M.V. Oranjemund

[Chris Macpherson]

i would assume m v means "mining vessel" but missing virgins or mighty virgins has a better ring to it.

[Chris Macpherson]

@daddygeorg....ship images ..........verboten wont let me see image

[SandyB]

Chris  thats cos your dad partied on  some of those ships at Port Nolloth  .. he  seemed to  know  some  of  the crew  or  just had the  gift of the gab ... Mark and i were  in PN  one  sunday  .. stopped in  at the  hotel   about  lunctime ..  saw your  dads  brown citoen parked  outside  .. anyhow as  we  were leaviing  the hotel  .. we observed  your dad  in the  company of a czech couple from  OM  ( forgot their names  , he was a big guy with a petite wife with reddish hair ) anyhow  he  was battling to  get the  car to  start  ..  did not  bother to open the bonnet to   look  instead proceeded to push  it away from  the hotel .. got around a  corner   . we followed in my  car  to gve  assistance ..  there was  your old man .. face al ruddy  from  a  few  drinks .  . I offered to  help .. first he  declined  .. and  then  said   " Oh Bugger  it "  opened  the bonnet and  there on  each  side of   the  engine was a  hessian bag  of  crayfish ..   the  bags  ahd  soaked through  from  the  wet  and  now  shorted out the   spark plug leads ..  he  put the  bags  in  the  boot  .. wagged  a  finger at  me  saying  "  you  tell  no  soul  about  this  hey ?/ "  then  as  if to  seal our  pact  of  silence   he   said ' follow  me ' we  followed in  the car  which now  miraculously  started ..  got  to  the  harbour  ..   all walked up  the   gangway of  one  of the  ships in dock  he  chatted to  some of the  people  including the captain  . next thing  we  were  down  in  the  ship  all  having  heavy  scotches  ..  him  jabbering  away  ( he  was  an  ex navy  man if  I'm correct ) ..  this  little  impromptu party carryin  long  on  into the  afternoon  .. left  the  ship  all of  us merry  and  equally  flushed  from many  vicious   scotches ..  all on  our  way home  .. him  with  the  prize of  the  obviously illicit  catch of  Kreef ..    just a  menory  that sticks in  my  head  of your  old man ..

[David John Long]

Yup MV stands for mining vessel....

Current Debeers Marine Namibia Fleet is -

MV !Gariep - Drill Ship
MV Debmar Atlantic - Drill Ship
MV Debmar Pacific - Drill Ship
MV Grand Banks - Drill Ship
MV Ya Toivo - Crawler Ship

Current Debeers Marine SA Fleet is -

MV Coral Sea - Drill Ship, Mining and Sampling
MV Peace in Africa - Crawler Ship
MV Douglas Bay - Drill Ship, Sampling

Retired Debeers Marine Vessels -

Spencer Bay - Sold and then sunk
Shearwater Bay - Sold and then sunk
Louie G Murray - Sold

Not 100% sure about the 2 vessels that were sunk after they were sold, that was just something one of the guys told me here when I asked.

[Chris Macpherson]

yes sandy, defineatley jock macpherson that was. the czech couple were josef and theresa klimek,used to call the old man "chief". our crayfishing smuggleing days at mcdougals bay, used to cook on beach and give the sea fisheries inspector the run around as we could see him from the beach on top of the dunes, wow i was only 16 or 17 at the time.

and he was in the merchant navy,union castle-- safmarine........ left them and worked for mobil oil in docks. where the aquarium is now  was the tank farm supplying shipping with crude and bunker oil facilities,i used to run around there @5 or 6years old. thats how he knew so many seagoing people and his gift of the gab.

[SandyB]

Thanks .. the names now come into the picture ..  they too bought a citroen club . obviously on the recomendation of old Jock ...

[Chris Macpherson]

yes they had red one,you ,ian, me, billy summers,joe coffin,paul lisser, we all had them.

[Patricia Lotte]

Here a ship called Oranjemund

http://www.allatsea.co.za/oranjemund.htm

Interesting article. What's even more interesting is that the Oranjemund is for sale ... or at least it was when the article was published in 2006. Wouldn't it be great if we all bought the bought together ... wow, now that could be fun!

[Michael Alexander]

Don't they first have to proclaim it..before they can sell it?    :36_2_35:

Thanks for the site Patricia!

[Rhona]

We'll have to paint our boat a winning colour.............Ooooh - what about RED

[Lance Olivier]

Hi All
If I may add my five cents worth on the mv Oranjemund saga. I remember seeing the article in the Oranjemund newsletter years ago and as far as I know she was commissioned by Unicorn Shipping Lines to bring fuel from Cape Town to Oranjemund. The fuel was pumped to the "tank farm" from an offshore connection point (I remember having to do maintenance on the tank farm equipment as an appie in the early 80's). Pat Ray was in charge of the tank farm at one stage, I think. Anyway for a little more trivia, I sailed on the mv Louis G. Murray from 1988 for about three years as an ROV pilot. Quite a lot of ex-Oranjemunders on board at the time. Actually saw the Namibian independence celebratory fireworks from the ship, we were only about 20 kilometers offshore. The ship was named after Louis G. Murray (pretty obvious) who was one of the pioneers into deep water diamond mining. Remember Sammy Collins (MDC) were shallow water. As for what mv means I think it stands for marine vessel, but will ask around. To add to the list of DBM vessels that were lost is the mv Meob Bay. She was a Kuswag vessel bought by De Beers many years ago, lengthened and used as a survey vessel. She was then sold and used as a fishing vessel and sank a couple of years ago. I believe she had her nets out and had a black out (power failure) and the full nets pulled the ship down.
Enough for now

[Patricia Lotte]

We'll have to paint our boat a winning colour.............Ooooh - what about RED

Great suggestion Rhona ... it would look awesome in RED

Do we have any divers on this site? Lance, do they know where the boat sank?

[georg ruf jr.]

 

[Lance Olivier]

Hi Patricia. Don't know where the ship sank (assuming you are refering to the old Be Beers Marine Meob Bay) but I believe it was off the SA coast somewhere. Don't quote me on this. I had a chat to one of our marine engineers today about the meaning of MV. he told me it stands for "Motor Vessel" just as in the old days SS meant "Steam Ship". Thus I would guess most of the ships on the world's oceans these days would have the prefix MV.
Cheers for now

[Patricia Lotte]

I still prefer Rhona's 'Mighty Virgin' ... think it suits the Oranjemund better