Twenty Years Before the Antenna Mast

Trip: Forty Nine and Fifty

Call Sign:

Company: CP

Specs: 15584 GRT 15660 BHP

Rank: R/E/O

Joined: Felixstowe 17/6/86

Resigned Articles: Felixstowe 17/6/86

Departed: Felixstowe 20/7/86

The Dart Atlantica was also a "Box Boat" but faster and larger than the Mississippi and probably one of the largest on the regular Europe - USA East Coast - Europe run at that time.

This ship and her sister ship Dart Americana used to plough across the North Atlantic at high speed, through the worst weather and on a tight schedule. One ship going Eastward and the other West. The ships were eminently seaworthy, but it was sometimes a bit wearing for the crew. The constant time zone changes, the constant pounding and vibration took their toll. We never slowed down even during the heaviest weather and the ship was often very lively to say the least. At times containers (boxes as we called them) would be washed overboard, with some very interesting consequences when we found out what was in them! But this was seldom. Its surprising what is sometimes carried in containers (cars, antiques, books etc).

Sometimes what is carried is not what is on the manifest, then things can turn a bit hairy when a container starts to drip some corrosive liquid on the deck or starts to smoke! We actually had one case where concentrated orange juice caused a problem as it was corroding the deck underneath!

Turn-around times were short and free time in port very limited. Most container ports are quite a way from any civilization and transport was a major problem if we wanted to go anywhere. The schedule left little time for a run ashore anyway. We had around 8 ports in as many days and only staying an average of a few hours in each. We were all kept busy with our various duties, and very often, I was called upon to help "drive" the boat, together with the Captain. The regular Deck Officers were busy with cargo matters or just trying to get a bit of much needed sleep. Money was tight and we were often sailing short-handed. I used to be the bridge general-purpose helper. Steer the ship, answer the pilots telegraph commands, keep the bridge movement bridge movement book, make the coffee and the odd sandwich for the Captain and pilot, keep the VHF watch and look after our normal communications as well.

I was not bored! Just in case I was, I could always check the radar and tinker with the secondary autopilot. The ship was fitted with an experimental system to optimize its steering characteristics (and it was hoped to save money). It had developed a fault and no one had been able to fix it. It had not been used in years and the company that had made it had no further interest in its progress. After spending a lot of time on it, I managed to get it working, for which the captain was very grateful. It worked beautifully. It was an interesting time and I was always up to date on the latest news and gossip from the Captain and the pilot. The problem was that I (and virtually everyone else onboard) suffered from a chronic lack of sleep.

On this ship, we were fitted with an automatic satellite weather reporting system. A small Omni-directional antenna was fitted above the bridge and the transmitter was fitted inside, with a small computer into which was typed the coded weather information taken every 4 hours. This was a job all deck officers had to do, measure sea and air temperatures, barometric pressures, wind speeds and observe and report all weather parameters. These were coded and typed into the computer. On other ships, the coded message would be given to me to send. On here, at exactly defined times, the satellite unit automatically sent the info via a scientific research satellite back to Bracknell. The weather service had negotiated a free time slot of a minute or so for each ship's data. All I had to do was ensure the clock was accurate by checking its time against a standard time broadcast. On other ships I had to transmit these weather messages by hand sent Morse or telex to special stations several times a day. As we where dependant on weather forecasts generated from these observations I gladly did the extra work along with the other officers concerned. The weather service provided all the measuring instruments free of charge, and re-calibrated the satellite transmitter clock each time we were in the UK.

C.P. Ship Management Hong Kong formed. CP Ships London disbanded and all ships were re-registered under the Hong Kong flag.