WAITING FOR SOMETHING

"WAITING FOR SOMETHING "

JUNE 23rd 2013, Sunday

Anchored at Morocco.



Never been on my previous sailing years did I experience the longest anchorage time yet, but here on this product tanker named Cape Tallin. Before several years earlier, my former vessels are always on the "berthing on arrival" status and Anchor watch is a very rare occurrence. Honestly up to now I'm not still used to the long anchorage time here.



So what has been happening on me since my last log on my journal. Well quiet a couple of things, especially on work



On work, I could tell there had been two incidence were I'm furious over the BOSUN. One incident was during lunch were they are talking about A.B. "Patrick" on his recent incursion with the third mate, I was only listening to their conversation and was minding my own business eating my own food. Then all of a sudden I was brought up on the issue and said that I forgot to relay the information, Upon hearing it I just smiled trying to brush off my mistake - then BOSUN AMICAN lashed out at the table and said that this is not matter to laughed at with, one person's mistake is the mistake of the whole group. I frowned and didn't like the words what came out on his mouth and said to myself. "Ok so its my mistake, What's your point ? Got a problem with it ? He's lecturing me on something he himself can't even follow , If I recall correct he left his own men in the airport , leaving me , Homer Mallorca and Ferdinand Penera Stranded on a couple of hours in Houston. I don't need lecture's



In the early morning of the anchor watch, went to A.B. "Patrick's" station and informed him that I'm no longer around hoisting flags as what 3rd mate Corales told me. A.B. Patrick said that It wont be a problem and said that he was of course also going to tell me the same thing. I said to "Patrick" 3rd Mate Corales approached me on the paint room and said about me hoisting Flags is not exactly my job and let A.B. "Patrick" talk care of the business in hoisting it, I replied that it wont be a problem if that would be the case, Either way whether Hoisting flags or not is on my job description doesn't really matter since I'm already used hoisting flags since I was a Deck Cadet - both in Bow Ophelia and Stolt Strength.



Aside from that, I asked A.B. Patrick about the allotment, on how it works out here in Career Shipping. From I was told allotment is not based on the total gross income but solely based on the base pay. In other words the Mom and my younger sister will be sharing the allotment of 445 USD and not the total 905 USD, I asked "Patrick" if this could be corrected , he says that the rate on the allotment could be corrected and said that I have to write a letter to career about it.



In other matters related work, Anchorage time here at morocco is already been dragging on nearly for a week. Not that I care though - but some function that I usually do clean have already been put to a halt because of it, anyway I don't really mind at all not cleaning since detergents have been in short supply lately on this ship - For the moment I stuck using Teepol and Beach, and I do hope I don't get the idea of using this in washing my clothes.



For the moment, My work now is painting all the nooks and cranny of the steam pipes , the small spaces in between those flanges - the hard to reach one's. From what I recall I was busy painting the "1 starboard side" steam pipe till , I was called by BOSUN to paint the whole steam pipe at the "3 Starboard side".



During the most recent anchorage watch I got so heavily dizzy from lack of sleep again , this time the main reason was that I had successfully transferred the movie "Resident Evil : Retribution " from CD to USB digital data and I could now watch this movie on the USB without the CD. Unfortunately this slashed my rest hours and sleep time to zero, after the Anchorage watch I immediately came to my cabin to sleep



Another thing that has been happening onboard (and not related to me at all) is the recent crew change that might be happening here at morocco, From what I heard at the crew mess, The crew change of ratings is postponed while the change of Ship Officer's (like Chief Mate and 2nd Engineer) is on the way. Most of the crew here are becoming frustrated over the said issue that they wont be going home for the moment and have to wait a bit longer, I heard from Pump Man "Nilo" that even if they contact the said DPA person (Designated Person Ashore) the answer that they will get is the part were they signed up on the contract that says Plus and Minus 9 months. In other words he says that they're stuck here until someone from CSM figures out a way to bust them out here.



Another news I heard is about the cash advance, 2nd Mate Olis announced to us on the crew mess while eating lunch that all cash advances are postponed according to him Captain Slabada hinted that the ship doesn't have enough cash to sustain the said payment for crew who will be making cash advances.



Woke up really late from all the fatigue I got from the anchor watch, actually the cause of my fatigue is not exactly the anchor watch at all and I admit I shouldn't have stayed all up late in the evening just to watch the movie "Resident Evil : Retribution" , with resulted me lacking of sleep.



Anchor watch came and went without any problems at all, I visited A.B. "Patrick" and see how he was doing at the forward part of the ship. He says he's fine and had a conversation on how I got recruited here in Career Shipping. It was about nearly 5:50 am when I had to pass to the bridge as it is the only entrance in and out to the accommodation during that time, To my surprise Chief Mate Tetrashvili Gocha gave me a look and looked on to the cell phone (probably to check the time). I just simply went ahead and ignored his look - pretending to be dumb. Anyway from now on to avoid those kind of issues id be ending my anchor watch by exactly 6 am.



It was about close to 11am when I woke up from fatigue, I obviously had no idea on what went on outside the cabin. When I went outside to eat lunch , I had found out from "Homer" that mooring ropes have already been brought out from the BOSUN'S store and soon the after our lunch the mooring ropes from the steering gear will be brought out as well. On what I learned from "Homer" is that berthing will be as soon as either Saturday or as late as Monday. At 1pm me along with "Homer" , "Ronald" and BOSUN brought out the mooring ropes , about 7 in total and we had to use the winches to pull them out since these ropes are stored below in the steering gear room (several meters below). It was tedious on some extent and had to bring along a small water bottle to drink just incase I get thirsty from the heat temperature (apparently the aft part of the ship and Steering gear room is quite a bit hot from the outside temperature).

This ships Chemical room

On the afternoon break, I was puzzled why I was requested by 4th engineer to assist him in cleaning the fresh water tank. Probably I could surmise that he saw pictures of me going inside and cleaning the fresh water tank on my hard drive (He borrowed my external hard drive several years ago). Immediately I went again to the steering gear room to assist him and my role there was simply get the bucket 4th engineer fills and flush it on the small hole just a few meters away from the Fresh water tank. The fresh water tank was filled with or badly stained with rust , everything was colored red and the rust sediments inside was so thick that I might even mistook it as "Mud" . 4th engineer had to mop the area using a chemical called "Environ Clean" ( I think this is the new name for Metal Brite A.K.A phosphoric acid) just to rid all the rust. Obviously the chemical "Environ Clean" is the rust remover around here, One thing that I find strange when 4th engineer was cleaning the said water tank is that I saw him tasted the water (with his lips) that was riddled with the environ clean residue.

ANCHORAGE WATCH

"ANCHORAGE WATCH "

JUNE 17th, 2013, Monday

Anchored at Morocco.





Anchor watch went along fine in the early morning (1am till 6 am), and as usual the whole anchorage area here on morocco is peaceful. A few small fishing boats came nearby or close to this ship, however to my dismay they don't conduct business and whenever I approach them just went away. I'm not sure why this is happening because three years earlier, fishing boats always approach ship nearby to conduct business and do barter stuff. Hmm probably it may be on the port terminal security thing why local fishermen here refuse to conduct business.



Early morning after my work shift A.B. "Patrick" came knocking on my door asking where did I put the Morocco Flag. I said to him that It was in the work shop rather than the safety locker, unsure I went down to the main deck from my cabin and check the flag on the safety locker and there it was. I told "Patrick" that I made a mistake and it was in the safety locker instead of the workshop and even showed him the location. Later I found out that the reason why "Patrick" searched for the flag was that he got into trouble with the third mate.



In the afternoon I got confused as to whether or not there was work, since it was Saturday. I did saw O.S. Hall doing work in the morning and when I got outside, I saw an indication that there was maintenance work being done at the workshop. Immediately dressed with my coveralls and saw BOSUN AMICAN near the workshop he said that I should go to the portside life boat. When I reached the life boat we (along with the Pump man) worked on a few maintenance work, me on the usual greasing of the wires. It was about 4pm when I saw A.B. "Patrick" and had a chat with him about his recent gum infection, He says he'd be alright now. At 5pm I heard from A.B. "Patrick" that dinner is already been served early. I hurriedly went to the crew mess to have a chow and didn't even bother to remove my coveralls thinking that I was still on anchor watch. To my horror when I went to the crew mess, everyone (including the engine crew) was surprised to see me still in coveralls. A.B. "Malorca" said to me he was about to tell me that I shouldn't have been off on work by 3pm but he could find me on his cabin, I saw O.S. Hall obviously displeased and said that I shouldn't have been off by now. Me embarrassed on the situation hurriedly went to the locker room to remove my coveralls. When I got back to the crew mess and ate dinner I avoided question from my co-workers on why I was still in coverall's during that time. Yeah it was a dumb situation being caught in coverall and still at work when in fact, I should have been resting at that time



On the early morning of Sunday, wasn't exactly sure whether or not there was a working shift since its Sunday. What I do know is that there is an anchor watch every night based on the safety meeting made by our chief officer, I intentionally waited and saw O.S. Hall in the morning at the hall way saying that there is still an anchor watch. I hurried to get dressed up and immediately went to my anchor watch station at the poop deck to replace O.S. Hall guarding the area.



While at anchor duties I took the time to take pictures on the Main Deck area of Cape Tallin. Haven't made a complete look on this ship ever since I joined last month , so I seized the opportunity in roaming around and taking pictures. A.B. "Ronald" even saw me taking pictures on the forward part of the ship. In late afternoon of Sunday I took the time in repairing the 2 working coveralls and inserting a zipper on it, I figured that my coveralls will be better off with a zipper than buttons. Took me at least 6 hours in putting zippers because I'm not good sewing those zippers. When I woke up ,I wasn't feeling good and had only two hours of sleep from all the modifications I made on my coveralls and yet I got off my bed. I was heading towards the ship C.O.C to check my emails when I saw O.S. Hall and greeted me good morning, Followed him on the crew mess were Oiler "Donald" and 3rd Engineer "Cranz" was also there. From the conversation I heard on the crew mess O.S. Hall tells to everyone about A.B. "Patrick's" and his relationship problems. A few minutes came by and I left them and head to the deck crew locker room to change into my coverall's and went back to the crew mess to ask any info O.S. Hall to say before I relieve him on his work.



There isn't anything significant that happened on the anchor watch, only the part were A.B. "Ronald" told me that the door entrance on the accommodation block were not properly bolted from the inside and that the 2nd mate didn't knew it was not locked at all. Of course "Ronald" and I agreed that were going to made an excuse on the radio to the second mate that I was just simply having a coffee break and was headed inside, but in reality I was going back for the doors to be locked so that the second mate wouldn't notice. (based on the ISPS security plan we have here on the ship , supposedly the only entrance going in and out of the ship should be the bridge.)



During 4am to 6am on my anchorage watch, I was severely feeling the effects of lack of sleep and was getting dizzy every now and then, even when I was doing a search patrol from the aft to the midship (done every 30 minutes on anchorage watch) I couldn't even walk straight from the dizziness. After the shift I hurriedly went to my cabin to take a nap and relieve me of my head ache and dizziness.

THE MISSING LINK

"THE MISSING LINK "

JUNE 15th, 2013, SATURDAY

Anchor at Morocco.





So far so good. From what I heard this ship will be going to Holland after Morocco and next to the dreaded pirate infested region of west Africa (Nigeria, probably) afterwards it's a rumor that this ship will be dry docking soon in either Portugal or in most likely in China since this is a Chinese built ship anyway.



For the work , could say that laundry is getting a bit of a problem and that there powder detergents just ran out. For the moment the measure I took up in washing my working coveralls is just plain old hot water, Not effective but it will do for now in washing my clothes.

Washing machine I used to wash my clothes with

Our laundry area onboard Cape Tallin

For the latest news around here.



A.B. Malorca keep's hovering around me and ask what's my connection between Captain Betts, I said to him that Captain Betts is my backer here in Career and he's the one responsible who got me into this job (and back again to becoming a sailor). Honestly I don't really mind "Homer" asking all those question, But the thing here is that I don't really talk much about people and my private life, and I hate people hovering around me and ask all sorts of questions about my background and connection to other people - I don't know maybe I guess I'm not a good talker at all and much prefer being quiet and minding my own business. Anyway my connection issue was brought up on the subject that "Homer" has an acquaintance of his who is working in the ship "DALE" (Captain Betts is current captain of it for now) and apparently he received an email on this acquaintance of his asking if he knew an O.S. (Ordinary Seaman) who goes by the name of me, "Homer" confirmed that indeed I'm the O.S. and replied via email saying what's the reason. The reply he got says that the Captain Here gives he's regards to me and says to email him, and said something about Captain Nick getting drunk and touching guys crouches, stuff like that.



Now since A.B. Homer Malorca has a good sense of imagination (and probably a wild one) and since that would be the case - all hell broke loose, and He's now hovering to me like a helicopter asking all sorts of question of what's my apparent connection with Captain Betts. I told him the truth that he's my backer - and that's the truth , its up to him if he believes it or not , after all this is a free world and he can believe on what he wants to believe.



In relation to work…



Cape Tallin has just arrived at Morocco and anchored itself nearby. During the anchoring operations, while operating the starboard winch paying out the anchor, the chains were all badly rusted up, so rusted that I had to put my goggles from my helmet to shield my eyes from all the "rust smoke" coming out, eventually my face was all covered with rust. I notice seconds later that there was a some sort of "knot" on the anchor chain then a few seconds later when the "knot" reached near the gypsy wheel the shackle slipped causing a loud "BANG" sound on the forecastle deck . BOSUN AMICAN obviously saw it and so does O.S. Hall, BOSUN AMICAN order that I should pay out the anchor very slowly as not to damage the anchor chain nor any anchoring equipment. After the anchoring operation BOSUN AMICAN said to us that the main reason why this "knot" eventually happens is because the anchor chains (and machinery) haven't been used for a long time.



Currently while writing this entry to my PC, I'm going to be on pirate watch after a few hours based on what O.S. Hall told me my watch is going to be at 1am in the morning till 6 am. Honestly I'm not exactly sure why we had to do this at all in morocco and last time I've been here the place has no problems at all, just only a few merchants who want to trade shoes and coveralls for counterfeit digital watches , few crabs and fishes. The usual greedy customs officials asking for bribes and nothing more, it was all peaceful here. Anyway it's the ship terminals rules to put the security level alert to level 2 and where just abiding on their house rules.



I better lock my cabin and hid my computer when this ship comes to berth though,

DO I EVER DREAM AT ALL

"DO I EVER DREAM AT ALL ? "

JUNE 13th, 2013, THURSDAY

Near Morocco.



Iridium actually is the brand name of our satellite phone here in Cape Tallin and based on my perception it's more like a prepaid one, this phone is more like a typical black handheld wall telephone in appearance. When using it just dial 02888 + the country code number (in my case the Philippines which is 63) then the telephone number. Haven't used a satellite phone for more than 2 years now and I only used it way back then as sending a message out of my desperation, Seriously using a satellite phone may seem cool but it isn't really that effective at all as compared to simply just email a person or sending a PM to face book, or even using a local land based phone at all. IRIDIUM is an expensive and inefficient way of communication , on top of that it slashed 34 U.S. Dollars off my onboard pay for this month.

This is what an Iridium Phone looks like

Anyway Since any broadband communication here in Cape Tallin are unavailable and literary does not have any Wi-Fi access of any kind (or method) when were at berth, the only communication available to the outside world is via email or satellite phone. Like I said on my previous entries on my blog - Cape Tallin is a way backward ship, much more regress compared to STOLT Strength or even Bow Ophelia. Going back to what I said earlier , Yes I did use "IRIDIUM" again after 2 years because I have no other choice and I need to send a message to my sister informing her of my email address and get news on what happened on my house (I'd later narrate what I heard over the phone). Its not exactly a desperation message as what happened last time - but more of like an assurance that my message was heard clearly. At first I was a bit unsure whether to call or not but I figured that its already been 20 plus days , I'm away at home and might as well contact the folks around and see how are they doing . By the way I choose to call that around 3:00 in the morning for privacy , since A.B. Homer Mallorca said that if I want privacy from my calls I should call in the early morning, He hinted that he didn't like 3rd mates German Jr. Tan Corales cocky behavoir and added that its difficult to make a call when he's around, as he keeps minding other people business



In other news.



Every time I wake up here on my cabin in Cape Tallin, I always have this eerie feeling that I'm waking up on a different place like the feeling that I'm waking up on a different dimension, a sad and desolate place. weird right ? Well compared to my previous ship BOW Ophelia , where I have a feeling of being inside a cryo hibernation tube (like the one's you see in SCI-FI films) every time I woke up. I could say that Cape Tallin is a change of pace.



For the dreams, believe it or not I don't dream of home here as to what happened on me during my work on STOLT Strength. For some reason my mind is mentally prepared for this and I feel more relax now whenever I sleep, I just simply thought to myself that



In work related news.



My task for this day was to De grease both spring line winches located on the port side of this ship (forward and aft respectively). The task wasn't really that hard , Just remember to bring a can of diesel fuel, a bucket full of rags (by the way its called "stoopa" here) , chemical gloves and that's is. The thing that I had only trouble with was that since this is a Product Crude Oil Tanker, There no shade at all to hide from the sun with and I'm bare exposed to the heat.



One tactic I learned to cool myself from the summer heat at sea was wet my coveralls with fresh water, I had just simply had to find a fresh water outlet nearby, open it and apply the water to my coveralls like lotion going to my skin. Seriously it relieved me of all discomfort of the hot weather and effectively dissipates the heat I'm receiving from the sun. Plus subliminally the BOSUN might even think I'm working hard as it may confuse it as sweat being soaked on my coveralls, and no way could I be accused of just slacking around the job. By the way the color of the fresh water outlet here on Cape Tallin is Color Blue, (Red is the fire hydrant and basically is the symbol for sea water). Here on this ship most of the fresh water outlets are located on the cargo manifold area of the ship , but I saw two outlets at the forward part and one outlet at the aft part. The main problem here is that fresh water outlets here are very few and very far apart compared to a chemical tanker that each cargo wing has its own fresh water outlet.



In the afternoon work after finishing the de greasing of the spring lines, I was put on to painting the cargo lines with gray paint (Admiral Grey color) and had to climb the cargo lines to paint them. The problem in painting cargo The line here is that, there is no other metal piping's to climb around with and had to circle around in the cat walk area before going down to the said cargo line to paint with, plus its very troublesome and that I had to watch my step every now and then since there is too few cargo lines to step on. This ship is truly bizarre and I guess id be better off on a chemical tanker (preferably 20,000 GRT and below) rather than in a product tanker. Good thing A.B. Malorca was around to accompany me on my work here.



The following day...



Since this ship is already getting near morocco, ( or its estimate that it will berth upon arrival within the next 48 hours ). The work we've done for the whole day was to wash the whole main deck area with sea water , from forward to aft, and it only means one thing - I'm going to be soaking wet with sea water for the whole day. There was a few minor problem that was encountered on this task as the hose we used was general a steam hose which by all term is not suited for the task, as a result the hose frequently burst every now and then , and BOSUN AMICAN had to frequently adjust a few screws or even cut the whole steam hose on the process.



On lunch, I saw a few boxes of Pringles Potato chips being given freely to the crew mess room. I later found out that those potato chips are already near expiration date, so in order for it not to be spoiled the management here gave it here for free, Aside from it Free orange cola was being given also and was on the same situation as the Pringles Potato chips. Well pretty generous of the management , and quite honestly I never expected it at all to happened - not at all.



After lunch I went off along with A.B. Ronald Caldona, Over some water on the Bilge Pump Room. Had no idea here that the bilge pump room was located below the BOSUN store area at the bow of the ship and was an enclosed space as far as I knew. Worst was that the oxygen detector they gave to "ronald" was not working properly and could not detect the oxygen levels, So basically me and "Ronald" entered the enclosed space blindly. We just simply keep the water tight door of the Bosun Store open and let the air come through, "Ronald" is the one who went down and removed all the water out on the Bilge pump room and me only getting a bucket and lowering it for him to put all the water, I never saw the bilge pump room on what it looks like "Down there" but based on what "Ronald" the bilge Pump room is a small tight space and he can fit himself around with. After removing all the water , "Ronald" radioed in to the bridge that all the water has been removed.



Late afternoon, I was busy helping out O.S. Hall in finishing the remaining areas to be washed off in the aft part accommodation area and later sorting out the plastic garbage in the workshop. Last part of the work for the day was securing all the equipment used during the washing and I had to coil those thick rubber hoses before storing them to the work shop room.

"RATIO IS 1 : 4"

"RATIO IS 1 : 4"

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,

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.

ON BETTER CONNECTION

"ON BETTER CONNECTION"

JUNE 9th, 2013, SUNDAY

En route to Morocco.





After weeks of figuring out on how I can communicate to the outside world , or at the very least have an entry on my blog - I had now finally solved the problem and found out that there was an onboard email here in CAPE Tallin, I just simply have to register on the computer at the C.O.C. office on this ship and viola - I have now an email address and can do emails. Plus it's a good thing that I had managed to program my blog to publish blog entries via email. Another thing that I could add about is the Status update of my official FB account, good thing that face book has an email status update feature ( face book mobile option I think) which of course I also program when I was still back on land. I cant wait to get my hands on the ships C.O.C. computer and start emailing there !!!

The PC here that A.B. Patrick is using is the PC used for crew email, Before using it, a sailor needs to inform 3rd officer first , so he can register it

On the crew mess for some reason every Friday , beans are served on the menu. I'm not exactly sure on how this started but what I'm definite about is that almost every ship that has a Filipino cook onboard serves beans every Friday. Weird right ??? Another thing weird is that if there's a birthday of a crew member (or ship official) there is a cola or some beverage served along during lunch - not exactly sure on the specific explanation to this. In relation to what I'm saying earlier its was Chief cooks birthday this Friday and incidentally beans and a beverage (cola or beer) was served on lunch.



Aside from that there was a drinking session that night and the crew along with me was blasting the crew mess karaoke with songs. I'm not a good singer , but I did sing and Pump man Nilo Pastrana did joked about it saying that he couldn't tell the difference if I was singing or reading a poem. Oh well my social skills are really poor , so I do admit I'm not a good singer :D .



The following day after Half day Work (Saturday)



Another scheduled barbecue get together was held , The whole "Ratings" crew was busy setting up the table and preparing the food. I along with BOSUN AMICAN, O.S. Xerxes Hall, Oiler "Gian" , A.B. "Mallorca" and A.B. "Patrick" was also busy roasting the pig on the aft side of the ship, wasn't an easy business roasting a dead pig and aside from that even though this ship is now technically in Europe which has a much cooler climate than America , the sun here is still unforgiving and roasting a pig without a shade is not comfortable at all.



One difference in barbecue party having a mixed crew from a full Filipino crew is that you have to dress decent clothes (compared to having a full crew dressing anything your comfortable with even with only working clothes). Food was great and I loved the sushi that the chief cook made, The menu wasn't that extensive but chief cook Roberto Cervantes Penerada is a master when it comes to cooking.



The next day……



Morning was briefly interrupted for a few hours, when I took a look on the window of my cabin I noticed that the ship circled twice on some object floating at sea. Curious on what it was I hurriedly went to my cabin to get my monocular (mini version of a binocular telescope) and viewed the said object it's a bow of a capsized ship , most likely a fishing vessel. Looked upon it thoroughly and looks like nothing is alive(or dead floating) on that ship.



When I went out of my cabin , it was coincidence that I saw BOSUN AMICAN having a radio with him and said that I should knock O.S. Hall's cabin. He added that there's a floating capsized ship and there's a possibility that we might do a "Rescue" , BOSUN knocked O.S. Hall's cabin and Hall came out. After telling us BOSUN hurriedly went wont stairs to the main deck to check it out personally while me and hall went to the locker room to get dressed up on cover alls. We met BOSUN on the starboard side of the ship, aft area and he told us to keep our eyes peeled to any objects or people that might be still floating around. After a few minutes we saw nothing and even though Cape Tallin circled twice , the said small ship had no life.



Since there wasn't any action at all , BOSUN AMICAN said that we should clean up the litter that was left behind the barbecue party yesterday. ME, O.S. Hall, A.B. "Patrick" and A.B. Mallorca cleaned up the place and put the huge barbecue grill (made up of cut up Oil Drum) on the steering room, along with the 2 sacks charcoal for later use. Nearly got myself in an accident in the steering room when I mistakenly thought that the bulkwark beam was a letter "T", with that mistake my left hand slip while climbing up the ledge , good thing that my balance and pulling force was not centered on my left hand or could have fell 6 meters to the steering room platform. Chinese made ships are really dangerous compared to Japanese one's , Hope I don't ever get assigned to a Chinese made ship ever again. Clean up took only at least half an hour and BOSUN AMICAN saw four spare unused sprite cola cans out of the pile of litter, He said we could have the spare cans as refreshment.



In the afternoon A.B. Ronald Caldona was cleaning up his cabin probably preparing for his near departure from cape tallin and return to the Philippines. He decided to give away some of his stuff used on other crew members, I received from him some spare working clothes and a Dumbbells, yeah believe it of not that's what I had received. Honestly I thank "Ronald" for being generous and giving me those spare working clothes, and I badly need those things since I was given a wrong by career office in bringing only 23 Kilograms of luggage rather than 40 Kilograms, resulting to many of my equipment being left out in the Philippines.

DAY OF DAYS

"DAY OF DAYS"

Manila, Philippines en route to Corpus Christi, Atlanta U.S.A.



Past few days have been relatively quiet, No sign of Career calling me up and saying that "Its Time". For the moment based on what I had read on the website "CAPE TALLIN" is on the united states and will probably take a month of travel to reach Europe, If my rough estimation is correct there is a possibility that I might join there given the fact that career has upgraded my SCHENGEN Visa (European Union Visa). For the moment I could not exactly figure it out whether it is in Netherlands at all or some country in the European Union, But what I am sure of is it is in the some country in Europe.



As what I mentioned earlier, the days have been quiet since my last log in this journal. I had been busy doing some other stuff in the house, playing video games, taking care of the sick kittens and making rounds like a vet and such. Aside from that I also optimized the Ubuntu Linux Operating system on my laptop making it more stable and safe haven for storage on "sensitive" data, plus I have to add some extra features in it and rewriting all the accounts on one computer program interface.



One best feature I liked about Ubuntu Linux is its all-in-one Interface, which mean that I don't have to open multiple programs for connection - In Ubuntu I simple only open one computer program (Gwibber) and that's it, all my accounts in Face book and yahoo are all connected in one program - Simple as that. Worse part of Ubuntu is its EXTREMELY UNSTABLE and a person using it must have a formidable backup program against glitches and bugs (which often do happen a lot). Fortunately my current LG laptop has a formidable restore program although it's a bit cumbersome to do a backup every now and then, and worst normally takes an hour to do a back up on the system. If only Ubuntu could be as stable as Android operating system (OS for tablets and phones) , I wouldn't mind at all using Ubuntu for a full system usage on my laptop. For now I only use it as a secondary operating system to hide my sensitive files away from prying searches of Windows based operating System.



In other news….



Weather in now improving here and there's an occasional rain every late afternoon to cool off the summer heat, personally I'm glad that weather has significantly improved compared to last month were I have to literary hide away from the sun just to avoid the summer heat of 42 degrees Celsius. Now the next problem I'd be facing now whenever I leave the house is rain and flood ,since I think rainy season here in the Philippines will be starting early.



In the past few days, local elections were held here in the Philippines and from the looks of it, It's the greatest show on earth (being sarcastic here). From what I'm seeing on the local advertisement in T.V. , Politicians are throwing everything but the kitchen sink just to get votes. They proclaim or vocally announce to everyone that they have all the answers to almost everything, nearly saying something like their the savior of the human race blah blah. Generally I find Filipino politicians to be it pathetic, worst normal Filipino citizens follows these kind of people. Good thing I don't vote (nor even a registered voter), for me suffrage is simply a "useless right, and have no direct impact on my life" . As long as Filipino's listen to politicians and prefer politics as an answer to everything, make no mistake the Philippines will always be a poor decadent country.



Anyway speaking of which, I heard "Angkla" party list failed to win a seat in congress. I always joked about it and call it a moniker "PTC" party list , given that this political party is formally backed by a shipping company called Philippine Transmarine Carriers. Sadly what is left n angkla is just a waste of man power and resources , apparently "Angkla" didn't tried hard enough to get a seat or maybe it wasn't that popular enough to non sailors out here. In spite of the failure, I'm hopeful that maybe I'd be seeing angkla again somewhere in the future, (assuming it doesn't get disbanded anytime soon) or some sort of sailors political party in the next three years again. Who knows maybe AMOSUP will be a political party one day.



In Career related affairs..



On the date of 17th may 2013, Career shipping gave me call on my hand phone informing of my schedule departure for work , according to the my flight was scheduled for the following morning and I have to call them back in 9 am , Thinking that this was "For Real" I hurriedly called my sister and informed her that I might need some money and that career shipping is badly rushing me. My sister said that it wont be a problem and she will take of it.



Morning came in and I called to the shipping office just to confirm about my flight , The person whom I spoke with said that the flight was cancelled and that it is scheduled again for tomorrow (the following day). I was very relieved to hear it and had time to prepare my things even if its just only 24 hours, aside from that I had to finish the so called CAV certificate for my C.O.C. (certificate of competency) . Delaying it was a big help. On the afternoon I took the opportunity to go to Taguig and go to the tesda office and finished getting the CAV once and for all. Suddenly I received another call again on the office and said that my flight was 8 pm TODAY, I hurriedly got my CAV certificate in TESDA and by the time I was in the shipping office, the receptionist told us that it was a false alarm and they were just handling out the plane ticket for us. From the briefing I only got to find out that there was seven of us travelling as a team , from which I already saw personally who's going to be my BOSUN and another able bodied seaman (A.B.) to be. The receptionist also added that the luggage carrying capacity that we will be carrying is only at least 23 kilograms and only one bag , nearly only half of the actual intended luggage that i should be carrying. After the briefing I collected my uniforms coverall from the Uniform booth , intended to get my cash advance and leave pay to the Cashier booth in career. Unfortunately it was Friday at that time and It was already past 5pm which meant that the banks in the Philippines is already closed.



I went home as soon as possible to inform my sister and to the least buy some toiletries supplies , when I arrived I resumed on working in taking off the extra luggage and fitting all the uniform coverall issue equipment that was given to me. Fortunately for me all of the equipment that was issued fitted on my bag , although in the sacrifice of my winter clothes and an extra miscellaneous working shoes. In midnight I was fully restocked , thanks to my sister who lend me some money needed, I said to my sister the flight details and that my flight will be 9 am in the morning.

Meal time in ANA Airlines

The following day I couldn't sleep well and hurriedly got up to check my luggage for last minute changes, I also said to my sister that if she can look out for my cat batman and the kitten I'm currently taking care of, since id be away in the house for almost 8 to 9 months. My sister replied it wont be a problem. We took a cab early morning and proceeded to NAIA terminal 1 for my said flight. 2 hours before my scheduled flight, one of my college's told us that we were told on the wrong airport terminal and that we should be on NAIA terminal 3, given it was an "ANA" Japanese flight. Me , the AB and the BOSUN went to the information desk of the airport terminal and it was found out that indeed the flight was on terminal 3 and not in terminal 1, Upon hearing that the seven of us quickly went outside the airport and each got a taxi to drive us to terminal 3. It was horrifying that the receptionist at the shipping office gave us a wrong information on the flight and that we had to hurriedly go to NAIA terminal 3 just to sort this out.



Good thing that when we arrived on NAIA terminal 3, there was at least an hour and a half more before the scheduled flight and we checked our bags early to the checking counter and have them weighted, It was here that I also found out that career shipping office made another mistake and that we could indeed carry at least 2 bags and 40 kilograms of luggage , it was very contrary to what the receptionist said in the shipping office. Honestly I'm very furious on what happened to me on that day and if I don't double check every information that the receptionist told me I would have ended up being in a disaster, now the big problem id be facing will be the winter time in the northern Atlantic since I lack the proper clothing due to misinformation.

In a hurry to catch up the plane , due to wrong information given

During the transit some of my co workers were a bit selfish in the sense that we never did go on a group, we only went as an individual as a result me and AB Malorca and Messman was left behind in during the transit from Houston Texas to Corpus Christi in Atlanta. Good thing and by the stroke of luck Cape Tallin Ship went on some major delays in discharging its cargo.



LIFE IN CAPE TALLIN.

Worried sick when the plane bound for corpus christi was left behind 

Spending my time in the waiting area on Atlanta USA for the next flight to corpus christi

Cape Tallin is enormous compared to both my previous ship (STOLT Strength and Bow Ophelia) So large that you could drop off Bow Ophelia on either side of this ship and nobody could have noticed it. When I arrived in Cape Tallin, The ship was very different in the sense that although it was registered as a Oil / Chem Ship , it is in fact in reality a dedicated Crude Oil tanker ship. Chemical cargoes are not suitable to this ship as it may damage the piping system of this ship. There aren't numerous pipes showing around the deck compared to a typical chemical tanker and that cargo tanks are just limited to 12 very huge holds filled with crude oil.



For the mooring arrangement, I could say that mooring is a bit of a challenge and I find myself starting all over again with this one. The mooring lines used here are all High tension steel cable, Not the synthetic nylon ropes used which unfortunately I am most familiar with. Worse part is that Steel cable wires takes more effort in winding and un winding them on the winches, not to mention all the lubricant grease that is put on the cables.



In uniform and supplies , In Cape Tallinn it is a big issue and I just found out that Career only issues 2 coveralls suits for the whole duration of my contract (9 Months) . Soap , laundry soap and other working related supplies are in short and I have to scrounge what ever I can find in the months to come by. Water is also a big necessity here and rationed water at the crew mess hall is not enough to quench the thirst of water every now and then. For the moment the only solution to the problem is buy mineral water to the bond store since after all I'm now an O.S. and purchasing power has widen compared to my Deck Cadet years.



Local people (Co- Workers in general) residing in Cape Tallin seems to be benign and post no hostile threat of any kind, If there is anything I think I should worry about is the "Russians" ( Georgians, Latvian's, etc ) since in general I do not know what will set them off and their temperament.



Communication on the outside world. For now I cannot determine if servicing of Internet broadband connection is available and allowed here on this ship, It is usually to the captain of this ship is he is wants a constant communication around the ship. Rumor from what I heard is that internet connection is quite expensive here and cape tallin has not have a direct internet broadband connection of any kind. The only thing I have for the moment is the roaming prepaid phone for connection to the outside world.





"ANCHORED IN HOUSTON"

THURSDAY MAY 23, 2013

Anchorage Somewhere in Houston, Texas U.S.A.



Due to the restricted and insufficient communications here onboard cape tallin, and the lack of internet access. I will be sending my blog entries by bulk and without pictures to conserve memory uploads on LAN email. I will put pictures on my blog later on when I get back to land, for now the only thing I could provide is diary entries without pictures - it may be difficult to understand journal entries without pictures but id get back to it as soon as proper internet connections are available.



Been a day since we left the port on Corpus Christi, Atlanta. For the moment we are currently anchored somewhere in Houston awaiting berthing instruction, In the midnight of anchorage I was awaken by the BOSUN and knocked to my door saying that its time. I was knocked on the door on the fact that cabin here in cape tallin have no closed phone circuit and even wall clocks, a bit backward considering this ship was made during 2008. After waking up I hurriedly dressed to go outside and it was pitch dark, I could have brought my head light by I'm not exactly sure if what my fellow sailor would react on it. I proceeded not using the headlight and save it for the latter when I'm already the most senior crew residing in Cape Tallin.



Dropping the anchor on the ship is very like the same on my previous ship, the only difference is that the winches are not human size like my previous ships and are definitely hard to operate given their size, the operation is still very much the same. I just have to remember the Lock / Unlock , Engage / Disengage procedure and the control lever. Pushing the lever away from me means that its dropping the anchor and pulling it means its being recovered.



After a few minutes we unlashed the anchor and waited another more for the anchorage area. While waiting O.S. Hall Xerxes Balagso started a little monkey chat and mentioned something about A.B. Dondonilla Patrick Borres being obsessed with cell phone's and communication equipment to contact his wife in the Philippines. He also added something about A.B. "Patrick" biting off people like a zombie whenever he gets drunk. Bosun Amican, Zacarias La Torre said also something that he heard also such a thing about A.B. Patrick. I just kept mum about their chatter as much as possible.



After the successful drop of the anchor, We immediately went to the changing room area and changed clothes then went to the crew mess hall for a break. Inside there O.S. Hall, Xerxes Balagso gave me a few tips on how to log on the work sheet which is basically its equivalent is a "Time Card" on the land based job (a form of card or paper to record the working hours).



The following morning. It was the usual day work, (as I will describe it the usual day work onboard a ship is this. 7:45 am get dressed up, and wait for the BOSUN going out , 8am start of day work, Go back to the crew changing area and take a break from 9:50 till 10:30am, then go back to work until 11:45 am and return back to take lunch till 1pm, afterwards continue to work until 2:50 than take an afternoon break till 3:30pm then back to work till 5pm).



Unfortunately for me on my first day of day work nobody from my co-workers even bothered to tell us that its already the morning break and left me and A.B. Homer Malorca figuring out for ourselves that its already way past break time. Honestly I have no idea that the mentality here onboard was a "every man for himself" kind of attitude and no one will ever look out to you incase you get into trouble. The very same reason why me, A.B. Homer Malorca and Messman Ferdinand Penera got left behind on Houston airport to Corpus Christi. Anyway if the folks here act selfishly as like that then its fine by me, and don't expect me sticking out my neck for them just incase they get into trouble. I'm going to play this on their game.



For some reason O.S. Hall, Xerxes mentions that Chief Mate Tetrashvili, Gocha (Georgian National) hates seeing people taking off to work at exactly 5pm and prefers seeing people off to work at 6pm, an hour late of the usual work schedule.



The following day , I did learn something on my day work that diesel fuel oil if very effective in removing grease stains. Unfortunately I couldn't say much the same on my coverall's because it was badly damage from all the grease stains. Aside from that I did learn a few other things onboard like the piping system and such on a product ship tanker.



Well other news also include for now is that no thanks to A.B. "Patrick", my previous back ground with the call center got also brought up. I have no intention of telling anyone that I came from the call center since it brought me a discrimination situation years before on my previous ships because of this. Anyway bad for me in the sense that I wasn't careful in hiding my pictures on my hard drive and got careless lending it to other people. I Just don't want my two separate lives get mixed up and my life here is very different from my life being a telephone operator. I'm never ashamed that I was a call center agent however I worry a lot about my safety whenever I work as a sailor especially the discrimination part.



"FINDERS KEEPER'S"

SATURDAY MAY 25, 2013

Anchorage Somewhere in Houston, Texas U.S.A.



Just had a familiarization drill a few hours ago and our Georgian (Russian) chief mate, he showed us a lot of things - well mostly safety and emergency equipment actually. First he showed us on how to operate the life boat here in Cape Tallin and lower it. Next was how to start with the emergency generator and the last was the "foam generator" in the foam room.



For the moment this ship is still currently in anchorage near Houston, waiting for instruction on what time will we berth. So far there are rumors that this ship might go at berth on Sunday in the afternoon, but its not cleared yet and the chemist inspector keeps coming back then and now from the shore to check the "h2s" factor if its low enough for loading cargo.



In other news



As a usual tactic of mine whenever I go on shipboard, I always scout my surroundings at nighttime to check and collect anything that might be of latter use. Scouting and scavenging as one might put up, and this has been an effective tactic of mine which kept me alive on my previous ships. Now in Cape Tallin since supplies here are a bit more scarce than my previous ships, my efforts in scavenging are more persistent and I do it on night time to avoid getting attention on what I'm doing. The result of my current "scouting and scavenging" tactic is that I got a few items, mostly cleaning items like a bottle of chlorine bleach, a pack of laundry powder soap, a bar of scope, a bathroom towel. Etc. which will be handy on my cleaning work.



Unfortunately for me since I'm no longer taking the job description of mess man during my previous ship, I no longer have access to the provisions chamber and ship officer rooms (which I frequently raid for supplies and medicines) depriving me of much needed and essential stuff. However despite the lack of sources for supplies , it doesn't mean that I can't scout and look for supplies.





"OFF WITH HOUSTON FOR NOW"

May 27, 2013 Monday.

Berthed at Houston, Texas USA. Loading cargo.



2nd Engineer Ards Jekabsons: "O.S. , you strap in helmet not safe. Strap in helmet dangerous and cut your head off if accident happens"



Ordinary Seaman (me): Seriously ???!!!



2nd Engineer Ards Jekabsons: Yes, Serious !



(Latvian 2nd engineer commenting on my customized "chin strap" of my safety helmet, during my watch at the gangway)



Finally this ship went to berth at nighttime of May 26th Sunday, I wasn't totally familiar on how this ship moors using high tension steel cable and had been definitely clueless on the mooring operations. During mooring I did find out that dropping steel cable takes quite a while and is done with at least two to three people at a time, its not the rush rush kind of thing and single handedly do like I previously did on chemical tanker ships. Another thing that I notice is that, having a hook like appliance metal stick is a must in mooring with a steel cable since holding or clamping it with leather gloves is dangerous. Good thing that 3rd officer German Jr. Tan Corales was kind enough to show me how exactly I use a metal hook in mooring high tension steel cables. I did have a few problems at the start but of course eventually I'd get use to the idea of using the metal stick hooks and not "Touching" the mooring cables later on.



In other news related to ship work, While we were busy in the mooring operations, one of my co-workers A.B. Patrick Borres Dondonilla is in for big trouble as he nearly had Cape Tallin ran aground during channeling in Houston, Texas. As what 3rd officer Corales said he (A.B. Patrick) steered the ship towards starboard side (turn right) even though the Pilot ordered that its should be turned on port side (left side)- worst part was that the Russian Captain was also in the bridge when the incident happen. Some of my co-workers keep gossiping about the incident and even commented that "Patrick" will be demoted and is too dangerous to let him handle the helm during channeling. Well its seems that A.B. Patrick is getting a lot of bad rep lately around the crew, I hope it doesn't get any worse for him.



Honestly "Patrick" is a big talk around here in Cape Tallin and most of the crew mentions his name and his bizarre ways. They mention him being "Too obsessed" with communication devices like iridium satellite phone and high end communication device just to get in touch with his girlfriend in the Philippines - well nothing wrong with that but the main problem is that he is knee high depth in borrowing money from the crew around here because of those top up loads for the satellite phone.



In other matters, as of the moment the skin of my face currently still hurts. It feels more like I guess a sun burn from all the Texas summer heat in the U.S. , I didn't expect that the weather here in Texas could be this hot , and frankly my face looks darker and more oily from this summer heat. I hope this isn't anything permanent and just only temporary



MAY 28, 2013 Tuesday Midnight



The Position of Ordinary Seaman working hours on this ship starts at 12 midnight and end 6 in the morning and 12 noon to 6 pm during its at port. This midnight I manage to snag and see A.B. while changing shifts. This is what I heard on Patrick's side.



Patrick says that people around him are jealous and that they always push him around, a lot of times those people even talk about him when his not around. He also added that the 7 people whom we replaced are also the one's responsible for his ill-treatment here onboard. He's now relieve that those people are been disposed off now, and that the remaining people here with us will be disposed soon, for some reason I'm too timid to ask , A.B. Patrick really loathes 3rd mate German Jr. Tan Corales. Another thing he said is that he's never associating himself with them after all that has happened, he going to isolate himself with them as much as possible because this is the worst crew he has ever been in the recent years he's with career shipping.



After the brief chat with A.B. Patrick Dondonilla. I saw the engine crew was a bit busy with the manifold area, there were 2 Oilers, (Oiler Gian Silverio Ampong Escote, Oiler Donald Reyes Roger), a Fitter (Fitter Gil Dalisay Aguro) and the 3rd engineer (3rd engineer Cranz Magistrado). Apparently from what I say they were doing something called bunkering (Nautical Term for Refueling) and had hook up a bunkering hose directly to one of the pipes in the manifold area of the ship. They were quite busy on what they doing and was on watch for the bunkering process, While they were on watch I managed to have a little chat with them also and hear out their stories.



3rd engineer Magistrado says that he started out as an engine cadet and stayed until he's an engine officer now. For the two oiler's and the fitter, what I do know is that they're not the native crew in Career and that they came also from another company elsewhere although they had been around on Career Shipping for quite some time.



I did my usual stuff Guarding the gangway as much as possible (the entrance from port to the ship), and at about 4am early in the morning, all of I sudden I got weary and tired . It seems that fatigue had already kicked in. After my work shift I hurriedly went to my cabin to sleep.



"MIDWAY TO ATLANTIC"

Cape Tallin PLUS 13, May 31st 2013, Friday

En route to Morocco.



During the previous entry of mine, that this ship is still berthed on Houston, the ship pilot came in early in the morning and the whole crew was greeted with a loud P.A. on our cabins announcing that the pilot has arrived and the whole crew standby to mooring stations. I hurried got dressed upon hearing it and quickly went to the deck area were I saw the BOSUN securing a few equipment. A few minutes more the whole crew were already on standby for the mooring operations.



Mooring operations went smoothly and that I had no problem using the hooks even though I lack the muscle power in "aligning" those steel cables on the drum and tension drum. Mooring operations on a product tanker 20,000 GRT and up, using steel cables are very different from the chemical tankers 20,000 GRT below, using nylon manila rope. Equipment cable are very heavy even with tools such as metal hooks and lifting it on bare hands becomes ever more challenging , to make it more complicated the cables are coated with grease which unfortunately stains terribly my coveralls and my gloves. However despite a lot of disadvantages, there is one advantage that could be taken in opportunity and that is mooring operations are terribly slow with this one.



After the mooring operations we proceeded in securing all the deck equipment for the long voyage and us the whole day in securing it. We started with the putting the loose ropes first inside the BOSUNS store (a chamber space located on the front structure of the ship called bow) using winches, wasn't an easy task and for some reason the BOSUN store is poorly ventilated and is a hot room. Second thing we secured was the oil Pollution equipment (S.O.P.E.P.) , was no big deal really and the second was the onboard gangway we have here on the ship. Last part was securing the pilot ladder , for some reason the pilot ladder here is different and difficult to handle , probably because there is no extra rope tide to the last step of the ladder which makes recovery easier (and less dangerous ) if it had one. Guess the only advice I could think of is never recovery the pilot ladder alone and let an A.B. go down the ladder to tie a rope to it. After recovering the pilot ladder , O.S. Hall and A.B. Caldona tied up the ladder and secured it pilot ladder storage located in the middle part of the ship.



Another thing we secured was the lashing on the anchor and from what I saw there are two lashings to secure the said anchor and both of them is somewhat dangerous when ever I'd put the steel wire inside the chain. Unfortunately for me I lost one of my Cardboard box cutters in the anchor hole in the process when it slipped on my front pocket and its now in the bottom of the ocean. After securing all the equipment, most of the crew had a drinking session. Though I don't drink but for the sake of getting along with the people around me and not also get on the "wrong foot" I drank as many bottles of beer as a could.



2 days later…



Things are doing somewhat normal here in the ship and maintenance is still very much the same, However I saw the usual trouble brewing around working relations here onboard such example is between A.B. Dondonilla and the rest of the crew back talking to each other and saying nasty to each other whenever either one is not around . Another example is my frustration being forbidden to wear a helmet, I don't see anything wrong why I shouldn't wear one but again for the sake of getting along with them I don't wear one in the deck area. Now my head is jeopardized in injury and I'm not used to wearing one. Hope they know what they are doing.



"IT'S PLAYTIME"

JUNE 1st 2013, SATURDAY

En route to Morocco.



Work done last Friday was fixing out the broken cable wires in the starboard winches, Honestly it wasn't really an easy task replacing it even though I'm not directly involve on the work. What I do know is that BOSUN AMICAN got a replacement steel tension cable at the BOSUN store and had it hauled off via using the winches. It really took us quite a while to replace it and had us 3 A.B. 's and 2 O.S. to work along on it. I'm the operator of the windlass at that moment and was just pushing and pulling the lever of the machinery to haul off the wire, The rest of the folks were greasing the wire.



The late afternoon work on Friday was all about "BALDEHO" , which roughly translates in English meaning "to wash off". We did wash off the forward and aft part of the main deck with steam hoses blowing sea water. Curiously funny that steam hoses are meant specifically for steam, but here we use it as a kind of water hose and quite effective to be honest and does the job of washing off all the grease marks on the forward area of the ship.



As for today ……..



Wasn't really good at playing basket ball ever since and I'm not into any sports at all. As far as I recall I only played basketball during college as P.E. Class and that I didn't handle the ball nor shoot the it because my role there was center and was a defensive player, Just raise my arm (have a good arm reach) and prevent the ball from going inside the basket and that's it.



On Saturday the whole deck department crew played basketball in the deck area just the right side part of the ship chimney. As expected I played horribly in shooting and dribbling the ball, though I faired well being a defensive player. Overall It was an embarrassing situation really, guess should have paid attention on basketball during my college years.



In other news I just found out that the local LAN email for the crew needs an employee ID number to gain access with. Unfortunately for me 3rd mate German Corales said that currently my Employee ID number is still being processed and for the moment email is inaccessible to me until my employee ID arrives.



Aside from that the free issue of bottled mineral water that was given to me has already ran out, along with the case of coca cola soft drink I ordered at the bond store. Since my supplies has already run dry, I had to reorder again at the bond store of 2 cases of bottled mineral water and another case of Coca Cola soft drinks at the crew mess.



By the way just to give a definition, bond store in the ship is more like your typical local variety store you see on land. Think of it as much like a 7-11store version were they sell all sorts of stuff. The charge of the items a crew orders gets automatically deducted on his monthly onboard pay, ( see why its called "BOND STORE" get it ?). The menu on the bond store greatly differs on each ship, Here in Cape Tallin the menu is quite a bit extensive compared to the previous ships I've worked with, Aside from the usual smoke and hard drinks, they also sell toiletry items here like shampoo, tooth paste etc. and even socks - yes socks



"LESSON OF THE PAINT"

JUNE 3rd 2013, Monday

En route to Morocco.

for public information the paint used here Onboard cape tallin is the brand called international"" , they say this brand is much cheaper compared to "Jotun"brand

So much for the One and a half days off and back again to daily maintenance, a lot of people ever wonder what does a sailor do when he's onboard a ship ? To inform the general public on what a sailor does when he's onboard, He usually works as a maintenance worker - Yes believe it of not a maintenance worker, similar to those you see in construction and maintenance on the land based like the ones in construction industry. We use Hard hat helmets, Coveralls, paint brushes , all the way to even broom and mops - everything is just basically the same minus the cement and concrete stuff. Basically It's a dirty and difficult job as one might put up and the only difference is that the pay is a big large compared to your typical construction worker in the Philippines. Even the ambiance and attitude of my co-workers are similar to those in our land based counterparts (construction workers), Crude and definitely lacking in proper manners. Hell does the general public knew that the college course Marine Transportation is very different in actual job practice and that the education of 4 years is just plain old paper work for a good show. Trust me everything a person learns in college in the nautical science course is exactly the opposite in practice, the grim reality is that "Seaman" (Sailor, what ever you call it) is a construction worker riding along a ship.



Anyway so much for the lecture, going to what happened inside on my work in Cape Tallin. Well I got a quick lecture on how to use a paint, actually mix a paint. Honestly I've already knew how to mix paint and BOSUN Arjona already taught me that during my years in Stolt Strength and Bow Ophelia, on what are the components involve on how to make a paint. However just not to get on the wrong foot, I tried to keep my mouth shut and let them do the talking. The thing that refreshed my mind is what ratio is to be put on the pigment against the hardener, some paints have 1 / 16 ratio and some have a ratio of 1 / 8, generally on a large scale paint - a large can of paint is equivalent to a small can of hardener and the number indicated on the can of hardener should match on the large can of paint (in my case number 990 admiralty gray and the ratio is 1 / 3 ). Good thing O.S. Xerxes Hall was patient enough to give me a quick hint and was very helpful.



Aside from the paint issue, the stencil procedure here is different on how the way It's done in Bow Ophelia. Back then we use a computer and a Xerox printer to print those stencils, It was quicker and definitely more "Customizable" to any object we get to stenciled with (we could make the lettering bend or circular) . The only problem we had there is how to cut out those stencil paper with a cutter. Here in Cape Tallin since this ship is quite backward on the process, I'm still using the only stencil metal plates for the process, then trace them out and cut them with a cutter, obviously a time consuming process, after that I had a problem finding adhesive tape for some reason here. Hmmm the most common item a sailor would typically see on almost every ship and yet it's rare and almost absent here in Columbia Ship Management managed ship called Cape Tallin, what the hell does CSM do in running this old rust bucket ??? Obviously a poorly manage ship and management.



In other news.



By the time this ship reaches morocco, there will be a crew change and the ones to be replaced by relievers will be Chief Officer Gocha Tetrashvili (Georgian), 2nd Engineer Ards Jekabsons (Latvian ) , Koba Tsiskaradze (Georgian), 4th Engineer Henerson Patino Gonzales, Pumpman Nilo Sarmiento Pastrana , A.B. Ronald Hiteroza Caldona, Fitter Gil Dalisay Aguro and Oiler Gian Silverio Ampong Escote. I'm not exactly sure if this will be on morocco but the memo hints that its in middle of this june.



"DAILY LIFE ONBOARD"

JUNE 6th, 2013, THURSDAY

En route to Morocco.





For the past three days, I had been doing maintenance work as ordered by our BOSUN AMICAN , Had been working along side with my co-workers greasing up Winches on both forward and aft part of the ship, all in all there are 6 winch machineries in Cape Tallin, Aside from it we also greased the cargo crane of this ship (Huge crane typically located on the middle most part on ships today)and O.S. Hall was the one who climb the crane to grease its sockets. I was surprised to see that the device used in greasing sockets was HUGE than the one's I've used on my previous ships, Well its portable but not hand held and definitely bulk and difficult to carry (we had a small trolley aside from it).



Well in other related news to work, BOSUN AMICAN figured out that the device we use to grease up winches was not exactly the device that should be used to it. From what I saw while he was cleaning the device , he said that this device was really meant to be used on paint jobs and not on greasing. He wonders why his predecessor used it as a replacement in the first place.



Another thing I did with work as the repair of the accommodation ladder for the lifeboat on the port side (left side) of the ship. Me along with Bosun AMICAN and Mess man Ferdinand Penera, Stiched and line up the huge and heavy ladder. Along the repair process we had a small talk about the scars on BOSUN AMICANS right hand, apparently on what he told us, he had an accident decades ago that nearly tore off his hand. It is evident on what I looked on his right hand that nearly 3/4 of his hand was sliced horizontally. He also said the he has other scars on his body aside from the hand and the doctor in the hospital was really good in "patching" him up (or more like on what he jokes Stitching his body parts back together again). BOSUN AMICAN survived the ordeal thought it left his right thumb in a deformed state up to now.



Overall the past three days, My General observation was work tactics is quite really different here in the product tanker than in the chemical tanker. The differences are mostly on the maintenance part, which up to now is I'm still trying to at least figure it all out. Some work tactics I had learned and mastered on a chemical tanker do not necessary apply on the product tanker , and even some of it are not even used at all. Equipments here on the 42,059 Product Tanker (Crude Tanker) are heavy and large, and it at least needs to have 2 persons to operate it. Compared to my two previous ships the equipment there can be wielded by only a single person and that even me who is not the "Physically Strong" can actually even carry it. Honestly I'm starting to feel that large ships are horrible for me and that I should stay out of it as much as I can, probably 20,000 GRT and below would be fine on me but not 21,000 and up. Maybe next time career would assigned me on a smaller GRT ship next time, Maybe I'd fair well on that kind of ship rather than here.



Anyway in other news…



Just currently received a memo note from our chief mate, It's not exactly a memo for a bad rep but an information memo telling me my duties and responsibilities onboard. In short it's a job description detail. Based on what I read. I'm accountable and will report to the BOSUN and Chief Mate on work.My responsibilities based on the memo are Upkeep and Maintenance work in the deck area and during mooring operations (tie the ship to berth) I am located at the forward part of the ship. Aside from that I'm part in cleaning two floor decks of the accommodation space. My working hours are categorized into three types. Regular Maintenance (during at sea) is at 8am till 6pm , at port is 6am to 12 noon and 6pm to 12 midnight. During watch at the bridge its 8am till 12 noon and 8pm till midnight (if required).



In other news ….

The Jack Knife I had found and repaired 

Currently I'm pretty busy scavenging any useful supplies here onboard, For now I had managed to get a few spare used up coveralls (needed for work) and Loctite (super glue, which I need to repair the jack knife), I also had my eye on the T-POL chemical (liquid detergent) on the paint room to wash secretly those used up gloves I collected - for the moment I'm planning to sneak secretly to the paint room and get at least a small amount of that chemical, The thing that complicates me from sneaking is that in the Atlantic ocean during summer time - daylight hours go up as far as 10pm, So I have to wait until at least near midnight or early morning (as in early) to have the cover of darkness.