Buying Trip November 2017:
Turkey - India - Indonesia
- Japan
This year's trip was fantastic: we found a LOT of
great salvage and somewhere between Turkey and India, the
Astros won the World Series.
Scrap steel prices are up which means
ships are being scrapped so India, home to the world's largest breaking
industry, did not disappoint.
We commissioned a lot of great new carvings
and figureheads with the super skilled wood craftsmen in Indonesia and
picked up some
beautiful boatwood furniture and some ship salvage from
some of the very small boat yards around Java and Bali.
Japan was
really just a layover on the way home but it was our first time there so
you'll see a couple shots of the beautiful scenery below...
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Turkey 2017 |
at the breaking yard in Turkey; lots of salvaged line |
brass Robinson telegraph receiver amid other
salvage |
piles of salvaged teak ship's grates in the
foreground of
a salvaged ship's bridge/wheelhouse |
salvaged aluminum portholes |
a polished brass
Oceanic light |
Michael next to one of
the diesel engines being refurbished |
Yeni Foca marina near Aliaga, Turkey |
Jacob's ladders,
lifeboat and ship hulls |
Lifeboat / Rescue boat
from the Tiger Sea; Turkish flagged general cargo ship built 1983, scrapped
2013
(note how small the brass propeller is between the
rudder and
the hull) |
mahogany ship doors |
a ship docked in
Izmir |
a davit with lifeboat / rescue boat and a 2200 kg
anchor (that's almost 5,000 lbs) |
the ship breaking
(which includes offshore oil platforms and drilling rigs) industry in Aliaga, Turkey |
ship breaking industry
in Aliaga, Turkey |
India 2017
items we purchased were salvaged from ships including the MV Pacific Breeze
(Marshall Islands registered Reefer built 1990),
NPS Orana (Thailand
registered wood carrier built 1991), YM Los Angeles (MI container ship built
2006), Iron King (United Kingdom carrier built 1996), MV Dona Maria
(Liberian bulk carrier built 1983), CMA CGM Quetzal (AKA Dorikos Cyprus
container ship built 1996), MS Alberto Topic (MI cargo ship built 2015;
still active),
MV Wealthy Ocean (Panamanian cargo ship built 1985), MV
Jubilee (AKA "Henna" - Carnival Cruise ship built 1985) |
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various salvaged brass
door placards |
salvaged brass 4-dog
portholes... these are getting harder to find in every breaking
yard... |
wheels! very
difficult to source nowadays since a joystick or small aluminum wheel is
used onboard modern vessels |
salvaged aluminum
rectangular deadlights |
more hard to find items: small salvaged brass
and copper foxlights! |
some fun ship salvaged
artwork |
salvaged crockery
(salt/pepper shakers)
from the Sea Pioneer |
salvaged wooden cargo
boxes, mostly from Russian ships |
interesting "single
fluke kedge" style anchors |
found a nice large one
but we decided there's
such a thing as "TOO big" |
watertight doors with
the wheel handle locking
mechanism... VERY heavy |
some fun warning
signs/advertisements off the
dismantled ships |
checking for the "all
clear" in the engine room from this
modern control panel |
yes, they're phones
from ships... Just not the style
we are looking for... |
Eureka: beautiful hatch
covers. super hard to
find these days... |
another
increasingly-difficult-to-source salvaged item:
ship crockery,
specifically intact mugs... we bought
all we could find. |
salvaged lifeline
spools... |
salvaged lifeline spool
instructions |
when the portholes
ripped off the ships and are NOT salvaged, the metal ends up in the melt
pile and the glass ends up in piles here... |
salvaged sounding
boards from the UK registered
ship Iron King, IMO 9108300 |
some high quality thick
gauge fishing nets |
desktop organizer from
one of the Asian
registered vessels includes a spot for
Load
Plan and Watch Schedule |
laundry carts off one
of the passenger
(cruise, ferry or ro-ro) vessels |
tons of weight lifting
equipment likely from the Carnival
cruise ship M/S Jubilee (AKA
Henna) |
one of the 15 mahogany
ship doors with deadlight
window we picked out... eta in store April
2018... |
aboard the "Gow Hunter"
being actively dismantled; nice brass portholes... |
on a vessel visit,
looking out of a couple brass rectangular deadlights (fixed portholes) that
we will bring home once they're removed from the ship! |
Indonesia 2017 |
antique, hand carved primitive fish art; it wasn't for sale
but was
cool... |
hand carved wood - primitive fish |
reclaimed boatwood picture frames |
an old-school mail box off an Indonesian ship! |
hand carved octopus - amazing detail and a different
design than ones we
carried before... |
another new design for a carved Suar wood turtle
end table: stacked
turtles! we have 2 of these
coming (eta April 2018)... |
beautiful! mermaid carved in relief into a teak root; this
and a number
of other one-of-a-kind carvings heading
our way soon... |
pieces of teak carved into sea life and stained; each
one is completely
unique |
taking some time out to lunch in one of the most beautiful
settings in
Bali... |
the wind meter is salvaged from a ship yard in Java
and the artist
combines those pieces with lights
and pipe to create art... |
a fun rhino head boat which has been converted to a bar |
warning signs of high voltage from a Balinese ship |
fire extinguisher box salvaged from a Java ship yard |
A: you can't beat this company and B: you can't beat having your drinks
served with fresh cut frangipani |
some beautiful antique hand made cargo boxes with brasswork and inlay; these
were VERY expensive but we have some similar coming out of the breaking
yards in India that will be just as nice once cleaned up... |
highlight find! authentic ship wheels from Java;
we'll take 'em! |
some nicely painted hulls of wood fishing boats that are
on the chopping
block to be made into furniture - we
picked the one in the back to
be made into a shelf |
salvaged wood fishing boat with interesting
prow detail |
salvaged teak chairs from a ferryboat out of
Java - these and a few
others heading
our way in 2018 |
a mini version of the elaborately decorated fishing boats; these are used in
ceremonies in Indonesia and we picked up a few. They are super
detailed... |
Indonesians love the Bird of Paradise - this primitive
wood carving is
from Java |
can't go to Bali without visiting the monkeys... |
gorgeous, elaborate detail in this wood carving of a
mermaid in
underwater scene - it's all one piece of wood! |
like clockwork, this is what happened every day at 3:30pm. Even rain
in this country is beautiful though. |
Japan 2017 |
perfect timing to see the Japanese Maple trees turning colors:
at
Naritasan Park |
the master chefs of the Unagi (eel) in Narita |
trying the Unagi |
near the Naritasan Shinsoji Temple (1,000+ year old history) |
Buying Trip November 2016:
India -
<Turkey> - France
This year's trip was initially supposed to
include Turkey, but due to the tumultuous state of the government there
following the
military coup in July,
we had to scrap that plan
at the last minute.
Luckily, there was a lot of great salvage at the India ship breaking yard
and we had extra time to do a personal
vessel inspection on board the
Thor Energy, IMO 9074781, a Singapore registered bulk carrier 185 meters
long (over 600'). The ship was only built in 1994
and already at
the scrap yard which shows
how quickly the lifespan of ships continues to
shorten. |
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|
at the breaking yard plot where Thor Energy was
beached
the week before our arrival - they had already begun the
process of removing the diesel fuel, oil, hazmat substances, etc... |
a container ship with only 1/4 left to dismantle |
this container ship was nearly finished and the
dismantle process had just reached the ship's funnel |
the MSC Manu next in line to be scrapped
-
the Manu was built in 1989, a Panamanian registered container ship,
IMO# 8613322 |
a vessel with a double hull had the outside hull
removed
and scrapped first - then they moved on to the inner shell... |
a rig being dismantled and the parts scrapped -
we got a lot of great wood salvage off the rigs |
from the starboard deck of the Thor Energy, you
can see the tide is out, exposing the muddy beach... the red pipe is labeled
"steering gear" |
next to the anchor chain of the Thor Energy
before boarding |
before boarding the vessel, at low tide next to
the hull -
these are some big ships! |
not the typical way to board, but this is how we
do it in India - a rickety ladder propped against a hole cut in the hull
about 30' up in the air |
Michael inspecting one of the holes made to
release ballast water... he wanted to see if he could crawl under the ship
to the other side but was voted down... |
from inside one of the cargo holds looking up to
the
main deck |
climbing out of the cargo hold up to the main
deck |
Finally! Inside the bridge and you can see the
instrument panel above the center window, the aluminum deadlight windows
which are fixed, though the one to the left of the center is a porthole and
opens/closes to let in air... All the wiring and instruments are first
to be stripped out. |
inspecting the engine room - it was pitch black
in there and pretty eerie |
next to the bridge under the name board of the
Thor Energy - see the rectangular hole behind us as they already started
ripping out the aluminum porthole windows... Everything you see in this
picture will be recycled... (Except for us!) |
Emergency Steering Operation (Failure of
Gyro/Auto Pilot System) Instructions in the aft most section of the engine
room |
Michael getting some air next to the repeater
compass on the port side bridge wing |
one of the crew's cabins - this lucky mariner had
3 windows in his cabin |
many customers inquire about how the exterior
side of a porthole is finished on a ship when they intend to use one on
their homes. As you can see here, it's pretty plain. |
exiting onto the main deck |
stern lights on the Thor Energy |
walking back toward the bow - note the Jacob's
ladder just behind the steel hatch (which each weigh about 40kg) |
always watch your step on deck |
back to the breaking yard - picking some good
rope
fenders/bumpers |
and we found some nice wood and metal fenders... |
a good batch of ship doors - these will arrive
around April/May... |
great anchor chain - it's a nice small manageable
size |
some beautiful mahogany deck railing from a
passenger/cruise ship - we bought a lot of this stuff and are having some
gorgeous brass end caps custom made to fit |
lifering from the "Island Of Luck", registered in
Panama
-
this vessel has some shady history |
the name boards from the Huasteco, a work vessel
built in 1960 registered in Mexico. The backsides of these boards were
even cooler and they read "Sea Lion I" which appears to be an active
Chemical Tanker registered in the Marshall Islands... |
Some awesome huge brass deadlights with safety
bars - largest we've seen around 22" OD |
brass Oceanic 90 degree curved passageway lights
as
they were salvaged from the ship before being
stripped and
polished |
XL salvaged aluminum deadlights |
crockery! we found some great pieces on this trip
which was a surprise as this stuff is very hard to find anymore |
cutting some fish netting to size... with an
axe... |
Capacity Plan from the M.V. True Brothers, IMO
#8316522
built 1985, bulk carrier registered in Belize, scrapped in July |
a good batch of salvaged mahogany ship doors
we'll have refinished - this one reminds those on board of the requirement
"Helmets beyond this point" |
a beautiful large brass deadlight - we'll have
this one stripped, polished and made into a coffee table |
some nice lifeboat oars in the original wood
finish |
some more salvaged aluminum 4 bar lights - these
polish
up very nicely |
large brass portholes - these were salvaged from
a Greek (Piraeus) passenger ferry in the Aegean Sea (Hellenic Seaways);
we'll have them stripped and polished |
aluminum portholes; about 40-60 come off each
vessel |
salvaged aluminum search light - we picked out a
pair of these large lights |
Yes! More salvaged wheels... So hard to
find... |
picking through more ship doors... |
Michael made a friend wandering around the
yards... |
And I was pretty excited to find a Charlie Brown
Christmas tree among the piles... |
Italy/France 2016 |
Elvis sighting at the airport! |
In Savona, Italy a resourceful fisherman uses
inflated soccer balls as bumpers and fishing floats |
shrimpers in the Savona harbor |
we couldn't pass this place up and commend them
on their decor |
a bronze mermaid statue on the dock |
this vessel was docked at the harbor in
Marseilles - no scrap yards in its future |
also docked in Marseilles was this interesting
vessel which had some good examples of items we salvage including doors,
passageway lights, liferings and porthole windows |
obligatory picture after bicycling to the top of
Mont Boron in Nice, France |
Buying Trip November 2015:
Bangladesh - India -
Indonesia
This year's visit to the ship
breaking yards of Bangladesh and India,
then to Indonesia for custom wood carvings and decor. |
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Bangladesh 2015 |
At one of the slips at the breaking yard - note the red circle behind us is
a worker to give an idea of scale. |
big anchors |
medium sized copper and brass foxlights |
double stacked Masthead copper running light |
galvanized onion lantern |
digging to find old grates |
brass ship's bell |
large sized brass, copper and steel foxlights |
barometers |
ship grates |
more workers at the breaking yard |
anchor chain |
modern steering station |
plastic fishing floats |
pneumatic foghorn |
modern steering station |
brass ship's bell from the
Maersk Poplar |
this ship is almost finished being scrapped |
|
India 2015 |
eureka - some good wood wheels |
aluminum "to boats" placards |
aluminum escape hatches |
brass 4 bar lights |
1900 kg anchor = 4188 lbs |
different style anchor |
iron cowls/air vents/ air scoops |
railing and wood decking; most of this is teak or mahogany |
wood grinding base |
large steamer trunks with brass embellishments |
a few more very nice ship wheels |
some 15' red and white lifeboat oars |
salvaged line 1" to 2" gauge |
rectangular brass inside-out portholes / escape hatches |
handheld military style compass |
20" OD brass portholes - 22 of them, all taken off the MC Ocean Star
Pacific (not to be confused for the Pacific/Pacific Princess which was
scrapped in Turkey; see photos of that vessel below from our 2013 trip)
|
very nice large wheel |
very cool wood capstan |
Indonesia 2015 |
old grinding base |
new production grates in our custom sizes using
salvaged teakwood from scrapped boats |
new production buxom lady figurehead |
more of the new production grates made with
salvaged boat teak |
beautifully crafted apothecary dresser from
salvaged / reused boatwood |
hand carved suar wood sea turtle and baby |
old teak root made into stools |
on the beach in front of one of the colorful
outrigger boats; when fisherman switch to lighterweight fiberglass canoes,
they sell these beautifully decorated teakwood boats which are then
recycled, reused and repurposed into accessories, furniture and art |
teakwood root bowl |
made from salvaged boatwood, these cut out
letters are unique and still have their original paint |
we love the shape and construction of the reuse
teak boatwood furniture - with original color |
one of the old colorful boats and a great old
wood rudder with original color |
these wood panels were salvaged from old fishing
canoes |
table for 10 - made with original reused boatwood |
teak root coffee table |
gorgeous tamarind wood stools |
bronze sea turtle |
reused boatwood furniture - adirondack chairs |
slabs of the hull of a fishing canoe are used to
make the seat and back of this beautiful bench |
the original color from the reused boatwood makes
each piece unique |
hand carved suar wood fish - these are about 5'
tall and double sided |
teak root carving - mermaid in relief |
stone carvings of tropical underwater and floral
scenes |
two of our new, custom hand carved wall
mounted mermaid figureheads |
Buying Trip 2014:
Turkey - India
This year we rented a huge van (a la American
Pickers) and drove down the west coast of Turkey around the Sea of Marmara
and along the Aegean Sea stopping at every boat yard we came upon.
We found some great salvage and headed off to India
with some great new
<old> stuff and in search of even more! |
| Turkey 2014 |
The Istanbul II at work - still a long way from
the scrap yard |
a lifeboat from the Japanese Ferry Bni Nsar |
brass 4-bar lights after polishing |
block pulleys after reconditioning |
teak handrails with brass endcaps |
Chadburn telegraph |
some nice pie shaped grates |
lifeboat oars |
seats from the lifeboat of a Togo flagged general
cargo ship "Breadbox Acacia" |
aluminum running lights after polishing |
brass bell 1980 Liberte |
gunbay sounding boards |
The Moldovan general cargo ship M/V Zakmar being
cut up for scrap |
boarding the M/V Zakmar while she was being
scrapped - probably not OSHA approved! |
inside the vessel once we reached the top of the
ladder |
teak or mahogany ship doors |
hitting the local fish market for dinner |
And back in Istanbul waiting for the next ferry |
India 2014 |
crew whereabouts board |
lifeboat #1 from the Star Prince, a Zanzibar
flagged general cargo ship IMO #7625706 |
storage / cargo boxes from a Russian flagged
vessel |
fiberglass lifeboat escape hatch |
lifeboat oars |
sextants |
binnacle compass by John Lilley & Gillie Ltd
England |
electric ship log |
alminum instrument panel |
brass builder's plate Chantiers Du Nord Et De La
Mediterranee Dunkerque 1986 |
brass builder's plate FIAT |
brass double stacked running light |
copper single stacked running light |
architectural salvage transoms |
steamer trunks |
aluminum running lights |
canvas lifeboat anchors |
who DOESN'T need this on their door?! "No
admittance without permission -Master" |
hostess stand from the United Kingdom flagged
container ship Maersk Darlington IMO# 9005558 |
A framed notice called "Bar Guidelines" from the
Iron Prince bulk carrier vessel, IMO# 8018041, reminds us that no "crew
member or visitor shall consume more than 4 units of alcohol in any 24 hour
period" |
tank sounding board |
ship's recycle bins |
teak and mahogany handrails |
from the M/V Dalmatia, a Singapore flagged
general cargo ship, IMO# 9548835 |
a vessel's code and country flag storage cabinet |
searching for better furniture in the shipyard -
it's pretty hard with all the plywood |
crockery - this is becoming harder to find |
20" OD brass portholes - before polishing |
two unique EOTs |
miles of jacob's ladders |
ship's water cannons |
aluminum rectangular portholes - before polishing |
a few of the running and cargo lights as they
come off the ships - coated with paint and patina |
two brass tranberg running lights before
polishing |
ship's comment box |
some ship doors before refinishing |
2013
Turkey - India
This trip to Turkey was slightly easier and more
fruitful as our learning of the language had progressed a bit beyond
"where's the bathroom" and
"coffee please". We got to see a few of
the ships up close and board a couple that were actively being scrapped.
After buying all we could at the breaking yard, we visited the ancient city
of Ephesus and the Deniz Musei (Museum of the Sea).
Found lots of great
salvage in India although the supply of certain items has become really hard
to find including any brass or copper
lighting (especially foxlights),
crockery and ship wheels. |
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Turkey 2013 |
Sunrise over the Aegean Sea in Izmir, Turkey |
some medium sized foxlights before being stripped
of paint and polished |
The worker in the foreground is standing in front
of a massive pile of salvaged copper wire and tubing that will be sold and
recycled |
Murat is a polishing genius - he uses a soft
buffer on a polish wheel and takes the patina right off the copper binnacle
hood |
The salvaged bow with beautiful brasswork would
make a great bar. It's too wide to fit into a container, though. |
a nice wheel on gears |
a shipping line logo on the mast of one of the
vessels being scrapped - below the Turkish flag |
three vessels lined up being scrapped |
vessels being scrapped |
rescue boat from the Lady Lamina |
a passenger / cruise ship being dismantled |
ship's mast and funnel |
a ro-ro vessel being cut up and dismantled |
a porthole window from the outside of the bridge |
some nice anchor chain |
two carriers await being dismantled |
the skyline of crane tops and masts at the
breaking yard |
scrap iron with a shipping line's logo attached |
more vessels being scrapped |
landside - the "door pile" |
day trip to Ephesus, Turkey (built 356 BC) |
architectural column at Ephesus |
the Great Theatre at Ephesus |
the library at Ephesus |
Galata Tower from the ground in Instanbul, Turkey |
from the top of the Galata Tower over Istanbul |
taking a Bosphorus cruise on the Sehir Hatlari
ferry |
on the Bosphorus ferry |
nice doors on the ferry |
fishing vessels along the coast |
At the Deniz Musei in Istanbul |
rectangular brass portholes at the Deniz Musei |
One of the Ataturk era caiques (term for
traditional fishing boat on the Ionian sea) used between the 1920s and
1930s; note the grates in the seat and below |
grates in another Ataturk caique |
next to the 8' Albatross figurehead from the year
1830 |
below the similarly sized lion figurehead |
| India 2013 |
shipyard builder plate from Osaka Japan as found
in the
salvage yard |
interesting ship doors with square windows |
A nice Japanese EOT pre-stripping and polishing;
this one may have been recently scrapped as it's not entirely covered in
dirt yet... |
various sized line |
a pair of nice aluminum search lights off the bow |
a sea of aluminum foxlights |
lots of aluminum portholes |
a rescue boat's medic stretcher |
rescue boat from the Ducky Symphony, a Panamanian
flagged ro-ro cargo vessel IMO# 7713280 |
sounding board of transfer procedures for the
German flagged Hanjin Punta Arenas container ship built in 1995 and scrapped
this year IMO# 9110561 |
rescue raft equipment |
rescue boat from the Philadephia |
found crockery but much of it is plain white -
harder to find pieces with the company flag or funnel |
mostly white, non logo-ed crockery |
a sign reminds those coming to the breaking yard
of the potential for accidents |
some nice steamer trunks |
the "carriage goods" trucks that travel to and
from the breaking yard all day, every day with the bridge of a ship being
dismantled in the background |
a truck load of rubber being taken from the scrap
yard to be resold |
carpooling, India style |
compact vehicles, Indian style |
and of course you learn to share the road when
travelling in India |
getting in a quick game of cricket with some
neighborhood kids |
At the "India Gate" in Mumbai |
2012
India - Turkey (-Hungary & Czech
Rep.)
Started this voyage in sunny India and
got progressively colder the farther north we traveled. We did NOT
pack accordingly!
In Turkey, we got to see the Pacific (aka MS Pacific /
Pacific Princess / The Love Boat) but only from afar as it was
under
quarrantine following a recent fatal explosion on board that was caused by
gasses leaked during the scrapping.
Budapest, Hungary and Prague, Czech
Republic don't have breaking yards, but they're both on major rivers so we
checked them out for fun... |
| |
India 2012 |
passageway lights waiting to be stripped and
polished |
different style brass 4-bar light |
copper and brass signal light - Japanese origin,
before stripping and polishing |
liferings |
some scrapped block pulleys before being
reconditioned |
a scrapped deadeye |
aluminum foxlights before stripping |
salvaged line |
lifeboat oars - and perhaps the only tree in
Alang |
scrapped aluminum portholes before stripping |
an anemometer as it was salvaged from the ship |
medium sized copper and brass foxlight as
salvaged from the vessel before polishing |
scrapped aluminum portholes |
small scrapped iron wheels |
salvaged crockery; there are PILES of this stuff
everywhere - we have to dig through and find pieces that match |
some crockery was salvaged from the ship with
food
still in it - yuk, but nothing in the breaking yard
is
ever clean |
Turkey 2012:
Istanbul to Izmir and the ship breaking yard in Aliaga. |
Istanbul |
instruments waiting to be polished and
refurbished |
this was too large and clunky to load into a
container |
a couple nice kedge anchors |
mountains in the backround on the Aegean Sea
in the breaking yard |
air vents/cowls headed to scrap |
an anemometer after polishing in one of the slip
owner's showroom |
some scrapped ship doors |
looking for some good doors |
a vessel being stripped of any fuel or hazardous
liquids before the cutting starts |
 |
rescue boats |
aluminum portholes |
scrapped grates being used as a gangway |
some small fishing vessels |
a buoy |
boarding the vessel mid-scrap |
at least they made us wear hard hats! |
vessels docked with little to no space between
actively being scrapped |
a rescue boat as a pleasure craft |
The Pacific, formerly known as the MS Pacific,
Pacific Princess and The Love Boat - she was listing badly following a fatal
accident and explosion on board during the preliminary stages of dismantle |
|
2012: Hungary & Czech Republic |
from the "Buda" side looking across the Danube to
"Pest" |
the funicular |
a waterway between homes in Prague |
on Prague's Vltava river next to the
Charles
Bridge built in 1402 |
| 2011: India - China |
| 2009: India - Indonesia - China |
|
2008: hiatus due to
damage to shop
from Hurricane Ike; relocated business from 23rd Street to 2202
Mechanic in Galveston |
