A PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION

Idiot's Guide for gangway Visitors log (form may vary from company to company) 

After the attempt on bidding to return home in Rotterdam fell on its ass, Another rumour is sprouting again, this time the ships voyage will be in somewhere in Germany going to England, While both of these western European countries are convenient ports like Netherlands - it does not necessary mean that we could disembark there. A big factor to this is our captain and another factor is time in which holiday season will starts early as midweek of December, and when it comes normal business hours are temporarily set aside until Christmas and new year elapses.

Anyway I'm already tired on this news and I should let it rest, should concentrate on other matters aside from this one, besides no matter on how many convenient ports this ship has gone thru and even if this ships docks on manila harbour in the Philippines , as long as the captain on this ship is awful - THERE WILL BE NO CREW CHANGES AT ALL ! PERIOD ! I'm so seriously doubtful that me and messman montoya will ever get to disembark in Germany nor in Britain and return home to the Philippines

Anyway I haven't been exactly on both countries before, Germany and England should be a little interesting scenery though I think I'd still be seeing the same old thing like a refinery and industrial area and wouldn't be setting foot at all on either the krauts or the english. Anyway I'd be taking pictures just to show proof.

On December 06, 2014 Saturday in the afternoon this went to dock in Rotterdam port in VOPAK terminal to be specific. Mooring wasn't a big chore and accomplish it with minimal screw ups, The only thing I didn’t like about the docking was the fact that mooring ropes were brought out on the last hour before this ship arrives at port - again by poor decisions made by our soviet bosses. Literary we were still bringing out mooring ropes when the pilot arrived.

After berthing , I did my usual specific task in setting up the SOPEP equipment and Gangway paraphernalia. A lot of visitors came in and I was constantly notifying the ship of this visitors, despite my frequent radio notification , nobody replies on my walkie talkie and later found out after an hour that walkie talkie channel was changed from channel 3 to channel 1 on short notice.

At midnight I was all prepared to start my work shift and was at the gangway when A.B. Marlon Layos approached me and said that I had to change outfit. Reason was that NSB superintendents are around and that They're afraid of me being seen around with a customized non-standard NSB coveralls and gear. Well there's nothing wrong on my gear in fact my equipment and gear complies with all specifications of safety for working in tanker ships, the only debatable issue here was that my gear is heavily modified and bears only little in appearance over the usual issued gear given by NSB / CSM. Anyway to avoid any further discussions , I decided to remove all my gear and shift to the low quality issued equipment - at least for a day only while NSB superintendents are still around.

In the morning at about 11am , received a call in my cabin phone that sunny euro salesman has just arrived and is now taking retails orders. Hurriedly went downstairs and gave the salesman the list of the duty free items I needed. One the numerous items on the list, only four items were available and on stock . Specifically two plush toys (local term in Filipino is stuff toy), a PELI flashlight, lebara internet sim card  , and a Samsung cell phone.

Some of my crewmates didn't like the sunny euro salesman and said he was quite rude in entertaining buyers.

During my work shift in the afternoon, Outside temperature in Netherlands fell close to zero and worst it was raining. Basically all of us here on-board can't get outside the accommodation without putting some thick jacket to keep ourselves warm.

Technically I set foot on land in Netherlands for the first time after 5 long months trapped on a ship - as least for ten minutes. So yes technically I got my feet connected to the soil , Anyway reason why I had to step on land was that apparently there was some problem on the sunny euro van making a delivery over the terminal security and someone has to go there to the security guard post to get the purchased items - since I'm the "guard" at the gangway at that time, it's part of my job description to go there and haul off those items for the crew. (irony of the job was a "security guard" of the ship got to talk to another security guard - at least a land based one). Had a cart wheel along with me and get those items.

So what was the odd stuff crew members had been ordering on sunny euro ? Well I couldn’t see clearly but from I hauled off several boxes and one of the boxes contains an entire tool case set , a set of frying pans , and assorted electronic stuff, and of course there was the plush toys I ordered - anyway good thing sunny euro doesn’t sell fucking dolls like the MTS store did, If I recall earlier a deck cadet ordered one fucking doll and sent a lot of rumour on-board a ship on what was main purpose of the cadet to order such.  I don’t have any issues with peoples preferences but buying a fucking doll on a ship isn't exactly as "private" and discreet as a person would normally purchase on land, remember that were dealing in an environment that has no exact privacy at all.

Cargo operations were finish at about in between 7 to 8 pm, but the ship was still in berth due to bunkering (refuelling). Somehow terminal regulation here on VOPAK in Netherlands do not allow simultaneous refuelling and loading / discharging of cargo - it's always one at a time.

Around 10pm Unmooring operations started and the easiest I did so far due to lack of loose ropes and we only used wired ones in mooring (mooring arrangement was 3:2). Basically we only did was loose the wire rope a little then heave it back up, very simple.

1am and 2am we were still up an told to be on standby along with my crewmates waiting at the crew mess , when it was notified that ship will drop anchor "8 shackles in the water - port side anchor". So I was off again along with O.S. tan and bosun payopay in the forward area to lower the said anchor via gravity type.

Seriously ? Dropping anchor dead in the night ? Well who am I to question? ORDERS ARE ORDERS right ? It’s a good thing that I had been fully accustomed to sleep deprivation and fatigue , otherwise I'd be going nuts over this. 

It was close to 2:45am when the anchor was finally secured. When I went back to my cabin , it was good to see that there's still a signal (internet signal) available and was able to make a few more changes on my blog.

About 4am in the morning I had received some horrible news that my Siamese pet cat passed away (mention on my previous entry "Uncertainty Component"). I felt empty upon hearing the news from my sister via Facebook, I want to mourn for the loss of one thing dearest to me and yet I do not have the luxury to do so - there is no time, As much as I want - I'm imprisoned here and there's nothing I can do to prevent my pets cats death or even at least ease the suffering or be there on its last breath. I guess this one problem of being a sailor, being "absent" and never there when I'm needed, This is only my pet cat and how much more if it was a close relative.

Problem with us sailors is that much is sacrificed on our lives for the sake of money, Imagine that you grow old without knowing anything beyond outside the ship assigned with. You'd never know your son or daughter's first birthday and baptismal , Parents last breath before they died, Your wife's wedding anniversary or even on my case see how your close relatives and pets live and continue with their lives. Basically being a sailor omits that part - Your absent when that moment in life happens and imprisoned on a ship , Simple things in life that can only be once and cannot be replaced or be repeated ever again - no matter if they pay you twice the normal salary or offer you freebies like fee electricity, food, water and shelter.

REPLY TO A PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION

Before I end this entry, I saw one post on face book account from one user. Replying defensively and proud on one of my "picture" comments. His reply on one of my post was harsh and blinded by ignorance. I took a picture and this is what he says in Tagalog "Sa una lang naman yan eh, lahat ng seaman dumaan sa ganyan sahod . Nun call center agent kb libre pagkain, tubig, kuryente at pamasahe mo ? Now do the math"

TRANSLATION IN ENGLISH

"That was just a start, all sailors went on that kind of salary bracket. When you’re a  call center agent did they give you free food, water , electricity or transportation money ? Do the math"

My reply to this onslaught :

Well it's a bad start if you ask me, besides do you think freedom, human dignity and human rights can be replaced with free food, water, electricity or even transportation money ? - Go figure Einstein !!! No matter how you put it in different ways, treatment of deck cadets will never be equal - people and shipping companies will always take advantage of deck cadets and be treated as "2nd class citizens" .

Each year hundreds or thousands of helpless teenagers will be sent to ships to be horribly underpaid and face inhumane treatment, do you think you can live with that kind horror condemning these kids to such unnecessary hardship ? BASTARD ! Because of your ignorance to reality , Some of these kids will have nightmares for the rest of their lives ! If you don’t know what I'm talking about then take a look on the conditions of deck cadets in the "inter-island" industry !

Being a call centre agent may not offer free food, water, electricity or even transportation money but they offer a something more than that and cannot be replaced - FREEDOM, HUMAN DIGNITY AND RIGHTS !!! A term called "self worth" for you ignorant Filipino sailors out there ! . The thought of you being there with your family and loves ones both physically and financially are priceless, Plus as a freebie you get to live a normal life - something a sailor's life cannot match or get even with.

Being a sailor as a job is more of philosophical question rather than a question of logic. You get a shit load of money, but what's the price in the end ? The trade-off ?