BLOG 45 - Marine Musings 12 - MV Trianon - 17 days with Norwegians for Taking Over

Marine Musings 12 – MV Trianon

Chapter 1 – Taking Over from the Norwegians and Being / Sailing with Them for 17 days. They have a Breakdown of a Generator

I was signed off the MV Theben on 17th May 1977 at Dammam, Saudi Arabia and was immediately on a flight to Abadan, Iran. I spent 2 days in Abadan.

The Shah of Iran was in power. The US and UK were supporting his dictatorial regime, where only a small coterie were overstuffed and bleeding with wealth while the common man was literally begging for some food and a livelihood . The US and Britain had made Abadan more or less their Las Vegas. I wandered around in the glitz of neon signs, bars and nightclubs hashing out loud American and British music. Somehow, it felt artificial and staged, unlike the easy and breezy bars and nightclubs I had been to in the US. The nearby oil refinery ensured the presence of thousands of Western expatriates and they were trying to make it look like they were 'back home'.

Abadan sits on the eastern bank of the Shatt-el-Arab which is the confluence of 2 rivers, historically known as the Tigris and Euphrates, famous for age old Sumerian and Mesopotamian civilisations on their banks. Iran, formerly Persia, was once considered a seat of learning and culture unsurpassed by any other in the world. Even today, there is a lot of mutual civilisational respect between Iran and India, despite religious and ideological differences.

At the time I came to Abadan, it was the site of greed and oil, with quite a few Western countries vying with one another for the wealth that comes with oil resources. The decay of a respected civilisation had been brought about by oil. It is no surprise or wonder that an Islamic Revolution took place a few years later that dethroned the reigning Shah, after decades and decades of shadow rule by the UK, with the US joining in later, all for padding their own castles and coffers, as they had done in India for centuries..

I was taken by a launch on the Shatt-al-Arab river to the anchored vessel MV Trianon.

The Shatt-el-Arab with Khorramshahr and Abadan, belonging to Iran

Also showing Basrah belonging to Iraq, further up North-west

Over the next 6 months we made 2 trips to Khorramshahr. There were tensions rising within Iran and also between Iran and Iraq. The area was slowly getting dangerous and becoming a war zone.

Iran and Iraq were separated by the width of a river. Both were using it for their own trade, with ships going to Iranian Ports, mainly Khorramshahr and Abadan, and also Iraqi Ports, mainly Basrah.

Navigating up or down river to Iraqi ports was done by Iraqi pilots. Iranian pilots would pilot the vessels bound for Iranian ports. The pilot pick up and drop off point for both nations was at the mouth of the Shatt-al-Arab, where the river meets the Persian Gulf. As vessels will be moving up and down in large numbers, the pilots of both countries have to cooperate with each other, in spite of their Governments being at loggerheads. It was a humorous paradox of that era. To everyone's surprise, the Pilots were all former dhow boat Captains, extremely talented, who knew the ins and outs of a difficult river, very affable and friendly when knowing we were from India.

I have always felt that a ship's Pilot, who is the first one to board a ship that is entering his country, his waters, is, to a very large part, a representation of how his countrymen are, how his country treats outsiders, what kind of a society he represents. Although my dealings with a Pilot was practically zero, I would later, as Chief Engineer, go up to the Bridge and engage them in a conversation for a few minutes. A lot was learnt.

I joined the MV Trianon when she was at anchor on the Shatt-el-Arab river. Because of the speed of the current in the river and the changing tides, a very keen watch needed to be kept in order not to drag anchor or ground the vessel. Engines were on 5 minutes notice, which meant the entire plant was running, just as in sea going conditions. Watches were being kept.

I forgot to mention that a Chief Officer had come from Mumbai as part of the advance party of two Barber staff. Our brief was to become familiar with all systems, take charge of stores, spares, provisions, bonded stores etc. prior departure of the Norwegian staff. Operational familiarity of deck and engine machinery, loading patterns, stability, quantities of fuel oil, lub oil etc. remaining on board were to be given priority, as only the two of us would, by then, know things in detail when the change-over took place. The agreement or MOU was the ship should not have cargo on board when handing over. All cargo was destined for Abadan. Crew change was to take place at Kuwait anchorage. They were to move out and, within an hour or so, our staff were to move in. After the mandatory safety drills, we were to head for Singapore for bunkers and Japan for cargo.

But no specific date of berthing had been given by Abadan Port. With this, an entire crew was waiting in Mumbai, ready to fly to Kuwait. All this change over was supposed to be completed in 4 to 5 days after my boarding the ship – it actually took 18 days to materialise, because of berthing delays.

The unwritten code between seafarers is that advance parties – in this case the Chief Officer and me – be assisted as much as possible by the outgoing staff so that incoming staff become familiar with the ship. Some key aspects - preparing the Main Engine plant for operation, starting and loading a purifier, starting a generator, operation of Bridge equipment, location of Fire Fighting equipment, Life Boats' operation, Emergency Generator, Emergency Fire Pump, Quick Closing valves, Ventilation shut down operation, an explanation of CO2 release procedures etc - are normally demonstrated or explained to the incoming staff. Also, answering questions put up - to a reasonable extent - is part of what is expected during a full take over.

That is what is considered ethical.

But there seemed to be an aversion from the Norwegian staff in assisting us, possibly because we were taking over their jobs. It was, to a small degree, understandable, but definitely unethical and unprofessional. The Chief Officer had just received his promotion to that rank and was also new to the Company. So, apart from doing my work, I had to advise him and guide him on a daily basis as to what were the important things that he should be thorough with, before our staff boarded. The Norwegian Captain was the only one who spent some time with the Chief Mate and helped him.

Mine was an uphill task. But, due to the delay in berthing, I had more days than anticipated to become familiar with the vessel. My SISCO days held me together and, in spite of the non-cooperation from the Norwegians, I had really become very familiar with most things. It came to a stage where I just wanted them to leave. There was no overt acrimony; everything was covert. When asked a question, the senior engineers would reply “I don’t know”. After a few such occasions it became irritating, after which I refused to ask questions and found out everything on my own. It stood me in good stead as far as experience went.

Familiarity with pipelines - one of the very important facets of knowing a ship - meant I was lifting up floor plates, going into the bilges and tracing lines, with nobody to help. It wasn't as hard going as when I was a brand new 5th Engineer on the 'Chennai Perumai', because pipeline layouts are very logical and I also had access to layout diagrams encased in hard plastic covers.

This was the first ship where I saw 2 full sets of drawings that were fully laminated and kept in the Engine Room, with the original paper drawings rolled up and kept in canisters in the Chief Engineer's cabin. One laminated set was 1.5 metre x 1.5 metre in dimensions, a replica of the paper originals, with all details that were crystal clear. The second laminated set was a miniature version of the larger type, laminated and, being small in size, could be carried around. The working comfort of carrying around a laminated layout drawing makes familiarisation much easier, as one does not have to worry about the (paper) drawing getting dirty.

This aspect of laminated drawings appealed to me and I resolved to ensure that these were available on every ship that I sailed on, even if it meant sending original drawings ashore for copying, printing and laminating.

Nowadays, all these details are available at the touch of a mouse click, with mimic diagrams making it easier still. The presence of laminated copies in the Engine Room is taken for granted.

Quite a number of Engineers do not take the trouble of acquiring a detailed knowledge of plant layouts and, thereby, panic when a pipeline bursts or a problem takes place, which leaves them scrambling for layout drawings, the problem then intensifying to dangerous limits.

Because of the impending transfer of Management, no work went on in the Engine Room and all were relaxing or drinking, except for one watch keeper who would go down to the Engine Room occasionally for a round.

I had been taking rounds of the running machinery daily and was not happy about the generators running on such high exhaust temperatures. As the days passed, I became increasingly worried, but because my brief was to become familiar with the ship and only observe, I had to keep my mouth shut. I did, however, exceed my brief and pointed out the extremely high temperatures the generator engines were running under. I was told that it is normal and not high.

Obviously, the cylinder heads needed decarbonising, the pistons required new rings, the turbochargers required overhaul, the fuel pumps required adjustment of timing besides other work. There were 4 generators (normally most ships have only 3). I watched them change from one generator to another during those 2+ weeks I was with them. Two generators were running at around 100 degrees to 150 degrees above normal, whereas the other two were running between 250 degrees to 350 degrees above normal. There were many units running at 600+ degrees C. I knew the situation was tending towards being disastrous but could only monitor it.

Later, looking though their maintenance records, (although in Norwegian) showed that they had not any scheduled maintenance work for the last seven months. This was really criminal neglect. It formed part of my Chief Engineer's Taking Over report. (I hasten to add that I was a Second Engineer then - my input into his report was quite substantial).

When a ship is to be sold or its management to be changed, it is considered normal to only carry out scheduled maintenance till about a month or so before handing over. This is in order to restrict the consumption of spares and stores to avoid last minute requisitions of spares. The concentration then shifts to cosmetic appearances, cleaning and painting.

One evening I did not find any of the Norwegian Engineers attending dinner. I quietly slipped on a boiler suit and went down. One of the pistons of a generator had broken because of overheating and a stuck valve. I saw them change the connecting rod and piston, hammer in the gudgeon pin, put piston rings in and lower the piston. The piston would not go in smoothly, so they put a wooden piece and tapped it in quite forcibly.

Gudgeon pins are not supposed to be forced in. They are supposed to be cooled in the Meat Room and gently inserted. Pistons are supposed to go into the liners by their own weight, not forced in. They changed the cylinder head. After completion of all the work, they tried to turn the engine shaft, it would turn only with a lot of force being used. They tried to start the engine, which would not start.

Courtesy Marine Insight - 4 stroke engine piston and parts

Courtesy dieselduck.net

Piston, gudgeon pin and top end, connecting rod, bottom end

Two were already running, so they had one other operational, but, as I said before, all running at well above their normal exhaust temperatures. We were alongside Abadan at that time, discharging cargo. That same night we left Abadan for Kuwait anchorage, where the crew change was to take place very shortly. So, they left the defective generator as it is and left the ship. Nobody said a word to me about the breakdown.

The Norwegian Captain was the only one who was helpful, mostly on the navigation side. My only prayer was that they would not sabotage anything before they left. One never knows the perfidy of man. Luckily, nothing untoward happened.

===== Blog 46 Continues =====