Twenty Years Before the Antenna Mast

Trip: Twenty Eight

Call Sign:

Company: CP

Specs: 18743 GRT 11000HP

Rank: R/E/O

Joined: Trieste Italy 16/8/78

Departed: Long Beach USA 20/11/78

At Heathrow airport we were delayed around 3 hours when a bus filled with passengers and maneuvering alongside the aircraft hit and cracked one of the navigation lights on the end of the wing. This had to be replaced whilst we had to sit inside the aircraft waiting. It was not really unpleasant, just somewhat boring!

When I joined, the ship was at anchor off Trieste, Italy, waiting for a berth. We had several days alongside and as there was not much doing a couple of the Deck Cadets and I organized a trip ashore. Trieste is near the Yugoslavian border and the countryside there is limestone, with interesting rock formations. We visited some very impressive caves near a village not too far away. Inside one of the caves was a long wire suspended from the domed ceiling. On the end of which was a vibration sensor for earthquake sensing. This huge cave was so big it was almost like an underground cathedral. We walked there and back for some exercise. The weather was good to start with, but on the walk back, it clouded over and we had a storm.

We took shelter in a small cafe/bar in the village, where I had my first taste of home made Sangria. It tasted great, but I don't remember too much about the rest of the return journey!

The captain's wife and small son visited whilst we were there too. It was quite unusual to hear the patter of tiny feet along the corridor, and to be visited in the radio room by a tiny inquisitive figure. Wives were quite common aboard, but it was the first time I had experience of children aboard ship.

The ship had experienced some trouble with salt-water contamination of the stern bearing. This is made from a very hard dense wood called Lignum Vitae and is lubricated and cooled with fresh water kept in a small tank just behind the screw. Salt-water ingress causes corrosion and must be stopped. We traveled down to Barcelona where we had a 2-day Dry Docking. A small split in a weld was found and patched, after which we continued on our voyage. Most of the time was taken up by pumping the Dock dry, then re-filling it again after the welding repair had been done.

Visited Turkey with a cargo of fuel oil, then a quick visit to Constanta in Rumania. Retracing some of my old tracks!