Blog 117 == The Past = The Present = The Contrast = The Physical and Psychological Changes

The Navigating Bridge is no longer the domain of the seasoned sailor, the old sea dog who, when the vessel is at sea, sits on the Pilot’s Chair and watches the horizon, the waves, the foreboding clouds, the wind direction, the way the ship is behaving and, intuitively, braces for a bout of bad weather, without recourse to the cacophony of sounds - a small ‘beep’ here, a larger ‘sqawk, squawk’ from another, a sudden bout of ‘whirring’ from a printer to the more prominent sounds of an alarm from the AIS or ARPA as vessels come into closer proximity - made by the increased instrumentation that is now a permanent part of the Bridge.

The yesteryear Master sat on the Pilot’s chair - the only chair on the Bridge in that period - a firmly fitted high chair, unlike the swivel chairs of today - and watched, letting and allowing his world to seep into his bones, absorbing the environment, noting the slight increase in the ‘pitching’ of the vessel, the visual increase in the salt spray coming over the bow or the slow increase of wave heights that crash - every seventh wave - abeam of the ship, wetting the decks and some of the deck machinery on one side, sometimes throwing some flying fish on to the decks. He would only get out of the chair to have a look and lightly tap the Aneroid Barometer - as if to awaken it from an age old slumber - then walk across to the Barograph to peer at what the stylus has traced over the last few hours.

A few more minutes of sitting on the chair and his mind is made up. He asks the Third Mate to call the Chief Officer to the Bridge. He then tells the Chief Mate to secure the ship for bad weather. He calls the Engine Room also to secure for bad weather.

A small army, led by the Chief Mate, fans out on deck, forepeak stores, aft stores, accommodation and ties down every item that could possibly move. Lub oil drums and gas bottles on deck receive first priority. The more the hydraulic machinery on deck - hydraulic cranes, hydraulic winches, hydraulic jacks for hatch opening - the more the number of hydraulic oil drums at several locations.

The anchors get tightened up with extra lashings. The Forepeak Store and the Paint Store get a lot of attention.

In the Accommodation, common spaces receive attention. Chairs are hooked on to their deck mountings and the ‘bottle screw’ tightened. The TV, VCR, 16mm projector are all stowed away. Gymnasium equipment, barbells, weights, are tied up.

Meanwhile, the seasoned Chief Engineer has noticed that, for the last two days, the fuel consumption has risen slightly, the engine load is more than before, the Main Engine Governor is cutting in repeatedly to control the rpm by increasing or reducing the fuel, exhaust temperatures and turbocharger speeds are higher, the ‘slip’ would be increasing, amid several other factors that portend bad weather.

(In my first few ships, the governors were manual, mechanical overspeed governors and had to be coupled manually. Later ones had, mostly, Woodward Hydraulic Governors).

Basis the image above, the mechanical governor looks pretty simple. In actuality, overhauling it was complicated.

In the absence of Satellite Weather photographs and forecasts, many a time, to a seasoned Engineer, it was the Main Engine behaviour and parameters that were the harbingers of bad weather.

Thence, the Master / Chief Engineer meet before lunch would take on greater significance, as they compared notes on their individual observations.

Meanwhile, the Radio Officer has received the weather report on his Radio Room set and has handed it over to the Second Mate, who then gets busy plotting the positions mentioned to compare the last noted position of a low pressure. The Second Mate immediately points it out to the Master on his return after lunch. Due to communication gaps, the latest position noted could be more than 6 hours old. Finally, the Master has to rely on his own judgement on what course would be best, whether to divert the ship to steer her away from the impending storm.

Good weather days are days in which there is no tension on the Bridge, just normal routines that each officer follows.

The Bridge Watch Keeper of Today is inundated with loads of information, more than 80% of which is rejected as it does not pertain to his vessel at the position she is in. He is gathering information from at least 5 different screens or displays at any given time.

The required skillset in managing a Bridge of today is far different and much more complex than of a few decades ago. He has to be much more computer savvy. His course adjustments are based on what he reads off screens such as ECDIS. His helm orders, either on the auto pilot or to his helmsman, is based on what he sees and the information that the ARPA feeds him.

The Master makes major course corrections based on weather forecasts received from stations that are contracted to inform the vessel at all times. Satellites send instant picturised versions of any approaching storm, along with predicted paths, analyses, so that evasive action can be taken.

In fact, the decision to ply a certain course has been taken away from the hands of the Master and Navigating Officer by all companies having a contract with routeing agencies that forward a routeing plan to the vessel and keep updating the vessel on a daily basis. Gone are the days when it is the Master who decides whether a transoceanic voyage will be a rhumb line course or a Great Circle one - it is decided by the Routeing Contractor ashore.

All sorts of people sitting ashore track the vessel at all stages through AIS. Gone are the days when, on good weather days, the Chief Engineer and Master decide to quietly stop the ship for a few hours and carry out a maintenance job on the Main Engine. Charterers note that the vessel has stopped and immediately ask the Owners for an explanation. Ten minutes after stopping, there is a flurry of messages with the inevitable questions of why, when, wherefore.

On an average day itself, life gets complicated for the Master. After going through all the messages that the various Bridge equipment has printed out, he sits at the GMDSS or Internet where at least twenty messages await his scrutiny and reply, ten of which requires some level of inspection and research.

A new ship chandler has sent in his quotations for supply of provisions. The old, regular ship chandler has given his quotes on the basis of the Captain’s query of two days ago and is awaiting a firm order. The Captain calls the Chief Cook to discuss.

The Charterer has several queries on bunkers and cargo.

He wants to know if the vessel can postpone hunkering to another port on the service - bunker costs are lower there. The Captain copies the message to the Chief Engineer. In a few minutes, the Chief Engineer calls, wanting to know the distance to the proposed bunkering port.

Charterers propose some changes in cargo and their distribution. The Captain calls the Chief Mate and asks him to check for space, stability.

The Management company’s accounts section informs the Master that there is a mistake in the Monthly Disbursement and asks the Captain to re-do and re-send.

The Ship’s Superintendent wants to know why the vessel needs certain stores after having been supplied two months ago.

The Mumbai crewing office informs the Captain that 5 or 6 crew will be signing off at the next port, their relievers are being processed. The Captain starts making ready their sign off papers and wage slips. He prepares a second crew list for departure next port and sends it to the Agent at the next port.

The Agent wants to know the details of the person seeing the doctor at the next port.

Two workshops introduce themselves and ask for repair jobs, sending their brochures as attachment which, because of their rather large bytes, slows down the satellite transmissions.

The Performance Analysis Group wants to know why the Main engine is consuming 1 ton more of fuel than normal and 18 litres more of cylinder oil. ‘Please take immediate action and inform by this evening”.

Satellites and e-mails make it possible for anyone and everyone who is ashore, to send out a message to the ship at his whim and gets agitated when an immediate response is not forthcoming. Peaceful sailing days, without anybody’s interference, have gone out with the 1980s. Nowadays, everybody ashore is an expert, who wants to tell you what to do on board and who thinks all sailors are dumb and need to be instructed.

The Chief Engineer, I surmise, is not under much pressure and has to keep his eyes on certain specifics.

The Maintenance Software throws up what the Engine staff needs to do this day, this week, this month.

All major overhauls and Class surveys would have been completed in the last dry dock, when the vessel was in the shipyard. The remaining few others are scheduled to be done by a shore workshop. The cause of why this is so can be three fold. One - the vessel does not have sufficient staff to carry out the major jobs and Two - there is hardly any time in port for maintenance work and Three - the Office is sometimes under the misapprehension that the staff do not have the necessary expertise or experience and so (costly) mistakes are liable to happen.

Tagged to Maintenance Software is the Requisitions’ Software, which gets automatically generated as parts are consumed.

Answering and acting on queries raised by the Performance Analysis Group in the Office, keeping the Maintenance Software updated and ensuring that Safety Management Systems’ documentation is always kept updated, would be some of the major jobs that the Chief Engineer has to contend with.

The Changing Scenario On the Bridge and the Ship

Within a short span of three decades, aided by changing from analogue to digital, aided by developments in electronics such as solid state technology, use of transistors, capacitors, diodes, aided by faster and smaller computers than were ever thought possible, instrumentation technology has reached new heights.

The possibility of companies profiting from the use of this advancement in technology was immediately seized upon by US and European companies like Kelvin Hughes, Sperry, Northrop, Raytheon brought out very different products with varying results. A few amendments to SOLAS made it possible to synchronise the goal posts for each instrument. Riding on the coat tails of the Europeans, Japanese companies like Furuno, JRC and a couple of others soon dominated the market. The Koreans and Chinese were not far behind.

(I think it was in 1920 or thereabouts that the numerous scientists at the Royal Academy in London were told by their Chairman that 'everything possible that could be invented has been invented - there is nothing left to invent'.)

Skill sets have changed over the decades, making it very difficult for an aging mariner to cope, especially on the Bridge. The trusted, age old, seamanship hardly plays a part in a ship’s operation, as Artificial Intelligence has taken a foothold on ships and increasingly more and more decisions are being made ashore by less and less experienced people which should, rightfully, have been a shipboard decision.

Shipboard staff’ mindset has changed over the decades. Where previously joining the Merchant Navy was a decision that meant life long commitment to the sea, recent generations look on it as a temporary career with a maximum span of a decade or so. The motto is to make a lot of money in the shortest possible time and leave the sea. Some fund their academic career and obtain higher degrees. A few obtain jobs in various shipping related companies. The offices of management companies is another attraction.

There is nothing wrong with such a mindset, as it is a reflection of the way almost all companies treat their floating staff, the word 'loyalty' having been thrown out of the window long ago. 'Floating staff' have become just contracted labour, who can be hired and fired at will, the hiring being at the need of the hour.

Shipboard training (of juniors) has changed. Very few take up the task of ‘mentoring’ and training a junior in shipboard work, maintenance work, leaving them to their own devices. In fact, I am hearing of juniors being used exclusively for cleaning jobs and nothing else, in contrast to being taught to dismantle, clean, inspect, renew parts, assemble all the while keeping in mind the theoretical function of the component.

Leave patterns have changed. Short stints of three to four months on board one ship means that the seafarer leaves the ship before he has even acquainted himself with the different systems on board. He comes on board inexperienced, he leaves the ship inexperienced. He spends his leave time - and his savings - in attending mandatory courses, Engine or Bridge Simulator courses.

Examination patterns have changed. It is no longer a question of whether he has sufficient knowledge for the next higher post. He is measured on what and how much he does not know.

The type of people who enter shipping have changed. The boys who enter Marine Training Institutions have to necessarily come from affluent families to afford the College fees. They already have the backup of their families in the event of their not liking sea life. Contrast this with the scenario of a few decades ago, when young boys from less affluent, lower middle class families, who could not afford a college education in medicine or engineering - the only two substantive degrees on offer - unless on a scholarship, leaving them no choice but to join the Armed Forces or the Merchant Navy, all through competitive exams, where the odds were one in two thousand. Training in the Armed Forces was free and training for the Merchant Marine was quite a bit subsidised by the Government.

The longevity of service as a sailing seafarer has changed. The sea was the adopted career for over 80% of seafarers that kept them sailing for more than 25 years on average. My guess - no statistics involved - is that this average would not cross 10 years at present.

The mindset of what is considered as ‘basic’ knowledge of rudimentary analytical techniques has changed. An example is the performance analysis of running machinery. A few decades ago the performance would be judged by physical means such as sight, sound, feel, smell and the use of a rod that would serve as a stethoscope. Today, those means of analysis are considered unscientific. What we have are Electronic Performance Analysers that spew out graphs akin to Electro Cardio Grams for hearts, based on which decisions are made. (I still think that an Engineer's Stethoscope is far superior to an Electronic Analyser). The human in the loop would soon be cut out in what portends to be a robotic world with artificial intelligence.

I close my rhetoric about changes over the decades with the observation that the seafarer of today is continuously under severe stress due to various factors in contrast to the more peaceful horizons of yesteryear.