ENTRY LOG :
July 14, 2016 Thursday
Location :
East of South Africa
Working
late as usual - worst part is that I'm not being paid for the extra hours
Norstar is dishing out on their old pathetic ship. To keep for the record, they
had me working up until 6pm on regular working hours. Geez what a total dick !
Recently we
have been putting up some razor wire and barbed wire as anti-piracy measures ,
The stuff that was widely used during world war 1. Typical stuff now a days and
still being used up to now. Razor wire isn't really a problem installing in
this ship - No thanks to those thick leather gloves that was issued as hand
protection, So basically punctures and razor cuts on the arms and skin are a
thing of the past now (well as long as any company would issue those types of
gloves) - but incase a company is cheap enough not to issue those , I would be
grabbing fitter's welding gloves which is thick enough to repel those nasty
spikes of a razor wire, It’s a good alternative.
As for the
transit on GOA region (or anywhere near somalia) Luckily Armed Guards have
already been invented now on my time as primary anti-piracy measures, and will
be boarding this ship probably in Nairobi, Kenya after the surveyors disembark
there. So the chances of being held hostage by Somali pirates is lessen
compared 8 to 6 years back, and I don’t have to worry being waken up in bed
that some Ak-47 is being pointed right in front of my face.
On work,
after finishing off what's left (or a least a majority) in installing the razor
wire. Some of us crew here had to go down the ballast tanks to assist the DNV
surveyors and technicians. From what I recall BOSUN RODRIGO, PUMPMAN OBINA and
O.S. "Mark" had to go down on the ballast , while the rest of us were
left doing assorted stuff. Lately Pump man had discovered a crack somewhere in
2 water ballast tank starboard and had all of us on deck on standby helping
them out from outside the tank. Chief mate Douza also came in to the tank to
help the two, which lead to the predicament of me being up on work till 6pm. I
do understand the importance of patching up the leak , but it doesn’t cover up
the excuse of "not being paid" on our efforts. This is the part were
norstar fails miserably - the most important part , on compensating workers on
their working hours. Anyway not a day goes by that I grumble in this.
The
following day was pretty much the continuation, and moreover a lot of patching
up to do for the Riding crew especially fitter and A.B. "Bong" . The
rest of the day was just basically cleaning up the mess. During the lunch break
, I overheard in the locker room that the two recent technicians that arrived
were complaining about something, Most of us assumed that A.B. Paulito Cordova
and O.S. Marden Luib were basically just sat around and crapped on their job to
assist the two technicians.
I'm not
surprised that this was the case, given that these two riding crew are
basically cheating on work. I don’t really give a shit if they cheat on work
actually but the problem with these two is that not only do they cheat on work
but also have an offensive behavior especially paulito cordova , who give
fucking lecture's like he's some sort of feeling high and mighty over his
co-workers - basically a total dick. One incident was I was guarding the
entrance and meddles with my work about my problem with the handheld radio,
that dick even has the nerve to lecture me do something about it, First off its
my problem not his and second I hate lectures , that cocky son of a bitch. Hope
he falls off this ship and gets eaten by a squid ! Bastard !
Aside from
that annoyance, Another unfortunate thing happened on me. My Stanley Cardboard
box cutter got lost - not by me , by it was A.B. "Alvin" . Apparently
it got lost somewhere on the huge area of 2 starboard water ballast tank.
Later that
day, the DNV surveyor was furious about Chief Mate Douza over the issues about
"enclosed space permit" , which unfortunately for him didn’t signed
up before we entered the water ballast tank.
("Enclosed
Space Permit" basically is a paper work done by the chief mate authorizing
the crew to enter a space inside the ship that has a possibility of toxic gases
or low oxygen. Basically more like an assurance that in case we die inside those
pockets , its CHIEF MATES FAULT AND NOT OURS )
