BLOG 52 - "Marine Musings 13" - "Tema" for 5 Months - For Once, Without Incident
- ranganathanblog
- Jul 3, 2022
- 6 min read
Lately, I have started getting notifications from the 'Wix' (Blogsite) Administrators that I am exceeding my limits as far as sending each Blog by e-mail is concerned.
Just for the information of readers, I am resorting to, basically, five methods of reaching all readers, every time I publish a Blog. I am trying to keep publishing each fresh Blog every Wednesday evening and Sunday morning.
First Method:
By using the primary link to access my Blogs. This can be used anytime. You may have to copy / paste on to your browser.
All other methods are dependent on my 'Contact' List.
I would appreciate just a one liner from you to
which would ensure that I update and have you on my 'contact' list.
Marine Musings 13 – MV Tema – Comparatively Uneventful Tenure – From 19th Dec 1978 to 29th May 1979
Chapter 1 – I Join the Tema at Penang, Malaysia
A flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and an 8 hour train ride from KL brought me to Penang, where I spent 3 days in a hotel, waiting for the ship to arrive.
My Father’s colleague’s daughter, 4 years elder to me and a childhood friend from my Wellington days, was married to a Doctor and staying in Penang. They were gracious enough to call me for a few meals and take me around Penang for a couple of days. I can never forget their hospitality.
My batch mate, Gopakumar, joined the same ship as Chief Engineer a couple of weeks later, with wife Shobha and daughter Sonu. Two year old Sonu was my favourite. Their cabin was on the forward side of an alleyway where the Engine Room doorway was located. Whenever I came out of the Engine Room, Sonu used to come rushing out of her cabin to greet me. Her Mother Shobha would run and follow her to protect her daughter’s dresses from the grease and carbon on my boiler suit. Fun times.
After the turbulence of the previous ship, I was at peace on this ship because of Gopa. We spent 5 months together.
We were on the Barber Blue Sea run once again. Penang was followed by Singapore, Manila, Hong Kong, Kobe, Nagoya, Yokohama, then across the Pacific and the International Date Line, then about 16 ports on the West Coast of the USA, starting from Vancouver BC belonging to Canada and going down south to Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, Oakland, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego, San Francisco and a few more smaller ports where we had to go upriver.
Then across the Panama Canal into the Gulf of Mexico with cargo work at Vera Cruz, Corpus Christi, Houston, Galveston, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, down the Mississippi, across to Tampa, Florida, around Florida, Miami, up the East Coast of the USA, Jacksonville, Savannah, Norfolk, Philadelphia. New York, Boston and then across the Atlantic into Europe.
Major North European ports visited were Le Havre, Immingham, Bergen, Hamburg, Bremer Haven and several minor ports.
Major Southern European ports were Barcelona, Marseille.
Then through the Suez Canal to Aden, Colombo, Penang, Singapore, Manila, Hongkong.
Suez Canal crossing saw at least 50 people board the ship, only a few of them having anything to do with the crossing. Most were shopkeepers who set up shop in any space they found, on the decks, in the alleyways. They were selling all kinds of trinkets, cassettes, watches, cassette recorders and souvenirs. The souvenirs included replicas from the ‘tombs of death’ (as I called them) – all the wall hangings that I had thrown away from my cabin on the ‘Tarantel’. No Captain would dare to say ‘no’ to the shops being set up, as any refusal would delay the ship endlessly.
Around 2010, one of the Captains on a ‘Ro-Ro’ of Wilhelmsen’s, did not accede to the standard demand from the Suez Canal Pilot to give him a few bottles of some choice liquor. The Pilot simply anchored the ship and left without saying a word. For the next 3 days, no pilot boarded the ship. Whenever Harbor Control were contacted, the ship was told that her steering was not in order. The next time it was the radar. One excuse after another was given but, in spite of everything being in order, nobody boarded the ship for the crossing. The Company was losing millions every day. On the third day, a boat came alongside and another Norwegian Captain boarded the ship, walked up to the Bridge, gave the other Captain his orders that he was relieved of command and to board the boat that was waiting in half an hour.
The new Captain then called Harbor Control and told them that the Bonded Store was open for whatever they wanted and to send the Pilot immediately. A Suez Canal Pilot boarded the vessel within an hour, the vessel was given precedence over all others that were waiting and crossed the Canal. The Pilot disembarked with many crates of the choicest liquors.
Most Captains just give them whatever they ask. A few Captains, who know the Egyptian’s weakness for bargaining, will indulge in bargaining in a humorous way and reduce quantities. Indian Captains are experts at this.
One round trip around the world had taken slightly more than 4 months. A few weeks into the voyage, all of us were like zombies due to advancing clocks every night – except when we were coasting – by one hour, which upset our biorhythms to the extent where we would be wide awake at 0200H, instead of being fast asleep.
The Far East ports gave us about 2 to 3 days in every port. The US West Coast ports used to be a nightmare, with a morning arrival and evening sailing from the major ports and with 3 minor ports along the same river in one day. The US East Coast ports were marginally better, with a stay of 24 to 36 hours. The European ports were similar.
Stevedores and tugs were booked a week in advance. Any delay would mean penalties. With such a tight schedule, we had to plan our maintenance with pin point accuracy, so that we are not caught napping when cargo is completed. So, I hardly had a chance to go ashore. If at all, it would be a quick 2 to 3 hour trip for a quick beer, dinner and back, when there was no work scheduled. European ports were in a similar rush. Far East ports were better.
The only 2 problems that I recollect were to do with the Cargo Refrigerated chambers and with System Lubricating Oil emulsifying because of water contamination.
Reefer Cargo Chambers Leaks :
Reefer Chambers were located two holds away, with long stretches of insulated pipes running in the side spaces of the ‘tween decks, protected from damage by a steel tray. The system had a severe leak of Freon gas, which took Gopa and me 2 days to find, after crawling along large lengths of pipes with soap water and a gas lamp tester inside the holds and, finally, rectified.
Main Engine Lubricating Oil in Sump Emulsifying :
Main Engine Sump lubricating oil was emulsifying because of the presence of either sea water or fresh water. After an exhaustive search, we found that all was clear outside of the sump. There were no tube leaks in coolers, nor fresh water leaks in the purifiers. Only the sump needed to be inspected.
80% of this sump was located exactly below the Main Engine, with about 20% sticking out aft of the engine, where the Lubricating Oil Pumps were located, along with a manhole door and a sounding pipe. Keeping the LO pumps running and knee deep in oil, without shoes and boiler suit, I went into the tank and inspected the top plating of the LO sump – above which were the bilges (or tank top) – and saw a small wooden sliver stuck to the top plating. Removing the sliver revealed a hole, through which bilge water gushed in. We patched up the hole from the top. I still remember Gopa applying ‘Devcon’ steel putty while sitting in the bilges and waiting for it to dry and ‘shooing’ away any bilge water that would seep aft. The entire system oil, having completely emulsified, had to be pumped into a reserve tank, the sump cleaned and a fresh lot of oil, about 8000 litres, replenished.
We tried to salvage the emulsified oil by heating it in the reserve tank to get rid of as much water as possible. We then ran the lot through a purifier, all to no avail. About $10,000 lost. We had to pump it into a slop barge at a convenient port.
Courtesy ship machinery spaces
A Typical Lubricating Oil System Basic Layout
The months on board were very busy but peaceful. It had become a ritual to have a beer before lunch and sometimes a whisky before my dinner, in Gopa’s cabin.
I signed off at Hong Kong on 20th May 1979.
Rangan
===== Continued in Blog 53 =====
Comments