Twenty Years Before the Antenna Mast

Trip: Thirty Four

Call Sign:

Company: CP

Specs:

Rank: R/E/O

Joined: Maracaibo Venezuela 27/3/81

Departed: Cape Town 25/6/81

Still a couple of weeks of leave to go and enjoying every minute of it!

Suddenly the phone rings - oh-oh! An E/O is sick and cannot go out to a ship and can I fill the breach at short notice? Within a few hours tickets have been arranged and I fly from Strasbourg to London, then on to Miami and Maracaibo Venezuela. My wife Christine joined me in Norfolk Virginia whilst we were at an unplanned Dry Dock due to an apparently banana shaped boat! The ship had gone aground on a bank approaching Maracaibo due to Pilot error shortly before I joined and had vibrated so much getting it off that the engine bedplates were bent. In the Dry dock they jacked up the engine, then poured epoxy resin on the engine foundations so they were exactly flat again. We then had to wait 24 hours with absolutely no work being done on the ship at all (to prevent vibration) whilst it hardened. The engine was then lowered and bolted onto the new flat engine bedding.

There was also a Radio Survey whilst in the Dry Dock. Prior to the survey a radio technician came down to see all was ok. If it was not, then he had repair it before the survey took place. He did not have much to do as I had kept it all pretty much in top condition but we strung up a new main antenna just to be sure and checked all through. Our surveyor was called Cecil (but pronounced Ceecil) an absolutely huge overweight guy straight from the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). I thought the ladder would break as he came aboard (it ran from the dry-dock edge to the ship, a drop of around 60 feet straight down and bent alarmingly when he was on it). Then I thought he would die of a heart attack before he made it up the stairs as far as the Radio Room. He made a very thorough check through everything though. All was ok and we passed survey - much to my relief.

The Coastguard also inspected all the navigational aspects, a whole crowd of them descending on the ship. I think they used it as a training opportunity, as there were a lot of cadets in evidence. We were not all that far from their training school. Again no problems! The friendly radio technician had previously told me what they looked for. I had then made very sure that particular distant targets could be clearly seen on both radars.

I rented a car and toured around Virginia with Christine for a few days when all my work was finished. A really nice area, Williamsburg, Luray Caves, Blue Ridge Parkway Drive and some very nice old plantations (with plants dripping Sap!). Christine left before we flooded the dock and proceeded on our way. Just prior to leaving the Chief Officer found some "Grass" (Cannabis) stashed in an air vent, probably by some dockyard workers. We quickly threw it over the side before the customs did a rummage! That sort of thing could delay us for days! I was relieved on passing Cape Town together with a couple of other officers. This took place whilst we were still nearly at full speed about 12 miles off Green Point, Cape Town. It was very hairy jumping on to the boat when leaving the ship on a pitch-black night with a 12foot swell and a gale! There are certain things, which have stuck in my mind. I remember the launches masthead light bobbing and weaving alongside, the launch itself sometimes almost at deck level, then many feet below. The glare of our deck lights and the crew lowering our baggage down with ropes, very carefully so as not to get our cases wet or squashed between the launch and the ship's side. I remember feeling very nervous about the entire procedure. We had to climb half way down a rope ladder, hang on like mad facing the ship's side until one of the boatmen shouted to jump. One had to literally leap backwards into the dark, almost like sky diving, trusting the boatman to catch you. He did, every time, but it was just a little bit worrying! Then suddenly I was looking up at the wall of steel and glaring lights high above as it slipped past us. The ship continued without pausing, the boat having brought out the relieving officers, mail and a few urgent supplies. As we watched, the deck lights winked out, and only the steaming and navigation lights were to be seen. The ship itself a dark shadow, rapidly disappearing behind the South Atlantic swells.