The Real Seafarer

There is no doubt about it that life at sea has changed considerably since Noah set foot on his ark! For a start animals are not allowed onboard unless one is a sheep carrier and sails are not really something that one runs up the mast, if one has a mast at that. Life has changed so much so that "going to sea to see the world" no longer really applies to the modern day term of a career at sea. A stretch of water in Africa looks pretty similar to a stretch of water in India?

What in basis is being said here, in a round about sort of way, is that seafarers as a general rule no longer look forward to visiting strange lands, to being ambassadors in a foreign country and to having a wife in every port they visit! Ships these days turn around faster than one can blink an eye, or two! Just as the ropes have been firmly secured to the bollards and the engines stilled they are wound up again, the ropes released and off she sails into the sunset! Not only do strips of ocean look like each other but so do bollards and bits lengths of concrete called wharfs! Realistically speaking, having seen a forklift truck in Bahrain it does not mean that one has seen the country, nor does walking on a jetty in Singapore mean that one can talk enthusiastically about the night life and bars on Boat Quay!

Most vessels operate to a tight schedule and if a port stay does allow time for the engines to cool down, this is the time when engineers will do maintenance, when crews will load cargo and mates will try to stop the bally thing turning over. There are though certain vessels that often break the rules of minimal port stay, not on a regular basis but just sometimes they shut down their engines with no estimated time of departure. Old boats for instance might suddenly find themselves detained due to a surfeit of gaping holes in the steel work (suitably hidden under well painted pieces of cardboard) or the oily water separator had been cleverly disguised as a working unit but was in fact just a straight forward pump, bilge to overboard. Other cases of vessels with extended port stay might be those that are victims of Dockers strikes, cargo delays, mechanical breakdown or company bankruptcy but in all cases the crews on these vessels would prefer to be working rather than stuck in a jail, threatened with massive fines, unable to go ashore due to a security guard posted at the bottom of the gangway or held alongside simply through a lack of much needed cash.

Nope, none of these come into play. The Offshore Boats of this world are the vessels that have longer port stays and often indefinitely. Fitting into this category are the Anchor Handlers, the Research and Survey Vessels, the Tugs and the Crew Boats. The ships that keep oil rigs supplied, moving and drilling, that indirectly bring the oil to the door, the plastic bags to the supermarket and keep trains on the go (British Rail being an exception). Yep, the ugly and small yet highly powered brutes of the offshore Industry!

It might be at this juncture that many offshore supply and AHTS crews are shaking their heads at the above statement! These would be the North Sea crowds, the Australians, the Americans and all those that work domestically and safely on trips that last no longer than four weeks. But the world is a massive place and in countries where clocks are not watched faithfully by accountants and where "Rome was not built in day", offshore boats tend to have rather longer stays in port than most other vessels.

In fact Offshore Vessels working in Asia, Africa, Russia, Eastern Europe, and South America might be considered the last bastion of civilized seafaring, where ports are still visited, where wives are first met and where life can actually exist off the boat without one losing their job.

Admittedly there are always exceptions to this rule! Some might at this juncture point out that they have just retuned from a four month trip on a research vessel that got no closer to port than the tip of a stack seen on the horizon. Others may grumble that they were based in Saudi Arabia and could get no further than the bottom of the gangway without having an irate security guard waving a loaded rifle around in an alarming fashion. And the same could be said for container ships, or gas tankers where port stays are at a premium and sea time is just a little rest between beers ashore.

There are always exceptions to the rule!

Offshore vessels do tend to get more port stay than other types of vessels and it is not unheard of for seafarers to complete a whole two to three month trips tied up alongside either waiting for a charter or waiting for the rig to appear or become ready. Yes, siree! Three months in Singapore, two months in Dubai, a month in Mexico . It's all been done and although money is spent in large wedges at least these seafarers can say "we've been there"!

Even boats that are working the rigs do tend to get lengthier port stays than their containerized and tanked counterparts! Three days at the rig, a day in port! A week at sea, two days in port!

Without a doubt the offshore industry is the only solid industry remaining that provides excellent grounding in how to be a seafarer, the only types of ships left where one works hard and plays hard and the only industry left were one can truly set sail to see the world. One trip might be based in Malaysia, the next in South Africa, another in Japan and another in Cuba and over the years the portfolio builds, a wife in every port becomes a realistic yet worrisome sideline and the life has become a true "life at sea".