If you have further information or pictures about any of these ships, your contributions would be greatly appreciated.  Your information will be included and all due reference made.  Clicking on "hot links" within text will usually lead to links to other pages, pictures, or maps.
 
 

Andino

    This ship was owned by the Lago Shipping Co. who operated a fleet of small vessels--referred to as the mosquito fleet--which ran from the oil refinery in San Nicholas, Aruba, to the oil depots along the shore of Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. They were small, shallow draft vessels because they had to travel over a large sand bar at San Carlos, situated at the southern end of the Gulf of Venezuela, which was the entrance to the Lake. Andino was relatively a large vessel, built in Germany--about twice the size of the usual mosquito ships. I had acquired my 2 nd 'Mates' certificate in London, had joined the manning pool and been sent to the Lago Shipping Co. offices in London.
    They had arranged transportation from England to Curaçao via New York. There were about six engineer and deck officers going to Aruba, and other passengers going to the U.S.A., and S.A. countries. We were in convoy across the Atlantic, but went independently from N.Y., south to the Caribbean Sea and on to Williamstad, Curaçao. The six of us were flown from Curaçao to Aruba, and there we were assigned to our ships. This was on the 28 July 1941. I had been directed to join the Andino as Third Officer, the others had been assigned to other vessels, and those who had been to Aruba before, and were returning from holidays acclaimed me to be a very 'lucky fellow'. The reason for this envy was for a few reasons. The officers accommodation was really quite luxurious, compared to the other vessels in the fleet. It had a single bed, anchored to the deck--most unusual for those days--with a wainscoting that went up to about 30" all the way around the cabin, and the cabin itself was larger than most.
    The engineers appeared to have a lot of trouble with their engines, claiming it was the fault of the German shipbuilders, which was fairly well accepted, in view of the hostilities that existed then. The deck officers had plenty of spare time, seeing as we spent a good deal of time tied up alongside while repairs were going on. We didn't mind at all. I spent some of my time removing the varnish from the wainscoting and redoing it with a grained mahogany look. It was quite successful, and resulted in me doing the 2nd and 'Chief Officer's' cabins, then the 'Captain's' cabin and the main saloon. Of course, the 'Chief Officer' saw I was provided with sailors who did most of the hard work under my direction. From my own point of view, the troubles in the engine room stemmed from the fact that the 'Engineer Officers' were a boozy lot, and their attention was devoted more to drinking than the job at hand. In one respect, this proved to be a saving grace. In early Feb. 1942, we had left Maracaibo, had crossed the bar at San Carlos and was out in the Gulf of Venezuela. With little warning, we came to a stop, and it appeared that the boilers had completely collapsed. The vessel drifted westward toward the Columbian coast, and when we were in shallow water, dropped our anchor.
    Had we not experienced this mishap, we would have been at San Nicholas when a German U-boat surfaced and torpedoed a number of tankers laying off at anchor, awaiting berths. This was on the 16 th Feb. The vessels were silhouetted against the blazing lights of the refinery and town, for there was no black-out here, and obviously, submarine attacks were not expected. This was the U156 that attacked, sinking Brit Tnkr 'Pedernales' : Brit Tnkr 'Orangestad : Amer. Tnkr ' Arkansas' . There was a Dutch cruiser stationed at Curaçao some 60 nautical miles away, and no doubt, once hearing of the attack, proceeded post-haste to meet the foe. They started to shell the refinery. But disaster ensued. They forgot to remove the tampion (or bung) from the muzzle of the gun, and the first round exploded the muzzle killing the gunner and severely wounding the gunnery officer. They went to Martinique (commanded by Vichy) and put the officer ashore where his leg was amputated. They later hacksawed the damaged muzzle off. The U 156 went on to sink other ships in the Carribean. Aruba was too well guarded by the time U 156 returned, with three shore batteries then being on the alert, and 'blackout' being used. The company sent out another vessel from San Nicholas to tow us back to Lake Maracaibo where we anchored. Most of the crew and officers were paid off the ship leaving just a skeleton staff to keep watch.
    I was transferred to s/s Yamanota.


 
 

SS Andino circa 1937

Pictures supplied by James Campbell  from a collection of his father, James Buchan Campbell (1910 - 1986), who served as an engineer on board in the late 1930's.
We greatly appreciate the Campbell contribution to this page (webmaster).
(If you have any information on or served with James Campbell, we would appreciate contact.)

Click here to see more pictures related to the Andino

 
 


Auke Visser has some interesting information on the Lago Shipping company, the operations and details of ships mentioned on Les Russell's site:
History of the Lago Oil Shipping Company
A Story about Lago oil tankers

ANDINO - 1937 
Code letters: GYMQ                        Official Number: 164526 
Rigging: twin screws tanker; 1 deck; longitudinal framing at bottom & at deck; rudder electric welded; 
              8 bulkheads, partly cemented, partly asphalted; cruiser stern; machinery aft, fitted with 
              gyro-compass, echo sounding device & submarine signalling device; cellular double bottom, 
              under engine & boilers 58 feet, 158 tons; Deep Tank forward 30 feet, 503 tons; Forward Peak 
              Tank 162 tons; Aft Peak Tank 189 tons 
Tonnage: 4,569 tons gross, 3,416 under deck and 2,227 net 
Dimensions: 362 feet long, 64.2 foot beam and holds 17.8 feet deep; Poop 87 feet; 
                    Bridge Deck 36 feet; Forecastle 31 feet
Construction: 1935, Howaldtswerke A.G. in Kiel 
Propulsion: triple expansion engine with 6 cylinders of 20 1/16, 32 11/16 & 54 5/16 inches diameter 
                   each pair; stroke 37 7/16 inches; operating at 225 p.s.I.; 416 nominal horsepower; 
                   2 water tube boilers; heating surface 6,997 sq. ft.; engine by the builders 
Owners: Lago Shipping Co. Ltd. (F.J. Wolfe, manager) 
Port of registry: London 

The Lloyd's Registery information detailed above was provided courtesy of Mr. Gilbert Provost whose website can be viewed at: http://www.reach.net/~sc001198/Lloyds.htm