fuel – but most of it is heavy oil and
the generators burn diesel. (Subsequently we
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Owen Parry (2nd Mate) took the motor boat to
the Eastern shore – to collect some sand for
ballast – the propeller is half out of the water
with only a small crew on board. While ashore
they met up with an Israeli patrol in a jeep –
and having explained who they were sat by
the roadside and passed cans of beer round!
June 26th. We have now been told ‘officially’ to
maintain radio silence, except to contact the
Canal Radio station SUQ. All ships were told
this morning, unfortunately, although we were
the last to be visited, none of the other ships
thought to pass on the information, so we
could not contact Portishead Radio to say we
would be closing down. [The radio Officer had
previously told Portishead that we might be forced
to stop transmitting, He had arranged for
Portishead to send traffic blind, repeating the
messages three times over the next 24 hours at
specified hours. This allowed us to receive inward
traffic - our owners had been advised of the plan
but were reluctant to send messages this way]
We heard that yesterday some of the Swedish
crew went visiting the Israelis, unfortunately
they chose to do so close to the signal station,
and their boat was arrested and the boat crew
spent seven hours being interrogated before
being allowed to return to their ship. The
sequel to this story was that the Scottish Star’s
boat went visiting the Swedish ship Killara and
June 29th. Our Agent came out to deliver
instructions that no boats are to be lowered
into the water, also, no radio is to be used, not
even to SUQ . Captain Conby sent a message
of protest to the Canadian Embassy.
The Killara is due to go alongside Scottish Star
for bunkers, they have been told not to move
without a pilot, but when they did ask for a
pilot were told they would get one in 2 or 3
days. We now have a small tug watching us all
night tied to a navigation buoy and showing
no lights.
June 30th. Along with the other instructions
delivered yesterday, was that the flag signal
‘N’ should be hoisted if we needed anything
and the canal authority would send a launch
to find out what we wanted. To see if this was
effective we hoisted ‘N’ this morning and
nothing happened.
July 1st. Killara moved alongside Scottish Star
this afternoon without a pilot. This had some
effect, it brought two launches out to see
what was going on. One launch came to us to
beg for cigarettes, and we forced him to take
a message to the Canal Authority. The launch
had no idea what the flag N meant.
July 2nd. I persuaded Captain Conby to allow
me to take our boat out today, we had noticed
the Polish ships using their boats yesterday
apparently without any problems. As we had
three small citizens band radios on board it
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6
June 23rd. Our repatriated crew are safely in
London, heard two of them interviewed on
the ‘Merchant Navy programme‘ from the
BBC. All the British crew members had joined
up in Nicosia and were flown to Gatwick by
chartered aircraft. We have received cables
too, one from John Sadler Apprentice in
charge of our crew members saying all well.
Acknowledgement from the Owners was not
filed until 16 hours after the crew reached
Gatwick, and was the last message to get to
us! Those of us remaining (43) are settling
down for a long stay, however Mr Sadler’s
cable gave us some hope as it said ‘think relief
crew sent if authorities agree’
stayed for lunch. The Chief Officer and Chief
Engineer were wearing khaki uniform without
rank epaulettes. The Killara’s agent boarded
and saw strangers and thought they were
Israelis, so reported this to the army. Just as
the Scottish Star’s boat was leaving Killara a
boatload of soldiers arrived and carted the
Chief Engineer and Chief Officer off for
interrogation. The Scottish Star’s Master
Captain Wood was in the boat, wearing white
tropical uniform, but they wouldn’t listen to
him. Eventually the Egyptians admitted it had
been a mistake, but Captain Wood is going to
complain.
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without any shooting, then landed up in this
place. Their Mate said “With our luck, we will
find riots when we reach New York”.
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I have asked the agent to arrange for a Doctor
to come to see Captain Conby who has been ill
for some days, and seems to be getting worse.
July 3rd. Doctor came on board this afternoon
to see Captain Conby, he has prescribed some
medicine which should be here tomorrow.
July 4th. Agent on board, but only briefly. No
medicine sent for Captain Conby. I took the
agent aside and mentioned the Master’s
condition, and he agreed that the Master
wasn’t looking too well.
th.
July 5 Captain Conby still not well, he asked
me to look after the job for a few days, which I
agreed to. Consulted with Chief Engineer and
Purser. If he is not well by Saturday, I will have
to decide about cabling the owners.
July 6th. Medicine for Captain Conby arrived –
he still doesn’t look well. Received a visit from
the Police at noon, a whole mob arrived; some
to look at the seal on the Radio Room, others
to tell us we will be getting a Police Guard
from tomorrow – supposedly for our benefit.
Another party arrived about 4pm to look at
the Radio Room seal again!
After this
inspection I found out that some ships had
been told not to use their VHF sets, others like
us, were told nothing.
With luck the ‘Old Man’ will improve in the
next day or so, then I will look a fool for
panicking and sending off cables. I went across
to Melampus to get some phenobarbitone
tablets, but they did not have any. Scottish
Star did have some, so with luck Captain
Conby will get a good night’s sleep. The doctor
gave him some sleeping pills, but they don’t
seem to have had much effect.
July 8th. Captain Conby is much improved
today, and is more his normal self although
still feeling weak. I have not told him about
the cable, but will do so tomorrow if he
maintains the improvement.
A launch came out today with policemen on
board, all armed with rifles and automatic
weapons. We refused to have them on board
armed. Other British ships did the same
(uncertain about Agapenor who is not
answering the VHF).
July 11th. Our boat out fairly early to take our
electrician to Nippon, which has electrical
problems and no electrician. On the way back
the boat was stopped by a canal launch and
boarded, presumably for a search. The boat
was fairly close, and I was watching from the
Bridge. I saw one of the soldiers scrabbling
around in the bottom of the boat, after which
they got back onto the launch and went off.
When the boat was back, I asked the 3rd Mate
what the fuss was about. He told me that the
soldier had bent down for some reason and
two hand grenades fell out of his battle dress
pockets into in the bilge. They recovered them
and went away. The 3rd mate was quite
nonchalant – maybe he didn’t know what the
soldier had dropped until they were safely
recovered!
The Suez Canal, the 6-Day war and the problems encountered.
7
We complained strongly that a launch flying
the Red Crescent (the Muslim equivalent of
the Red Cross) was used to seal up the radio
room. And also to the lack of attention paid to
our flag N signal.
July 7th. Captain Conby still not looking well,
Captain Arnold (Melampus) and Captain Wood
(Scottish Star) came on board and were
shocked at his condition, particularly as they
had not seen him for several days. In
consultation with the Chief Engineer, I decided
to cable the Owners requesting we send
Captain Conby home as soon as can be
arranged.
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was thought to be a good idea to set up a
second line of communication with Scottish
Star and Melampus by means of these radios. I
was on my way back to Port Invercargill when
we saw a launch approaching the ship. As I
was nearer to Scottish Star I went on board to
use the VHF to find out what was going on. I
was told that the launch had come to seal up
the radio room. As our Radio Officer was with
me I went back to the ship. The launch was
not at all concerned that our boat had been
out, so we continued to use it to go from ship
to ship.
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July 15th. Considerable fighting today, mainly
around El Kabret signal station, quite a lot of
gunfire and the Israelis called in their aircraft
to strafe the Egyptian positions.
July 16th. Sunday boating in full swing today,
no ships boats out yesterday by common
consent! U N Observers now in the canal area,
and are to be in position shortly. Our
policeman still waiting patiently for relief – he
is supposed to stay 24 hours, but had been
forgotten for several days. The police are quite
friendly, our Purser asked them when they
first came on board if they would like some
food - yes please was the answer – OK said
the Purser, but you will have to help in the
galley in return. They have all accepted this
and are bringing odds and ends back for the
crew when they come back – for cash of
course.
July 17th. The ‘spy’ launch appeared for the
first time since last week. We first saw him at
dawn, going slowly round the ships and then
back towards the south. The policeman was
taken off at midday, but no replacement.
Captain Conby has improved over the last few
days.
Cable from Norma – ‘unofficial
messages delivered’. These messages were
regarding Captain Conby, which I asked her to
pass to a friend in the London Office giving my
concerns as to his health. The letter left on
July 5th. I am wondering if the London Office
will ever send any messages through
Portishead.
July 19th. Two ‘spy’ boats out today, one very
bold, patrolled well to the eastern side – no
response from the Israelis. We suspect the
presence of an observation post amongst the
The Munsterland went alongside Nordwind for
fuel today, Munsterland had been complaining
about lack of fuel for some time.
July 20th. A quiet day – our lifeboat was
stopped on the way to Melampus, and was
told ‘no boats’ – a message we propose to
ignore.
July 21st. Captain Conby mentioned on the BBC
Merchant Navy programme – Mrs Lubbock
(one of our passengers who went home) is
apparently stirring things, appealing to the U N
and International Red Cross on his behalf.
Mention also of a cable received yesterday
saying he was getting better. We have not
sent any cables recently – must be one that
went off a fortnight ago and got lost en route!
[Mrs Adelaide Lubbock was the mother of the
Liberal M P Basil Lubbock]
Further fame for Captain Conby, on an English
language broadcast by the Israelis they are
making it sound as if the Egyptians are
deliberately stopping him from moving, which
is about right I suppose. We await Cairo’s
reaction!
July 22nd. A quiet day shattered in the evening
by one of the engine room ratings falling down
a companionway and breaking his arm. We
tried to call the Polish ship Djakarta on the
aldis lamp with no response. Munsterland
called us on the VHF to see what was wrong.
We explained, and they launched their boat to
collect the Polish Doctor for us. The Doctor
came and strapped the injured arm, taking the
patient back with him. This is a very good
example of the co-operation that exists
between us all.
July 23rd. Our most exciting day so far, at least
as far as our ship is concerned. Firstly, our
agent appeared bearing mail and a sheaf of
cables etc. He was followed an hour or so later
by a representative from the Canadian
Embassy (our protecting power) who had at
The Suez Canal, the 6-Day war and the problems encountered.
8
July 14th. French ship Sindh dressed overall for
Bastille Day – or was it to celebrate our 40th
day in the lake? Saw Israeli inflatable boats
out on the lake for the first time.
salt bushes, but it is well concealed if it is
there.
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July 12th. Doctor on board, saw Captain Conby
and persuaded him it would be best if he went
home. Cabled owners and sent message to
agent to arrange transport, visas etc.
Seascape
last been given permission to visit. We are told
that reliefs are coming – exactly when is not
known, but apparently the Egyptian
Government will issue visas. Most of the ships
are expecting reliefs soon. I took the boat
away in the afternoon, visited Djakarta to give
our injured crew member his mail, plus some
reading material. I then went on the Nippon to
collect a film – unsuccessfully as it was on the
African Glen, and finally to the Munsterland to
negotiate a supply of eggs.
August 1st. Police launch came this afternoon
and attempted to put police on board – I
refused, giving shortage of fresh water as the
reason. Scottish Star and Melampus did the
same. I do not think many ships accepted
guards. Received message from Owners
‘hopeful of obtaining visa permission this
week’
July 24th. Our boat went over to Munsterland
to collect the eggs. 10 cases (3,600 eggs)
should keep us going for a while. Captain
Hoffmann and his Chief Engineer came back
with our boat to survey our refrigerated cargo.
They stayed for lunch and were taken back in
the afternoon. A large group of Munsterland’s
crew came over in the evening for a film show.
August 4th. Another message from owners
designed to keep morale up, also one from
Captain Conby saying he had asked the
owners to increase the frequency of cables –
these last few through Portishead, which is
what we told them to do ages ago! Captain
Conby had also visited the Foreign Office,
Board of Trade and the Chamber of Shipping,
so it seems that apart from his illness, it was a
good idea to get a senior Officer back to
London to give a factual account of the
situation.
July 28 Our agent came on board this
afternoon to tell us he would be back in a
couple of hours to collect Captain Conby and
the 2nd Steward for the trip home [We had
arranged that Captain Conby would have an
escort.] In the event it was close to three
hours, but Captain Conby finally got away at
1855. I understand they will fly direct to
Heathrow on a Japan Airline flight tomorrow.
July 29th. Providore’s launch alongside with
provisions, including beer – we had run out
some days ago. Cable from home, with the
blind sending system Portishead use, there in
no chance of getting a repeat until the next
sked – message read ‘Good luck Adelaide
Lubbock --- your chances’. I have guessed the
missing word to be ‘improving’.
July 30th. The missing word proved to be
‘ruined’ the exact opposite of my guess! A
cable from Captain Conby in London was more
hopeful. Our injured crew member returned
on board with his arm in plaster, but feeling
well.
August 5th. Message from owners to the effect
that relief crew passports were handed to
Pakistan Embassy several days ago. Our boat
out around the fleet, delivering fresh grapes to
all the ships. (Instructions from the owners to do
so while they were still in good condition). I am
allowing our crew to use the canal mooring
boats for recreation, the seamen have fitted
one of them with a lifeboat sail, and the boat
sails reasonably well. The crew was warned to
be careful as Scottish Star lost one of her
mooring boats when one of their stewards
tied it to the gangway over night!
August 6th. (Sunday) The Munsterland’s reliefs
have arrived, we did not know they were
coming so soon, however the present crew are
not expected to leave before the end of the
week.
August 7th. Captain Hoffmann came to survey
the fruit cargo. The Josephine pears seem to
be ripening quite quickly, and we will have to
keep a close eye on them. Munsterland’s
crew came for a movie tonight – a big crowd
with two crews on board. The film was ‘The
The Suez Canal, the 6-Day war and the problems encountered.
9
th.
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July 26th. Captain Conby went across to the
Djakarta to thank them for their assistance,
our injured crewman was sent ashore for an xray yesterday and still has not come back.
August 3rd. Police launch back again – refused
to take police guards and they went away.
Seascape
August 11th. I attended a farewell party on the
Munsterland, they are due to leave tomorrow.
After they go it will only be the four British
ships who have not been relieved.
August 12th. Our Agent on board, closely
followed by an ‘Official’ (I never did find out his
title) but he questioned me about the use of
boats – the Egyptian Army claims that one of
our sailing boats (Canal mooring boats) went
close to the Egyptian shore yesterday which I
denied. We had a boat drill yesterday at 4pm,
which was attended by all crew, and there
would not have been time for a sailing boat to
cross the lake from then until darkness. The
army claim to have fired on the boat – I had
no report of shooting – and I am sure nothing
like that would have gone unreported. As a
result our boats are restricted to staying
within 500 metres of the ship. Protested to
the Agent.
August 13th Sunday. Agent out early with the
same official as yesterday. This time he
wanted a letter to say I would not allow boats
more than 500 metres outside the perimeter
of all the anchored ships. This seemed a
reasonable request so I complied. Quite a lot
of visitors on board today including the
Captain of Killara and his wife – the only
woman on the lake.
August 16th. We heard from Melampus that
their agent had told them that as from now no
ships boats are to be used. They have refused
to accept a written order to that effect. We
will do the same if we receive such an
instruction, and will also complain to all and
sundry.
My diary of events comes to an abrupt halt
there, however, it was for good reasons, not
bad. The visas for incoming crew were issued
and the relief crew was on the way. For all of
us it was a hectic few days preparing to leave
the ship, preparing hand over notes, and
briefings for the new arrivals – we were still
unsure if we would be allowed time to give
verbal briefings, so had to make sure that all
was written down. In the event, we left the
Bitter Lake on August 23rd. We did have time
to hand over the ship properly before being
taken ashore for a bus trip to Cairo and a hotel
for the night. The following day we flew to
Athens and from there to London. Because
there were about 40 of us, we had to split into
two parties at Athens, travelling to Heathrow
on separate flights. Fortunately the two
parties arrived in London within an hour of
each other.
I was aware that we were very likely to have
the media waiting for our arrival, so asked the
aircraft purser to tell his cabin staff not to
allow my crew too much alcohol on the flight.
He promised to do that but was too efficient –
apart from myself no one in my party had
anything stronger than soft drinks, with the
result that we landed and meet the press a
very sober bunch of seafarers.
We met the press – and TV, gave a few
interviews and were allowed to get away to
meet our families. My wife Norma, and our
two children had come over to meet me at
Heathrow and we stayed in London for a few
days as I had to attend meetings regarding the
Ship and cargo before going on leave. Cargo
insurers were interested in the condition of
the fruit and I had carried samples back with
me. The fruit was in good condition, which
surprised most people as it had been kept on
The Suez Canal, the 6-Day war and the problems encountered.
10
August 8th to 11th. All on board waiting for
news of relief, the same applies to Agapenor
and Melampus, they also get encouraging
cables, but no news.
August 19th Saturday. Big excitement today,
received two cables via Portishead, Visas are
to be issued on Monday next and the relief
crew will be flown out as soon as possible
after that. Two fighter aircraft passed low
overhead this evening, nobody clearly
identified them, some say Israeli, others
Egyptian.
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Caine Mutiny’, over the last few weeks I felt a
bit like the Executive Officer in that film! The
police launch delivered two police on board
today – we took water a couple of days ago, so
my excuse that we were short of water was no
longer valid.
Seascape
board far longer than is normal. Good effort
maybe, but the ship stayed in the Suez Canal
for five more years, during which time they
gathered such a quantity of desert dust that
they became known as the Yellow Fleet, so it
was all in vain.
I finally reached my home in Jersey exactly
one year to the day from the time I left to
commence the trip.
I saw the ship once more, I passed through the
Suez Canal after it re-opened and she was still
there – unfortunately, she was towed to the
breakers soon afterwards.
Bob Asplet, MNI - Master Mariner rtd
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On 19th February 1969, Port Invercargill, still
trapped in the canal, was declared a
constructive total loss with an insurance
valuation of £1,411,000. The insurance
company, London & Liverpool Steamship
Owners Mutual Association, set up Invercargill
Shipping Co. as owners. The Suez Canal
finally reopened and on 30th May 1975 the Port
Invercargill was towed to Port Said where she
was sold a Greek shipping company who
renamed her Kavo Kolones (2). They operated
her for another four years until August 1979
when she was taken to Taiwan and broken up.
11
endnote
The Suez Canal, the 6-Day war and the problems encountered.