Rewritten June 2011 while onboard M/T Ternvik
M/T Aurum
Picture from www.faktaomfartyg.se M/T AURUM at the roads of Flushing, Holland, July 1992. © Picture Jörg Seyler.
| Ordered
- December 1980 (a) Aurum
- Sweden (1996) |
Ship type
- Oil & chemical tanker |
Builder
- AB Oskarshamns Varv |
Information from www.wellandcanal.ca
Well, while looking for info about M/T Aurum I found that she was sold for scrap. I found the following information on www.robindesbois.org
Fair Victoria (ex-Swan Lake, ex-Aurum). IMO 8030386. Chemical tanker. Length 135 m, 4,389 t. Liberian flag. Classification society Det Norske Veritas. Double hull ship built in 1982 in Oskarshamn (Sweden) by Oskarshamns Varv. Owned by Baltanas Shipping (United Kingdom). Sold for demolition to India. 810 $ US per ton, including 440 t of stainless steel.
Wednesday 18 th of November 1987 and I joined M/T Aurum in Rotterdam. I don't know what was wrong with my alarm clock
during the autumn of 1987. Last ship, M/S Bleking and I missed
my train to Åhus and I had to take a taxi.I had a morning flight to Rotterdam from Copenhagen, and, yes, I over slept again. DARN! What the
was wrong with my alarm clock. I soiled myself when I discovered that my train was half way to Malmö when I woke up. Embarrassing to miss the plane to Amsterdam. Believe me, I got fire on my arse in order to catch my flight.So I called a taxi and I asked them to pick me up on the double. My bag was packed so it was just
to get in to the taxi and we left Båstad with smokin' and screamin' tyres. I made it in time to SAS's hovercraft in MalmöAnd I was very relieved and happy when I made it onboard. Yes, it would have been a major embarrassment to
Scandinavian Airlines
Prior to the year 2000, you could travel in style on a SAS Hovercraft from Malmö city center, direct to Copenhagen airport, however on the 1st July, 2000 the Öresund Bridge was opened which now links Denmark and Sweden together for the first time since the Ice Age. 
Yes, it was my brother was onboard and he had the best recommendations, most likely why I got the job. So imagine if I had missed the flight.
It was a nice ship and I had a very good time onboard even though we had some HEAVY DUTY tank cleanings at times. I remember one time in Milford Haven, we had to go down the tanks with a fire hose to clean after some waxy gas oil or something like that. 90 °C temperature on the water so it was not a very nice experience being in the cargo tanks. But we got
our tanks approved for loading.I remember this day very well, as usually it was heavy rolling outside Milford Haven and one of the ABs was hit by a swinging tank hatch.
I also remember me closing one hatch, young and
strong AB I was so I ended up with the wheel in my hands. So our engine department had to repair the hatch and I
was banned from the GYM.I have been doing this job for 27 years (2011) and darn! Time has turned quick. Well,
anyway, during these 27 years have sailed with 3 outstanding Cooks. Outstanding as in EXCELLENT! Not outstanding as the Cook we had onboard M/S Katharina.
One of them was on M/T Aurum. The
second Cook was on M/T Tärnsund and M/T Tärnfjord. The third Cook was on M/T Bro Promotion.AS soon as I had my first breakfast I knew that my diet was down the drain. I don't know how many different kind of fresh bread and rolls there was. Sausage, Bacon with different kind of eggs. Trimmings and tea and hot chocolate (There were coffee for the ladies) and it was like the best hotel breakfast.
Coffee breaks and there were many different kind of fresh cookies and pastries. He even made his own ice cream and liver pate. When there was a tank cleaning he made giant sandwich layer cake
and there was a mini buffet in the mess room during the night.So it is easy to understand why I was afraid that things might get out of hand.
Well, our Cook made special food for me so it would have been embarrassing to be caught eating
anything else and my diet turned out to be a great success.And Laurin took most of the crew from the Jobcentre in Helsingborg, Skåne so it was mostly people from Skåne onboard. I knew one of the ABs. Of course, my brother was onboard. But there was one AB that had been a class mate with me and my brother.
The motorman, he had studied at the Maritime Academy in Gothenburg when I was studying at the school.
There was also an AB that had been at the same school as me and my brother, but he finished the year before us. So it was a very nice crew onboard and we had a very good time onboard. And that's even though it was winter and it was very cold in Finland. We made a few trips
between Finland and Bayonne, France with Methanol. Finland, and we had to wear
scooter coveralls and it was darn cold.And I was wearing shorts when we came
to Bayonne in the SE corner of the Bay of Biscay.And I was ashore when we were discharging in Bayonne. Actually, I went ashore every time, Biarriz, a famous resort
ETA
Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (English: Basque Homeland and Freedom; pronounced [ˈeta]) is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has
since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country. ETA is the main organisation of the Basque National Liberation Movement and is the most important participant in the Basque conflict. ETA declared ceasefires in 1989, 1996, 1998 and 2006, and ETA restarted killing again. However, in 2011 ETA declared a "permanent, general and verifiable" ceasefire with the expressed aim of ending its campaign.ETA's motto is Bietan jarrai ("Keep up on both"), referring to the two figures in its symbol, a snake (representing politics) wrapped around an axe (representing armed struggle).
Since 1968, ETA has been blamed for killing 829 individuals, injured thousands and undertaken dozens of kidnappings. The group is proscribed as a terrorist organization by the Spanish and French authorities, as well as the European Union as a whole, and the United States. More than 700 members of the organization are incarcerated in prisons in Spain, France, and other countries.
From Wikipedia
We had a good time at the discos in Biarriz. And I had a not so good time at a disco somewhere around Bayonne. I had my first experience with teargas. Bayonne is in the Basque Provinces and close to the boarder to Spain. So it is smack in
the ETA area. So the Police were on full alert on a look out for terrorists and it happened that they stopped us to search the taxi.Well, anyway, I was kicked out
from one of the discos and I tried to get back in through the basement. And as I was a wee bit tipsy I thought this was the idea of the century.Hmm, maybe because I had had 2 beers, or a few more than two. And while I was in the basement trying to get in. I
was in a confined space trying to kick open a door.While I was kicking on the door someone sprayed me with tear gas. Motherf@cker, it was burning like I had never felt before, and that was when I was tipsy. I can imagine how it would have been sober.
Well, we did a few trips from Finland to France with methanol. Even though it was very cold in
Finland we went ashore for a good time. We used to swap watches so two ABs could go ashore
to have a good time and we had one AB on watch during the night.Well, one day the Chief Officer came and told us that we looked like living dead while on watch so we had to give up that idea.
February 1988 and we were anchored outside Bayonne waiting for the jetty to be available. Our
Cook had made Semlor, what a coincident! My diet was over!I had a Semla, or maybe two and our Cook discovered me eating
a Semla when he came out in the mess room. The look on his face, he was very disappointed.Our Cook, he used to run a Deli and a bakery so he knew how to make all
the good stuff. He filled two mess rooms with Christmas food for Christmas.
He had been working 24/7 for days and there was everything. Better than the best Christmas dinner at any restaurant.I started my diet after New Year, I didn't want to miss the Christmas dinner. New
Year, I think we spent the New Year in Nordenham, no cargo operation se we were ashore having a good time.December 1987 and we were in Go:teborg. I remember that I got a big box of Clementine onboard. One or two boxes that I had in my cabin for easy access.
I had a friend coming down to visit me and we took his car in to town. Our Motorman joined us and we went to
drink beer at Gammle Port.Yeah, Gammle Port, I really don't understand why we went there. I think it was our Motorman that liked the place. For sure, it was not me suggesting the place.
Two of my class
mates from the first year in navigation school came down and joined us at Gammle Portand the evening ended as it used to
do, we got drunk.One of my EX class mates meet his wife to be this very evening, but they are divorced by now. But it lasted for a very long time.
Landskrona and he came down to the port in his car.
He had a car but no driving license, it was cheaper to take the fine if he was stopped by the Police than to attend driving school. We were cruising Landskrona in his car after my watch. I was on the 4 to 8 watch so I was free in the evening. Until 4 o'clock in the morning when it was time to start work again.03:30, the time they called me for my watch and I was more dead than alive. I have always hated
the 4 to 8 watch because of this 03:30 wake up call. Same watch I had on my first ship, I was always on the bridge wing leaning
on the rail sleeping.We had a CCR (Cargo Control Room) onboard where the Officers loaded and discharged the ship while we were on deck stripping, checking for leaks and attending the mooring lines. And luckily enough we
were supplied with winter clothing. It was not nice to come out on
deck 4 o'clock in the morning while in Finland.It was cold, darn! And it was very nice every time we left Finland, many times with a hangover after spending my Finnish currency at the bars in Kotka.
4 to 8 watch and I always had the jetty guys coming down 5 o'clock in the morning asking if I had
Finnish markka
(Finnish: Suomen markka, abbreviated mk, Swedish: finsk mark, currency code: FIM) was the currency of Finland from 1860 until 28 February 2002, when it ceased to be legal tender. The markka was replaced by the euro €, which had been introduced, in cash form, on 1 January 2002.The markka was divided into 100 pennies (Finnish: penni, with numbers penniä, Swedish: penni), postfixed "p"). At the point of conversion, the rate was fixed at one euro worth approximately equal to six markka, or precisely €1 = 5.94573 mk.
From Wikipedia
So I had plenty money and I spent it all buying vodka and beers at the bars in Finland.Kotka was very fun, but I would have liked it better in the summer. In the pub it was OK, but thermo suites and ice breaker assistance is something that I can live without.
A few days after leaving Finland I could wear my shorts and after discharging in Bayonne we headed for Safi in Morocco.
I never get used to cold weather, never mind how long time I spend in the cold, it is still cold. But a hot climate is something I get used to, even though it is uncomfortable when it is too hot. But it is still better than the winter.
So this is the guy starting the “finger” thing
Safi, well, it is not a very exciting place. But believe me, it was way better than ice breaker
assistance and thermo suits in Kotka, Finland. And as I had experienced such a success with mý diet I needed to go ashore to buy a leather jacket. Of course, we had 2 guides following usa everywhere.As soon as we were alongside there were millions of people (well almost) on the jetty screaming about souvenirs and stuff. And as soon as we sat foot ashore we had 2 guides following us.
yes, you know exactly the kind of people. You're stopping to buy a bottle of water and they start to negotiate the price for you. And a simple F@CK
OFFor
LEAVE US ALONE doesn't bite on these people.I got my jacket and we went to look for a hotel that had a bar according to a rumour.
Well, turned out to be a restaurant and I had a soda water before we returned to the ship.
to bad weather on the 28th of February and we lost the door on the fo'c's'le. We
were just close to the position where M/S Vinca Gorthon were foundered 12 miles off the Dutch coast. A brand new ship went under in the bad weatherWell, as I use to say, a tanker is the safest ship to be on. A tanker in good shape don't sink that easy. But a RO RO ship
and ferries is another story.I remember one time when I was going to make
Semlor onboard. Well, that didn't turn out very well. We had a big mixer (at least 25 litres) in the kitchen and I put some flour in to it with the other ingredients to get the bun for the Semla. Whipping cream and the almond paste would be the easy bit. But yeast, we only had dry yeast. A small spoon of yeast for a cubic ton of flour. Or if it was a cubic ton of yeast for a spoon of flour. I don't know.But I got dough out of it, must have been 100 kg and the darn thing refused to rise. What to do
with the darn thing? Our cook realised that this was going out of hand so he made his own Semlor.But he was nice enough to serve my, well, we had decided not to waste any cream and almond paste on my rocks. Hell, we cracked the floor tiles when we dropped one of my buns on the floor. If I remember it right our Motorman was nice enough to try my buns, but I don't remember it as he finished the bun. The whole project went overboard, literally.
I signed off M/T Aurum on the roads of Helsingborg Monday 28th of March 1988 . I signed off with the Pilot boat and I went to Q Club and I took a taxi to Båstad when they closed. Yes, waking up in Båstad in March is not very fun. I returned to Helsingborg to get me a ticket to Amsterdam, but I ended up in West Berlin .
Back in the days it was very fun onboard, I still enjoy my time onboard. But being 20 was fun and my two best ships, or at least where I had most fun was M/T Aurum and M/S Nordanhav
OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it
be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.
So Jiffy (also jiff)
noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.
ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.
So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.
So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!
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