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## zebedee (Dec 19, 2010)

Not too long ago I noticed in the TV schedules that 'The Cruel Sea" was about to be shown once again. I didn't particularly notice on which channel or at what time as I saw it not too long ago i.e. just after Christmas! However I did notice that in the write-up it was described as a story told in the form of a Journal: this reminded me that I have neglected to offer any titbits from my journal for some time so I am about to rectify that. I have covered my first two voyages in some detail although not quite exclusively. As my third voyage was short in both time and incidents, I propose to reveal the misdemeanours of the Chief and Second Engineers which I hinted at in my last posting. As these events were more than 50 years ago it is extremely unlikely that my revelations could affect either their careers or characters. Obviously the Chief would have been somewhat older than I was while the Second was portly, to be polite about it. In modern parlance he would be described as “clinically obese”: the standard issue bath towels would not encircle his midriff and so he had to be issued with Captains’ bath towels (about 50% longer) to preserve his modesty as he waddled to and from the communal bathroom at the far end of the accommodation alleyway. This was one of Doxford's "Economy" ships with the Engineer's accomodation in the amidships block on the Port side. The Chief's suite was forward with cabins for the Third, Fourth and two Junior Engineers abaft, followed by the mess room, changing room and bathroom with one shower and four wash-basins! Quite hectic in port when all five of us finished work. Having spent six weeks desultorily loading sugar, the authorities suddenly realised that we were occupying a useful loading jetty whilst not actually doing any loading and so we were required to warp ourselves forward onto a non-cargo jetty. As we were sailing in mid-afternoon, I assisted the third engineer in preparing everything for standby in readiness to sail. When everything was warming through nicely I was dispatched to the deck to look out for the return of the Chief and Second Engineers, although not usual it was not unknown for one of them to appear only five or 10 minutes before standby bringing the movement book with them. I suppose this reveals their great confidence in us! When I saw the two appear around the corner of the warehouse I made myself scarce and returned to the engine room and told the third what I had seen: the Second had a nasty temper normally and when he had had a few drinks it was a vicious! A few minutes after I arrived back at the bottom of the engine room "standby engines" rang and the Third answered it quite normally. Shortly afterwards the bridge telephone rang and as this was a microphone and loudspeaker set-up I could hear both sides of the conversation. The Captain asked the Third if he were willing to take the ship down to the end of the pilotage where we would wait for the Chief and Second Engineers to join us from the pilot boat." I don't want to get into any trouble Sir" the Third replied. "Trouble" screamed out of the loudspeaker "it's not you who will be in trouble, it's that Chief engineer and his drinking partner. We are occupying the berth of the coastal passenger ferry which is due in about two hours and if we don't sail now we'll have problems passing each other down river." So we proceeded to the end of the pilotage, dropped anchor and waited for the miscreants. According to my later information, via the third mate, when the Captain saw them turn the corner of the warehouse he went into the wheelhouse, waited a few minutes and rang standby. So he didn't see them turn around and go back either. As the after-deck was level with the jetty and touching it we were using the brow as it is known for access to the ship and it was not possible to fall between the ship and the jetty so when the bosun saw these two approaching he had the brow pulled in. However the Second requested that it be reinstated and when the bosun chided him to stop being silly and hop on board the Second turned on his heel and walked back to the watering hole, accompanied by the Chief Engineer! Eventually they joined us via the pilot boat and we came home. I assume that the Second was sacked and that the Chief Engineer was demoted to Third for some time. As a Junior Engineer I was not in any position to ask my Superintendent Engineers about such things. Later, when I was senior enough to ask such questions I had other things on my mind. So for my third trip on this particular ship I had my third Chief Engineer and second Second Engineer. The Chief Engineer who was actually the Commodore Chief engineer and known as "Daddy H" who had been dragged out of an extended leave whilst waiting to stand by a new building to take us to Cape Town and back. The new Second Engineer known as "Alfie" to everybody was a permanent relieving Second: I don't think he had been deep sea since he got his ticket: if by some mischance he found himself as far afield as Rotterdam or Amsterdam he started to have panic attacks in case the company forgot that he was there. So how they managed to persuade him to go to the extremes of Cape Town I do not know. About halfway to Cape Town it was decided to transfer the contents of number one double bottom into the forepeak as both were officially dedicated freshwater tanks. Naturally you do not get to be the Commodore Chief Engineer without acquiring some cunning and suspicions and so he wanted the contents of number one checked before being transferred. The Commodore Chief engineer's wishes act as a peremptory command on the Second Engineer and as I was assistant to this particular Second I was naturally involved in the testing. The General Service pump was used to transfer water from number 1 DB through the fire main into a bucket on deck after thoroughly flushing it out of course. Unfortunately testing revealed that the bucket contained only salt water. Further investigation revealed that this was not pure salt water at all as it consisted of what had been the engine room bilges! Presumably the relieving engineers prior to Daddy H and Alfie taking over had transferred the bilges’ contents into Number 1 DB to avoid the risk of being fined for putting oil over the side. So we had to manage on our existing fresh water. Zebedee


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