New 22 August 2006

TEESSHIPS
OMEGA, PSI, CHI!
SHETLAND TRADER

Peterhead - 13 August 1970 (my one and only sighting/photo in this port!)
Not a particularly good day! First many of my photos were light-fogged (this one has tidied up reasonably well). Second I had an argument with a United bus in Alnwick in trying to dash home all the way from Aberdeen (it was a Thursday, not a Friday!) to see Boro v Liverpool in a friendly pre-season match! Limped home at 30mph with bashed in radiator on the Friday morning. My first car crash ... but not my last!

SHETLAND TRADER (5147841), Hay & Co. (Lerwick) Ltd. [W.N. Lindsay (Shipowners) Ltd. - managers], Lerwick, 499gt, built Alphen 1957, ex Henriette B-64. 1972 SHETLAND TRADER I (British), 1972 LERWICK TRADER (British), 1979 HOXA SOUND (British), 1979 TELEBAR (British), ...

Now, let me think. How many ships named SHETLAND TRADER have I seen during my 46 years observing? The first I saw was passing Dock Point on the River Tees on 17 April 1961: SHETLAND TRADER (5322661), 444gt, completed 4-1948 at Martenshoek, ex Vrouwepolder-58, ex Magna Pete-50. 1964 HAWICK (British), 1969 CLOUDBERRY (Irish), 1969 MARKELLA II (Greece), 1970 GEORGIOS (Greece), 1973 ALOI (Greece), 1975 FRIENDSHIP II (Greece), 1976 ALOE (Greece), 1977 SONIA (Cyprus), 1977 SEA HORSE  (Cyprus), ...

Second was the one above and third was SHETLAND TRADER (7126774), 798gt, completed 1-1972 by J.Bolson & Son Ltd., Poole, ex Parkesgate-79. (I also saw her as PARKESGATE.) She is still afloat as the MARTA. (ex Arta-99, ex Shetland Tramp-97, ex Shetland Trader-97)

So, three actually seen under that name. Those holders were respectively from 1958-1964; 1964-1972; and 1979-1997. But I did not miss out completely on others. The name-holder from 1972-79 I saw while she was the TROMP (5414141), 499gt, completed 4-1963 at Slikkerveer. 1972 SHETLAND TRADER, 1979 LERWICK TRADER (British) [treading a familiar path?!], 1982 NIALED TRADER (?), 1982 TRADER (Honduras), ...

And, yes, completing an unbroken run over my period of interest the present SHETLAND TRADER has held the name since 1997. I have yet to see her as such! But I have seen her while both COMITY and PORTLAND (and very surprised never saw her as ANGELONIA). SHETLAND TRADER (7827249), 909gt, completed 4-1980 by Cochrane Shipbuilders Ltd., Selby, ex Portland-97, ex Comity-93, ex Angelonia-88. 

So, five ships named SHETLAND TRADER over almost 50 years all of which I have seen at one stage or another in their careers.

Downsilon? No upsilon