Twenty Years Before the Antenna Mast

Trip: Seventeen

Call Sign:

Company: CP

Specs: 18743 GRT 11000HP

Rank: R/E/O

Joined: Los Angeles 21/7/75

Departed: Los Angeles 18/10/75

Shorter, more interesting trips with oil products (Petrol, Naptha, Benzine etc). Although the ships were not strictly speaking authorized to carry chemicals, some cargoes such as Naptha or Benzine were chemicals but classed as oil products. Ventilation was to the open air, and no special precautions were taken regarding poisonous vapors. A real chemical tanker has a closed venting system that filters harmful vapors before releasing them. With us, the main precautions were to prevent inflammable gas build-up and a strict no smoking on the deck was enforced.

Depending on wind direction and atmospheric conditions, a strong smell of "cargo" was sometimes present: even within the accommodation. Some of the cargo could be classed as poisonous (particularly Benzine, which is now known to cause cancer) but at that time were treated as normal oil products. We used to use it sometimes for cleaning and de-greasing machinery or parts in the Engine Room!

One of the effects of my having to do more work in the engine room was that I saw much more of the machinery down there. I began to appreciate sometimes how hard a Marine Engineers job can be. Virtually all maintenance was done on board. This could sometimes entail taking apart large chunks of the main engine so surveyors could see internal components. One could see the enormous size of things. Pistons weighing around 10 tons and cylinders that one could stand inside. I have personally sat inside the crankcase of the main engine, sitting astride the crankshaft like on a horse. Lifting out a piston was hard enough when alongside, or at anchor in a calm harbor. When an engine breakdown made it necessary at sea it became a major undertaking. Very often extra hands were called below to hold still the item being worked on using ropes and pulleys. When the ship was rolling in a seaway, things could go dangerously wrong. Although the machinery was so big, and very solidly made, mechanical tolerances were very fine, and could sometimes be compared to a watch. A 10ton piston flying around could easily damage something beyond repair.

The engine balance and absence of friction was so good, that a man standing on one of the 7 or 8 pistons would cause the engine to slowly turn just because of his weight. Cylinder cover securing nuts were not done up with a torque wrench, as in car practice. We used a huge spanner, a 6 to 8 foot length of pipe as an extension and lots of hammer power.

I learned about many of the ancillary systems needed to keep everything running and our lives comfortable. We had our own sea water distillation system, our "rain maker". This was able to supply us with around 25 tons of fresh water a day, so unlike the earlier mariners, we never had to bother too much about water. We could have a shower whenever we liked, and drinking water was available in virtually unlimited quantities. The "rain maker" contained a "hard" ultra violet purification system to kill any bacteria. As the distillation operated under vacuum, it caused sea water to evaporate at around 40 degrees Centigrade, which did not kill off any bugs by heat. We also had our own sewerage system. More and more areas of the world required that ships did not pollute by dumping raw sewerage untreated over the side. The end result of our system was almost pure water, which could be safely discharged. This was only the case however when everything worked properly. Sometimes the system had to be cleaned out by the engineers if too much bleach or chemical cleaners had been used in the toilets or showers. These killed the sludge-eating bacteria and stopped the system working. Cleaning out the system was a most unpopular job, and many comments were made about the unfortunates who had to do it. Other reasons were the wrong toilet paper having being used or maybe condoms being flushed down the toilet by officers or crew in port. They blocked valves and pipes and caused much unpleasant fault finding work.

Electric power was essential, so we usually had a total of three generators of around 500KW each, with associated switchboards and control systems. Any two of them could be run in parallel for heavy loads or when additional security was required (like in a narrow seaway where loss of power could be disastrous). We had various air compressors for starting the main engine and the generators and to provide compressed air for deck tools such as descalers, drills and wire brushes. There were main engine lubrication and cooling systems with huge pumps, tanks and piping. Two boilers, one oil-fired for use in harbor, the other heated by the waste heat contained in the main engine exhaust gave us hot water, heating and steam for cargo pumps and deck machinery. The engineers were generally skilled enough to actually make some replacement parts from scratch if we did not carry them ready made. We carried raw materials such as bar-stock, sheet steel, brass and copper, as well as a lathe, drills and sometimes a milling machine too.

Comprehensive monitoring and alarms for all systems, as well as remote control of some systems was an important part of my responsibilities. For use in the tropics, we had a large air conditioning system, and another, separate one for the engine control room. This one was mainly so the electronics didn't overheat: not for the watch keepers working down there. We had refrigerated storage rooms for our food. One kept very cold for meat, another less so for vegetables and other perishables. The days of salt pork and ships biscuits have long gone. The galley was also electric powered throughout, spacious and well ventilated. It too required considerable power during meal times.

Another very important facet of my job was the various entertainment systems we had on board. TV, radio, Videos, films, tape recorders and amplifiers. If anything went wrong here, I was the resident expert and repair shop. Failure to be able to fix things straight away was often met with disbelief, anger or other forms of unhappiness. Films, music tapes and later videos were a much-valued way to relieve the boredom of long voyages, and the entertainment equipment was therefore considered most essential.