Swedish Cadet Ship On Visit

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30715, 2 April 1965, Page 7

Swedish Cadet Ship On Visit

A Swedish merchant vessel which arrived at Lyttelton on Wednesday to discharge West European and Mediterranean cargo is paying her first visit here since 1958. She is the seven-year-old G. D. Kennedy of the Swedish Trans-Atlantic Line.

This 15j-knot motor vessel is also a cadet training ship. She carries 52 cadets (28 navigation cadets and 24 engineering cadets) and the youngsters receive training at sea and in port, from three teachers and two instructors. A duplicate chartroom on the bridge allows the navigation cadets to “navigate” the G. D. Kennedy independently. Yesterday a number of cadets were working cargo because of labour shortage. For this work, they will receive as much money in two days as they would normally receive in a month.

Cadets normally serve for 30 months to obtain their initial certificates. Six months of this period is usually spent aboard other vessels in the company. At the end of the total period, navigation cadets sit their mate’s certificate in Sweden and engineer cadets sit their third engineer’s certificate. There are no second mate’s and second engineer’s examinations in

Swedish vessels as on British ships. Every facility, including classrooms and workshop are provided aboard the G. D. Kennedy for the use of cadets and they are all accommodated in two-berth cabins. Cadets in their leisure time have enjoyed considerable hospitality in some smaller New Zealand ports, and local people took many of them out in their cars. A modern ship, the G. D. Kennedy has 10 deck cranes besides normal derricks, steel hatch lids, and a cargo space that includes deep tanks for the carriage of edible oils in bulk. Like most Scandinavian vessels, she is immaculate and spotlessly clean. Her tall superstructure sited well aft dominates her general outline. The complement, including Captain J. A. Rydin, numbers 92. There is even a doctor.

The G. D. Kennedy takes her name from one of the company’s founders. She normally trades from Western Europe to Australia but the company’s ships are also engaged in the New Zealand trade. The G. D. Kennedy will call at Dunedin and Bluff before sailing from Wellington for Dunkirk and

other West European ports in mid-April. She is loading general cargo and wool on the New Zealand coast besides discharging.