BLOG 36 - Promoted to 2nd Engineer on "Sadhanai" - An Explosion - a Death - A Fire - A FireFight

Marine Musings 8 – On Board the "Chennai Sadhanai" as 2nd Engineer

Chapter 1 – I join the Chennai Sadhanai in Kashima.

Tenure from 24th Oct 1974 to 29th July 1975

I left the ‘Chennai Muyarchi’ and was taken to Mizushima Station by the Agent, who put me on a local train to Okayama. The problem with most Japanese stations is carrying the bags up or down numerous steps. As seafarers signing off vessels, a person normally had two large suitcases (in the 1970s), containing many boiler suits, 2 sets of uniforms, working and civilian shoes, civilian clothes, books, several notebooks of precious notes and a smaller tote bag containing passports, CDCs, Certificates and other documents on which your life and career depended. There were no escalators or lifts in those days. But Japanese agents are very helpful and I boarded the local to Okayama. I was met at the other end by another Agent and taken by taxi to Okayama Main Station.

Much later, as more and more necessities were supplied on board, the suitcases became lighter.

At Okayama Station I was escorted to a queue on the platform. There were several such queues, each meant for boarding at a particular entrance of a particular compartment. Since the train was starting from Okayama, it had arrived at the platform a bit in advance. It was the famed ‘Shinkansen’ or Bullet Train. It started exactly on the dot and picked up speed. Due to the exclusivity of the tracks, we did not speed past the smaller stations as we do in India. If I remember right, we stopped at Osaka, Kyoto and one or two more stations before reaching Tokyo station.

The ride was exhilarating, the view from the windows fascinating. Lush green country sides, bridges connecting two mountains, tunnels and story book type villages. Over 500 kilometers were traversed in about 4 hours and I never felt as if we were moving, except by looking outside.

Another Agent was waiting for me exactly in front of my compartment door and helped me with my bags. I was really impressed by the Shinkansen – on time exactly to the 1/2 minute, stopping at exactly the place marked, clean and comfortable push back seats. Over the years, I have traveled many a time on the Shinkansen and it has only gotten better every passing year.

This trip was probably a harbinger of events to come in the future, as my trips to Japan became more and more frequent as the years went by.

The Agent who met at the Tokyo Central Station helped me with my bags, took me by cab to a nice hotel near Ginza and told me that I would be called after three or four days.

This was my first visit to Tokyo and I spent those four days exploring, sightseeing. I even went to a Japanese samurai movie - pretty gory - and I saw 'Godfather 1'. Their 'Kabuki' traditional theatre had, I felt, a distant resemblance to our own 'Katha Kali' from Kerala. Their English newspaper, the 'Asahi Shimbun' was my guide in many matters.

This was the time I fell in love with Japan. Courteous, helpful enough to go out of their way to assist you in locating a place. It sowed the seeds of exploring different parts of Japan over the next 30 years. I remember that it was not costly and within my purview.

On the 4th day, I was taken to a smaller railway station, where I boarded a rickety old train to Kashima.

Another Agent at Kashima and another cab ride to a hotel, saw me finally ensconced in a room with a good view of Kashima.

The cabs and cab drivers were meticulously clean, all wearing black suits with white hand gloves, were extremely polite, bowing often and insisting on taking care of the bags. Once again, I found that this was maintained till my last visit to Japan in 2007.

What a country! More as I go along.

I had nearly 3 days to spend in Kashima. Surprisingly, the hotel was rather a large one, in the midst of a small own. Food was immediately a problem that was partly alleviated with eggs, milk, bread and juices. I only remember that I visited a revered Shinto Shrine during my three day .

IMO number 6615314

Name of the ship CHENNAI SADHANAI

Vessel type Bulk carrier

Flag India

Gross tonnage 24365 tons

Deadweight 43816 tons

Length 203 m

Breadth 28 m

Engine type MAN

Year of build 1966

Builder BREMER VULKAN - BREMEN, GERMANY

I joined the ‘Chennai Sadhanai’ on 24th Oct 1974 at Kashima. Raj was the Captain and Shankar was the Chief Engineer, both of whom I had sailed with previously on the Chennai Perumai. Both were sailing with their wives. So was the Chief Officer, an ex-MMD Surveyor who had come back to sea. I was the only bachelor. Being back with Raj made me very happy.

Once again, I was back to MAN engines. Except the Muyarchi, all other SISCO ships – the Perumai, Sadhanai, Jayam, Ookam, Selvam – had the same MAN engine and same layout everywhere on board.

Why were they all named “Chennai …” something? The Owners were from Chennai, the Head Office was in Chennai and the ships were registered in Chennai. Before the British came and changed the traditional, centuries’ old names of countless places, Madras had been called “Chennaipattinam”.

The names of each ship was from the rich lexicon of the Tamil language.

“Perumai” - Pride

“Ookam” - Enthusiasm, incentive, morale

“Selvam” - Wealth, as in material wealth, wealth of knowledge

“Sadhanai” - Achievement

“Jayam” - Victory, Godspeed

“Muyarchi” - Endeavour, Try, Make an effort

I had about 7 months to go for my Chief Engineer’s exam and I intended to prepare for it diligently while on board. But I had additional responsibilities now.

As 2nd Engineer the entire Engine Room and all deck machinery became my area of responsibility. Consulting with the Chief Engineer what needed to be done, organising the work, distributing the jobs, checking on status and ensuring that each job is completed properly and regularly reporting to the Chief Engineer – all soon became routine.

I had a 4th Engineer keeping watch with me on the 4~8 watch. During the watch, I used to plan the day’s work down to the last detail, including who will do what job and how. At 7AM, the senior day work Motorman would come down and take the orders for the day.

During the morning watch, I got into the habit of going up at about 0730H to the Chief Engineer’s cabin and discussing every aspect of conditions and work, leaving the 4th Engineer to complete the watch. By doing so, I was also training him to be confident of keeping an independent watch. After a quick breakfast in the Duty Mess, in boiler suit, of ‘masala potato fried eggs’ or ‘fluffy cheese omelette’ or other varieties, with a lot of juices, bread and milk thrown in, it would be back to the Engine Room to join in the day work that would have already started.

After working with them till around 1100H, I used to go up on deck, look around and, if necessary, help the Chief Officer. Then a quick shower used to be followed by a beer either with Chief Engineer or in Captain’s cabin. Raj had always been a teetotaller.

One aspect of my morning watch needs special mention. We had a Chief Cook to cook for the Officers and a Second Cook for the, mostly Gujarati, crew. The 2nd Cook used to switch on the electric hot plates in the galley at around 0515 hours in the morning, which I could make out from the increase in amps and kilowatts on the Main Switch Board. After about ½ an hour, the wonderful smell of parathas being cooked used to waft down through the blowers, one of which I would be standing under.

As part of my responsibilities, I would make a weekly inspection of all electrical equipment in the galley, check the filters of the exhaust blower and talk to the cooks to find out if they have any problems.

On the second such visit, I mentioned to the Second Cook that I could smell his morning parathas in the Engine Room. Believe it or not, he started sending down 2 hot butter layered parathas with potato sabji every day around 0600Hrs, in spite of my gentle (and very feeble) protests. He did not need to do so, as he was supposed to cook only for the crew. Much later he told me he had not seen a 2nd Engineer working and checking the galley. So this was his contribution.

Some of the evenings I would come up and play table tennis with whoever was available. After dinner I would meet Raj and his wife and talk about everything under the sun, except the ship. To even things, I also spent some evenings with the Shankar (Chief Engineer ) and his wife. They had not been married long, so I kept my evening visits to a minimum. The work was hard but I enjoyed each moment of responsibility. The free time spent was also memorable.

I was now 26 years of age. I had come to terms with myself. I had matured but had not lost my exuberance. I flowered in situations of pressure. I liked what I was doing. I was getting what would have been called a ‘significant’ wage for those times, somewhere around Rs 12,000 (per month) if I recollect. I was sending about 75 to 80% into the joint account with my Father.

I had grown a moustache on this ship, more because of looking like a young schoolboy in front of 40 year old veterans who were working under me. The moustache changed its shape from time to time, starting from a ‘John Newcombe’ type where the ends grow luxuriously down the chin on each side of the lip ends, to moustaches connected to ‘French’ beards, to fierce looking military ones where the ends curved up, to a caterpillar spread across the upper lip. That was the age and my time of innovation. There were several bemused critics on board, but I went ahead boldly. The moustache remains this to this day, now salted more than peppered.

Life was beautiful. Having a 4th Engineer keeping watch with me, I could afford to watch sun rises and sun sets from the Bridge or on deck each day, both things of beauty. The seas, in her myriad moods, teased us with innumerable variety, stupendous beauty and, sometimes, raucous moods. What more could I want?

The Chennai Sadhanai was on a 5 year time charter to bring mostly coal from one of the east Australian ports to Japan. Sometimes it was iron ore. So we trudged south and we trudged north approximating a round trip every month, except when an anchorage stay extended the days. Loading rates were high in Australia and we struggled to pump out all our ballast during loading.

We struggled because all our ballast pumps were worn and required renewal of major components. The other machinery also suffered from the same fate, as very little spares were supplied to the ship in order for the Company to maximise its profits from this ship.

The nature of a Long Term Time Charter is that it is a time bound agreement between the Owner of the ship and the Charterer, to lease a ship for a specific time. Depending on the initial dialogue between the parties, it can enumerate any number of specific clauses. It can be speed specific or fuel consumption specific. Vessel condition has to be maintained at high levels, with trading certificates always being valid. The vessel will have to load a specific amount of cargo. The vessel can be leased on a daily rate. There can be ‘n’ number of clauses, which needs to be agreed on by both parties. The owners will normally be satisfied with a long term charter on ‘daily rates’, as it gives them a steady income for a long period of time.

The only problem is they had agreed to a higher average speed than the vessel was capable of, in order to obtain the charter. On the ship, we then had to manipulate and blame the lesser speed on wind, current, bad weather and the like. The two parties then go into arbitration and agree on certain penalties.

We had problems in even reaching the charter party speed, even in the best of weather. We had to be extremely alert during loading, in order to pump out all the ballast. Ballast tanks can be emptied to near 0 levels if the pumps were efficient, which were not so. In spite of the condition of the pumps, we used to manage to obtain around 90% to 95% efficiency from the pumps by trying to maintain a good trim or, if necessary, a slight list, so that water flow in the tank is towards the suction. After ‘stripping’ each tank using the eductor, we would be left with 10 to 15 tons of water overall. This required a high level of cooperation between departments, which we invariably achieved.

Ballast Eductor

In spite of this, we did sail out once with about 90 tons of ballast water due to loading rate being high, which would have been replaced with 90 tons of cargo in a perfect world. In other words, we sailed with 90 tons less of cargo. The combination of worn ballast pumps and fast loading continued to play havoc with us, necessitating introduction of various ‘cheat sheets’. The first was to try and come into the berth with lesser ballast in the tanks, provided stresses were managed.

But this had a drawback. With lesser ballast came lesser draft. Lesser draft meant the propeller immersion was less and could affect the manoeuvring to the berth. Also, lesser draft meant that the vessel rode higher, making the loader positioning difficult (air draft), bringing forth complaints from the loading authority. Sometimes a couple of cases of beer would compensate for these ‘cheat sheets’ and sometimes not. Walking a tight rope on a knife edge became child’s play.

Port Kembla was, mostly, the load port. Sometimes we would get 3 to 4 days anchorage before coming in for loading, during which there was feverish maintenance activity on the Main Engine. Cleaning ports, cleaning scavenge spaces, changing scavenge valves, decarbonizing units, changing fuel injectors and other important jobs that could not be done on the run would be undertaken then.

When alongside, there used to be regular visits from AMSA, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. At that time, they had a reputation for being strict in their inspections, but not as much as the US Coast Guard. With their arrival when the ship was alongside, we had to cater to their inspections, so man power had to be deputed, sometimes to the neglect of cargo operations and Engine Room maintenance work.

As usual, I stuck to the Surveyor and demonstrated a whole series of items in a quick and efficient manner. He also takes into account the efficiency of the crew, whether they know what they are doing or are they fumbling around.

I recollect that on one occasion, every item had passed inspection, bar the lifeboat, which was last on the list. Demonstrating the efficacy of a lifeboat and how well a crew is able to get the boat ready, board it with minimum personnel, lower the boat, unhook the boat, start the Lifeboat Engine, take a round in the harbour, return smoothly alongside to the ship, hook on and raise the boat, is considered one of the most important inspections done by the Surveyor. Any failure in this is considered a major deficiency and can lead to the ship being prevented from sailing out of Australian waters.

Initially all went well till the boat was lowered and the Embarkation Ladder also lowered. After unhooking, the 3rd Engineer, who was in charge of the lifeboat engine, was unable to start the engine even after 5 minutes of trying. I had tried out this same engine only the day before successfully. The Chief Engineer looked askance at me. There was only one thing I could do. Swiftly going down the Embarkation Ladder, I boarded the Life Boat and got the engine started in a minute, the trick being with the compression lever of the engine that needs to be kept at a certain position when cranking the engine and released when the cranking speed is sufficient. This was the same on all the ‘Chennai’ ships. With the engine started, I came up the ladder as fast as I had gone down, leaving the others to manoeuvre the boat. The Surveyor was surprised at my agility and complimented me. Seeing the level of preparedness, the Surveyor’s later inspections became a mere formality.

Port Kembla was – at that time – a small port with a small town but with all facilities. An old book shop gave me the opportunity to pick up books by well known authors at Moore Market prices. (Chennaites will know about Moore Market of yesteryear, where 2nd hand books were sold). A Post Office from which I would calls home. Remarkably, the Post Office also contained a treasure trove of old postage stamps, which rekindled my interest in philately. A dinner at a restaurant and a movie in a small theatre would round off a foray into town, when opportunity afforded it, as work alongside used to be very tight. I still remember a movie that I saw, ‘The Sting’ starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Robert Shaw.

Chapter 2 – An Explosion, a Death, a Fire and a FireFight

In spite of the inordinate pressures created by the Time Charter, life was good and there was good camaraderie. It was too good to remain in such a good state.

We were carrying coal from Port Kembla, steaming north, bound for Japan. It was hot outside with calm seas and nary a breath of breeze. Everybody was tired after a hectic few days in Australia. Except for the watch keepers, all Deck Crew had been knocked off at noon on Saturday and told to start work again on Monday morning at 7AM. The Engine Crew were given off on Sunday, except for the watch keepers.

Like I said, it was hot. The accommodation was cool due to the air conditioning. Outside, the decks were hot, the hatch covers were hot. On Monday morning, the Deck Crew went forward into the foc’sle store to pick up their tools needed for the day. The ‘Chippy’ was the one who handed out the tools, and kept a register to ensure nothing was missing at the end of the day. The Deck Cadets also went in to pick up what they needed for their work.

All this was in the store forward, below the forecastle deck that contained the windlass, winches, air pipes, sounding pipes, side rails. Practically all Deck Stores, the full supply of paints for the vessel in a separate paint locker and many drums of ‘Floatcoat’ (a liquid for protecting the metal of the top side tanks) were all stored there.

I had come up from the Engine Room and was standing in front of Chief Engineer’s desk, with him sitting behind his desk. Had I not been wearing a dirty boiler suit, I would have been sitting, as he expects everybody to sit and not stand. So, I was partly looking at him and partly looking out of the front porthole.

A huge sound rocked the ship. Within a second, I realised that there was a fire in the forecastle. There was a primary explosion. I could see a vertical plate which stretched from the main deck to the forecastle deck come flying and land between # 4 and #5 hatch. Then was a more muted secondary explosion and a ‘rending’ sound, as if something was being torn. We both jumped up, aghast.

Bridge called Fire Stations immediately and practically all responded. While people were getting ready to fight fires, somebody had to investigate to see what had happened and what type of fire it was. Chief and I went forward, the Chief Officer a little behind us after having been relieved of his Bridge watch. A few minutes later, the Captain was also there.

There were chances of another explosion and I persuaded the Chief Engineer and the Captain to retreat, go back and organise support.

A roll call showed the ‘Chippy’ was missing.

Those days, communication systems on board ships were indifferent and primitive, to say the least. The only concession made on communicating with Aft or Forward sections of the ship was during manoeuvring alongside, after “Stations Forward and Aft” was called by the Captain. At this time, a portable two way speaker used to be connected to a point provided. After Stations were over, these would be carefully removed, the wires coiled up and put in a safe place. Unlike these days, there were no Walkie Talkies. Human messengers need to be sent.

The first priority was a rescue operation for the ‘Chippy’, with all crew having reported that he had been in the Forepeak Store. Quickly hoses were rolled out, connected and the Engine Room Fire Pump started. (The Emergency Fire Pump was in one separate section of the Forecastle and it was advisable not to go close and try to start it, as it was too close to the vicinity of the fire).

The Chief Officer and I took charge of operations. It was then that the inherent weaknesses or phobias in each individual showed up. Many of the Deck Crew got scared and ran back aft. Some stayed with us and followed instructions. I asked the three Engine Room Motormen if they, too, were scared and, if so, they can also leave. Their reply was heartwarming. They said “If you lead us, we will follow”.

In order to intimately follow subsequent actions and consequences, it is essential for the reader to form a picture of the layout of the forecastle.

The above diagram will give a fair idea of the layout

Photograph shows a typical port side view of a Forecastle Deck

We could glimpse that the interior of the Upper Forepeak Store was on fire and it was a massive fire. How much more was on fire was yet unknown, as we could not gain entry immediately. The only way in to forepeak store was through a 2 metre wide corridor, slightly to starboard of midship, that extended about 4 metres into the store before expanding to the full beam of the vessel at the forward section.

Two cylindrical pipe-like structures took up quite a bit of this open space – this was the Chain Locker for anchor chains. A small space, surrounded by a rhombus shaped steel fencing separated the ‘Chippy’s’ store from the rest of the area; this could be locked. The Chippy also had a chair inside for his use. The rest of the space had a lot of flammable items stored inside. Right around the periphery of the forepeak store were latticed wooden shelves for storing items that would have rolled around, now being prevented by a barricade to the shelves. There were many steel items like spare anchor links, steel spikes known as Marlin Spikes, steel wedges, steel wire ropes, some chain blocks and the like, but these were non flammable items.

The flammable items were mooring ropes that were used during mooring the ship but now stored inside the forepeak store, in order to prevent deterioration in open spaces on deck; cotton waste bales, cleaning cloth bales, massive amounts of sutli or twine, 20 litre paint thinner drums, 20 litre paint drums and many other flammable items.

A vertical ladder led to the Lower Forepeak Store, below which was the top of the Forepeak Tank. More ropes for making hand made ladders with wooden steps for use as Pilot Ladders, Jacob’s Ladders, Embarkation Ladders, Bosun’s Chairs, were all stored below.

To search for the missing Chippy, we first had to douse the flames just inside the entrance. Meanwhile, the person who was in charge of, and who was trained to use, the ‘Smoke Helmet’ was getting ready to enter wearing the helmet and a Fire Suit.

In the Fire Equipment world of the 21st century, this type of Smoke Helmet would be considered not only obsolete, but also dangerous. The design was a helmet with a glass visor and a tube inserted into the helmet that supplied air to the wearer, the air being pumped in through a reinforced flexible tube at the end of which was a bellow, with a foot rest. Pressing on the foot rest again and again operated the bellows that would take suction of air from the atmosphere and send it into the reinforced hose, so that the wearer does not get overcome by the smoke. It sounds complicated, it was complicated and almost an apology for the SOLAS regulations then in force.

Courtesy Pinterest

Smoke Helmet of the 1970s

Courtesy Catawiki

Foot operated Bellows for supplying air into the Smoke Helmet, as used in the 1970s.

Thank heavens that later years saw the advent of flame retardant Fire Suits, Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) of bottles of pressurised air (at around 180 bar) that can be carried in a back pack, with automatic pressure regulation for ease of breathing. More on the improvements later.

Courtesy Wikipedia

Modern day Mandatory Fire Fighting Equipment On Board Ships

Those days, the Fire Fighting Equipment on board was primitive. We did the best we could. In order to first rescue the victim, the person with the Smoke helmet started moving into the small corridor which formed the entrance. 2 Fire Hoses with water under pressure were targeted a few feet in front of him, so that he would be protected by a wall of water.

He took two steps inside, saw huge flames, stepped back out, stripped off his helmet, said “I am not going in there” and, in a blue funk, bolted back to the accommodation. The Chief Officer and I were furious. The Mate immediately said he would wear it and go inside, but I persuaded him to let me wear the suit and Helmet.

A two minute hiatus and I went in. Luckily, the Motormen were smart, following closely behind me with hoses and gave me a water shield. On entering the open, expanded area, I first veered to starboard, but there was nobody and no body in Chippy’s store. I then veered to the left. High flames were mostly in front of me and to the port side, with a small area without any flames. The Chippy was lying there, definitely dead. Even then, I dragged him (I could not lift him) about 3 to 4 metres to the entrance corridor after which others took over and lifted him to the deck. In a minute, he was confirmed dead by the Chief Officer.

One shocking observation that I made when I went in was, the deck or the floor of the Forepeak Store had been torn open across the breadth of the ship in an arc, the centre of the arc being almost 2 metres in height, highlighting a massive explosion and subsequent damage. If I remember right, this was a 12mm plate that had been ripped from its weld from another plate, across the beam of the ship.

Even with the Smoke Helmet and fresh air being pumped in from the bellows, some smoke did enter my nostrils, as there was not only fire but also dense smoke prevalent. I was okay in two minutes after a drink of water.

A quick consultation between Chief Officer and me resulted in our agreeing that the focus now should shift to putting out the fire.

Eight hoses were now in action, having been connected to every hose point, with extensions to the hose, so that it would reach where required. Two were spraying and dousing the fire through the entrance corridor, where they had made entry by more than 4 metres. Two more were used to cool boundaries to the extent possible. Stepping on to the forecastle deck, which had the windlass and winches, was not considered advisable because of the risk involved of yet another explosion. So, one hose was used from the top of # 1 hatch, spraying on to the forecastle deck from a distance.

It was noticed right at the beginning that near the Paint Room locker, located on the Port side, with a door opening towards the main deck, a large section of the vertical plating had been torn off from its weld due to the explosion and was, later, found between # 4 and # 5 holds. This, in a way, proved to be a godsend, as it allowed 2 more hoses to direct water through the gap to many pockets of fire.

One would not think so, but heated paint drums exploded like grenades. With cotton waste and other flammable material, the fire spread rapidly in the initial stages, till we reduced the spread rate by well directed jets and sprays.

In the meantime, the ship had gone down by head by quite a large amount. The best indication of trim is always known in the Engine Room because of where the bilge water accumulates. Electronic indicators of trim and list were well into the future. For list, we had a pendulum on the Bridge and the Engine Room. Soundings of all ballast tanks and hold bilges were taken every hour, as mandated after an accident. # 1 Hold Bilges showed a significant increase, when it should have been empty. The Forepeak soundings could not be taken, as the sounding pipe was in the Forepeak Store, where the fire was situated. All other soundings were normal.

The original Fire Fighting team of the Chief Officer, the Bosun, three of the Deck crew, three motormen, 4th Engineer and myself continued to fight the fire for nearly 4 hours, till we were satisfied that the fire had been put out. Still, we did not know what was the situation in Lower Forepeak Store but could surmise that everything was nearly doused, as we had been able to spray water into the Lower Store through the ripped deck plating. About 4 hours and we had managed to extinguish the fire.

Lots of encouraging support was given by the Master and Chief Engineer during the Fire Fighting, as water, coffee and sandwiches were continually provided. All activities forward were being monitored keenly by eyes manning all the binocular sets available.

The Engineers manned the Fire Pumps in the Engine Room to ensure there was no shortage of water or pressure. The Master informed the Australian Coast Guard about the accident. The Company was kept informed at various stages.

A 24 hour watch was instituted to ensure that re-ignition did not take place, with water and hoses ready.

===== Blog 37 - Aftermath of the Fire - to continue =====