Twenty Years Before the Antenna Mast

MV E.W. Beatty

Trip: Twenty and Twenty One

Call Sign: ZCAN

Company: CP

Specs: 69904 GRT 123000 DWT

Rank: R/E/O

Joined: Gijon, France 10/5/76

Resigned Articles: Tubarao in Brazil 31/5/76

Departed: Rotterdam 24/6/76

I flew out to Madrid, then another one hour flight to Oviedo. Finally, an hours drive brought me to the Spanish port of Gijon where I joined the ship. This was a sister ship to the DC Coleman, and used to have exactly the same long boring voyages with bulk coal, iron ore (Which made us roll like a pig), or a mixture of various other bulk cargoes.

These ships were sometimes a headache to load. The heavy cargo sat at the bottom of the hold and acted like the weight on the end of a pendulum. It had to be very carefully distributed not to cause undue stresses. The amount of cargo in each hold and the order the holds are loaded and discharged must be rigidly observed. The Chief Officer is responsible for calculating the cargo loading and discharging. He had an analogue computer called a "Lodicator" which helped him to work out the quantities and the load/discharge order. He would demonstrate how he could "break the boat" by putting the wrong amounts in. Red lights would flash, and it gave a most unhappy beeping sound. The shear and bending stresses involved on these big bulkers could snap them like an old stick if the calculations and cargo work was wrongly done. It is possible that some unexplained ship losses could have been caused this way. With the ship moving in a rough sea, excess stresses can cause metal fatigue. As the metal becomes brittle cracks start to open up in the hull. Once a crack has opened, it tends to spread quickly, leading to major fractures and thus destroying the longitudinal strength of the ship. The process is cumulative and can be quite rapid. If such a thing did occur at sea, a loaded ship could sink almost within seconds. On one ship, the Devonshire, this is thought to have happened when she sailed into a Pacific Typhoon, and never came out again.

Whilst in Tubarao (Brazil), I came across a guy selling minerals. He had some wonderful examples, but even here, the prices were not that cheap. I nearly bought a rough stone nodule in which a section had been cut away and polished. Through this translucent window one could clearly see the original water, now condensed from the steam which formed the hollow nodule many millions of years ago. I was very tempted, but the price was just a little high. I have since found out that such things are somewhat rare and quite valuable. I wish I had bought it now.

I Met Christine (my wife) on the Radio whilst on this vessel. We were on our way back from Brazil to Europe. (I was VP9HX/mm with an FT101 and a home made 3 band vertical dipole strung from the main mast). She was studying in Freiburg, Germany and her landlord Erich, DL9DW, used to let her speak to people and listen on the radio. Strangely enough, Christine recorded the very first contact we had, and we still have it! I also found that I could "bend" the main transmitter frequency to cover the 80meter amateur band. With its huge vertical antenna and 1500 watts of power I could put a super signal into Europe and America from all over the North and South Atlantic.