Lobster, smoked salmon and suckling pig ...

E-mail highlights from Rob:

12 December

Sorry have been busy the last couple of days so not had much time to type! It is now 2100 on the 12th. We arrived at Benchamas at 1500 today and anchored near to where we will be loading the crude. It's a weird place, miles from land off the coast of Thailand. The water is calm as a duck pond and it's very hot. Considering it's winter here goodness knows what it is like in the summer! The whole area is a mass of oil rigs and then there is the ship we will be loading from. It's a huge retired tanker permanently moored here and converted to be a berthing terminal for storage/transfer of the crude. Looks like we may be here a few days as they have not given us our berthing orders yet and the ship looks to be pretty empty by the way it is so high in the water. We should hear tomorrow morning anyway.

Today I was up fwd when we came to anchor so I saw the procedure for that, more complicated than I imagined. The 3rd and 2nd mates are on 6hrs on - 6hrs off at the moment so the Chief mate and myself are able to get a decent night’s sleep and will be woken tomorrow to start the cargo opps (if we get the nod from the terminal!) . Then once we are loaded it's off to Indonesia, due there on the 19th/20th so we ought to be loaded and on our way to NZ at Christmas. Today I de-ballasted by gravity (ie not using the pump) some of the ballast water so we are ready to receive cargo.

Specific plans have been drawn up for the speed/order etc of the loading and de-ballasting so as to keep the ship stable and the trim/heel within acceptable limits - so we will have to monitor things very closely for the entire process - could mean little sleep! I think I will be mainly helping on deck by opening and closing valves and monitoring the manifold and pump room. This could be a struggle in this heat!

Better get some kip now whilst I have the chance, it'll be the first night I've had more than 5 and a half hours in the last week so looking forward to it!

13 December

We are now proceeding to Indonesia, should take about 5 days. We have 350,000 barrels of Benchamas crude on board. It took 16 hours to load and we were up all night finally finishing at 5am. So went to bed at 8am this morning and awoke for lunch at 12. It's now 2pm and I am due on watch at 4pm so back to the usual routine. All the new crew are settled in now, we have a new 3rd Engineer, some new GP (general purpose) sailors and I think some new machinists and oilers for the engine room. Also a new cook and of course the new Chief Mate.

When we were loading cargo I was mainly on deck keeping an eye on the pressure at the manifold and dipping the tanks to provide samples for the terminal and the ship. Also went round with the Surveyor to measure all the ullages (distance from the top of the cargo to the top of the tank) before and after the loading and to take temperatures and check for water in the cargo. It was very interesting to see but also very smelly! All the doors are shut and the air con on internal circulation when we do cargo opps and now I know why it really is like standing in a petrol station with all the pumps on full!

If you wonder what I have been doing in my spare time, well other than preparing those databases that one of my blog comments recommended I have not been doing much as there is not much spare time to be had!

17 December

Today is Sunday so a day off for me, we passed through the Balabac strait at midday so I went on the bridge to plot positions and catch a sight of land! It's still very hot so stayed in the air conditioned accommodation!

The sea feels nice and calm now (although the fishing boats still seem to be getting a rough ride) I guess it just doesn't affect us. There has been plenty of traffic to deal with at night which makes it interesting, and lots of fishing traps left unattended with flashing lights on them. It takes a while when you go on the bridge in the dark before your eyes get adjusted and then the sea looks like a Christmas tree with all the fishing boats around. We should pass over the equator on the 19th just before we arrive at Santan, The load port is just a few minutes south of there so it'll be rather hot I'd have thought. It was very hot out on deck at 2am when we loaded at Benchamas so hopefully I'll be able to stand the temp.

Just off to dinner now, steak tonight as it's Sunday.

27 December

Merry Christmas! Sorry I have not been too quick with the Email recently, there has been so much going on and finding time to sit down and write one is a bit tricky! It's now 0700 on Boxing Day. Since I last wrote we have loaded more cargo at Indonesia and are now proceeding towards NZ to discharge. Currently North-East of Papua New Guinea, about 5 deg south. Yesterday the crew and Engineers had the day off (obviously the watch officers could not or else we would crash.) We started with presents from the Captain at 10am, and then we played some games in the crew mess and the gym and then a huge Christmas lunch by the pool, Soup, lobster, smoked salmon, suckling pig, veg, potatoes loads of salads and bits and some Christmas cake. Very nice! It’s weird eating Christmas lunch outside in 30 deg heat whilst people are swimming in the pool! Later more games and rest and watching a few movies in the lounge. Back to work this morning (3am) saw some volcanic islands as the sun was rising.

Right now I am off to breakfast! I will write more when I can.

Merry Christmas

Hi everybody, Rob's Dad here. Rob still doesn't have access to the internet so can't update his blog. I'll update it with some edited highlights of his e-mails a few days after Christmas. He rang today from somewhere near Borneo and is still having a great time and learning loads of useful stuff -- and he sends his best wishes to all his readers. Happy Christmas to all.

Sailing, we are sailing

Hello all, here are some highlights from the last couple of weeks.

1 December

Today I tested the overfill alarms on the cargo tanks, I had to find them first (there are loads of very similar looking valves on the deck) then undo a cap and pull up a plunger with some pliers. I thought it would turn a light on in the control room and that I'd be called on the radio to confirm it was working. Turns out it sounds the ship's horn which is incredibly loud! Luckily nobody was up a mast!

4 December

Hello from Hong Kong!
We are now in the "south lamma anchorage" about 1 nm below an island to the east of HK called "Lamma". The last part of the passage into HK was a bit exciting not to mention stressful for all involved - very different from navigating in open seas. Lots of traffic and course changes to make, we had myself the C/0 the 2/0 the Captain a lookout and a helmsman on the bridge, I was speaking to HK approach VTS (vessel traffic services) on the radio informing them of our position and intentions, plotting our course on the chart using GPS and radar bearings onto the islands, also reporting vessels and navigational marks when seen and most excitingly being asked what we ought to do every time a collision course was identified! Luckily I wasn't asked when we were approaching a fishing vessel who was trying to pass directly across our bow, after sounding the "Oi! What do you think your doing" signal about 6 times we eventually swung hard to starboard and avoided him! We also had to get VTS (like air traffic control) to yell at a container ship who kept trying to overtake us.
Tomorrow we take on fuel oil and there will be 3 - 4 launches going ashore to HK every day until the 8th when we leave, so I should get into the city in the next few days. Now I am on anchor watch which is the same as the navigation watch except we are not moving! (I hope!). The weather is at last calm and a little cooler as we are further north now. The seas were awful today and yesterday, we had our lunch fly off the table and everything that was on shelves is now on the floor! But it was really fun! - also no one is allowed on deck in bad weather so I had nice jobs to do during the morning! Even though I couldn't really stand or even sit upright!

6 December

It's now the 6th and it's almost 0900. We are currently taking on Lub oil from a barge along side. Yesterday morning we had two bunker barges alongside which was a really stressful experience, none of the crew or officers spoke English so we were shouting and waving hands around to try and communicate what we wanted them to do. Unfortunately at the same time two launches arrived with the on signers (new crew) on one and the port health authority on the other. So we now have some new faces on board.
Yesterday I went ashore at 1600 with the Eng Cadet and the 2nd Engineer. The boat takes an hour to get ashore and drops us at the star ferry terminal. It's on an island that makes up part of HK but it's not the main one, still it is really busy and colourful and the view from the boat on the way in is superb. We wandered around for a while looking in all the shops, plenty of cameras and other electrics, but not very cheap I didn't think. We went into a seafood restaurant called the "very good seafood restaurant" and it really was very good, the 2nd ordered loads of food and then a man came out the Kitchen with a net and caught everything we had ordered from a tank! Grouper, prawns, more prawns, some other big fish, mussels, squid etc etc, we also had some chicken (served complete with head) and loads of veg, rice soup etc. we ordered so much it would not all fit on the table!
We leave tomorrow for after a lifeboat drill and will be collecting our first cargo on the 13th/14th It is a heated cargo (heated by steam pipes running through the tanks) so apparently the deck gets really warm and you can feel it through your boots! (Cheap under floor heating!). Also the weather should get warmer again as we move further south.
I moved cabins a couple of days ago. I am now on the D deck in the radio officer's cabin. It is huge with a double bed, sofa, arm chair, desk, and spinney office chair! Wardrobe and TV en-suite brand new carpet and also as a bonus it gets cleaned daily by the steward! Downside is I am on the same deck as the Captain and Chief Eng so have to behave myself!

8 December

We are on our way to pick up our cargo. No shore leave now until New Zealand. We will be loading Benchamas and West Seno crudes. The cargo is heated because it would solidify if it was not, some grades of crude need heating as they are very thick (remember they make bitumen from it as well as petrol!). If it was to solidify that would be a disaster - the ship would be stuck with it inside the tanks!
It was fun leaving HK yesterday, lots of fishing boats and other traffic, visibility only about 2.5 miles so lots of use of the radar.
This evening we have a fire drill (as we do every Saturday - company policy), I have drawn up the scenario for a fire in the engine room workshop. This morning the auto fire alarm went off twice for a fire in the engine workshop so we all had to muster and I was sent down to the fire control room to see which alarm was sounding. The
new crew are all settling in now and the ship's back to her usual rolling and vibrating as we continue under ballast.

Thanks for reading this. More to come!