The Russian Arrogance

As this trip draws to an end (sort of) I have been maudling over the last couple of months. Sort of summing up the 'good' and the 'bad'! This is something that a seafarer should never do until he gets home, as it tends to make the time remaining drag out but I have experienced allot this trip, much has passed by and my brain needs to make sense out of the jumble.

I have worked on many ships of varying sizes, types and trades and I have worked with people of all nationalities and genders, either as a complete crew or as individuals! During my time with Tidewater (five years ago), I found myself the lone Brit on a crew manned from top to bottom by Filipinos on more than one occasion! I enjoyed those trips, and I had many a good laugh with my fellow officers and crew but it has to be said that a giant cultural gap existed, one that tended not to surpass an hour or two of merrymaking on any one day! On those vessels we jogged along merrily, I accepting the fact that they liked to grumble behind closed doors without my presence and that to while away the long evenings a computer and a game of Medal of Honour is what helped me along!

I find myself once again the token representative of a foreign land; I am the odd man out albeit most senior to all but to them I am from a strange and often weird cultural backdrop. On this vessel I am less part of things than I was ever before; partly a result of a massive language barrier, partly due to the fact that I am treated with deference and partly because I just don't seem to have much to say outside of work.

On a rank by rank basis the Russians to the Filipinos know far less English. Starting at the bottom of the heap the average Russian seaman, deck hand or oiler knows nothing more than a tentatively uttered 'morning'. One AB said "goodnight" to me today, admittedly I understood perfectly what he was saying and that his pronunciation was perfect but it was after all only 11am. Looking up the pile the average officer's English ability does not pass muster. The Chief Engineer for example does not understand a word I say, a shame as I am here to advise him in his job which can be a very frustrating experience when using sign language. Some speak better than others but the only Deck Officer who can hold a good conversation is from Korean extraction down the generations and whether this has anything to do with it, I know not.

I am certainly in the wrong sitting here making judgment on my fellow officers but after all, the ship is owned by English speaking people, all communications with the outside world are in English and International Law states that English is the common language of the sea, a law that Russia signed up to many years ago as part of the International Maritime Organization.

My friend Slovak, the assistant master gets upset quite often. There we are eating lunch and he asks me something, more to break the silence I think than to initiate conversation. Even after two months I have never understood anything that he has asked me! I am surprised that he still tries but try he does! Once he told me this lengthy joke, it went on and on but to me it was just mumble jumble, but he continued in his endeavors despite my laughing hysterically at the wrong moment until he reached the punch line. Unfortunately, at the moment that he himself burst out laughing at his own joke, I had drifted off into some other world; a world that had excluded all but the plate in front of me and the requirement to empty it as quickly as possible. He never told me another joke after that!

One feature that often brings crews together is a movie. The simple fact that most movies are in English and that subtitles can be put on for those that do not speak English means that we can all watch one together. That is except in Russia! Russian DVD's are all dubbed. They are all dubbed very badly but this does not stop them being watched. I tried to sit through one once but the dubbing is in a constant monotone, one can hear distinctly the spoken English behind the delayed dubbed voices and to beat it all a male voice was dubbing that of the female lead role! So movies are out!

My days on here are filled with a variety of problem solving causes; I work from the bridge to the engine room and backup again. I sit for long periods in my office writing defect reports, counting manuals and sorting out and replying to endless emails. I spend hours explaining what needs to be done in one syllable words, I spend further hours explaining emails by turning larger words into smaller words and I spend more hours still, trying to make sense of what I am doing!

One major problem with my presence onboard is that I am supposed to be here to 'advise. Nobody likes to be told how to do things, especially when they have been doing it 'their way' for the last ten years or more but Russians are worse than most for not wanting to listen at all. They suffer from the worst case of arrogance I have seen of any nation! I asked the electrician Alex why nobody reads any manuals on here! I ask this because when I am faced with a difficult problem I reach out for the appropriate Instruction book for some much needed manufacturers advice. Alex though told me that Russians don't like to read manuals! They especially don't like to read one when somebody else is watching! To read a manual is showing to the world that they don't have the knowledge required! To read a manual is to reduce one self below that of those who are not reading the manual. Alex described the situation far better than I have attempted to do so; he strutted around the office with his shoulder and head held high whilst saying, "Russian officers know everything". Alex is Russian but having been the lone Russian on many foreign vessels, he sees things differently!

This arrogance displays itself in a variety of ways! I was on the bridge and noticed that something was not right with the set-up of the driving engines! I said to the Captain, "this is not right" and tapped my finger on the offending warning light displayed on the console! The fact that he was sitting in a chair overlooking this red flashing light had not provoked him into action. Anyway, his response to my statement and finger tapping was to say "I know"! I started to explain why it was wrong, I spoke slowly and used sign language as a back-up but before I had even started the second half of the first sentence he was drowning me out with a repetitive "I know, I know, I know. The simple fact of the matter was that he did not have a clue, but being the master after all, he could not ask anybody for help, he could not approach an engineer to fix the problem and he certainly could not ask me what was wrong. The only way out was to ignore it!

On most offshore vessels rank has become an extremely friendly affair. Captains and Chiefs typically mix and mess with the crew and all get on like equals, a necessary factor for a healthy existence when there are only ten or so soles onboard. This news has not reached Russia yet! Rank is important and it plays a massive part in the culture onboard. As a Russian Mate once said to me "Russian deck officers don't go on deck". And he followed this mantra to the letter as the only time I saw him leaving the bridge was to sleep, eat or leave the vessel at the end of his trip!

Don't get me wrong! I am not running the Russians into the ground, they certainly apply themselves and work hard but from where I stand I want them to work my way, to play to my tune and to see things the way I do! I certainly have no time for lengthy discussions over whether the emergency steering gear is called such or remote steering gear; I just want the bloody thing tested. I have no interest in holding a management meeting with an annoying buzzer sounding behind me; I want that buzzer off not an explanation that there is nobody in the engine room to sort it out - find somebody! It can be frustrating, maybe I want too much. Maybe I should have more understanding and appreciate the fact that these people have just emerged from years of communist idealism and that after all, English is not their first language (can I speak any Russian?).

And maybe I should appreciate the fact that they did manage to get man into space before America did! I wonder what Yuri Gagarin would think of all of this?

Anyway, my time is drawing to a close! Distance will make me appreciate the good things and forget the bad and maybe then, I can write an article about the good things that occurred onboard, although for the life of me I cannot think of any at this moment in time!

Ieuan Dolby
Author and Webmaster of SeaDolby.com
Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 3rd September 2006