Once again, I took a little break on this project of mine. I wanted to wait and see what was actually going to happen before I offered any updates. It is now Tuesday morning (0200) and it looks like I will be here a while longer.
I went to the Dr yesterday. Ulcers and acid reflux had been attempting a comeback. I was actually hoping that the problem might be bad enough to make me “unfit for duty”. That would have been a free ticket home. But, as it is now, I was given a bag full of pills and will soldier on.
I was also given something to help with my moods. I gave a brief description of the atmosphere here to the Doc and she gave me some feel good meds. : )) Lord, I hope these work. Don’t know what they are, they are up in my room and I am outside on Watch right now.
I guess I will put that “carrot” back in front of me and concentrate on paying a few credit cards off. So, not all is lost.
The ship underwent a Coast Guard inspection today and by hook or crook, they seem to have passed it. Maybe things will relax a little around here now.
This stupid stuff of painting over dirt and rust so that it will look good for a few days. Aye, carumba!
Today is our last full day here. We have had tons of rain, hopefully, it will slack off a bit. It’s just horrible when you are trying to have fun on a tropical island and all it wants to do is rain. :p
And on that note, I will close today’s edition. Thanks for reading my therapy sessions.
Ciao
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The End is Near?
I had hoped to make this a long term journal. Sadly, it isn’t looking like that is likely to happen. I have skipped the last few days entries to try to get a feel for what was going on aboard here. The atmosphere has vacillated here. One day, it is pure harassment from the turd mate, and the next, I am left alone and allowed to work.
Last night on watch, I allowed my self to get a bit optimistic. I was keeping the “carrot” (of making enough money to eliminate some bills) in front of me. Trying to focus on the good with the New Year upon us. That feeling lasted until just before our coffee break at 1000.
Approximately 20 minutes before break, the Bosun (my immediate supervisor, kind of like a SGT) came to me with the news that there was some equipment that needed to be picked up by the bridge.
“Ok, no problem.”
“Wait, there’s a catch, you can’t start until your coffee break.”
I know, it doesn’t sound like much. But that is something that is unheard of if there isn’t some kind of emergency going on. What other job (what other ship?) would they give you an assignment, then tell you not to start until your break starts?
I asked, and was told that this order came straight from the Captain. I was being “punished” for not picking up my gear yesterday afternoon. LOL. Sorry, dude, I am a bit old for that. Childish games like this indicate that the end is indeed near. BTW, I left the gear out because someone was supposed to come out behind me and finish the job.
I should have put my heart rate monitor on (I just did, it is hovering around the mid 90’s, it is usually 72).
It has taken me almost an hour to calm down enough to try and put a few words down here. I had been planning an update today anyway. It was supposed to be about looking forward to hitting the beach and going for runs and bike rides. Sorry.
This journal is what it is. However it turns out, I refuse to go back and change it. How true is an edited diary? I will be most interested in your responses to this side of my life which many of you have heard stories about, but never been able to appreciate. You psych majors have to let me know of your analysis. LOL. A sociologist would have sensory overload trying to observe this (or any) group of mariners.
Our crew consists of a large number of Northeasterner’s. Maine and Mass. Natives make up the majority of the slots here.
AB1: My roomie, Joe, is a 62 yr old W. Virginia man who has retired in Thailand. He is quite the character but will do anything he can for you. Good guy.
AB2: Is a guy from Brooklyn. 49 yr old and fits all the Brooklyn/NY stereotypes. Loud and always with the first and last word. But again, not such a bad fellow.
AB3: Younger black ex-Navy guy from Miss. First time out here and not sure what he wants to do. Work on ships, oilfield or what? Pretty quiet, keeps mostly to himself.
AB4: Older guy from Maine. Typical N’easter. But has a great outlook and does a much better job of letting the BS roll off of his back. Wants to save his money and retire to a cabin in Montana?
Bosun: Not much to say, could do with out him. He is supposed to not only supervise, but represent us also…….Don’t know where he is from. Don’t really care
Capt: From somewhere in the NE. Just came on board. Kind of a neutral to negative feeling about him. H is definitely more about the company than us.
Chief Mate: Decent guy from Houston. Relatively young. Great outlook. Hope we can work together again on a better ship.
2nd mate: He is the officer that I stand watch with. Luckily for me, he is also one the most level headed of the group. The poor guy has to be my therapist every night up on the bridge while we are underway. LOL
3rd mate: Never mind. From same somewhere in NE as Captain. See the problem there.
There are four engineers. Chief, 1st assistant, 2nd and 3rd. And there are 3 mechanics that work down there also. They are a mixed bag also. Two Filipinos, a couple of NE’s, Ohio and an Indian/Mexican guy.
And our cook is from the NW and isn’t very good at his job.
Last night on watch, I allowed my self to get a bit optimistic. I was keeping the “carrot” (of making enough money to eliminate some bills) in front of me. Trying to focus on the good with the New Year upon us. That feeling lasted until just before our coffee break at 1000.
Approximately 20 minutes before break, the Bosun (my immediate supervisor, kind of like a SGT) came to me with the news that there was some equipment that needed to be picked up by the bridge.
“Ok, no problem.”
“Wait, there’s a catch, you can’t start until your coffee break.”
I know, it doesn’t sound like much. But that is something that is unheard of if there isn’t some kind of emergency going on. What other job (what other ship?) would they give you an assignment, then tell you not to start until your break starts?
I asked, and was told that this order came straight from the Captain. I was being “punished” for not picking up my gear yesterday afternoon. LOL. Sorry, dude, I am a bit old for that. Childish games like this indicate that the end is indeed near. BTW, I left the gear out because someone was supposed to come out behind me and finish the job.
I should have put my heart rate monitor on (I just did, it is hovering around the mid 90’s, it is usually 72).
It has taken me almost an hour to calm down enough to try and put a few words down here. I had been planning an update today anyway. It was supposed to be about looking forward to hitting the beach and going for runs and bike rides. Sorry.
This journal is what it is. However it turns out, I refuse to go back and change it. How true is an edited diary? I will be most interested in your responses to this side of my life which many of you have heard stories about, but never been able to appreciate. You psych majors have to let me know of your analysis. LOL. A sociologist would have sensory overload trying to observe this (or any) group of mariners.
Our crew consists of a large number of Northeasterner’s. Maine and Mass. Natives make up the majority of the slots here.
AB1: My roomie, Joe, is a 62 yr old W. Virginia man who has retired in Thailand. He is quite the character but will do anything he can for you. Good guy.
AB2: Is a guy from Brooklyn. 49 yr old and fits all the Brooklyn/NY stereotypes. Loud and always with the first and last word. But again, not such a bad fellow.
AB3: Younger black ex-Navy guy from Miss. First time out here and not sure what he wants to do. Work on ships, oilfield or what? Pretty quiet, keeps mostly to himself.
AB4: Older guy from Maine. Typical N’easter. But has a great outlook and does a much better job of letting the BS roll off of his back. Wants to save his money and retire to a cabin in Montana?
Bosun: Not much to say, could do with out him. He is supposed to not only supervise, but represent us also…….Don’t know where he is from. Don’t really care
Capt: From somewhere in the NE. Just came on board. Kind of a neutral to negative feeling about him. H is definitely more about the company than us.
Chief Mate: Decent guy from Houston. Relatively young. Great outlook. Hope we can work together again on a better ship.
2nd mate: He is the officer that I stand watch with. Luckily for me, he is also one the most level headed of the group. The poor guy has to be my therapist every night up on the bridge while we are underway. LOL
3rd mate: Never mind. From same somewhere in NE as Captain. See the problem there.
There are four engineers. Chief, 1st assistant, 2nd and 3rd. And there are 3 mechanics that work down there also. They are a mixed bag also. Two Filipinos, a couple of NE’s, Ohio and an Indian/Mexican guy.
And our cook is from the NW and isn’t very good at his job.
Third on the loose!
12/26/08- Leaving Singapore - Diego Bound
It has certainly been an interesting 48 hrs since my last vent/diary entry. We pulled into S'pore on Christmas afternoon.
I had the joy of doing most of the steering on the way in to port. The one redeeming quality of this ship is the fact that it handles fairly well. So, bringing her in wasn't much of a problem.
Buuutttt, speaking of problems. Yesterday morning, I was finally able to switch out a couple of the extinguishers that were in the worst shape. I did this with the Chief Mate's blessings. He is second in command under the captain. Well all Hell broke loose after that little task was completed.
It is the 3rd mate's job on board to take care of all safety gear. He run's a navigation watch and does safety, that's supposed to be all. This little wannabe captain got nine kinds of upset with me for moving those extinguishers. I am not sure to laugh at or worry about this dude. He is pretty pitiful. I had intruded on his territory.
He came up with all kinds of orders to do this and that without the understanding that though he is an officer on board the ship, I don't work for him. Some of you might recall that at times, I might be just a little teeny tiny bit stubborn. Hehe. Welllll, come at me yelling and screaming and wrong and see what happens.
This idiot with a license first told me I was fired (he can't do that), then I had to put the old faulty extinguishers back, and then that I couldn't leave the ship until I did. And on and on..... It was quite an impressive tirade. I just sat there smiling at him, telling him I don't work for him. He should talk to my boss if he needs me to do something. Somehow that didn't have the calming effect so desired.
That is a very brief synopsis of about 12 hrs of this toon going crazy over two moved fire extinguishers. If he had just asked in a nice way "Hey, could you put those back? We can go over them later." Or something like that, it would have been so easy. Nahh, he didn't. So I sat there like a mule on his haunches. : ))
Luckily, through all of this, my supervisors, the 2nd and Chief Mates are seeing that this guy needs to relax a little (understatement).
After docking, we had a few hours work bringing on new supplies. And finally, I was released and able to get into S'pore. I got into town around 2000 and was back by 2230. I had to get back on watch by 2345. So, not exactly a big night on the town.
But it was nice to get out, if only for two hours. I went out, found a nice cafe in China town ordered a meal, had a beer and relaxed. Just sat there people watching, enjoying not being around anyone from the MV Rust Bucket!
I worked till 0400, slept 20 minutes, got up and we undocked. I finally got back into bed around 0630 and they treated us with basically a day off. I got the best sleep that I have had in 22 God forsaken days on here. Now, it is back through the Strait and on to the Indian Ocean.
It has certainly been an interesting 48 hrs since my last vent/diary entry. We pulled into S'pore on Christmas afternoon.
I had the joy of doing most of the steering on the way in to port. The one redeeming quality of this ship is the fact that it handles fairly well. So, bringing her in wasn't much of a problem.
Buuutttt, speaking of problems. Yesterday morning, I was finally able to switch out a couple of the extinguishers that were in the worst shape. I did this with the Chief Mate's blessings. He is second in command under the captain. Well all Hell broke loose after that little task was completed.
It is the 3rd mate's job on board to take care of all safety gear. He run's a navigation watch and does safety, that's supposed to be all. This little wannabe captain got nine kinds of upset with me for moving those extinguishers. I am not sure to laugh at or worry about this dude. He is pretty pitiful. I had intruded on his territory.
He came up with all kinds of orders to do this and that without the understanding that though he is an officer on board the ship, I don't work for him. Some of you might recall that at times, I might be just a little teeny tiny bit stubborn. Hehe. Welllll, come at me yelling and screaming and wrong and see what happens.
This idiot with a license first told me I was fired (he can't do that), then I had to put the old faulty extinguishers back, and then that I couldn't leave the ship until I did. And on and on..... It was quite an impressive tirade. I just sat there smiling at him, telling him I don't work for him. He should talk to my boss if he needs me to do something. Somehow that didn't have the calming effect so desired.
That is a very brief synopsis of about 12 hrs of this toon going crazy over two moved fire extinguishers. If he had just asked in a nice way "Hey, could you put those back? We can go over them later." Or something like that, it would have been so easy. Nahh, he didn't. So I sat there like a mule on his haunches. : ))
Luckily, through all of this, my supervisors, the 2nd and Chief Mates are seeing that this guy needs to relax a little (understatement).
After docking, we had a few hours work bringing on new supplies. And finally, I was released and able to get into S'pore. I got into town around 2000 and was back by 2230. I had to get back on watch by 2345. So, not exactly a big night on the town.
But it was nice to get out, if only for two hours. I went out, found a nice cafe in China town ordered a meal, had a beer and relaxed. Just sat there people watching, enjoying not being around anyone from the MV Rust Bucket!
I worked till 0400, slept 20 minutes, got up and we undocked. I finally got back into bed around 0630 and they treated us with basically a day off. I got the best sleep that I have had in 22 God forsaken days on here. Now, it is back through the Strait and on to the Indian Ocean.
12/24/2008
It's Christmas Eve now! They did manage to get us a decent meal today. Nothing spectacular, just the usual turkey, etc....We pull into port tomorrow, hence the early Christmas meal.
The writings have slowed down a bit. I guess that I have vented a large portion of the pressure that needed to be let out. Plus, shipping is like the movie Ground Hog Day. Once a week, reread the text and that will probably encompass what happened the next week.
Last night was kind of funny though. We are in the Malacca Strait right now. So, we have the ship's weapon's out and night vision gear. We kept seeing (on radar) small contacts coming close by, but couldn't visually see them. No lights, nada!
Finally, we spotted one of these sneaky pirates! Huge logs/trees that the radar was picking up. LOL
We are supposed to pull into S'pore tomorrow around 1430. That could work out nicely, I get off of work at 1545. So, maybe, I can get ashore for a few hours. If so, I will try to get some pics from the main business/shopping area in town. The Singaporeans decorate the heck out of downtown.
Sleep has been real hard to come by here. There have been very few moments of sleep that have lasted more than an hour or so. Oh, the time has been there, but the sleep hasn't. Weird even laying in the woods, I have often slept better than I am here.
I was supposed to put out some properly conditioned fire extinguishers today. You know, maybe replace the ones that are corroded and rusty. Nahh, wasn't to be. It became more important to paint a 4 ft section of hand rail on the lifeboat. A lifeboat whose fire extinguisher's aren't even in a bracket, just kind of sitting there.
For those of you that don't understand, fire is the Mariner's worst fear. When you are out at sea and a fire hits, there is no fire dept to call. You put it out, swim, or die. That is my reasoning for my alarm at their nonchalant attitude towards the safety gear on board here. And the fact that they have already had two fuel lines burst down in the engine room doesn't do much for your peace of mind either.
The attitude is prevalent in almost everything that is done here. Our powertools have a locking on/off switch. That is a big safety no no. It should have a pressure switch, so that if something happens and you release it, it turns off. Our safety harnesses are spotty at best. There are rusted out hand rails. The access to the forward stores/paint locker areas would be laughable if it weren't so dangerous: rusty ladder, no hand holds.
Yeah folks, your government dollars are chartering this ship to supply its base. Really scary to see just how poorly some $$'s get spent. Isn't it?
And on that joyful note, I bid adieu for the evening.
It's Christmas Eve now! They did manage to get us a decent meal today. Nothing spectacular, just the usual turkey, etc....We pull into port tomorrow, hence the early Christmas meal.
The writings have slowed down a bit. I guess that I have vented a large portion of the pressure that needed to be let out. Plus, shipping is like the movie Ground Hog Day. Once a week, reread the text and that will probably encompass what happened the next week.
Last night was kind of funny though. We are in the Malacca Strait right now. So, we have the ship's weapon's out and night vision gear. We kept seeing (on radar) small contacts coming close by, but couldn't visually see them. No lights, nada!
Finally, we spotted one of these sneaky pirates! Huge logs/trees that the radar was picking up. LOL
We are supposed to pull into S'pore tomorrow around 1430. That could work out nicely, I get off of work at 1545. So, maybe, I can get ashore for a few hours. If so, I will try to get some pics from the main business/shopping area in town. The Singaporeans decorate the heck out of downtown.
Sleep has been real hard to come by here. There have been very few moments of sleep that have lasted more than an hour or so. Oh, the time has been there, but the sleep hasn't. Weird even laying in the woods, I have often slept better than I am here.
I was supposed to put out some properly conditioned fire extinguishers today. You know, maybe replace the ones that are corroded and rusty. Nahh, wasn't to be. It became more important to paint a 4 ft section of hand rail on the lifeboat. A lifeboat whose fire extinguisher's aren't even in a bracket, just kind of sitting there.
For those of you that don't understand, fire is the Mariner's worst fear. When you are out at sea and a fire hits, there is no fire dept to call. You put it out, swim, or die. That is my reasoning for my alarm at their nonchalant attitude towards the safety gear on board here. And the fact that they have already had two fuel lines burst down in the engine room doesn't do much for your peace of mind either.
The attitude is prevalent in almost everything that is done here. Our powertools have a locking on/off switch. That is a big safety no no. It should have a pressure switch, so that if something happens and you release it, it turns off. Our safety harnesses are spotty at best. There are rusted out hand rails. The access to the forward stores/paint locker areas would be laughable if it weren't so dangerous: rusty ladder, no hand holds.
Yeah folks, your government dollars are chartering this ship to supply its base. Really scary to see just how poorly some $$'s get spent. Isn't it?
And on that joyful note, I bid adieu for the evening.
12/23/08 Malacca Strait
We are still trudging our way to Singapore. I finally got to see a little land today. We should pull into port around 1500 Christmas day.
There seems to be a little light at the end of the tunnel here. I am not sure if it is an exit or a train, but there is light there. Our hours have improved. I only work my mid - 4am and then again from 0800 - 1200. So, now I have a little work out time in the afternoons. If we only had a gym....
There is also the story that we will be reducing our manning in February. That will mean a slightly increased work load, but it will also lead to us having our own rooms! It might not sound like much, but those little things go a long way to improving quality of life issues.
Back tracking to my wanderings in Diego Garcia; There is quite a bit to do if you look around. It was very nice to get off the ship in the mornings and go for a run. A real run, not a few flights of stairs and and walk up and down the deck. And there is a world class gym there. The saying goes that you return from Diego either drunk or in shape. There are ample opportunities for both.
I went down to the Marina and checked out the boats. A kayak rental was first on the priority list. $2 for all day! LOL. I paddled up wind and then drifted back over the coral reefs. A very nice way to see the marine life. Hopefully, my pics came out. I will pick those up when we return.
The 2nd Officer that I work with, rented a Hobie Cat sail boat. We took a run out into the lagoon on it but kept that pretty short. That day was used mostly as a familiarization day. Plus, lunch time was rapidly approaching. We sailed for an hour and returned. Our tab came to $6.25! $2.25 for a beer, $2 for a coke and $2 for the sail boat! Beer more than boat. LOL Gotta love it.
They also have bikes that you can rent for $2/day or $8/week. We will hit that next time and do a little more exploring next time.
There are still many safety issues here. Today I had to go down a ladder that had approx. 35% of its steel missing! I took a couple of pics before I climbed down, just in case. ; )) Tomorrow, I am supposed to finally be able to replace some of the condemned fire extinguishers. That will help ease my mind somewhat.
Well, it's almost 1600 (4pm). Getting close to my bed time. Ciao
Come Sail Away
12/21/2008
It Sunday here. Still Saturday night for you lowly Norte Americanos. For the most part, this is a day of rest for us while out at sea. I still had to work mid to 0400 but I was able to sleep in. Of course, I didn't : (( , my body is used to getting up after a few hours and why screw up my sleep pattern for one day.
Excuse me if some of these messages are in different formats. I wasn't able to get my mil copy of Office before I departed and didn't pay the upgrade from the trial offer. I just realized that I can only open "Word" six more times. Ooops. It will be straightend up some time in the future.
We have finished our weekly cleanup of our humble abode here. It smells clean and fresh for the moment.
The equator is behind us now. We are making our way up towards the NW point of Indonesia and into the Strait of Malacca (one of the original pirate enclaves).
The fishing boat traffic is starting to pick up. Seriously, if I were out in a small wooden boat and near shipping lanes, I would light up my boat with more than a flash light. I can't count the number of close calls on boats that seem to appear out of nowhere. Suddenly, you see a guy waving a flash light at you. And they don't move. They are expecting/hoping you will veer off. They don't seem to understand that steel beats wood every time!
We have made our pirate preparedness a top priority. Fire hoses and spotlights. Oooh, they're scared now! Well, it has worked so far (once again (this happens often here), Richard knocks on wood vigorously).
We pull into Singapore Christmas morning. We won't be there long (12-20 hrs). Hopefully, I can get ashore to take care of my email and pick up a few things. Hmmm, maybe a Hooters Singapore shirt! LOL.
More flashbacks here. My trip over here wasn't anything special, except for its length. New Orleans 33F to Chicago 22F to Tokyo 55F to Singapore 85F. All in about 30 hrs of travel. I got lucky, no really lengthy layovers.
I just barely had some time to grab some sushi to go in Tokyo. You have to grab something at the airport. I don't think it is physically possible to survive 30 hrs on airline food alone. How many bags of pretzels or peanuts can a man eat?
We arrived at our hotel aroun 0130, met the ship the next morning at 0900 and the nightmare began. I will try to get some pictures from the outside of the ship. Then you will have a slight idea of our sense of foreboding and as we got closer and the huge amounts of rust became more and more apparent.
Seeing that much neglect so easily is a sure sign of lots of stuff that you haven't seen yet. And this ship has proven that theory in spades.
Wow, I bought the Trapt Cd the other day. I was looking for some new music. My advice, look elsewhere! I am deleting these songs as quickly as I can listen to them. I want my money back!
It almost time for a little work out here. We haven't much of a gym. The few pieces we do have are outside on a dirty rusty deck. A couple of plates, worn out bench and a pullup bar. The hardest part is having nothing for cardio besides walking up and down the stairs here. It was sooo nice to get out on the island and go for a run.
The gym situation is one of the hardest parts here. That has always been my refuge when on a ship. A good place to work out the stresses of confinement.
Sometimes, shipping isn't much different than jail. I come up for parole in a few months! Actually, prisoners have more rights; cable, gyms, and I think their rooms are bigger than ours.
I need to go do something before bed time. Maybe grab a book, that seems like the best option.
And it is only 1400 (2pm folks!) I hope I can sleep more than a few hours at a time once I get home....
An Ongoing Saga
12/20/08 12:20 (military time, no more AM PM!)
I only have twenty or so minutes here, but time for a quick update. Every day here is like a new adventure.
Our Captain is going home when we get to Singapore. So, now, the most important mission in our life is sprucing up the ship for the incoming Captain. “Paint over rust! Paint over bare metal! Paint! Paint! Oh, and sweep too!”
A little more background here: Our ship was made in China. Most of these Asian built vessels have one thing in common; very poor construction and equipment. This one is no different. As with my experience on the barge that I brought over from Africa, the tools are cheap and bend or just out right break very easily. The ship’s steel itself is thin and rusts out at a surprising rate.
The poor equipment stretches to our safety gear. I am really glad that I brought my own safety glasses. As for our safety harnesses, they are below Western Standards also. The straps are thin, which would cut into your legs more than a wider strap if you should fall and have to hang from it. The safety lanyard is basically just a rope with a hook. US standards now include a lanyard that rips apart for a slower deceleration. Thus, incurring a less injurious stop (hopefully).
All of this is mentioned because I was once again tasked with the paint job on the foremast. “OK, no problem. I need a safety observer, a better lanyard and harness.” Surprisingly to me, I was told “Sure, just wait a few minutes.”
Well, ‘twas not to be. I waited that few minutes and then was given a hammer and told to go chip away on rust. LOL!! I was chipping away like a Pakistani shipyard worker (we don’t have compressed air, so no air tools for this little 3rd world ship), when the Captain passed by. A few minutes later is when sweeping became the most important job of the day. I can’t wait to see what this afternoon brings (it brought more sweepingLOL).
I haven’t even gotten started on the sanitation on this ship. Wow, you know it’s bad, if I am complaining. Where to start…..?
On most ships, everyone will have their own room, shower, toilet, etc. etc….Not here. We are two to a room (not the officers!) and having to share toilets and showers with anywhere from 3-4 guys. Not exactly an all together pleasant experience.
But my roommate and I try to be considerate of each other and that has worked out OK so far. The same with the toilet/shower situation. Everyone is stuck in the same boat (literally). So, we might as well work together to make the best of it.
Our galley (kitchen) is a non air conditioned not so clean looking area. A lot of it comes down to things beyond our cook’s control. The design of this ship fights us at every turn. And he has all galley duties to himself. He should have help. But he took the job, has been here before and knew what to expect. So, knowing that, he should put out more effort on cleaning and stocking snacks and such for us. That’s his only job.
If that weren’t bad enough, he reported on board with a horrible sickness that left him hacking and coughing to no end for the first two weeks. Seeing your cook hacking like that doesn’t make you feel much better either. Luckily it seems that he and we have survived that.
Our mess decks aren’t much better. That is where we sit down to eat. There are two little tables that we move around depending on who is sitting where. Usually the decks are sticky with something. Don’t ask me how long some of the stuff has been in the fridge there. I do know that the ham I threw out last week had expired in July!
Our coffee pot is ancient and slow. The poor machine is leaking and groaning. It sounds like it is just begging to be taken outside and shot. But it’s all that we have.
Lunch break is over. Until later….
I only have twenty or so minutes here, but time for a quick update. Every day here is like a new adventure.
Our Captain is going home when we get to Singapore. So, now, the most important mission in our life is sprucing up the ship for the incoming Captain. “Paint over rust! Paint over bare metal! Paint! Paint! Oh, and sweep too!”
A little more background here: Our ship was made in China. Most of these Asian built vessels have one thing in common; very poor construction and equipment. This one is no different. As with my experience on the barge that I brought over from Africa, the tools are cheap and bend or just out right break very easily. The ship’s steel itself is thin and rusts out at a surprising rate.
The poor equipment stretches to our safety gear. I am really glad that I brought my own safety glasses. As for our safety harnesses, they are below Western Standards also. The straps are thin, which would cut into your legs more than a wider strap if you should fall and have to hang from it. The safety lanyard is basically just a rope with a hook. US standards now include a lanyard that rips apart for a slower deceleration. Thus, incurring a less injurious stop (hopefully).
All of this is mentioned because I was once again tasked with the paint job on the foremast. “OK, no problem. I need a safety observer, a better lanyard and harness.” Surprisingly to me, I was told “Sure, just wait a few minutes.”
Well, ‘twas not to be. I waited that few minutes and then was given a hammer and told to go chip away on rust. LOL!! I was chipping away like a Pakistani shipyard worker (we don’t have compressed air, so no air tools for this little 3rd world ship), when the Captain passed by. A few minutes later is when sweeping became the most important job of the day. I can’t wait to see what this afternoon brings (it brought more sweepingLOL).
I haven’t even gotten started on the sanitation on this ship. Wow, you know it’s bad, if I am complaining. Where to start…..?
On most ships, everyone will have their own room, shower, toilet, etc. etc….Not here. We are two to a room (not the officers!) and having to share toilets and showers with anywhere from 3-4 guys. Not exactly an all together pleasant experience.
But my roommate and I try to be considerate of each other and that has worked out OK so far. The same with the toilet/shower situation. Everyone is stuck in the same boat (literally). So, we might as well work together to make the best of it.
Our galley (kitchen) is a non air conditioned not so clean looking area. A lot of it comes down to things beyond our cook’s control. The design of this ship fights us at every turn. And he has all galley duties to himself. He should have help. But he took the job, has been here before and knew what to expect. So, knowing that, he should put out more effort on cleaning and stocking snacks and such for us. That’s his only job.
If that weren’t bad enough, he reported on board with a horrible sickness that left him hacking and coughing to no end for the first two weeks. Seeing your cook hacking like that doesn’t make you feel much better either. Luckily it seems that he and we have survived that.
Our mess decks aren’t much better. That is where we sit down to eat. There are two little tables that we move around depending on who is sitting where. Usually the decks are sticky with something. Don’t ask me how long some of the stuff has been in the fridge there. I do know that the ham I threw out last week had expired in July!
Our coffee pot is ancient and slow. The poor machine is leaking and groaning. It sounds like it is just begging to be taken outside and shot. But it’s all that we have.
Lunch break is over. Until later….
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