Ships at Sea

I have in other chapters talked a bit in passing about how it is to live on a ship. But I wish to devote this sector purely to this subject. In basis what is it like for us at sea, how do we survive, what is our daily work our daily social life and our day to day very existence?

Oh so difficult and where do I start? Scratching my head and please excuse my waffling on.

Ships. Hmmm. Ships are Ships!!!

Restart.... Ships are individual. They are a floating entity totally devoid of lifelines to the shore. Ships exist and survive (or they should do) without recourse to aid from a shore body. You at home may decide to have a shower, you get undressed you turn on the water and swoosh, there you are, all nice and clean. It is not your problem to wonder where that water comes from, is it good water or bad water, will it run dry or will it taste bad. Day in day out, that water comes out of that tap and it never changes. The same applies to say a television. You wish to watch it so you switch it on, never once concerning yourself with where the power comes from or how do you actually get to receive all those amazing channels. Another way to look at this would be if say a fuse blows or a water mains bursts. It is not your problem to find, solve and cure, all you have to do is wait until the appropriate man in coveralls appears and allow him to solve the problem. Meanwhile you may decide that it is a good excuse to go to the pub or for a family outing to that new restaurant that has opened in town.

So what do we do on a ship if the water runs out? There I am having a nice shower and all of a sudden, whilst my head is covered in soapy sops, the water just runs dry. Do I get on the phone and call the water board or do I just watch television until the water flows once more? No, impossible, and basically either I or another Engineer will have to fix the solve the problem. There we are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean without a nice man from the water board to fix it for us. Electricity is the same, there you are reading a book in your cabin when the light goes out what do you do? Panic is the first thing that springs to mind but the answer I am looking for is that you go and find out why it has gone out and to fix it.

Everything is up to you and you alone, so on a ship we have a group of men each skilled in a task and each with a certain level of responsibility. All conveniently designed so that a ship can leave port safely, travel a distance safely and thus arrive safely at its intended destination. And that whilst that ship moves all systems function so that all can read a book in bed and all can have showers.

Another example of this could be: what do you do if a fire breaks out in your home? You call the fire brigade then proceed to run around flapping your hands and blaming someone, whilst working out the insurance that you will get back. Well, that is just not good enough on a ship is it? If a fire breaks out on a ship in the middle of Atlantic Ocean there is nobody there to help you and if nobody acts upon it the chance of survival for that ships crew are zero. The ship will burn till it disappears under the sea and you with it.

So all seafarers are trained in fire-fighting techniques. Along with this goes training in first aid and how to survive if stuck in a small boat in the middle of an ocean. What we end up with is a group of people holding a certain rank, skilled in a certain task yet all having some basic skills in safety procedures.

All ships have three distinct groupings of seamen. The navigators who drive the ship and are responsible for the cargo. The Engineers who keeps those engines in good order and who maintain the services that the ship requires. Last on the list, but not least there are the galley crew, whom provide all the much needed nourishment for all. But you could divide a ship into another grouping, that of rank. You have Officers and you have the crew. Officers are in charge and the crew battle through the every day work as required to support the Officers in their duties.

However you look at it you have a group of persons confined in a steel can day in day out, who must keep that ship moving and in a safe and workable condition as set by international standards or those of individual bodies. And you do this together through all obstacles placed in your way. If for example, in a shore establishment you are abused by a colleague or become dissatisfied with a persons attitude you can suffer it. Every evening you depart your place of work and go home, grumbling and upset, but away from it all. On a ship you do not have that convenient escape, for the next four months you may be faced with your antagonist or that lazy worker and just have to suffer and somehow cope with it. So there on a ship you can have a group of people that have to survive together at whatever the cost.

You get happy ships where the crew seems to get on well and laughter rules the day. Then you can get the unhappy ship where nobody seems to get on with each other and everyday is another day of torment, the days going ever slower and often not passing by at all.

I have worked on a variety of ships, with a variety of nationalities onboard and of ships owned by a variety of companies. I have worked on vessels that are crewed totally by British seafarers and then again on ships where I have been the only white man onboard. Whatever the situation the same rule applies: that we are all there, to do the job and to make that job and the life run as smoothly as possible.

An average number of seafarers on a typical vessel today would be around 14 or fifteen. And for the most part, for me anyway, these would be European Officers with a foreign crew. Crews are not generally employed from first world nations as the cost negates this, thus the most popular crews found are from the Philippines, others from Indonesia, China or other second world nations where the wages are lower.

The Master has responsibility for the whole vessel. He also takes the blame for anything that may go wrong with his ship even if it is not his direct doing. Say for example he is in bed and the ship runs aground, it is not the mate who is blamed but the Captain, regardless of the fact that he was asleep at the time. If an engineer accidentally pumps oil into the sea, it is not the Chief Engineers fault for not watching more carefully, it is the Masters fault once again. Whether this is correct or not, it remains the fact and so the whole ship lies on his shoulders and his shoulders alone.

The Captain cannot be everywhere at once and for the whole time and he cannot monitor nor does he have the skills required to complete all tasks. So he has a Second in command, the Chief Officer and under him another officer and maybe a third officer. Deck Officers or Navigators are responsible for the safe navigation of that vessel, the carriage and loading/discharge of cargo and the general maintenance associated with the deck areas. On the other side we have the Engineers. The Chief Engineer in charge of all the machinery spaces and second in command of that vessel. Under the Chief engineer we have the Second Engineer, then the third and maybe a fourth engineer. And finally we have the catering staff. A cook or chef, maybe two and a steward who will serve food and clean maybe the cabins as well. The captain should be able to trust each and every one of hose officers so that he himself can sleep soundly at night.

To support the officers we have the deck AB's maybe three or four in number. There main duties are to keep a look out whilst the vessel is underway and to aid in cargo operations. Within the engine room there will be an Oiler or two, whose function is to support the Engineers in their daily routines or tasks. And a steward to support the galley staff and who may be required to clean the officers cabins.

Outsiders often presume that Deck officers and Engineering Officers do not get on, that they have departmental problems. This is often characterized through the well know statement of "Oil and water do not mix". The deck officers being the water and the engineers being the oil segment of the equation. That is all rubbish! Any Engineer gets along well with any deck or engineering Officer alike. It remains and always will remain that both need the other. In the old days there were no engines and thus no engineers, so the Navigators do have a greater past than we. But, I would hope that we are all past silly squabbles and that we just get on with our lives. Whether two people get along with each other is not dependent of rank or department, more so on who those people are and their individual characteristics.

In line with a vessel being an entity devoid of lifelines to ashore it must have some form of medical ability. By law a ship carrying more than ten passengers must carry a doctor, passengers that is, not crew. So you can have a vessel out of contact with the outside world for weeks on end without a doctor or nurse onboard. So what contingencies are in place? Every ship has a room designated as the hospital, there is also a medical locker filled with an assortment of medicines to which the Captain or the Chief Officer keeps the key to. The Hospital houses a stretcher a bed and a few simple items of Emergency Equipment. Can't really have a fully fledged operating theatre onboard now can we? Someone might get a bit carried away on a cadet! The medical locker houses everything from Condoms to oxygen bottles. Medicines used to treat the common cold to Morphine for severe pain. Typically the Chief Officer is designated the medical officer - a loose term that does not mean much. He is there for any injuries large or small and he will do all that he can to cure or make easier until a real doctor can be reached. He also has the task of filling out all the necessary paperwork associated with any illness or injury occurring on his vessel. His knowledge though is minimal and does not extend very far. Each Officer has been trained to a certain degree in First Aid but the hope is that nothing will occur and that we will never have to use this knowledge.

Apart from work and associated skills what do seafarers do during their social hours? Those hours after work and between going to sleep. What can one do? Go to the local pub, play a round of golf, go for a drive - I don't think so! The social life on a vessel can often be the making or breaking of many a seafarer. He is okay in his working environment occupying his mind with his daily tasks, but that period afterwards when sleep is not yet beckoning can be filled with a blank nothingness, a void that needs to be filled. Some officers tend to use alcohol as the weapon or means for survival. Drinking after work and until they can stand up no longer. Others read books and become recluses often shunned by fellow officers. A good ship will work around a system of intermixing drink, with reading and often group games to relieve the monotony. A round of darts or watch a movie, sunbathe or play table tennis or just talk. There are options available and it is a good officer that can use all the options without resorting to one and one only. Often at sea exercise can be sadly remiss and often seafarers become unhealthy due to the lack of it. Sensible people will force them selves to take a walk or run around deck, making sure that they walk for at least one hour. Others will have a set of dumbbell's with them or those things that you squash in your hands for hours on end. Allot though depends on a company and how much they are willing to provide for that vessels recreational pass-times. E.g. rowing/walking or pedaling machines, I myself preferring a punch bag to relieve myself of excess tension. A few companies go further by providing fully equipped Gymnasiums and some even fitting saunas but these are far and few between as cost negates this. Allot of ships do have smallish swimming pools which do provide a forum for exercise of anybody can be bothered to clean and fill it up not often.

Party games to relieve the monotony are sometimes of value, but I find them rather forced. The only game that sparks any interest in most people is when they revolve around the another person, it being at their benefit. One Second Mate who seemed to be a bit slow on the uptake suffered slightly as a result of this game, or his bank balance did anyway. Somebody designed a set of rules to be followed in the bar and if one rule was disturbed then the disturber would have to give some beers to the bar. Things like if you sit in a certain chair or if you say a certain word. But for this second mate the rules would change constantly, and designed to fool him, so that he ended buying case upon case for the bar. Yes, a silly game which passes the time. But there are many non-drinking games like tennis tournaments and Darts matches which can be a good laugh if everybody partakes.

Social life is not always confined to the vessel. As soon as the boat berths after along voyage, all crew are clambering to get ashore, to stretch their legs on dry land that does not move with them. We cannot when in port all go ashore for a drink. The impression you may have of us locking up the ship with a big padlock and sauntering off ashore not being totally correct. On the serious ships of this world, the gas tankers, the bulk carriers, etc an engineer must always remain onboard and be available - by that I include being sober. He is not there to work, he is there to be available should anything go wrong, e.g. electrical power failure, start the main engines, amongst other things. He would normally sleep during this time and the whole purpose behind his to stay is for safety reasons. A Chief Engineer normally does not do a night on board and the Second, Third and Fourth Engineers will do one night each in rotation. It is extremely bad when you arrive in port after a long voyage to find that it is your night to stay on the ship - tough luck.

Ships as you know never stop working when at sea or in port. At sea a minimum of two crew members (Officer or rating) are always up and about on duty. Tow types of system exists in an engine room. The first is the UMS system (unmanned machinery space) and in this case the engineers all work from say 8 O'clock to 5 O'clock, then knock off all sleeping soundly during the night. One Engineer will always be on call, working on a rotational system. He will sleep in his cabin but will be woken up by any alarms that may ring - a warning of something amiss in the engine room, space. He must then get up and go down the engine room to find out what the problem is. He must fix that problem before once again he can retire to his bed. In such a situation only the Navigating Officer and a Watchman will remain awake and on duty through out the night. The other system is typically found on older vessels without sophisticated alarm systems. This will be where the engineers will do watches, normally of four hour periods with eight hours rest. Adding up to an eight hour working day. A Second Engineer normally takes the 8-12 watch so that he may be around to get the crew organized in the morning. The fourth Engineer will do the 4-8 watch and the third Engineer the 12-4 watch. I myself prefer the 12-4 watch as you can get those quiet nights without being disturbed by bullshit

LIFE AS A CADET

A cadet is a trainee. He has no basic responsibility on that vessel and no actual place in the structure of things. He is there to learn as much as he can before attending college to finalize all that he has collated with a view to becoming an Officer. Cadets are generally not often found on vessels these days. Yes, in larger deep-sea companies we may find a couple of cadets here and their but smaller companies regard cadets as a waste of money and tend to top up their officer compliment by employing qualified seafarers rather than training them. This therefore does cause problems for cadets when faced with crews that are not used to having them onboard. In fact they do not know what to do with them.

Officers tend not to have the patience required for teaching others in their duties and so two things tend to happen with a cadet. He is given to the crew to be used as an extra AB or Oiler doing menial tasks or he is given responsible tasks to do that are far above that cadets capability. Often ignored by the officers and often leaving that vessel knowing how to paint and not much else is not what it should be about. If that cadet is placed in the arms of a crew member then life can become a nightmare for that cadet. For example Filipino seamen are known for their arrogance and when faced with a young and seemingly ignorant lad they tend to use abuse as a means of control. They will use that cadet as a toy piece for their own amusement, simply because here is a trainee officer who knows absolutely nothing. A person from the other side who has no power of order, no experience and is a venue for their dislike of officers in general.

As a person with no actual standing on a vessel a cadet tends to feel insecure most of the time. I myself felt insecure always and I suppose this showed in my character and the way that I behaved and talked. I did some silly things at the beginning as I wormed my way into the life. Like not realizing what "changing the clocks meant", as the ship worked eastwards. So there I was the first time, wide awake in the engine room and the duty engineer asking me why I was there at 5am. Then the other time when I slept in late having no appreciation for putting my clock back - gave the others a good laugh anyway. But everything that the cadet touches or looks at is with awe and trepedition. Nothing feels safe and the fear of doing anything wrong hangs heavily over their heads.

But a cadets social life can be the hardest time. A period when the cadet has nothing to occupy his mind regardless of the fact that it may have only been a paint brush or a scraper during working hours. Entering the bar can be awesome for a cadet, faced with all these Officers all knowing and all superior and ready to show it. Everything the cadet says seems to fall flat or sounds pathetic in its content, questions are forced and answers are spluttered out nervously. If the ship has an active social life it is not so bad. He can partake in the darts throwing competitions, sunbathe as well as the next man, but if the social scene is based around alcohol this is were he becomes the outsider. Drink often effects the way Officers react, and after a few beers the cadet can become the object of ridicule. As is often the case, when this happens the cadet retires to his cabin alone and sleeps early or reads a book. But life being as it is the cadet will then be accused of being unsociable.

This is seemingly a complete no win situation.....

A cadets life can only be won if he remains calm and unaffected by all that is put in his way. A typical way to control and to break into the culture is to basically laugh at yourself and to attend all functions. Yes, go for a beer or two then disappear and read your book. Maybe come back for another couple later, as this has the effect of any memory of your absence being removed from the alcohol befuddled brains of the others. Eventually you will find that you become accepted by all and they no longer try to make you the object of ridicule.

But the basis behind the problem of a cadet really exists due to that fact that despite his character he is the waste of space onboard. A space that people have to look after. Generally life runs smoothly and you are only a cadet for a nine month period. What you have to look forward to, as in what the future life and associated reward that lies ahead will be, is usually worth the suffering - well it was for me.

Life as a Fourth Engineer.

Jumping from Cadet to Fourth Engineer you suddenly gain a different perspective on life. Other officers suddenly treat you as one of themselves. Suddenly, all those ratings treat you with respect and say "yes sir" to you, instead of tormenting you. But then along with this feeling of togetherness comes this awesome position of responsibility. No longer can you act the fool, no longer can you run away from a task that you detest or don't like to do. All of a sudden you are responsible and therefore it lies on your shoulders like a massive weight.

A fourth Engineer tends to be given a set task on Deep Sea vessels - that of Oil control. He will look after anything pertaining to oil products and so he will look after the purifiers (Oil treatment plants), the loading of oil and the daily monitoring of it - apart from keeping a regular watch on the running machinery. Keeping a watch is the most awesome of the tasks under a Fourth responsibility. As a cadet you were never allowed down that engine room without another senior person in attendance, yet here you are in that engine room alone for hours on end, and often during the night. Machinery pounding away, alarm bells ringing left right and center and it is all up to you. Run away or grasp it with both hands and do what you can. As all things go it is only awesome as long as it remains a mystery and so once solved all falls into place.

Life therefore as a Fourth is pretty easy. More settled than as a cadet and easier than rising to the giddy ranks above you. Do your job and do it well and the ships is your kingdom - oh, and keep out of the way of the master and chief as you are the lowest ranking officer on that boat and still open to their abuse.

Life as Third Engineer

Same as a Fourth really. Except now you are no longer the lowest rank on that vessel. Furthermore you have duties slightly more involved than that of oil. You are now in charge of the electrical machinery, the generators of that vessel and usually of three in number. In all honesty I prefer to be a third as if you know your stuff generators are nice to work with whilst oil can be a messy and often dirty work. As a third you sort of join what is called the top table in the saloon. This is the table at which the Captain sits along with the Chief Engineer, Second Engineer and the Chief Officer. This can be a good thing as you become part of what is happening, but also bad in that you end up with a load of old fogies.

Many Third Engineers remain in this rank for their whole life at sea. They become 'Professional Thirds' as they are called. To be a third or fourth engineer you have responsibility of certain machinery but not that of the running of the vessel. You are not involved in the day to day decision making and thus basically have no worries. If anything in your daily task becomes too much or too complicated to handle you can always call the Second Engineer or the Chief Engineer - unhappy though they will be. So many thirds stop at this position realizing that they don't want the responsibility and would rather remain as they are - or sometimes they fail the Seconds Ticket!. More often than not these professional thirds are excellent at their jobs and willing to help out or advise a junior engineer or cadet. But typically for a third he should not be in that rank for very long. Having sailed as fourth and as third he should have the sea time to take his seconds exam.

Life As Second Engineer

There you are nearly at the top. Wow, and what an awesome height that is. You still have the Chief above you to take the major responsibility and decisions, so all is not that bad, but it often feels bad. For Seconds on a deep sea boat life can be pretty good as is normal for the Chief not to go down the engine room, tending to sit in his cabin and do the paperwork. So the engine room becomes your private domain able to do work at your pace and however you want and a third and Fourth Engineer to help you in your tasks. So there he is fully in-charge, nearly, and part of the decision making team of that vessel. Yeah, good to be a Second Engineer. I had one Chief Engineer who told me his woes one day whilst having a beer ashore. He said "you run that engine room so well and efficiently that I do not feel that I am welcome down stairs". I think he felt a bit out of sorts that I had taken over complete control and as I knew exactly what I was doing that I never asked him for advice. It is though common for Chief Engineers who want to get there hands dirty, to ask their Second Engineer for a job to do. The Second is in charge of that engine room so whether it is the Chief or not he should still respect that Second Engineer in his task.

Life as a Chief Engineer

I have never sailed as Chief (yet) on Deep Sea vessels, so I will only say this: In my opinion, if Chief Engineers do not go down the Engine Room then I don't want that job. I regard most of an Engineers life as being down stairs getting his hands dirty and the thought of doing paperwork all day, does not appeal in the slightest. Get your hands dirty Chief's and live again.

Life on the Coast

Here we have what I regard as a more normal lifestyle or one that can be acceptable to society - except that the pay is always less than that of Deep Sea employment. You spend less time at sea, are in closer contact to land and you spend more time in port. When in port you always get somebody running up the road for the fresh bread, fresh milk and the daily newspaper. I have only sailed as a Chief Engineer on the coast so I will only talk about that which I know. As a chief you are in command of that vessels engine room and second in command of that vessel. Yes something is amiss, a serious lack of crew. Typically a coaster will sail with a total compliment of 10 to twelve persons at the tops. And down that engine room you will have yourself, a second engineer and at the outside and Oiler. Typically I sailed on the coasters with only myself and a Second Engineer. Regardless of numbers, there you are and there is your engine room - it is all yours. It is good fun as the amount of equipment and the technology behind it all is not that great. Providing that all is working life on the coast can be pretty easy for all concerned. I will say no more on this matter as I have written plenty about coasters in that relevant chapter of my life. People on coasters are mostly devoid of bullshit as compared to the Bigger Vessels. No wearing of Uniform and no blatant rank structure. Yes, you have the Captain and such but you tend to run that vessel as a family operation rather than by giving orders and expecting people to jump.

Life in the Offshore Business

This is a different world from all other types of shipping. Here you do not go from A to B, you do not carry cargo as such and you do not see more than one country during the whole trip. Typically you work out of a Base, leave to the platforms at sea and return to that base. Engineering wise I love the offshore world, a mass of machinery and equipment to play with - never short of work to do. Social wise it is also excellent with colorful characters abounding. The thing that I do not like is some of the bases and the fact that you may not get ashore for the whole of your trip. This is not always the case as I have had some excellent trips, but one can never tell what it is going to be like. As part of offshore work you can often spend weeks on end just turning circles around the Oil Platforms. Turning circles in rough weather just endlessly going up and down and round and round. "I feel so dizzy, it never ends......". Offshore work is similar to coasting regarding the lifestyle onboard. There are usually a lesser number of officers and crew but the ship is still operated like a family unit. No wearing of white shirts and rank ensignia on the shoulders.

Moving on I would like to give a rundown of a trip as a whole. Let us look at how a seafarer may join a vessel, how his trip progresses and how he ends the trip. One day the company rings him up and says that they would like him to join such and such a ship in such and such a place on such and such a date. They give him what are called joining instructions, detailing the flight number, where to collect the ticket, the name of the vessel he is to join, where it is and how he will be taken from the airport to said vessel (agents number or something). For the last few days of his leave he will pack his bags, make his farewells and off he set for another four months of duty. This departure period is often tough as he must mentally gear up for the trip and endure the emotional tears of loved ones.

So, he arrives into the arms of his future shipmates, tired after the journey, and this is when he has to get to know them by name and by rank. I am terrible for names, I can hear them once, twice and thrice and still they never sink in. "This is Harry the Second, John the third, Peter the Chief Officer", and so on down the line. Furthermore, in this day and age you get the foreign names thrown in. "This is Sammy Ortega, Julius Barbarosa Junior and Mohammed al Jala" your future comrades-in-arms! Hello, nice to meet you all, then promptly forget all that you have been told. The only ones that I can remember are Captain and Chief but then I often have problems of putting a face to the name. Hahaha. So there we have it, he has joined his vessel and settled in comfortably and all that is left is endless days stretching out ahead of him.

The first month is always an uphill battle and whichever way he turns the trip stretches out before him - seemingly endless and with no light to show him the way. Then one fine day he looks at that calendar and "look e here, I am just over half way" and it all seems like a down hill battle for the next few weeks. It is really as the time flies by as he thinks of how he will spend all that hard earned money and where he will go for a holiday with his family. But then that dreaded last week arrives and time really starts to drag now, worse than the period at the beginning of the trip. So close yet so far is how it feels to him. He phones up the company to find out the exact date that he will get off and they hedge their reply, " maybe the next port maybe the one after". He tries to find out who will be his relief and they give him a name, only for it to change three times before it sticks. Eventually his relief will appear and he gets off, taken to an airport by the agent and sent on his way - back to the arms of his family and to freedom once again.

I asked one retiring Captain if he ever gets used to it, where he no longer feels that 'death like wait' in getting off the vessel. He told me "no, it never gets easier".

This is where the expression "he Channels" comes in. An expression used to describe the feeling one has when they are going home. Originally you had the channels when the ship arrived in the English Channel as you knew that you would be going home upon arrival in the UK Port. But ships don't often go to UK ports now and so Channels means the period when you cannot eat properly and often have a dose of the runs. Diarrhea to those unaware as to what I mean by this. I myself get so stressed out about getting off that I like to spend a couple of days in a hotel before going home. In this way I can relieve myself of all the in-built stress from the trip and return to being a normal human being once more.

Food on a vessel is always a point of contention. One cannot eat everything that that desire, no consideration is given towards what one individual will eat as all meals are prepared regardless of wish. You get what is dished up for that day. Saying that, most vessels have excellent cooks and the food is varied as well as delicious and wholesome. But maybe you have a craving for fish one day or steak another - well, forget it as you will get what is served up. I am quite easy going as concerns food, I eat whatever is served and usually enjoy it. On the bigger ships I would say that the food is better, more selection per meal and a greater effort having gone into the preparation. Coasters and offshore the food tends to be thrown at you out of a big pot, often delicious and enjoyable, but thrown at you regardless. Offshore I have great problems as the cooks are normally Indonesian or Filipino thus the food tends to be from that nation. I get fed up of rice day in day out, fed up of bony fish and foods that I would not touch at any cost. But out of what is served I manage to scrape together the necessary foods for nourishment. One often finds various officers rummaging around in the dry stores or Galley fridge's during the night for any foods that they can fond to top up. I often found myself sneaking down stairs and reappearing in my cabin laden with tins of fruit, cheese and other nibbles, these often not getting eaten as my eyes were bigger than my stomach. If the cook is bad he tends to lead a miserable existence receiving endless abuse about his ability, whilst if he is good he leads an honored and respected life onboard. Some say that the cook is the life and soul of the ship and this I totally agree with. "The way to a mans heart is through his stomach", don't take that literally but happy men are usually well fed.

People at sea tend to be slightly remiss on world happenings, having no access to daily newspapers and news programs on television. Living on the ship you survive together and the world outside often never exists until the time when you arrive back home. I go through two stages regarding my keeping up with the outside world. On a ship I stop wanting the news, never reading papers that do get onboard (out of date thought they are) and never listening to the radio when and where possible. Yet upon my return to home I become an avid reader of newspapers, buying one every day and perusing page by page. Some seafarers tune in to the BBC regularly every day and gain the latest in world politics and happenings. But not having the news for that period seems to have no effect on me. It is a bit like watching a television series like Neighbors or Eastenders then missing it for four months. Upon your return you switch on the telly and get back into the series, catching up within minutes all that has occurred during the missing time as if you never missed one episode. The same with the news, you read one newspaper upon your return and hey presto, you find out exactly what is happening and more often than not that it is not very interesting at that. But do we really miss anything? Is it so important another girl was raped, it is for the girl but is it for us? Do we have to know all the inside details of the sordid world that exists out there? It is often a shock when catching up with news how terrible some things are. Imprisoned on a ship we live a daily existence devoid of the worlds problems, and are probably better for it.

Not receiving the news is a bit like being out of contact with your family. You spend four months away and during that time you may only call home on average ten times. Always calling at your instigation as you go to the phone, and you make that call, the other party always waiting for you rather than calling you themselves. This bit can be hard, the lack of communication to loved ones - but the lack of news does not bother me in the slightest and is often welcome.

Without this recourse to the news and to the ability to call home whenever you want can have an adverse effect on some. I suppose one could call it homesickness or something. Food that you may not like, no access to the world or your family and you can never really be alone. Often as a means of escape from others I go to my cabin to read a book, but invariably you are disturbed either for work reasons or just someone wanting a chat and wandering where you are. I tend to exist on a ship as part of that ship in that I always intermix and mostly am with others. But some seafarers like to keep their own company and for them I think the life is harder - as I said before to be alone is hard.

Loneliness is one of the biggest problems that a seafarer has. I am not talking about the wish to be alone, that is a preference of one person and him alone. I am talking about those that feel alone even when they are with others. Cadets often feel that way through not getting along with their superiors and feeling as if the whole world is against them. But not only does this go with cadets, all ranks and types of persons experiencing some form of it. I found myself extremely lonely only recently and for a whole four months. I was working on a vessel with all Filipinos and I found that I had nothing in common with these people. They were nice and friendly but there was no bond, and so I spent many hours reading books or playing computer games whilst wishing that I could have a decent conversation. Another time was when I found that I could not break into a certain ships culture, an extremely closed one that had been built over many years. I tried to break in and found that I could not thus finding myself on the outside and lonely. This feeling though can also be treated in two ways. Those that accept that they are lonely and are happy or those that cannot accept it and they shrink within themselves - sort of "nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I think I'll just eat worms.........", or something to that effect. The first type is acceptable and you can still enjoy your trip, the second is disastrous with every day being worse than the last. It eats away at you and invariably ends up with a serious problem of one form or another. That person may crack, he may resign, he may even walk off or he may take his feelings out on others. Try to get contact by using aggression.

To have one man on a ship who is lonely can effect the whole of that ship. Or to look at it another way, if one man feels lonely on that ship there is usually something wrong with the culture of that ship. No man should be the odd one out, each should be accepted for who they are and what they are regardless of character, race or creed. Saying that, the ship that I worked on with all Filipinos was an impossibility to break into, due to language and traditional barriers since birth - basically we were just on total different wavelengths. It was a happy ship though as we did all get on and they in themselves were great people - I doubt that they ever knew that I was lonely, so only I was affected by that time onboard.

What produces a happy ship is extremely hard to ascertain. A few possible answers would be that all persons onboard are open people, willing to accept others for who or what they are, That they have a good cook onboard and that they are good and reliable in their work.

This last point is important as if one man is slacking or irresponsible in his behavior then it will effect the whole ship from top to bottom. Vessel manning is so tight these days that each person must be able to carry out their duties otherwise the workload lies on others and extending them to the limit. If a Chief Engineer is slacking it will effect the whole engine room department and so with the Captain. If a lower rank engineer is slacking then the Chief cannot sleep soundly at night for fear o something going wrong. It is in these situations up to the Chief Engineer or the Captain to warn this misfit of his slackness and to take further action if it is not improved. Further action being the removal of this person from the vessel to be replace by one more capable of doing the work. If it is the Chief Engineer or the Captain then it is not so easy and life continues onwards in an unhappy style. Overall I have worked on mostly happy ships, ships that have their ups and downs but ones where life just potters along with a few laughs to pass the time.

Laughter goes along way to producing a happy ship. If all can laugh and make jokes then any bad aspects of the ship can generally be swept under the carpet - laughter rules the roost. A laugh a day keeps the doctor away.......or whatever. Chinese people laugh allot even if they have nothing to laugh about - it is their philosophy to make light of bad situations and to relieve tension through humor. Great way to go about things say I! Not just laughter but happiness, joking, smiling or whatever. Often on the coast I used to buy a remote controlled car, just for fun. I know that these are normally children's toys or used in intricate film plots to explode bombs underneath those unaware but I used o lighten things up. Just zooming it around deck for a while or annoying the Captain on the bridge produces a few laughs and removes peoples thoughts from whatever they were brooding over.

Laughter is often produced through the consumption of alcohol. Alcohol has caused contention on many a vessel, accidents being blamed on over-consumption with the result that many companies have removed drink from their vessels. These vessels are called Dry Ships. My views on the matter revolve around this reasoning "that responsible Officers will not abuse the system", thus it is the irresponsible ones that cause the problem. Alcohol has a great use in relieving stress on a ship and to break the ice between ranks and individuals. Without drink crews often become isolated unable to break down their own barriers and allow others in. I have found that working on dry ships is tough. Spending three months at sea, unable to get ashore and with no escape from the constant pressure of the job. Even when relaxing the job is at the forefront of all thoughts, what shall I do tomorrow, is that machine going to work, did I fit it the right way, these thoughts going round and round in the head without escape. So without alcohol it is impossible to switch off and wind down and by the end of three months officers become shivering wrecks, overworked and overstressed.

It is a difficult problem and without adequate answer I suppose. The system has been abused too many times, yet many lives revolve around it and require it to survive. Times when it has failed have been many with tankers running aground and spilling oil, ferries colliding, etc. Crews on vessels often get drunk and their workload is covered by others - not good as each person has enough work to do without doing more. Yet, most of these accidents and problems could be blamed on persons that consume hard spirits. Those that drink secretly and consume a bottle of day of their favorite tipple, may it be whisky, gin or saki. I would thus agree that spirits should be banned, outright and forthwith on every vessel. What about beer though? Beer is part of my life and I forever enjoy just the one or two after dinner. I see no wrong with this, and see no reason why it cannot be available on vessels. Monitor it if you care, ration it if you want but ban it? No! That is not the answer. Often at the end of a three month trip I have been physically and mentally exhausted. For three months I have not stopped thinking about the job, yet just one or two beers a day (and not necessarily everyday) would go along way to reducing this feeling.

Alcohol has been blamed for many an accident and occurrence but I would strongly suggest that more has been caused by stress than by inebriation. Tired and stressed people cannot think straight and are slow to react. I will admit that I have made a couple of serious errors (extremely costly and damaging to the equipment involved) purely as a result of mental exhaustion, thus the lack of ability to think logically. I will also state that I cannot recall or remember ever having caused damage or error to ships equipment whilst under the influence of alcohol. Two factors that go along way to saying that alcohol is not as bad as it is made out to be.

My answer to all of this is "give back beer to the boats, regulate it if you must, ration it if you want, but give it back". Another point that I would like to make is that if you cannot trust Officers with drink onboard then those persons should not be onboard in the first place. The end...I say no more on the subject.

Before I close this chapter I would like to take a more in depth look at what one may do in a typical day whilst at sea. Say from the time that I get up in the morning to the time that I go to bed in the evening, presuming that I am on a big ship and on UMS, I get up with the feeling that I do not want to get up. I was cozy in my bed and the thought of having to go down the sweaty engine room does not appeal in the slightest. But regardless, I get up when my alarm rings (or the watchman wakes me up) rub my eyes, and climb into the shower. A cold one preferably to aid that waking up process, brush my teeth in the shower, dry off then clamber into the waiting boiler suit. Typically I don't have breakfast, a coffee doing the trick. I am not one for talking to others first thing in the morning so I tend to get my coffee and disappear down into the engine room - usually at 7.30, half an hour before everyone else appears. So 7.30 in the control room with my feet up and slowly coming to grips with the new day. At 8 O'clock the other engineers will appear and the days jobs will be organized. Who will do what and who with and how they may proceed, including any safety aspects that others should be aware of. If on duty that day I will first have a good check around the engine room, topping up tanks as required and taking a log of all temperatures, pressures, etc. At ten O'clock it is time for smoko and up we go to grab a cup of coffee or whatever and just natter away either in the mess room or outside on the deck. Ten thirty back down the engine room until 12 O'clock and up again for lunch. On ships with a bar (and some without) I do sometimes like one beer before lunch, sort of wet the throat. But only one before going to lunch in the dirty mess room - this one being separate from the saloon so that those with boiler suits on do not need to change. After lunch I might go and chat with whoever is on the bridge. So back down at one until three O'clock for another smoko. At four O'clock if on duty I will do another check around the engine room making sure that all will be okay for the night. So at five we are out of there and up for a beer we go. One or two beers first and then to shower. Sometimes this beer may extend to three or four but the aim is to get showered and into uniform before dinner finishes. Into the saloon and make small chat with the Captain and then at seven or so all is over. This is where the rest of the evening can just drag, three or four hours in which to do nothing. But for me I enjoy it - if I have my computer I play a game if I do not then I will read a book, usually ending up back in the bar at around 8.30 or nine. Just for a night cap before clambering in to bed.

So that is a typical day on a big ship. Not much changes on a coaster, except that meal times are more flexible and I will spend more time on the bridge, using that as the mess room and smoko area.

Many people ashore cannot work out what we do all day but please believe me when I say that the work is not easy. Well that is for another chapter and so I will leave this here and move onto other things.......