UNREST ON WORK

Entry Log : June 10, 2016 Friday

 

 

Looks like the environment here gets uglier and worst each day that passed. Latest update is that the laundry room will be rarely opened from now on, as in one a week to wash clothes, so basically it means I have only that chance to clean all my numerous coveralls and clothes on that very single day which I know will have a very long line. I have no idea about this illogical water discipline but its sure that life here will get worst as the time goes by. Anyway according to what I heard, fresh water production of this ship is very slow. Really now ?! And am I supposedly to believe on this kind of shit ?! Ha ?! For all I know I had been taking all the shit Norstar Ship Management has been giving me since day 1 when I arrived here. I think they're just saying that to make my life here even more miserable.

 

Just to add more insult on injury on this matter, I had only received an issued box of tide powder soap for the laundry ( 595 grams to be specific) until this ship arrives to china, which if my math is right while writing this takes more than 50 days' time to reach it. Wow very insightful of the management here, and how the hell am I supposedly to budget that kind of limited resources eh ?! Anyway no matter how much I grumble and complain about this , I'm sure it will only fell to deaf ears. The only possible way for me to this is to get out of here.

 

In other news

 

It looks like two crew members here fitter Amiel Lorzano and Oiler Allan Sta Maria are very open about leaving this ship. As a matter of fact, most of the crew are been talking about them resigning to this ship, which I overheard. I'm not sure about fitter but about oiler I think he's dead centered as I am in getting out of this place and we have been talking very meticulously about it a couple of days ago. Anyway who would want to stay on this place right ?! Everything here was deceitful from the start. No Internet, NO sattelite Phones, No bond store, Bosses are Indians , working hours are very long, Low pay, Resource onboard are scare and limited, food is also limited, etc everything that I pictured in my mind that I hate to be, has materialized here. So I can't blame the two for wanting the same to bust out of here. But for now the only thing we can do is sit tight and wait till the next payroll comes and hopefully will be enough to send us back home. Oh and for the record, the only person who knows that I'd be leaving this ship is Oiler Suarez - I don’t plan revealing my intention to any other crew aside from him and let's say I have trust issues with the rest of the crew.

 

In other news

 

Currently the laundry rooms floor have been repainted with the colour green, which looks better and nicer than its previous look, But like I said despite it new cosmetically changed look , the laundry area isn't opened yet and some of the washing machine there are still broken.

SCHEMING ON THE BLOCKADE

Journal log entry : June 08, 2016

 

For the past two days I had been planning my move to get out of this ship. One such plan is that I use a "bereavement / compassion leave" which despite my sadness losing dad last month , can be used as an excuse to get the hell out of this ship.

 

There are two scenario's that would lead this plan. One is that the company will honor my request and grant me an all-expense paid ticket out of here, second scenario is that they will still honor my request by in the expense I have to shoulder the cost of travel from my point of disembarkation all the way to the Philippines, and same goes also for my replacement. Lucky for me this ship is bound to Asia , were air fares are cheapest. The only question is if I do have enough money by the time I send a request for an "early vacation" . On second though I don’t give a shit about money at all - safety and lives is in questioned here , and I don’t want to risk my neck dying on this ship.

 

So in the face of overwhelming odds, there is only one thing for me to do and I had to science this shit out of here. My main goal is to get out of here and my only chance lies on that request for repatriation.

 

Anyway I had enlisted (or at least made a conspiracy) with oiler and supports his plan that he was just generating airfare for the time being just to bust out of here. Same idea goes with me on planning a "jailbreak" here, so basically I'm "in" on his plan to get the fuck out of here. , We talked about it and laid out carefully the plans and with luck will execute on the latter month.

 

 

On news related to work…

 

This ship has recently berthed Columbia and god ! I can't imagine working for exceeding 12 hours on the whole day. It’s a total slave work , I'm not sure on what's exactly an article in STCW or ILO or whatever violates the minimum 10 hour rest period in a day , but definitely this is clear that it’s a violation. To be prudent the management here doesn’t even have a work / rest worksheet , to sanitize any evidence against any person who has the balls to report this to the authorities. The most recent annoyance is that after going thru all that hassle of casting off - I was put back again to maintenance work until 5pm for some dumb fuck removing of water on the bilge in the forecastle , then in midnight the following day to "heave up anchor" - not a very comfortable of work schedule as if like an emergency and imperative work is to be done, on a normal work schedule.

 

People here says that our indian chief office is to be blamed on the brutal work schedule, as if like he doesn’t know how to manage and handle people. Either way I think "Gandi" here is doing his management skills very poorly and he's crew are more annoyed because of this (and so am I).

 

WORK TACTICS IN E.B.

Entry log: June 06, 2016 Monday

 

With the difficult working environment and lack of resting hours , here is most of the tactics I had worked with on "BOSTON EAGLE" . I had to focus in order to stay alive here on this ship for a few months, actually I draw inspiration on the NASA survival movie like the martian (starring Matt Daimon), I feel like an astronaut on a space mission here and in the middle of it something went wrong.

 

Basically my situation here as of the moment is solving one problem over the next - usually related to daily maintenance and space saving measures, Of course in general this doesn’t matter at all if I can't get the hell out of this slave ship, but on the short run till I figure it out - I'm solving one little problem to another. Fortunately for me I brought all the needed equipment I need for the trip (and god !! it was worth every ounce of weight on my luggage) and I have to science this shit up to get out of BOSTON EAGLE.

 

• All equipment that I had should be stored with inside along with my cabin to prevent some crews stealing or getting my stuff without permission.
• Assembled inside my cabin facilities like a clothes hangar etc., anything that we will make me self-sufficient and self-sustaining .
• Sharing of any entertainment and Data is restricted, given that Filipino's I'm working with are not that friendly or even welcoming as a co-worker.
• "Isolation Tactic" again is in place , like what I did back during my time  in Stolt Strength and Cape Tallin.
• Store food and water for at least a couple of days inside my cabin.
• Triple "S" Tactic is in place meaning Search , Salvage and Save. Meaning find anything Salvageable equipment left behind, repair it and store it for later use - we might not know when are we going to need it. Basically it's more like a maritime version of "Hunt and Gather" kind of stuff on the stone age
• Wash and wear tactics, after wearing clothes and coveralls immediately wash it and hung it up to dry. I don’t have an exact idea when will laundry room be open again and the soap given was limited, and laundry won't be a problem dealing with on the latter.
• "Silence is Golden" tactic is also applied here, given with the situation that most crew here have attitude / behavioral issues,. I had decided not to talk much and remain silent, So that people here will have trouble reading my motives and intentions. What I can confirm for now is that some crew here are gossipers and some are arrogant cocky sons of bitches.

SOMETHING TO BE GREATFUL?

LOG ENTRY June 05, 2016 Sunday

 

Despite being Sunday , there is still work going on here on this nightmare ship "BOSTON EAGLE" .

 

Pay slip just came out , and as expected it was unsurprisingly disappointing.

 

Some of the crew here were very ignorant on what is actually going on the salary, actually almost all of them are smoochers (translation in Tagalog "sip sip") hoping that Norstar Ship management will be fair on the employments terms. I guess that’s the problem with Filipino crew, Most of them are arrogant and cocky sons of bitches thinking they're the high and mighty when it comes to manual labour but almost all of them don’t know shit when it comes to paper management works like this on the pay slip and pay roll issues. PATHETIC !!! People who don’t have balls to do what needs to be done.

 

Now these ignorants are figuring it out for themselves on how to solve the payroll and are even hopeful that norstar might hold up to the end of the deal on the contract. Haven't they even though theoretically that filling up past beyond the 85 overtime hours on work is almost impossible to achieve ? That would mean for us to practically work almost every day without a rest day (Sundays to Saturdays)  And there is no absolute guarantee that this principal Norstar Ship Management will even kept the promise of compensating to the overtime pay., My Filipino crewmates are total fools for even expecting good pay to this company. Worst part is that they are ignorant and don’t have the iron balls to stand up and investigate on what the fuck is going on.

 

Some of the crew doesn’t even know what and where is the leave pay going to be claimed, Can you believed that ?! What total idiots are they to think that leave pay is going to be claimed while onboard ?! As far as I know leave pay is going to be claimed when the sailor reaches home. So basically for us here the dollars is just nothing more than just ink marks on a piece of paper and that this principal , this so called norstar shitty company is doesn’t let us handle our hard earn money. In fact if I recall correct, they're not going to hand us any money at all while onboard, So practically there won't be any shopping done while I'm here or when I'm disembarking few months after this at the airport. Big question is - what the fuck am I supposedly to buy , when their not giving me any money at all , What ? Are they supposed to let me barter my way out ? And sell my underwear for a burger and soft drink ?.

 

Even the so called

 

I guess that’s the difference with me from them , I'm not afraid to lose my job just to uphold my beliefs and putting my neck on the line, I'm not afraid to speak out. Filipino's easily shit on their pants when the subject is already about losing their jobs, even if safety and health is already compromised.  The former principal I work with was a soviet run type of principal, they are brutal in some aspects but reasonable people. They even let us take week ends off as a rest day and the overtime is pay is 120 hours per month, and we don’t have to go to great efforts and hardship just to fill that 120 hours of pay. It's more like a semi fix and semi open overtime.

 

 Here on this Indian infested principal things are much worse, and are already violating ILO work standard violations. Practically no rest days at all , and work starts 8am till 5:30pm.

 

In the late morning,

 

I was caught surprised that an AB is even grateful that have an 90 hour over time bah !! And asked myself should we really be grateful on such absurd employment terms ????! , and we have to go to great lengths of work just to fill that ? Probably this stupidly pathetic A.B. doesn't even know what he's exactly talking about and most likely he hasn't been to a good company as well, . This A.B. is so full of shit !   

 

 

NO HELP , NO RESCUE

LOG ENTRY June 04, 2016 Saturday

 

Losing dad was the first blow, now another blow hit me. As in literary hit my face and broke of two of my teeth, both near on my front tooth. Worst part is that there is no possible way for me to get my teeth repaired , second part is that any possible repair done is going back home after 8 months and the annoying part is that if I go see a doctor , either here , Singapore or China Dry docks is that it will take days to fully repair. Time that is not plenty here on this ship.

 

So how did it happen ? First is that I was assigned for a couple of days now to fitter number 02 , thing here is that a deck person doing the work for an engine personnel was bad enough, let alone get injured because of it. As expected shit started to hit the fan for me soon when I was helping out fitter get the iron pipes out of the skyline on the engine room, the first long heavy pipe was ok and got it out - the second small pipe was the one that got me hit. I knew from that moment it landed on my face that something was wrong and felt the sensation that teeth "Snapped and Fell off" , I took my mask and was spitting blood out for a couple of minutes. The sensation of me feeling the wind during a hot day made me knew that something on was exposed on my teeth but haven't determined yet the extend of the injury. Damn old sod fitter number 02 didn't even bothered to ask if there was anything wrong on , and just said that its coffee break.

 

Having sustain injuries , I went to see the 2nd officer at the bridge and see if he could patch me up. Much to my dismay , the Indian wasn't really helpful and just told me that I'd be fine and just practice now eating on my left side of my jaw, (injury was on my right side). Fine if that was the case, but can they do at least SOMETHING to seal off the wound on my teeth (at least for 8 months) like a dental sealant, the nerves is still sticking out and from the way I'm feeling on how sensitive my teeth is at the moment there is a possibility food particles get inside and had it infected. Hmpf so much for Indian healthcare.

 

Went back to my cabin to check the extent of the injury. For both teeth the injuries are extensive, The front tooth is though injured can be repaired on a dentist as long as there is no exposed nerves. The right incisor teeth has extensive damage , almost all crushing of the enamel and exposing the pulp and nerves (which has a sensation and sensitive at the moment).

 

After a few minutes somebody came knocking to my cabin door and opened it up it was BOSUN, apparently word came out quickly that I got injured and wanted to see me injuries and report it to the chief officer.  So we went to CCR to explain myself on the injuries. As expected nothing was done to my situation and just answered a few question by the chief mate. After the questioning I returned back to my cabin, rested and went back to work again

 

On the work area, I received a lot of mixed reactions about some even blame me that I wasn't careful enough , and some could just ask what happened. The thing annoying about Filipino's is they prefer more of mocking gestures rather than helping out injured people, saying youre stupid blah blah blah …... , not exactly going to help or solve my problem. Anyway as a Filipino this is our nature so it's not a surprise. In fact some of the crew here are more happy to see me injured, because their jealous of me

 

Anyway at least I'm off the hook doing work that was supposedly meant for the engine crew. Besides I don’t like working along with fitter no. 02 "Lorzano, Amiel" given that he most of the time an asshole, and berates me on how I work,

 

For now the bottom line is this ….

 

I'm stuck here with no point of rescue and medical help anytime soon, My only hope of dental repairs is in the Philippines, My situation is as hopeless as ever here and I'm stuck eating sideways till I solve this one out. Luckily in the history humanity nothing seriously bad ever happens from having a broken teeth

FLOWERS TO CASIMIRO

LOG ENTRY : June 03, 2016 Friday

 

Recently received news via SMS roaming that my dad recently died from cardiac arrest. I haven't known the details yet on his demise and was only informed by my younger sister. Given with the limitations of communications here, I couldn't get even the details, The only thing I knew about is that it was  abrupt. Nobody both me and people on the house expected that this would happen, Dad was despite suffering a stroke 15 years ago which paralyze half his body and having a fracture on the leg two years ago was more physically fit for his health to last at least 2 decades.

 

Aside from that my movement is restricted here, being put on a "slave ship" were working situation here are extreme and worst that I had previously faced before. Recent news now has informed me that working hours has increased from the usual 8am to 5pm, now to 6:30am till 5:30pm - totaling of about 11 full hours from Monday to Saturday. Basically not enough time to attend to my personal needs and maintenance of my equipment, Now I'm starting to figure out why Majority of Filipino's hate Indian management - definitely unfair and inhuman to Filipino standards. If I recall correct, working conditions here are now violating the contract I signed up with which was supposedly working conditions are 8am to 5pm and Saturdays are half day work ONLY and Sundays ARE REST DAYS. Probably I suspect there is more disaster to come that will test my endurance and versatility to breaking point.   

 

I wanted to grieve a lot for my loss - but right now , I don’t have the luxury of doing it and have to get out of this ship first before I can do anything, I had to work out on my safety first before attending to dad.

 

This contract was basically from the start full of lies and deceit, people from Cf Sharp and Norstar had been lying on the details just to lure people on signing up for their unfair terms and if I had known this earlier I would have instead opted paying the 100 U.S. Dollars debt I had in cash rather than face this much hardship. I came to much obsessed on the cost and ignored the general safety of my well-being and now I'm responsible for this shit storm I'm facing. I am thinking this now because if I haven't proceeded , I could have still be seeing my dad right now and enjoying every memorable moment. Now the only thing left for me is see his grave stone when I get back home.

 

By the time writing this, dad would have been almost two weeks dead by now. Two weeks that I had been grieving but do not have the indulgence given with the hardship situation I'm facing with, I have to concentrate on how to get the fuck off on this ship. 

REVERTING TO CLASSIC DESIGN

Blog entry for : June 02, 2016 Thursday

 

Despite the moderness of my equipment, I still kept reverting (or looking back) to my old designs I used a few years back. Probably because of the fact that my old designs were lightweight, easy to use and easily constructed. The designs of my equipment date as back as 2010 and might consider it nowadays as obsolete but however it is now phased out.

 

In relation to this entry, I recently received a lot of flak from my fellow co-workers , both Filipino, Indian and Singaporeans alike. Apparently they haven't saw any sailor before that arrived on a ship with so many working equipment, and much to my suspicion some of them are even jealous that I came here well prepared and are doing everything to discredit my work (don't they all). Bosun even tells me openly that I should stop using my equipment, so I don't get any nasty attention. Frankly I think I already have and he's the one who's jealous of my equipment and he's just putting up an excuse.

 

Anyway I'm not really fazed on their horse shitting, and I'm already used to the fact about this and have been expecting that these imbeciles will not understand my methods, In any case I'm not bothered on their meddling - they just look at me as much as they can and drool on what I'm doing. As far as I know there is no such rule onboard any ship that forbids the use of my tools, And if there is some equipment that is in question like my headlight and flash light - all those equipment complies with the "instrically safe" standards imposed in Europe. So technically I can use it not only in this ship , but to among other ships as well  

 

Anyway going back on the main subject , No matter how much I change or "evolve" my designs from the earlier it still finds it way from back. Probably as I mentioned earlier. Good thing that despites the designs obsoleteness it still has plenty of uses up to now.

 

In other news….

 

On the working environment here in this ship, Indian working system is much more crueler and more brutal than the soviet type of working system and I had to go to all the trouble of waking up early in the morning just to attend to my personal agendas . Back when I was with NSB, I didn't have to do this because I had a lot of time for myself, Here it's obviously a shit on a stick.

 

What's more is that the perks and special privileges I enjoyed back in NSB are none existent here in Norstar. There are no bond store here , no liquor , no chocolates and worst is no soft drinks of any kind at all (be it either sprite, coke, Pepsi or 7up). Plus I'm drink water from a questionable purifier hooked up on the ships fresh water tank.

 

Another thing more annoying is that despite the modern of MLC, and technology. There is no internet connection of any kind here whatsoever, not even the basics of emails which is imperative to contact a sailors family in the Philippines. So for short , I'm working here blind on what is happening back home and the same goes back home where they have no idea what going on or how the hell are they going to contact me while I'm trapped here 

 

ADJUSTMENT PERIOD

ENTRY LOG FOR : May 30, 2016 Monday

 

Past few days have been a total adjustment for me, given with the overall workload dumped. Regardless of which, I will continue to write and report on what is my general experience in this "junk ship" and the present situation. So onward with the writing and recording on my Blog.

 

Few days have been overwhelmed with much cleaning as, in a gargantuan task of rehabilitating this ship. The former Indian crew have left a tremendous amount of trash before they left and I had been doing the work of clearing each public room of trash and transforming it to habitable standards, Some of the  rooms here were in total wreck took me a lot long time to clear it like for example the public smoking room and the training gymnasium room. Practically there was no equipment ready when we arrived here and we had to scavenge whatever we can find on the working equipment like helmets, laundry soap, etc all the way up to the beddings and all.

 

Another thing that happened is that I recently got my ass kick by the Singaporean captain during emergency drills for being caught sleeping and not paying attention to the discussion (part from fatigue anyway). I didn’t understand much of his bitching due to his Singaporean accent in English, but one phrase I did understand and it was "if you don’t understand , I send you cabin" which was insulting - anyway for now I had no choice but to tag along on this junk and play their game until I clear my contract and get the fuck off on this company. So for now, the only thing I could say to this bitch's bitching is "roger that, Go chok tong" . Aside from the bitching , most of the details of the discussion of the drill , in particular is the ISPS is so complicated. Frankly the "European" or even the soviet system was more easily to understood than what this Singaporean "dick tips" superintendent is blabbering about, Those cocks is just uttering making things more complicated than it is.

 

From what I heard in the conversation on the drill , there will be supposedly an ISM internal auditor coming by in a couple of days' time and these dicks are taking it too seriously as if like there is an impending zombies apocalypse. These guys should lighten up given the fact that it's only an internal company mumbo jumbo .

 

In other news…

 

Due to the lack of accommodation space for the incoming crew. It was decided by our Indian chief mate, that the other O.S. will be joining me on my same room - in other words a "roommate" , I didn't have any choice even if I was against it. Definitely my room will lack privacy if that happens and I don’t take it lightly, I still prefer that I'm the sole ruler of my own room and sharing is the least of my idea's.

 

F*cking Great !!! Just really tarnishes the reputation of norstar principal , permanently for me on this matter, Not only does this cock's downgraded my salary , put my on an old rust bucket ship built way back 1996, and put me on an Indian Dominated crew and left us there with no supplies up until now and the worst so far is that , even my privacy and security on my cabin is compromised as well - does it get any worse ?!!   

 

Oh well it seems that me walking around the cabin butt naked is over for now .  

INTRODUCTION TO HOROR MODE

Entry log is May 27, 2016 Friday

 

Couple of days have been hectic on my part and couldn't get any time to write.  Well I did manage to get to the airport despite the odds and I'm already familiar on how things are going when going on a ship - the most important rule on that is always every man for himself , don’t wait for your co-workers to catch up otherwise you'd be dragged on the same problematic situation they're dealing with.

 

My flight was basically just a two part flight , one going from manila to DOHA , then catch up on a connecting flight in DOHA , bound for Galveston, Texas U.S.A., . The flight was very smooth and no encountered problems whatsoever and even carrying the bulk of my luggage's was easy since I already use now the stroller type of bag. Earlier before the flight I was hesitating in bringing some of my stuff (like my combat knife, "kings" Safety Shoes, and extra yellow coverall) due to concerns about weight limitation, but given the assurance of having a 23 kilogram . I had decided to go ahead with it rather than not having it on my luggage.

 

The flight was a long boring one, From Manila to DOHA , flight was roughly about 6 hours, from there it’s a more long boring trip from DOHA to the USA , which is about roughly 16 to 19 hours of flight. After we arrived in the U.S.A. , three of my co-workers took a detour on the immigration first since its their first time in the U.S. and just catch up back on the hotel that we stayed for the night. On the hotel, I finally learned what's the line-up of the crew. From my understanding the captain is a Singaporean , while the Ship officers both engine and deck are Indians - the rest of the ratings are Filipino. The composition of the crew and the crew that Ms. Jocel mentioned on the office was different, anyway I shouldn't expect much on recruitment people and practically they just say whatever they want to stay.

 

After the short hotel stay , we went on a boat ride to the ship "Eagle Boston" and as expected upon first look - the Ship was in an appalling look, Totally riddled with rust everywhere and most of us are overwhelmed on  how much work will be needed, when we went inside - even the accommodation bloc has a more disappointing look than the outside deck. There was absolutely trash and junk everywhere and no matter on what angle we look at it, this ship is not going to last soon and should have been scrapped a long time ago. Even the amenities and public facilities here are all mixed up , typical modern ship have a separate facilities from officers and crew - here everything is being shared, just like the japs.

 

Hygiene and water supplies have been comprised, the water source apparently here came from some fresh water tank inside this ship and hooked up on some portable filter which has a dubious origin, Thankfully my cholera vaccine is updated - so dying in cholera will be least of my worries when drinking the water here.

 

For now the supplies here are non-existent and were still working on it locating and making use of whatever is left (and available). Speaking of which even the provision hasn't arrived yet.

 

  

SLINGHOT FLIGHT

ENTRY LOG: May 22, 2016 Sunday

 

When planning my luggage, I'm not exactly enthusiastic about this trip compared to when i was back in NSB. Simply I'm not happy about my upcoming work. The only thing I'm concerned about is that i don’t get overweight - the rest is just shitty details.

 

Given with crappy lame plan CF Sharp wants us to do , I had other plans on my mind that is less stressful (and less time wasting) after i get my plane ticket and documents. I simply hate hauling my almost 60 kg luggage from marikina all the way to intramurous and then to the airport because they told me to, and they think it was a better plan.

 

My plan actually has two versions, Plan A is that if my documents and plane ticket would be released at an earlier time, i could hurry all the way to Marikina and meet my sister to get my luggage, get some shower and refresh myself and take a cab to the airport. The only catch is that i had to be at least home by 2pm or earlier.

 

Plan B is that if my documents and plane ticket get released on a shitty time. I had to send an SMS to my sister to get my luggage and take a cab and meet me at the airport (which i have to figure my way going there first). Saving time but in the expense of comfort and shower is sacrificed.

 

Either plan A or B , i have to go all the way to intramurous with a backpack carrying my airport clothes.

 

Flight date Monday will be very busy for me