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Thursday 20 st of December 2012 and I had the guys to help me with the bags to my cabin. I had a shower while the off signing Chief Officer did the paper work with the shore people. Not necessary to disturb him. So I took the time to shower and change before going down to the CCR, and of course to update my web page with the latest excitements.
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Friday 21 st
of December 2012
and what and interesting day this will be. Scary and exciting, will we live to see the end of it? Strange, no one ever listened to the Indians, killed and got their land
and gold stolen. Treated like simpletons but now suddenly their ridiculous prediction done thousands of
years ago is treated like the scariest thing and people believe that the world will come to an end today.But maybe we're lucky to miss the Christmas this year and all the other pointless Christmas to come were it is all about buying stuff.
We started discharging at 2 o'clock in the morning and I was in bed around 3 o'clock. It was not all that easy to fall asleep so I was a wee bit tired when I went out of bed at 10. I went to give my documents to the Captain and I ran in to the Vetting Inspector, he had been onboard since 8. I asked him if he had felt lonely at the breakfast back at the B&B this morning.
- I was alone and no one to pester, quite boring.
Taking over with the off signing Chief Officer was not what I had expected, Vetting Inspection,
drug test, delivery of stores and all other stuff on top of that.The drug test guy came around lunch time and I told him that I have had a sleeping pill on the flight between Bangkok and Johannesburg.
- No problem
- I can give you the prescription
It was not necessary with a prescription, he only made a note and I was out of there. Off signing Chief Officer and the Vetting Inspector were ready on deck and we went for lunch together. The Vetting inspection was ready around 4 o'clock and the Vetting Inspector left us. I got his name card and I thanked him for keeping me company during the stay in Durban.
And of course for helping me with my Pepsi Light bottles up the killer hill.
Discharging in Durban
We were going for a tour on deck when the off signing Chief Officer told me it was time for dinner. So we had to eat (
Hopefully my last meal onboard) dinner and then we went to check the ODME. By the time we were ready with the ODME the cargo tanks 1 Port & Starboard was about to be ready.The crew had to go down the sweep the tanks with squeegees to get the oil to the pump. The less oil remaining the easier it is to clean. The oil in 1 P & S is no problem, but in some thanks we have oil with a pourpoint at 40°C. And when this oil get cold it is no fun to clean the tanks.
So we start to ventilate the tank 1 hour before it is empty and we turn of the heating when there
is about 100m³ remaining in the tank. But it is still hot for the crew down the tank. 4 of them in the tank and it takes about 30 minutes per tank. So when they were ready in 1 Stb they went down 1 Port.And they get 250 US$ per tank so the crew are eager to get down in the tanks. We finished around 7 o'clock and then we had to blow the line ashore before they could disconnect the cargo hose. They only have one shore line so they need to pig the line, 2 km long before we can continue the discharging of CT 6 Port.
I returned to my cabin for a shower and I was soon back in the CCR for some paper work. Off signing Chief Officer went for a shower and some sleep. He is expecting a full night, 6 port
completed around 2 in the morning. Of course depending on when they are ready to start.Then we will discharge 300 MT of another parcel before shifting berth where we will dicharge the last cargo before leaving for Singapore.
They had just resumed discharging of the stearin when I was back in the CCR. Our 3rd Officer from India in charge and it seems to be a very good guy. We talked a little about the good ol' times and I checked some of the equipments before I returned to my cabin delirious with excitements. Will I wake up to the 22nd or will the world have come to an end? It is already a long way in to the 22nd in Bangkok and we haven't heard anything about Bangkok going under.
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Saturday 22 nd
of December 2012
and I was in the CCR at 6 thirty and we had just finished discharging. We were scheduled to shift jetty at 8 o'clock but the Stolt tanker could not leave due to bad weather. So we were waiting. Well, and as we didn't know when we were about to leave our off signing Chief Officer was leaving us for a hotel at 10 o'clock.
Off signing Chief Officer in our office in the CCR
We had time for breakfast together and we had a last look at a few documents before he went to pack his bags. I knocked on his door at 9 thirty with my first bag. I had to run back and forth 4
times to get my stuff in to my new cabin. Not that I had very much stuff, but it was unpacked and it was easier to run up and down with the stuff instead of packing my stuff again.Mess Man was cleaning and I asked for a few extra pillows. We took the off signing Chief Officer's luggage and we went down to the CCR. 20 minutes before the car comes to pick him up. And at 10 o'clock I was all by lonesome.
I went to the bridge and the Stolt tanker had left but no news for us. So the bad weather was only something they made up. But no information for us so I had some BONUS time in my office going through the paper work familiarize myself with my new office and CCR.
My bed room
My bed room
There is an office in my day room as well
There is an office in my day room as well
Coffee break and freshly made cinnamon buns, lunch and fresh bread. And they always put a pot of tea at my seat. I was on deck in the afternoon planning for the tank cleaning with one of our ABs and I was ridden with agony over the food situation. So I went back to my office and I made the
same “successfull” 1000$ deal I had on Maersk Claudia. Of course there is a set-back, I might be raped when I'm coming back home with my v-shaped torso.It worked out very well onboard Maersk Claudia, but as they managed to foock up my last holiday and I spent most of the time
waiting I had cancelled my evening sessions at Bangkok Fight Club. And of course, it was many visits to restaurants instead of Thai boxing. Easy to understand what this does to your waistline.
I put up the deal in both the mess room and the duty mess to make sure everyone knew about the
deal but I was unlucky today, very unlucky as it was
Saturday with ice cream, pancakes and all the other stuff. The crew was watching me with dollar sign for eyes.- 1000 Dollars!
- HA!! It is Saturday, MOTHERFOCKER!!!
Well, tomorrow I'm better off making sure I don't eat anything by mistake or it will set me back by several thousand dollars.
I was in my cabin when they called me at 7.
- Pilot will be onboard in 10 minutes
- I'm just going to have a showerThe Pilot came a few minutes after my arrival to the bridge and we left View Island at 19:35 and we had all fast @ Maydon Warf at 20:45 and we started to discharge the Stearin at 23:40 and the Palm Fatty Acid at midnight.
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Sunday 23 rd
of December 2012
and I discovered 170 ppm of CO in the cargo tanks with the fatty acid and the MSDS says that this cargo was not dangerous. But the Surveyor told me that they were usually having problem with CO in the fatty acid. Good to know for the next time, I will start ventilate 3 or 4 hours before completion.Vegetable oil and you relax walking around scratching you’re behind while thinking that it is no problem. Why should I measure the tanks before entering? Well, imagine sending down the crew in a tank atmosphere with 18 % O2 and 170 - 180 ppm CO. ALWAYS MEASURE THE TANKS BEFORE ENTERING!!!!
It took us one and a half hour to get the tank gas free and the crew could enter the tank. Of course, first a group hug and I'm pretty sure we were making history. First ever group hug onboard M/T Britta Maersk. And the crew loved it, but as much as I wanted to spend the day on deck hugging we needed to get a job done. So the crew went down the tank.
I'm pretty sure this is the first ever group hug onboard M/T Britta Maersk
They entered 3 Port at 10 o'clock and they completed the tank at 11 forty-five. This included one
break. They had to come up on deck and we circulated the remaining cargo while they were on deck. The fatty acid should be 60 to 70 °C at discharging so it was very hot in the tank.And as there were plenty of the oil that had turned in to grease it took some time for them to sweep the tank bottom.
But they managed to get CT 3 Port ready, but we had to do some recirculation. CT 3 Stb was almost ready and the crew went for a
quick lunch before we started with 3 StbThey were a wee bit nervous ashore, the shore line will be full of unpumpable grease it he oil gets cold.
We had 25m³ in the CT 3 Stb. And we had to push some oil through the cargo line every now and then while the crew had their lunch. A quick lunch and then they had to make a record breaking sweep in CT 3 Stb. Easy to understand that there is no more cargo to clear the shore line with when they are sweeping the last cargo tank. But they managed to make it in 20 minutes and we could blow the lines and we had completed the fatty acid.
Last tank was ready 20:45 and we had completed the paper work by 22:00 and now we’re just waiting for the Pilot and the stowaway search team. This jetty is notorious for stowaways so they
send a team with dogs and stuff. But I was off to the bridge to hand 3rd Officer the phone. I stopped in
Captain's cabin on the way to pick up a cap.I had spent the day on deck and I had burned my self on the bald spot. And I need something to cover the bald spot with. A cap is perfect, protecting me from the sun and I don't have to look like an old bald fart.
I came on the bridge with the phone and I handed the phone to the 3rd Officer that was giving the
1 hour notice to the engine room. I brought out my camera and I was just a second late with my picture. I missed his action call to the engine room so I had to arrange for a new picture so we get some action pictures from the bridge as well.I returned to my cabin for a shower and 3rd officer were soon calling me. Turned out that
the stowaway team wanted to see my cabin as well so not possible to go to sleep.Well, quarter to midnight I heard our main engine and I realised that they would not search my cabin. So I went to bed and it will be very nice to get some sleep.
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Monday 24 th
of December 2012
and I woke up just after 9 o'clock and I went down to the CCR to see how the tank cleaning preparation went. The Engineers were doing some job with one of the cargo pumps and we could not start until 13:30.We finished cargo tanks 1 P & S and we had washed them with 50°C water. We swapped to 3 P & S just before 5 and now we needed 80°C on the water and it ook quite soem time for the water to get hot. I had planned to be ready with today's cleaning at 19 thirty but now we will have to continue to 9 o'clock. I'm in the middle of the tank cleaning, at least 12 hours today and I was hungry when I finally had time for dinner 30 minutes late.
And you don't need much of an imagination to imagine my reaction when I discovered that it was fish head for dinner. Well, excellent, I had a few Kiwis and some grapes and my waist line is
Before
After
to good. I realised that this might be my chance to
obtain my v-shaped torso, finally.+++++++++++++++
Tuesday 25 th
of December 2012
and we continued the tank cleaning at 7 o'clock in the morning. My plan is to finish all the hot water wash today and I will do the recirculation with hot FW and cleaning detergents tomorrow. And it willhopefully be ready tomorrow. Of course depending on
the pump capacity of the slop pump. I found a way to re- circulate the washing water in order to get hot water. But we need to do some work with the piping.And of course, I have my best guy on the job. We did 5 tanks and when I did the 3 last tanks with 80°C water I sent in Pump Man
The other guys were
sent in to celebrate...Yeah, what is it they celebrate?Hmm, what is it they celebrate? Yeah, Christmas and I sent them in around 11 o'clock. But first I asked them to come to my office.
After the group hug yesterday the crew demanded a Christmas “SPECIAL” group hug. And a Christmas
“SPECIAL” group hug requires a Santa Claus. So I went to get a darn Santa and we could take the picture. It was not easy, but we managed.They were happy with the picture and our Pump Man went on deck to start preparing for tomorrows recirculation. Duty AB went to check the tank cleaning machines. I keep a log over the machines from the CCR to see the settings every 30 minutes. Imagine to discover that one tank cleaning machine have been stuck after 4 hours. Everything would have been for nothing and we would have to do it all over again. Waste of time.
I was in the CCR listening to music screaming directions on the radio. And when we changed to the last tanks at 1 o'clock I sent in the Pump Man and the duty AB and I took over the whole operation. No need to have the rest of the guys on deck, it is Christmas! And I have had them to finish everything on deck, at least until tomorrow when we will start to kick behinds on deck again.
Not easy to take the picture and to hold the darn Santa at the same time
Not easy to take the picture and to hold the darn Santa at the same time
The crew have lunch
And a half ass try with a group hug
We completed the tank cleaning for today at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and I was back in my cabin quarter past 4. I had a shower and I went to relieve 2nd Officer on the bridge so he could go for
Christmas dinner. My first bridge watch onboard Britta Maersk and we were steaming towards Cap Sainte Marie, the southernmost point of Madagascar.We will change course when we reach Madagascar and steer towards Île de la Réunion and Mauritius.
The first thing I discover coming to the bridge is that they only have “BABY” sized tea cups on the bridge and this is something I will
rectify at the first opportunity. Well, the baby cup has to do for now. Buthopefully not for long.It was a beautiful evening and I enjoyed Hip Hop from Skåne while I had my tea. I had several cups of tea and I was watching
swordfishes jumping in the water around us.Nice to see that there still are some swordfish around, maybe because our efforts to save the swordfishes with Rainbow Warrior when I was there back in, was it 2005?
Well, anyway, it was a long time ago and we destroyed the driftnet
for the fishermen and we werehopefully saving some swordfishes. And sometimes there were some exciting actions as you can see on the video below. Fishermen waving machetes and there was also a crew on a fishing boat that was throwing beer at us. Go ahead, knock yourself out with the exciting video from our Mediterranean adventure with Rainbow Warrior
Our Italian volunteer with a beer bottle the fisher men threw at us
Yes, those were the time with action almost every day. And when we came to port the jetty was full of people cheering at us and welcomed us to port. And the only problem was the gangway.
- Hey ! Please move the gangway a bit, the gangway is in the middle of a bar!
Today it is another story, no beautiful girls welcoming us and thanks us for saving the world when wearrive to port and for sure, no bars to be seen around the ship. Yes, strange what I start thinking of drinking me tea watching swordfish on our way towards Madagascar. Well, we're on the way to Singapore, but we will pass South of Madagascar on our way.
Our bridge
Our bridge
The sky reminded me about Simpsons
Leaving the sunset over South Africa behind steaming towards Madagascar
Time turned pretty quick and the 3rd Officer came to relieve me at 8 o'clock and I was soon in my cabin watching a DVD that i had found on the bridge when looking for something to eat. Yes, I'm taking the opportunity when no one is around claiming 1000 US$ when I'm enjoying a snack.
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Wednesday 26 th
of December 2012
and we had advanced ship's time by an hour during the night and I was pretty tired when my alarm went off at 7 thirty. I had time for tea and 2 slices of
black bread with cheese before we continued the tank cleaning thanks to something they had to do in the engine room. But at 8 thirty we were up and running.Pump Man checked the temperature on the tank cleaning water and we started to wash 3 P & S with 80°C hot water and after 3 hours we swapped to 5 P & S
We had inspected slop tk #2 while the cleaning machines was working in cargo tanks 3 P & S and when we started with the cargo tanks 5 we filled the slop tank #2 with 20 m³ fresh water and 3 drums of cleaning detergent. And we will heat this water tomorrow so we can use it for recirculation in 3 + 5 + 6 cargo tanks. Oh yeah, we're looking forward to yet another exciting day on deck.
Pump Man and AB watching me go down to Slop tk #2
Pump Man and AB watching me go down to Slop tk #2
At 4 thirty in the afternoon we changed from cargo tanks # 5 to slop tank #1 and I had the
dream team to come in to my office for planning of the remaining tank cleaning.Always nice to get in to my office whit good music blasting high on the Richter scale.
We will warm the water for recirculation tomorrow. And the crew have to prepare for fresh water rinse of the cargo tanks. And we will see what to do with cargo tanks 3 and 5, there are some white grease remaining. But the detergent will
hopefully take care of this. Or the crew will
have to do some hand washing.And this is something they are looking forward to.
I sent in the guys for dinner and I told them that I didn't need them any more for today.
- See you at 8 tomorrow
I told the watch man that he could eat his dinner and then he could go to the bridge as a look out. They asked me who was going to do the cleaning in the evening. And as I'm 18 I told them:
- I can stay on deck by myself.
Last tank running and I could manage all by myself. I will turn off the heating around 7 thirty and all tanks are finished. Just the recirculation remaining and the fresh water rinse. And the only problem I see now is 3 and 5. And I was really grateful that the off signing C/O had left #5 cargo tanks full of shit for me. Well, one thing is for sure, it is not like when I used to relieve Swedish Chief Officers. But those days are long gone by now.
Day turns in to evening
Evening sky over the Indian Ocean
Evening sky over the Indian Ocean
Soon ready for today, and as usual, Chief Officer last man standing
I was in my cabin around 8 o'clock and I watched an episode of Broen, the DVD I found on the bridge yesterday. Broen is a Swedish/ Danish criminal story, 10 episodes so I will have a few days to kill. And I was eating chocolate like there was no tomorrow. My diet have been working like a
dream, but today they told me there was a Christmas gift from the Seaman's mission in Durban.Tooth brush and paste, some soft stuff and a cubic ton of
chocolate. I tried to give it to our Chief Engineer.- No thanks, I'm also “thinking” about going in to a diet!
Thanks’ a lot, I ate all the chocolate and I was really feeling bad when I went to bed. But it is better to finish all the chocolate in one go and I'm only feeling bad for one day. Tomorrow night it will
hopefully be another story.I really could have used the tooth brush, but I gave away everything to one of the ABs, stupidly enough, not the chocolate, the thing I could have lived without. Well, as I said, a new day
tomorrow and I will continue my smoked salmon and 2 apples per day diet. I FEEL GREAT!!+++++++++++++++
Thursday 27 th
of December 2012
and I was dead tired when my alarm went off at 7 thirty. I dragged myself out of bed and I swore never to come back to any veg oil tanker. My next ship will hallo Aladdin,
I was reading your adventures with veg oils and the stripping and sweeping. When I read for the first time that you were going to the veg trade I was wondering what your experience was from the past with vegs and I was in doubt to send you an Email to warn you for the dangers. As you are an experienced c/o I didn't want to interfere with your job. (I am only an interested reader)
Now I see that it was a surprise for you to measure CARBONMONOXIDE in the tanks I take the freedom to give you some info about vegs. Hope you appreciate it otherwise just delete it and I won't disturb you anymore.
In Rotterdam I gained a lot of experience with handling vegs over the years.
We have had several accidents over the years with these "innocent" vegs.
Very often the crew was not aware of the CO-danger and entered tanks without measuring atmosphere. This happens especially to crews who are normally dealing with regular chems/black/white products. They have little experience with vegs and consider them as harmless.
Generally speaking ALL vegs are creating carbon monoxide. Last month I was on tanker and standing on deck next to an open tank with COCOnutoil my personal gas analyzer clipped on my chest already starting alarming . I measured than already 20 ppm in open air !. When I measured 5 meters in the tank and my analyzer showed >1000PPM !!!
Coconut oil is notorious for carbon monoxide !! You can see it in the name of it , it's warning you for it : CO CO nutoil (just joking !!) On the same tanker I measured another tank empty of palmoil : it showed 20 ppm Carbon monoxide !
Crew and staff of that vessel were always doing white products and had little experience with vegs. "Enclosed space entry" forms were also not filled in ........nor were the boys in the tank carrying personal gas analyzers......
Another item to remember: don't ballast tanks/double bottoms adjacent to nearly empty vegtanks, it will accelerate the cooling down of your cargo causing problems with rest qty or even blocking your pump !
Another accident in Rotterdam: heating coils were not shut down in time. Tank was swept by a shore gang, one of these guys fell over the coils, this caused severe burn-wounds to him (still visible), so shut them down in time !
Furthermore we had several crewmembers which had problems with the heat in the tanks, working in an environment of 60 degrees is not without danger especially when you return to deck and outside temp is around or below zero degrees as happens here in Rotterdam, so ventilate in time.
Furthermore some of these fatty acids are corrosive (e.g. fatty acid C8-C10) and carry a UN number (should be indicated on the MSDS). So not all vegoils/acids are suitable for sweeping. The sweeping company in Rotterdam uses a list of products which are NOT suitable for sweeping .
Tank cleaning cargo tanks: there are differences in vegoils: DRYING OILS/ NON-DRYING OILS and SEMI DRYING OILS. Generally speaking : (SEMI)- DRYING OILS should not be washed immediately with hot water. This will create a film on your bulkheads which is hard to remove . I hope you have a Verwey tank cleaning guide on board , this manual gives you a lot of info about TC vegs.
So good luck with tank cleaning , when more info needed just let me know . When this was OLD NEWS also let me know I won't disturb you anymore.
Bye bye for now and have a Happy New Year.
Regards
By the way : in your adventure tree you typed "CLAUDIA MAERSK" in the month December , your head is still there ?
Well, I never meet him, but he is following Aladdin's adventure on the 7 seas and he ahd been impressed by my way of taking care of business onboard Maersk Cassandra.
And when I left Maersk Claudia in Hong Kong our Superintendent from Paris told me that they have and an Inspection in Rotterdam. They had asked the Inspectors why they didn't asked about stuff and the Inspectors told them that they knew everything from www.aladdin.st And of course, Captain had suggested that they should pay me extra. Yeah, fat chance.
Well, any way, it is always fun with “fan” mail, and especially from this guy, I have learnt a lot about rules and regulations. And well, I hope it is the same friendly tune if I ever end up in Rotterdam and he come onboard for an Inspection for the Port of Rotterdam.
So PLEASE! Don't tell him about my adventure onboard M/T Ek-River when Spain kicked the Dutch soccer team's behinds. We had decorated the whole ship in Spanish flags preparing for arrival at Rotterdam's anchorage. Well, we were delayed and arriving to Rotterdam a week late with Spanish flags all over the ship would not be as fun.
- Why do you have the Spanish flag here?
- Well, you know, soccer... never mind....
OK, never mind, back to Britta Maersk. I had 2 slices of black bread and a cup of tea before we went on deck to start the heating of the tank cleaning water in slop tank #2. And while the water
and “soap” was getting hot I was down in 5 port and starboard to check the tanks.5 stb was OK and I hosed it down for 45 minutes and I was quite happy with the result. 5 Port is another story, 2 hours and I was not all that satisfied. 3 hours in the tanks and I was dead, or almost. Hosing down using water that is 70&Deg;C and it was soon like a sauna in the tanks. And I called the
AB on the radio to get me a bottle of water when I was in the last tank. And it was a real lifesaver.- Why don't you send the crew?
Yes, they always ask me why I go down myself. Well, then the boredom almost drives me to jump overboard while waiting for them to be ready. And then I have to go down to inspect anyway. And now I know what reaction hot water have on the cargo residues. A valuable knowledge when you plan the next step of the cleaning.
But it looks like it will come off quite easy and I started to recirculate the by now warm water and “soap” mixture at 4 thirty. I expect to finish around 8 thirty tonight. Only with the 5 P & S because the pump in slop tank #2 only give enough pressure to drive 2 tank cleaning machines.
Before hand hosing
After hand hosing
When I was back up I ordered 1000 bags of electrolyte to be delivered in Singapore. When I started with the Thai boxing I always woke up with cramp in my legs. They recommended
electrolyte and I haven't had any cramp since. And it is very important for the crew to drink electrolyte when sweeping hot cargo tanks.I was in the CCR checking the computer screens while recirculate the warm water and “soap” mixture and the AB on watch was giving me the machine settings when I asked for them on the radio. VERY IMPORTANT! If one machine gets stuck we have to do it all over gain, a waste of time.
I was Chief Officer on a vegetable oil tanker 20 years ago and that was the reason for me to give
up being a Chief Officer. And now I'm too old for this. Well, anyway, we started the recirculation at 4 thirty
and I will change to 5 stb at 6 thirty so I had time for a quick dinner.I had been speaking with the Chief Engineer about my apple diet earlier in the day and now he told me that he would start to eat apples. I was of course quick to offer him some apples after dinner.
He took the whole bowl!! Will there be enough apples for me tomorrow?
Day turns to evening
Evening turns to night
Chief Officer last man to stand as usually
And I think I mentioned that this is my last vegetable oil tanker
I turned off the recirculation at 8 thirty and I stopped the pumps and power pack. I stopped in the duty mess on my way to the cabin.- What the
There was a bowl of candy and I emptied the bowl and I went to my cabin for yet another episode
of Broen. The candy, I had expected to be “candy free” today. But I emptied the bowl and there willhopefully not be any more candy tomorrow.There was a bowl of liquorice allsorts, but if it is between liquorice allsorts and starve
to death I'm pretty sure I would have chose the later. But I'm not 100% sure. Could as well turn out that I would learn to love liquorice allsorts after a few days without food. So there is no chance that I will enjoy a few of the liquorice allsorts with my episode of Broen tomorrow.Well, yet another day has come to an end and we will advance ship's time by 1 hour during the night. And after that it is only 4 hours to advance before we arrive to Singapore.
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Friday 28 th
of December 2012
and I was very tired when my alarm went of at 7 thirty. And yes,
as a Chief Officer I can cheat. Ship time is 8 thirty because of one hour advance during the night. But I gave a shit and I didn't advance my clock until 8 o'clock in the morning and I had a BONUS hour of sleep. Much needed after all the running around on deck.I started my day with a cup of tea and 2 slices of black bread with cheese. I checked our candy on the way to the CCR, 3 pieces of the Oliver twist or Quality candy or whatever the name is remaining. GOOD!!! No more candy and I were in an
excellent mood. NO MORE CANDY!!We started to recirculate the water and “soap” mixture in 3 P & S and the crew went down to cargo tanks 5 P & S to scrub the last of the white stuff remaining. Work was in progress and I was soon back in to the CCR.
And from the CCR it is not long to the kitchen and I can pester our Mess Man and Cook. And I was not happy to see our Mess Man filling up a new bowl of
candy. And a quick search on the internet gave me the name, Quality Street. Is there no bottom in the candy box?- How much of thisdo you have? I asked.- There is plenty, enough to last until you sign off!
- Come here you little....
Well, I must obviously have to work on myself discipline or I will soon look like a giant beach ball.
The Mess Man was laughing, if you eat it will cost you 1000 US Dollars.- I have no intention to eat any candy!
Well, he doesn’t know that I use to fill my pockets when I return to my cabin in the night. And it really doesn't taste any good, OK, the first toffee is yummy. But after the first it is like peanuts, you can't stop eating even though it taste like shit and you feel like shit. Well, I will have to start working on myself discipline.
We finished cargo tanks 5 P & S and we were moving to 3 starboard. I had just swapped the recirculation from cargo tanks 3 to 6. We went down to 3 Stb and as I suspected, the tank is white on the center bulkhead and it is impossible to reach.
All our tanks are beautiful and the brushing in cargo tanks 5 had worked out very well. Cargo tanks 3 and 5 are the only tanks with white stuff that needs to be removed. 5 was no problem. But #3,
we finished the tank, at least so much we could reach. We tested a few ways to remove the fatty acid and we found a way that we will try tomorrow.Pump Man found a Graco pump on deck and we will try to use it tomorrow to apply the cleaning liquid without mixing it with water.
And then we will use clean sea water to try to rinse the tanks. DARN!! I had expected to be ready with the tanks tomorrow. Now we will be delayed by one day. Never mind if it is only a few hours extra, I will need a night to drain all cargo lines. Well, we will see how it works out tomorrow, if we're lucky we might be able to make it.
Our Motor Man
Glad that someone can enjoy the candy
The guys finished 3 Starboard and then they went for dinner an hour late. They wanted to take advantage of the day light so the postponed their dinner until they were ready. Filipinos, they always want to have an hour lunch and their coffee breaks. And when I tell them that we take a short dinner or lunch they always looks at me like I'm crazy.
- Short lunch, not possible.
- OK, have a long lunch
Same on all the ships, but they are soon realize that it is better with short lunch. At 6 they finish for the day.
- Sorry guys, we have to finish this before we go to bed.
- It is 6 o'clock
- Yeah, we can have 5 hour lunches, or 6 hours, never mind, but this have to be ready today.
- What the- Yes, we're not like Engineers coming with their hair plastered down with water to every meal
Usually takes a few days and then they realise that it is better to have short breaks and we can finish earlier. First they thought that they were going to miss their overtime.
- No, just write overtime at the lunch hour and the coffee breaks
I don't want to sit here until 3 in the morning just because we have had a 5 hour lunch. I was in a tanker not long ago and we did tank cleaning. At 6 o'clock something I was looking for the crew on deck, empty! All crew had left the deck at 6 o'clock. I have been doing this for 30 years and I
had never experienced something like this before. So you can imagine me steaming inside to look for the crew. This kind of behaviour is accepted for Engineers only!
Night again and Chief Officer is yet again alone on the tank deck
Night again and Chief Officer is yet again alone on the tank deck
Night again and Chief Officer is yet again alone on the tank deck
Night again and Chief Officer is yet again alone on the tank deck
Night again and Chief Officer is yet again alone on the tank deck
Night again and Chief Officer is yet again alone on the tank deck
Night again and Chief Officer is yet again alone on the tank deck
But when we're running the cleaning like the last few days I like to be alone on deck. I walk around
keeping an eye on the tank cleaning machines while philosophize over life's mysteries.And when I have a few minutes over I fill up the log books so they are up to date every day. Pain in the
behind to have to sit and fill up the log book after a week of heavy duty action.I stopped the cargo pumps and the recirculation at 8 o'clock and I was soon back to my cabin for
a shower. Nice with a shower after a long day on deck. And the sun, I'm so burnt that it is bleeding from my skin and my skin is falling of my head.And it is painful, but the pain was gone as soon as I opened my top drawer. I discovered that someone had stored some Quality Street candy in my drawer.Hmm, can come in handy when I'm going to watch the last episode of Broen.
+++++++++++++++
Saturday 29 th
of December 2012
and I was dead tired when my alarm went off at 7 thirty. But I managed to get out of bed and in to a hot shower. Our Pump Man tested the Graco pump in the
morning and it didn't work. This pump is used to empty drums with and we could not useit to spray the tanks.But we have a high pressure washer and they have used it for grit blasting. An ejector sucking the grits and it would be possible to use it for the cleaning detergent. We tested the machine and it worked as we wanted and we brought all the equipment to cargo tank 3 Stb. I was very disappointed when the Graco pump didn't work as we wanted, but when we
tested the high pressure washer I was in a very good mood. We willhopefully soon be ready with the tank cleaning.No problem to spray the cleaning liquid 8 meters up on the bulkheads. The crew brought the equipment to the tank hatch and I went to the CCR to start the recirculation in Slop tank #2.
The guys had put the high pressure washer at the aft Butterworth hatch and the plan was for the Pump Man to stick down the nozzle and I would direct him from the ladder going down the tank in the forward part. The Butterworth hatch is very small and it was very hard to manoeuvre the high pressure nozzle.
When he was ready in the aft part we had to do the forward part. I went down in the tank and they sent down the nozzle and a bucket of cleaning detergent. But first a picture, or two. The crew
knows that I always carry my camera with me and they always want me to take a picture.I have been onboard for 10 days and I have already destroyed 1 camera. When I took the before and after pictures when I hand hosed 5 Stb. Very hot and plenty steam in the tank and my camera gave up. Well, everything is working, except for pushing the button to take a picture.
Time to spray cargo tank 3 Stb
Time to spray cargo tank 3 Stb
Pump Man helping me to spray the tank
Pump Man helping me to spray the tank
We finished 3 Stb and I started the rinse, we will rinse with our washing machines for 1 hour and
then we will see how the tank look. We had our lunch and then we went to spray cargo tank 3 Port.We started in the aft Butterworth hatch and I was in the tank directing our Pump Man via the Walkie Talkie. When he was ready he sent down the nozzle and a bucket of cleaning liquid to me. We used about 100 litres of cleaning liquid in each tank and it had more effect than the recirculation. And we have used much less of the cleaning liquid.
I took a few pictures with the ship's camera before we left the tank. Our Pump man sprayed the
forward part of the tank from the Butterworth hatch forward. Some cargo remains up under deck in the corner that we could not reach from the tank. This is also an area where the washing machines can't reach.We closed the hatches and we started to rinse the tank. 1 hour of rinsing and if it is OK we will make another hour on top of that.
I will have to rinse 3 + 5 + 6 with sea water after the recirculation so I started to rinse cargo tanks #6 as soon as we finished the 3 Port. The crew cleaned the heating coils in 3 Port when we finished the first hour of rinse. All tanks were rinsed and ready at 19 thirty and only the fresh water rinse remaining tomorrow.
3 Port, and we can see the cargo remains under deck and on the bulkheads
And we can see the tracks after the washing machine in the white fatty acid
Voice/ Radio controlled nozzle. Spraying the aft part of the tank from the aft Butterworth hatch
Voice/ Radio controlled nozzle. I tell Pump Man how to move the nozzle on the Walkie Talkie
The cleaning liquid running down the bulkheads
Quite the difference under deck
+++++++++++++++
Sunday 30 th
of December 2012
and we finished the FW rinse at 12 thirty and I sent in the crew. The cargo lines will drain over night and the crew will start to mop the tanks tomorrow. But now
they need some rest. They have been up and down the cargo tanks pretty much non-stop since Mombasa.But I was impressed when they refused to take a coffee break at 10. we started the fresh water rinse quarter to 10 and when I asked them to go for their coffee break at 10 they told me that they were going to finish the FW rinse first.
- That's the spirit I'm looking for!
+++++++++++++++
Monday 31 st
of December 2012
and the crew started the day by preparing to go down cargo tank 3 port and I was doing a work permit in my office. I was a wee bit disappointed when I came down to 3 Port. I had expected the tank to be pretty clean after the spraying. So the crew had to do
some brushing and it took 2 to 3 hours before we were satisfied with the tank.This was a little set back and I was not in a very good mood. But the white spots disappeared quite easy and they were back up just after 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Then they have had time for the lunch break as well.
But I was happy when they were ready, I had been down to check the tanks before they did the ladder. They wanted me to approve the tank before the cleaned the ladder on the way back up from the tank. Then they moved
over to 5 Port and this tank was very good. Only a wee bit of brushing and they could mop the
water in the tanks.I spent my time in the office making an emergency order for Singapore. We don't have any mops and brushes onboard so we really need this to be delivered in Singapore. Of course, if they expect the crew to mop the tanks they need mops.
The crew cleared 5 Port before 4 o'clock and they continued to work on deck. I had to go for my watch on the bridge and I can't have any people in the cargo tanks while I'm
on the bridge. They will continue in the tanks tomorrow morning when I have done the work permit. I had a shower, darn, it was nice with a hot shower. I went to the bridge for
my afternoon watch.The only have the baby size tea cups onboard, but I have arranged the real stuff. My friend will join the ship and he will
bring tea cups. I use hundreds of tea bags every watch, one for each tea cup.I usually use 1 bag for a bucket. Our Mess man found me a thermos and from now on it will be one bag per watch. Unless, of course, I have a second filling of the thermos. So I will most likely use 2 bags during my watch.
Well, better and cheaper than 20 bags.
And yes, the year of motherf**** 2012 has come to an end, nice! But happy NEW YEAR!!!
And this month came to an end with the year. So what's happening during January 2013? Well, let's hit the link and find out! This will be exciting!!
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. 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.
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E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.
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