JUNE 11th, 2013, TUESDAY
En route to Morocco.
Aside from A.B. Ronald giving me a set of working clothes, 4th engineer Henerson Patino Gonzales gave a set also and what's more a blue sweat shirt which will need for winter. For the moment we were informed by our chief officer yesterday evening at the bridge about what happened on the crew of the capsized fishing vessel, he says that's its owner's are Portuguese and the crew have already been rescued days earlier. He says that thing we say yesterday was just a ship wreck floating adrift pose only as a minor navigational danger.
Aside from the minor safety briefing, After long last I have now finally washed (in secretly) all the leather gloves and cotton gloves I had collected ever since I had arrived here. Of course I did washed it secretly away from the prying eyes of my crewmates , I had to wash it secretly since I don't know on how will they react if they saw me doing it. So what's my motive why I collected and washed all those gloves ??? Simple , lack of supplies here onboard, That the only possible reason why I did it.
Learned this tactic during my time when I was serving the first part of my deck cadet years when I was still in STOLT Strength. Apparently my former Captain there (Alfredo Pascual) was a very neglecting one back then, he hoarded all the money for the ships supplies - even basic working equipment that are needed for work are being blocked by him such as gloves, tools, soap etc. The "Blockade" was a big problem for me, plus if ever I did get a new set of working equipment namely gloves, someone from my crew mates would steal it off. So as a desperate measure back then , I collected every dirty cotton or leather gloves that was still in good working condition and store it in my cabin and later wash it off with a chemical mixture I made (Usually Teepol and chlorine bleach) using the washing machine and let it dry inside my cabin for security, and for later use. Its more like "recycling" really or maybe scavenging ? Whatever ! , and the only problem I had was the detergent I will use - Since the blockade was terrible back then even teepol and chlorine bleach was a scarcity during that time.
Past is past, going back now to my present situation. Working supplies is a bit scarce here also and I'm not exactly sure why its scarce at all ? Maybe poor management from Career or CSM (Columbia Ship Management) or something else. Anyway what I can comment about is when I arrived here working supplies are somewhat hard to find, I wasn't given any more new working supplies like extra new gloves and such and the only working equipment I had that was issued by Career Ship Management was two coveralls, a winter jacket, a pair of working shoes, and a rain coat parka, That's it and nothing more. Don't want to jump into conclusions but the rumor I heard is that CSM has poor management to it's crew - Go figure. So far what tactics I'd be doing in relation to the scarcity of supplies is that I'd keep the new issued equipment (if ever they issue one at all) and use it later on my next ship. I'd only use the "Recycled" equipment until they're badly damaged beyond repair. The gloves that I had recycled is sufficient enough for work,
In other news
This mornings maintenance work I done was a bit change of pace for me, on the face that I had never done this task - as in ever. I had top climb up the Mast riser to grease the four wires connected to it, First I had no idea what was the task given to me by BOSUN AMICAN - the only clue I had is that I'm going to climb on something a bit high since he said to me that I should wear a safety harness, then he told me afterwards that my maintenance work for this day will be the greasing up the wires on the Mast Riser. Honestly there's nothing wrong with that - but the problem was I'm afraid of heights and don't climb objects unless its really necessary. Haven't really though of one day I'd be doing something I'm terrified of,
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| Pictures of the ships mast riser , the wires are shown as thin line here |
Oh well I guess I have no other choice. Its just basically part of my job as a sailor and a maintenance personnel onboard. I just have to hid my fear and pretend that everything was ok, I took a improvised container containing a mixture of grease, a metal hook , paint brush and paint roller to roll the grease on the wire. Honestly climbing the Mast riser wasn't really that bad, and believe it or not. I try not to look down as much as possible and try not to remember that I'm more than 6 meters off the main deck of this ship and will not die horribly incase I fell (that's the use of the safety harness right ???). It took me quite a while to finish the said task , since it's very obvious that I'm not adept on being in elevated places. OK Greased the wires on the Mast Riser , so what's next and I'm comfortable now that the task was over, So I went to the BOSUN AMICAN and asked what will be the next job for this day. He said now that I'm finished my next task would be greasing the wires on the forward mast of Cape Tallin.
When he said my next task , at the back of my mind I said to myself "Oh my god !!! that height ??? Climbing more that 10 meters ? You got to be shitting me ?!" . In front of BOSUN AMICAN I was defly quiet about it, and just said "No problem" like a blind idiotic moron. When I was about to turn my back and head to the forward mast, BOSUN AMICAN suddenly said that I should remove my safety harness and that I'm not exactly going to climb that height, He said that I should only carry a "Long Stick" with me and only the part of the wire I could reach should I grease.
It was a big relief he said that knowing that I don't do so well on heights. After an hour of greasing the wires, to my surprise O.S. Hall came to help me out and he even wears a safety harness. From what I heard to him BOSUN AMICAN told him to help me out, upon looking O.S. Hall told me that my can is out of grease and we had to go back to the paint room to get some more. When we went to the paint room , O.S. Hall showed me the mixing of two grease types for the wires. I don't exactly recall the exact specific name of the two types of grease, but I can describe is one type is a stick brown grease and another is the Black dripping Tar grease . The mixing of the grease as what I recall from O.S. Hall is for every four scoops of sticky brown is equivalent to 1 black tar grease, To simply say the ratio is 1 : 4.
When we got back BOSUN AMICAN is also coming along to assist us in greasing the wires in the Forward Mast and was also wearing a safety harness. The first one of the wire was a big problem and BOSUN and O.S. disassemble it from the top part, BOSUN AMICAN on the latter left the greasing work since Chief Mate gave him some other work on the work shop. So it was only me and O.S. Hall that was left greasing the three other wires, fortunately O.S. Hall found an easy way on how to grease the three remaining wires. The trick was disassemble it not from the top part but from the base, the one that has a turn buckle. We easily finished greasing the wires in no time at all compared to the first method we did.
