One of the engine problems as NORTH SANDSReceived from a DEFA member
The North Sands completed trials satisfactorily – indeed it completed the first full year satisfactorily.
The first period of service was with
Doxford engineers on board running the ship on behalf of Doxfords.
The second year it was operated by “John I Jacobs shipping.” Mike Woodward stayed on the ship as Third Engineer.
The ship was outward bound and was just passing Las Palmas, when the crankcase oily mist detector alarm sounded.
(Good practice would have been to slow the ship down in order to allow the parts to slowly cool down. )Instead, the ship was continued to be operated at full speed.
The second engineer opened the port window (as I explained that was fitted to the engine casing at about crosshead height) – this allowed oxygen rich air to pass into the crank chamber this gave rise to an immediate crankcase explosion – the second engineer was killed and Mike Woodward , who at the time was taking indicator cards on the camshaft platform was caught by the flame – he raised his arms to cover his face and was quite badly burned about his arms – apart from this he made a good recovery and was a member of DEFA for many years until his untimely death last year.
The reason why the oil mist detector alarmed was because a cross-head centre bearing pad had overheated
Signed as J.J.
Start the 76J9 Alfons