Blog 83 - 'Marine Musings 22" - "El Novillo" - I was on the Wrong Ship

MARINE MUSINGS 22 - EL NOVILLO - 18th Sept 1988 (Algeciras) to 17th Feb 1989 (Gibraltar)

As far as I was concerned, it was the wrong ship for me. I joined this ship because Barber Hong Kong wanted to expand into the Italian market and wanted a foothold. So they wanted to send some of their senior staff in order to prove that they were a top class organisation.

The ship was a small one, a Live Stock Carrier and belonged to SIBA, an Italian shipping company. I think the previous name was ‘Siba Bari’.

An entire crew had flown out of Bombay to join the vessel in Alexandria, Egypt, except the Chief Engineer who had cancelled his intention to join the ship at the last moment.

As done many a time in my career, I was called to save the situation and to join immediately. I did not think of the implications and agreed to join.

I joined at Algeciras, Spain, where she was bunkering. The Italians had two of their staff, a Captain and a Chief Engineer sailing with us. There were six Argentinian stockmen, SIBA employed, whose job was to look after the live stock. Our crew’s duties were those as on a normal ship.

The ship stank to high heaven. It took a while to get used to the smell.

Waterford, Ireland

After Algeciras, we called Waterford, Ireland, to load live stock.

Courtesy Wikipedia

Courtesy Pinterest

Waterford is a lovely, small town in the south east of Ireland, adjoining the Celtic Sea. At the time we went there, the weather was mild and comfortable, the town picturesque. The people were very friendly, more so when they learnt we were from India, the common cause being the fight against British tyranny. I spent a delightful evening in an Irish pub.

I could only gaze in wonder at the workmanship involved in crafting the famous “Waterford Crystals”. They were beyond my purse.

We ‘load’ cattle - we nearly capsize

We had a lot of work in the Engine Room, hence I did not get to see the loading. The (relatively) small Main Engine was connected to a controllable pitch propeller through ‘Renk’ gearing, so that tail shaft speeds are concurrently and automatically synchronised with the Pitch Controller.

Courtesy Youtube

Internals of a KaMeWa Controllable Pitch Propeller

My recollections of this ship and events are rather sketchy, as my mind was not fully focused on the ship and the job, reasons for which will become clear in a short while.

A medium speed Main Engine was connected to a Controllable Pitch Propeller (CPP). Keeping the pitch at zero, it would be started 20 to 30 mins before departure and kept warmed up. For departure or arrival, my station was the Bridge to handle the pitch controller, designed in the form of a normal Bridge to Engine Room Telegraph. The pitch would change according to the telegraph orders and the required speeds, ahead or astern, would be built up. The Second Engineer along with Greaser would be in the Engine Room.

Already having become used to the controls when outbound from Algeciras and inbound to Waterford, I was once again at the controls on the Bridge for departure Waterford.

After ‘singling up’ (where all ropes are let go, except for one forward or one aft)

(* Explanation for my non-seafaring readers), the final orders of ‘Let go all’ was given.

The vessel was alongside. The weather was calm. The sea was calm. The vessel started rolling gently, each successive roll increasing in magnitude, till I saw the inclinometer at 46 degrees each side. I was holding on to the handholds tightly. The Indian Captain, who had just joined the ship in Waterford, and I looked at each other. The Italian Captain and the Irish Pilot acted like everything was normal.

The Pilot was on the remote helm. He asked for ‘half ahead’ and gently steered the vessel into the channel. As she picked up speed, she steadied and came upright.

The Captain and I were alarmed by the excessive roll, but the Pilot and the Italian Captain told us everything was normal, where it was obvious that she was at or near negative GM.

The fodder for the cattle, in the form of bales of hay, were loaded on top of the three stories of pens, counting from the main deck and were just inches below the glass’ of the Bridge Front.

The Captain and I had a quick discussion. She seemed to be steaming normally when on ‘Full Ahead’, but what if we were to encounter a swell? He decided to get rid of the top layer of the bales of hay as soon as the pilot was away.

As the crew started throwing the top layer into the sea, the Italian Captain protested. But we went ahead. The ship, then, seemed to behave better, as we tried out a few helm orders.

The amount of fodder supplied was usually 15% more than was required for the voyage, keeping delays in mind.

No consideration was given to stability nor were stability calculations ever made. The contents of the stability booklet were a mess. But it had the stamp of authority, that of Italy’s Classification Society, RINA.

It was during this voyage to Alexandria, Egypt, that my first qualms of guilt started to surface. One early morning, I was on my way to take a diesel oil double bottom tank sounding, for which I had to go through a passage between the pens. Almost all the bulls were sleeping.

One of them was awake and he put his head out between the railings of the pen and, looking at me, was mooing softly. I realised the hay in front of him had been consumed and the water trough empty. Having had some experience in helping my grandfather look after the bull (for the household cart) in my childhood days, I cut the straps on one of the stored bales and spread the hay in front of the bull, whereon he proceeded to munch contentedly. I also filled the water trough with a hose that was conveniently coiled up.

There were other such hungry insomniacs in a few other pens for whom I spent the next 20 minutes laying out the hay.The Irish bulls were all very docile.

A vague feeling of unease about why I was on this ship then started.

We berthed at Alexandria, next to a large open maidan. A few buildings could be seen on the other side of this field.

The bulls filed out through an inclined gangway, some being prodded with electric prods. Some of them walked some ten or so metres into the open field and then returned, trying to come up the gangway again.

I asked the Italian Chief Engineer why were they coming back. He told me it was because they smelt the blood of other animals that were being slaughtered in the abattoir on the other side of the open field.

It struck me like a bolt of lightning that I, a total vegetarian, was a party to the wholesale slaughter of animals and had taken it casually till then.

I went up to my cabin, typed out my letter asking for an immediate transfer or leave, stating that I do not want to be a party to the gruesome business of the slaughter of bulls,despite the fact that Barber’s had sent us because they wanted to get more ships from Italian Owners. A message was also sent about my application. The Office accepted and asked me to wait till they could find a replacement.

Our next voyage was to Stettin, Poland, through the Kiel Canal.

Courtesy maritimeprofessional.com

Red line shows the Kiel Canal

Courtesy sciencedirect.com

Shows the distance saved

Courtesy fredolsecruises.com

Stretching 98 kilometres, the man made canal reduces the distance between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.

Poland, at that time being a part of the Soviet Union, was the rust bucket of Europe, littered with old factories, Stettin being the one with nearly the maximum number of industries, only to be overtaken by Rostock.

Although Stettin was a city with ageing industries, the downtown area was a delight. The trams were all buses with wheels and old style pantographs, taking supply from overhead cables. They were running on normal tires, not rails. Building architecture was a mix of old style Gothic and modern concrete buildings.

Unlike communist Romania, communist Poland had an air of prosperity. The people were friendly, there was laughter in the air and in the pubs. Shops sold many Polish made as well as Russian made items. Heavy, but good binoculars, ditto cameras were from Russia, at cheap prices. Polish crystal was another economical buy. Although not as brilliant as Waterford crystal, it was the middle class man’s attempt at opulence.

We loaded Polish bulls. These were more energetic and not as docile as the Irish ones. They would break open pens and wander around the cargo spaces, greeting their friends in other pens.

I had named the ship as a ‘Wa-Wa’ carrier ‘Walk on - Walk off’, in imitation of ‘Ro-Ro’ carrier (Roll on - Roll off).

Life on board was pretty simple, but stank all through. If one put up with the stink, life could be termed pleasant.

We run aground in the Kiel Canal

Returning from Poland, we were transiting the Kiel Canal once more.

The Captain and I had come down for lunch, leaving the Pilot, the Second Mate and the Italian Captain and Chief Engineer on the Bridge. We heard an alarm, realised the Main Engine had tripped and felt the ship shudder. I ran down to the Engine Room, was told that the Main Sea Water Pump had tripped, causing the Main Engine Cooling Water temperatures to immediately shoot up and an “Auto Shut Down” sequence that protected the Main Engine had been initiated.

In the one minute time that it took me to reach the Engine Room, the Second Engineer had already started the standby Main Sea Water Pump. The Italian Chief Engineer also came down and, together, we retarted the Main Engine.

Meanwhile, on the Bridge, with the Main Engine tripping, the ship had lost headway, turned to starboard and had run up the sandy banks and stopped, the bow had embedded itself and climbed up the slope of the bank.

I had come up from the Engine Room after starting the Main Engine. The CPP was brought to zero pitch. The Chief Officer had gone forward to report from on-the-spot, the condition and the degree to which the bow was embedded, also to report on what kind of bank was it - clayey, sandy or with shoals.

The Pilot was in a panic and said that he would have to report the grounding to the Canal Authority, which would involve expensive tugs and escorts all the way till we reached the open sea.

The Italian Captain was confused and did not know what to do.

The Indian Captain told the Pilot to wait a while before reporting in as, at that time, there was no other traffic and we were not blocking anyone's passage.

I had told the Third Engineer to go along with the Deck Bosun and record all the soundings, to be repeated every half hour, to ensure the integrity of tanks.

After receiving reports from the Chief Mate, who was forward, that she was probably 4 metres or so up the bank. The stern was well in the water. There was no sign of any pollution and it was a soft sand bank.

The Captain, then, took over the con from the Pilot, gave “Hard Starboard” on the rudder and asked for “Half Ahead” on the Main Engine. The Chief Mate reported the bow was going to starboard and a few inches up the bank. After two minutes, he stopped the engine (zero pitch), gave “Hard Port” on the rudder, again asked for “Half Ahead” on the Main Engine. The Chief Mate reported that the bow was now moving to port.

Another minute and he brought the rudder to midships, stopped (zero pitch) the engine, and told me “Bada Saab, when I ask for “Full Astern”, please give maximum possible in the shortest period of time.”

Which I did.

Slowly she came away from the sand and into the deeper part of the canal. Again asking for “Stop” and “Half Ahead” he steadied her in the channel and handed over to the Pilot and told him, “She’s all yours Pilot”, leaving the Pilot and the Italian Captain and Italian Chief Engineer speechless.

Our Captain had used the bow like an excavator to clear a path in the sand.

He then turned to me and said “Bada Saab, let us go down and finish our lunch.”

We left the Bridge.

For an under played performance, it merited an Oscar.

Later, the Captain told me that he was s- - - scared but just never showed it.

I started to analyse why she veered to starboard when the Main Engine tripped and not to port..

Transverse Thrust: One of the most common concerns mentioned by many officers, and quite rightly so, is the uncertainty as to which way the bow will cant, if at all when a controllable pitch (CP) propeller is put astern. This is also something the pilot needs to know when he comes on board. To answer this question, it is first necessary to know which way the propeller is turning when it is viewed from astern. With the majority of CP propellers, it is in an anti-clockwise direction and they are called left-handed. It is important, however when informed that a CP ship is left-handed, that it is not confused with a fixed pitch left-handed ship, because the CP propeller, it should be remembered, rotates the same way all the time. When the pitch is set for stern power, it is only the angle of the blades that has changed and the propeller is still rotating anticlockwise or left-handed. The effect is now similar to a fixed pitch right-handed propeller working astern. The flow of water through the propeller is directed up onto the starboard quarter and may be strong enough to thrust the stern to port so that the bow is seen to cant or ‘kick’ to starboard.

2. In CPP, the shaft will continue to rotate in same direction both for ahead and astern movement. So transverse thrust will also be same for both ahead and astern.

3. So if CPP left Handed

Ahead- Turn to Stbd

Astern- Turn to Stbd

4. Right Handed CPP

Ahead- Turn to Port

Astern- Turn to Port

(Usually vessels are fitted with left handed CPP to emulate the movement of Right hand fixed pitch propeller when going astern)​

5. As a matter of fact since propeller is continuously rotating, even when stopped, there may be a slight effect of transverse thrust and eddies even when pitch is set to zero.

This was something I had discussed in great detail with Capt Abraham years ago.

We were lucky that we were just ahead of some bad weather when crossing the Bay of Biscay, an area notorious for the weather to quickly change from placid to stormy within an hour. Even then we had to find shelter for several days in a cove.

As per my request, I was relieved in Gibraltar and flew back home via London. Even with my early application for leave, I had spent exactly 5 months on board before being relieved. I had to buy myself a new set of clothes to use on the journey home. A good soak and shower in the hotel and a fresh set of clothes got some of the stench out.

As a Conscientious Objector, I should not have joined this ship at all.

On reaching home, I had to send all my clothes for dry cleaning, wash and put my suitcase out in the sun to dry. I did not count the number of times I showered each day.

I was called a few weeks later to, once again, join another live stock carrier on an emergency basis - for the first time in my life, I declined.

Rangan

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