Twenty Years Before the Antenna Mast

Trip: Forty Five

Call Sign:

Company: CP

Specs: 15680 GRT 15000 BHP

Rank: R/E/O

Joined: Antwerp Belgium 2/5/85

Departed: Felixstowe 26/6/85

This was quite a small container ship as ships go and relatively old and well used. It used to make regular runs out to the Middle East via Suez. The radio room was a pokey little hole behind the bridge. Small but cozy I suppose you could say but it was not well laid out. The previous R/O's had kept all the old paperwork right back to the ship being built inside a filing cabinet. There was hardly any room for it all, so I packed it all up in a big parcel and "posted" it at the back of some locker on the bridge. A heavy clearing up session followed, and the place was almost tidy.

At some time the Gyro had been replaced. It now had the smallest gyrocompass I had ever seen. It was an Arma Brown unit that resided in a small box of around 18 inches square. It used to run very hot, around 60 or 70 degrees centigrade but this was normal and was needed to keep the stuff in which the sensitive element floated in a fluid form. On switching off and cooling down, it became solid and served to protect the element from shock damage. It never gave any problem, and I never had much to do with it.

I had duties all over the ship, wherever any electronics were. This included the autopilot and steering gear. On visiting the steering flat on this ship I was amazed to see some flexible high-pressure hydraulic hoses connecting some essential parts of the steering system. These used to jump around and move like snakes as the internal pressure changed with the steering movements of the rudder. These hoses are normally made of rigid piping and thus cannot move. All that happens is that they knock loudly due to the pressure pulses. I was expecting all sorts of problems here but they never occurred. This was surprising since vibration on the steering flat was fierce, situated as it is right close to the propeller. The Engineers assured me there had never been any burst pipes, so I guess the dramatic sight was harmless but it didn't do my nerves any good when working down there.

Our eldest daughter Julie was born on the day I left the ship. Unfortunately, she was two days earl, but some things cannot be planned. It had been arranged that I would be with Christine when Julie was born but seeing as she couldn't wait I was in London Heathrow instead whilst waiting for my plane. I phoned home. No Christine! Rather concerned I then phoned friends and they said, "Congratulations, you are a father. You have a lovely daughter".

I was picked up at Strasbourg airport by a friend and taken straight to the hospital where I saw our daughter for the first time. She was only a few hours old, and was very lovely.