During the mid 1970s, when Nigeria was rapidly spending its newfound oil wealth, hundreds of ships voyaged to Apapa/Lagos with cargoes of bagged cement for use in the building of new roads and army barracks. Due to berth congestion, many ships remained at anchor for several months. On 4 January 1976 the author made a once-in-a-lifetime trip around the port’s anchorage. This article focuses on three ships berthed ‘line astern’ on the cement discharge buoys in Lagos outer harbour. All were very familiar to the author under their original names.
The three ships were the former of Chapman of Reardon, Smith, and of Suisse-Atlantique. had called at Avonmouth in March 1967 with a cargo of timber from British Columbia, and in September 1966 from Beira, probably on charter to Clan Line or Ellerman Lines, while was taken on time charter by Clan Line in 1968.
