BLOG 69 - Teaching the Rudiments - A Train Ride from Genoa to Rome - Vatican - Rome

"Marine Musings 18"

Chapter 5 – Sailing Period

As I recall, the entire tenure passed off peacefully and, for once, with no major problems. After a month or so, my wife and 15 month old son joined the ship in the US.

These were the days when I had a lot of time to do something I had always wanted to do - teach. Except for Batthi Saab, all other Engineering personnel were pretty inexperienced. Although eager to work, they could not diagnose a fault from the parameters in front of them.

We installed a large whiteboard in the Engine Control Room. The 10 AM and 3 PM tea breaks became periods of learning, where I took up one topic after another and explored every practical aspect of the machinery we were looking at.

Some examples

• An air compressor is running. There are three gauges on the panel, Suction Pressure, Discharge Pressure and Lub Oil pressures being indicated. How would you go about diagnosing a fault from the values that the three gauges indicate? How would you home in on where the root cause of the fault lies?

Then I would start with the internal construction of the compressor, what actually happens inside, how each part works and what would happen if it fails to work properly.

What would be the indications on the gauges?

‘Fridge Systems

I had always found that most engineers lacked any diagnostic knowledge of 'Fridge Systems and sorting out a problem on the system became a hit-and-miss method of doing a lot of work on the system and hope one of them resolves the issue.

I myself had been guilty of lack of sufficient expertise in 'fridge plants, till I worked with Chief Engineer Remedios on the 'Trianon'. He was an expert.

Lack of knowledge was due to lack of knowing what each part of the system does and what happens every inch of the way as the gas travels through the system.

What I taught them on this subject follows:

Above is the simplest of the cycles, but has a wealth of detail, if the working of each part is understood in its entirety.

The LP gauge, HP gauge and LO Pressure gauges are extremely important tools for the analysis pf problems.

Suppose the cut in and cut out of the 'fridge compressor were set at 1.8 bar and 0.4 bar. Normally, all criteria being fulfilled, the compressor would probably run for about half-an-hour with around 15 bar Discharge Pressure and Lub Oil Pressure varying between 3 bar and 1.6 bar, automatically cut out and start again after another half an hour or more, depending on the usage.

CASE 1 : If the compressor is starting and stopping frequently:

Reasons could be:

1. Lack of proper amount of gas in the system.

Before rushing in to charge more gas, shut the Receiver outlet valve, wait for a couple of hours and see how much gas is in the system. If low, first check for leaks, repair leaks and then charge fresh gas.

1. It could be that the gas is trapped in the pipeline before the Distributor of the Evaporator coil and is not returning to the compressor. Check to see if the pipes, Distributor and Evaporator are thickly iced up, in which case there is no possibility of heat transfer, causing very little flow of gas back to the compressor which, then, causes the compressor to start and stop frequently.

2. Choking of Return line filters also causes the same problems.

3. If the sintered filter below the Expansion Valve is choked, gas levels in the Receiver will be high, very little will go past the Expansion Valve, ‘Fridge Room temperatures will go high and the same problem of starting / stopping the compressor will occur.

Case 2 : If the compressor is running continuously what all could be the reasons.

Case 3 : Oil disappears from crankcase, but there are no leaks.

And more such scenarios.

I started with these and went on to teach them about all machinery on board. It was very satisfying, as I also taught myself a lot on each subject.

This continued throughout my time on board all the vessels that I sailed on, regardless of nationality, except when I was aboard Self Unloaders, where time was scant.

I found that this was a motivator in many ways and helped me form a close knit group of eager workers.

Discharging in Genoa: A visit to Rome

After nearly 2 months of my being on board, my wife and my 15 month old son joined me, when the vessel was loading in the USA..

I forget the exact chronology of ports, but there was one voyage where we loaded in the US for Genoa, Italy. The cargo was either corn or soya bean in bulk - I forget.

Being a gearless bulk carrier, the discharging had to be done using equipment from shore. It was a slow process and our expected stay was about 21 days.

I was instrumental in organising a visit to Rome. Travel brochures brought by the ship's agent helped us in planning what we wanted to see. We divided the ship’s company into 3, with 2/3rds of the workforce available at all times on board. The first group left early one morning and returned early the next morning. They were not particularly impressed nor enthusiastic about the visit. I was rather disappointed at their lack of excitement in what they had seen.

My family and I were part of the second group, under my leadership. We caught the night train to Rome. I distinctly remember one of the features of the compartment - the long seats , opposite to each other, could be pulled out and joined together to form a rather large and comfortable bed, due to which we all slept well and were fresh in the morning.

My knowledge of Rome was from books. The copious amount of information available on the Internet these days was totally absent in the 1980s, otherwise we would have seen much more.

I was particularly interested in the Basilica and the Sistine Chapel, as Irving Stone’s book ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy’ about the life of Michelangelo had fascinated me from my teenage years.

While the Basilica was a marvel of design, it was Michelangelo’s marble sculpture- The Pieta - that was the highlight. It is impossible to regurgitate the emotions that passed through me as I saw what he had achieved by using just a chisel and hammer. Even a stone hearted man will be moved to tears on seeing that piece of stone. I will never forget that moment. How can a sculptor bring out or depict such abstract emotions as pathos, grief and tenderness in a stone carving?

Thanks to Google’s “Mental Floss”

It is now behind appropriately toughened glass, due to damage done by a vandal in 1971.

The Sistine Chapel was another wonder. Michelangelo spent 3 years lying on the scaffolding to create ‘The Creation of Adam’. I did not have the knowledge to interpret each fresco, as each one depicted some part of the Old Testament. The Chapel's ceiling is pretty high and one has to crane one’s neck to see the painting.

Luckily, I had brought a pair of binoculars, so I could see everything in sharp focus. It was still a pain-in-the-neck. Then my 16 odd months’ old son, Amrith, did something to the bemusement of all in the Chapel - he lay down on the floor and looked at the paintings on the ceiling. Several others followed suit - so did I, for that matter.

Other paintings on the walls, though beautiful, can be understood only by a person well versed in the Bible. The ‘Last Supper’ was the only one I understood.

Thanks to Wikipedia.org

Rome’s famous Fountain de Trevi was another place visited.

Thanks to ‘Unsplash’

Unlike some of the other older cities of Europe, which were a little dismal and gloomy, Rome had a bit of colour, aided by the architecture surrounding you every step of the way.

While Vatican City was mired in Biblical History, the City of Rome had a more flagrant vibe to it, where the 'Rome of a Thousand Years' constantly peeps out at you from every corner if one were to keep a sharp lookout for it.

An admirable city, worth visiting.

===== Continued in Blog 70 =====