Anne

17.09.1993 -22.10/1993
m/s Anne

Anne (courtesy from shipspotting.com)

As I was home on leave from m/s Atlanta Forest I could not sit on my laurels to wait 6 mths for the next contract to come so I went looking for some replacement jobs and when I told the employment center I was subsequently contacted by the Owner of Lotte Shipping that had one boat, m/s Anne.

He interviewed me in a local lunch bar and all seemed go fine although at the end he made some odd comments about the work I did understand but would come very clear to me later.

So, then I signed on Anne in Turku as Chief Officer, and departed for Hamina partially loaded with granite stone slabs to load more of the same stuff. As the ship was so small we did not need any pilot and we did our own piloting through the archipelago. Me and the Captain split the watches 6 by 6 hrs, in addition the crew consisted of a Chief Engineer, two AB's & a Cook.

M/s Anne was a German built general cargo coaster, 52m long, and could load around 1197 tons. She had one big hold and 2 hatches. This was my first job as Chief Officer and it was a new challenge as I was in charge of loading.

Eventually in Hamina I had to leave a few slabs ashore as we were fully loaded and the loadline was at water level. We would have had the space but rules are the rules. Once the hatches were closed and we were making ready for sea a port state inspector came by and inspected the landside loadline mark and asked if I could discharge some water to get the plimsoll out of the water (it was maybe 1-2cm under). I quickly pointed out that we had a slight list and if would have been even keel the mark would be out of the water. The inspector was satisfied and left.

Eventually we left for sea and headed for UK. The trip felt like an Ocean crossing as she made only 9-10kts. Once having discharged in UK we picked up a return cargo in Norway and came up to Raahe to discharge and load steel for Denmark and Norway. Here the Owner came onboard and signed on as Chief Engineer. We loaded on deck huge steel pipe segments about 10m in diameter, they almost covered the bridge windows and made us look like a gas carrier.

During this trip we had our payday and the Captain handed me the payslip. I was a bit confused as it was missing most of my overtime. When I asked the Captain about it he replied "talk to the Owner". Well, said and done I went and asked him what this was all about and he said that I had agreed to "overlook" some of my overtime, then he just waved his hand and said lets talk about it later. Now all his vague insinuations, in the lunch bar where he had interviewed me, came crystal clear to me. I got a lot of overtime doing 6/6 watches so it amounted to a fair bit of money.

I had never come across such incidents earlier so I called up the union rep and asked him what I should do. He told me to keep my cool and ask for what is mine. Some time later the Owner emerged on the bridge and wanted to negotiate about my hours and I told him straight out what was the case. He got angry but had no ground to put his arguments so he went away, at same time I think I've made himself my enemy for life.

Anyway, when we got back to Finland there was another Chief Officer waiting on the jetty to be suckered and so I signed off.

Some time later my best friend Jari was there working as an AB and the Captain had told him that it was the only time he had slept soundly while I was on duty. I think that is the best reference I have ever gotten...

Casandra (ex Anne) (courtesy from shipspotting.com)

Atlanta Forest

08.01.1993 -02.08.1993 Atlanta Forest


I had signed off Bona Fe and was (in my opinion) in for a great adventure as a Seaman. I was signing on m/s Atlanta Forest in Birkenhead, UK as 1st Officer (Medical & Safety Officer) on a 6 mths contract. It is located opposite of Liverpool, on the other side of the river Mersey. As usual the port was ancient and behind a lock. We were discharging pulp from Canada and after that going to Ventspils to load lead ingots and aluminium slabs for the Canadian eastern seaboard. 

Here still under Finnlines as m/s Atlanta

Atlanta Forest was a Spanish built general cargo ship originally built for the once Finnish state run Shipping Company, Finnlines (now privatized), to freight forestry products. Now she was Owned by Navicon that was (maybe still is) an offshore Company owned by a wealthy family in Finland, the Ehrnrooth's, and she was managed by a Company called Crossline (now ceased operation) that was owned by a single chap in Vålax, while the ship was chartered by a Canadian paper Company called Kent Line.

Here afterwards as m/s Kent Forest

She was built in 1978 and had 3 huge hatches and 4 hydraulic cranes able to lift 16t each. She was 150m long and could load 15.000 DWT. The ship had excellent crew quarters with 2 saunas and a swimming pool in between, a Carpentry shop, a Bosun's shop, Engine work shop, dayroom & messroom for Crew & Officers, gym & library. Cabins were plentiful as she was operating on a fraction of the crew she was planned for originally as the crew downsizing had taken place in late 80's. The crew was good, we all were happy and had great things going on ashore in ports when we had the opportunity.

Atlanta Forest in Kiel Canal

A trip over the pond took us abt 3 weeks and by the time we had discharged and loaded up in some other port we had spent some 5 weeks before we were on the way back. Interesting in this time was that we many times took aluminium alloy to UK and Holland while we loaded back aluminium slabs and steel back to Canada. In all those ports in Europe I could see them being virtually swamped with aluminium everywhere. Maybe it was a world wide hoarding going on by some big investors.

Once we took aluminium from Russia and the ship was stopped in Canada for 4-5 weeks at Charlottetown by protesters that did not want foreign metals imported. It was in the middle of winter -20˚C or more, everything was freezing over. The Captain Risto Laakso later told me that the crew had advanced salaries abt 50000 USD and next time we visited Charlottetown the local bar had renewed their furniture.


Once in St Petersburg, Russia, I was on duty and supervising loading when our Repairman arrived very upset. He told me he had gone ashore for some shopping and sightseeing and was robbed by the taxi driver. The driver had taken him to the port gates and pulled a pistol out of the glove compartment and told him to hand over his cash. Not much else to do when staring down a gun barrel.

In Ventspils, Latvia, the foreman of the port warned us of going out late at night as a few weeks before a Filipino sailor had been found naked and killed in a nearby forest. The town had no street lights in those days but out we went to the local Seamens Club. It was the best Club I ever been to in my life. I remember that night Brazil won football championships and there was one Brazilian ship in port and they bought champagne by the bottle for everybody.

We visited most of the ports at the Lawrence seaway (P.E.I, Pictou, Sept Isles, Charlottetown,  but most often we went to Saint John in New Brunswick. They have one of the world's highest tidal water range there with something around 12-15m. A local highlight is a place called reversing falls where due to the high tidal range the river actually changes direction. Another phenomenom I've experienced here is that the waters never freeze over due to the Gulf stream, we were once tying up in -10˚C with waters +4˚C or more. The seasmoke that came up froze immediately so railings and ropes looked like hedgehogs and one can imagine the moisture that came through any fabric and froze on the skin was so excruciatingly painful, maybe it can be compared to arthritis, but gosh it hurt. When the sun came up the seasmoke dissipated and we were back to normal.

Once we went up to the Great Lakes and visited Oswego on the US side. The transit was most interesting and the locks going up the lake were an experience. That is one requirement for ships that they hve no protrusions outside of the hull as they will be shaved off when going up and down the lock. You are also required to use steel mooring wires and the winch operator has to be on the ball all the time especially when the ship is going down as it is so going so fast and you dont pay attention they will snap off like that. Sparks were usually flying out of the fairleads when giving slack. 

Bona Fe

As I had finished and graduated from my Officer's Class in 1991 it was again to go all out to shipping Companies to try for a job. Bore Line could not offer me a position as they had sold a couple of their ships and had more people on their lists than they cared to have. 

Bona Fe (photographer unknown)

So I turned to the trusted Seaman's Service (MEPA) calendar (now discontinued as every union started printing their own calendar) and opened up the pages of all Shipping Companies in Finland and heir contact numbers. As it was still lean times in Finnish shipping I had again some trouble finding a job as the HR guys wanted young guys with 30yrs experience. 

At last I got a job from an outfit in Helsinki called Pipping & Co. as 1st Officer. They had once been the pioneers in "small tonnage" coasters in Finland but had been sidelined by Rederi Engship & Hans Langh. This I understand as a result of internal squabbling as I heard later from the grapevine.

Anyway, the ships name was m/s Bona Fe and it was a 1972 Dutch built general cargo ship that could load 2815 DWT. She was 70m long and had 2 hatches but no deck machinery in way of cranes or booms. The Company had also another ship called Marika and it gained dubious reputation of once passing by a pilot station with no one on the bridge.

Bona Fe (photographer unknown)

I signed on in Raahe (Brahestad), thats way up north in Finland, a major port exporting steel, in maritime circles called "the arse of Finland", I agree but there is another strong contender that is Koverhar down south, they also export steel and that can be the "hole" of Finland. Both ports are depressing grey factories with smelters and all the related jazz. We generally loaded steel for Goole, UK.

Steel cargoes were easy to load and unload, especially steelcoils, but during winters they were hard to secure and even more dangerous if they got loose in heavy weather. usually the securing were done by us, the crew, as we had no allowance for stevedores, usually we used 2x4in, 6x6in & 4x4in timbers and nails as well as chains to secure the cargo. At least there was no chance it would jump up.

The ship rolled in bad weather with intervals of 12s to abt 35deg lists so anything that was loose would fly. Sleeping was another issue, it took a few days to get accustomed to the bad weather. Also toilet was a bit tricky, the backflow flaps were worn out so when the ship would roll it elicited a nice backwash in case you were still sitting on the porcelain.

Bona Fe, Chowder Ness, Barton-Upon-Humber, River Humber
photographer: simonwp

Otherwise she was a very strong workhorse albeit a bit worn out as I recall one drydocking in Marstal, Denmark, we replaced nearly 50sq.m. of bottom plating around 10 cement chests in the ballast tanks.

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With Bona Fe I became familiar with many small and big ports in Europe, we went for many Danish ports (Copenhagen, Vejle, Fredericia), Norway (Aaheim, Sauda), Belgium (Antwerp), Spain (Bilbao) Portugal (Aveiro), UK (Goole, Grimsby, Immingham, Fowey), Ireland (Cork, Greenore), Holland (Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Vlissingen), Sweden (Kappelshamn), Germany (Bremen, Hamburg, Kiel), Poland (Gdansk, Gdynia), Russia (Vyborg) and most coastal ports in Finland. 

In summertime we sometimes had to wait for cargoes as the business slowed down and if we were somewhere nice our crew from Porvoo used to put out nets and in the evenings smoke flounders in a barrel on deck. Most delicious seafood one could think of.

After doing 1.5 years on/off on 6 weeks relieving turns I left Bona Fe in 1992 to join a bigger ship with a bigger salary to go further away so I joined up on m/s Atlanta Forest.

Mariella

Christmas and New Year
m/s Mariella

m/s Mariella (photographer unknown)

In between the semesters when I was studying for my Deck Officer's ticket, I managed to get a job for Christmas and New Year on m/s Mariella, she is a passenger/ car ferry between Sweden and Finland and in those days she was sailing between Helsinki and Stockholm. Mariella is owned by Viking Line that is based on Aaland Island and is the competition to Silja Line that is the remnants of the once mighty FÅA (later EFFOA) Company. Mariella is 176 m long, built in 1985, carries 2774 passengers and 3000DWT cargo and has a gross tonnage of 37799.

I was as OS onboard and was doing 6h on/ 6h off watch duty. It was heavy going as there was a lot of temptations in the gardens of sin but I resisted and did my duty. By this time I had broken up my engagement to Tiina-Maria and we both had gone our separate ways. Unlike my relief he was always a pain to get up from bed as he was doing his duty 6hrs and then after duty he ran another few hrs after skirt.

Compared to todays familiarisation routines my only familiarisation was when I came onboard that I was taken by a senior AB through the fire patrol route and at one corridor he cautioned me that "don't pass out here, unless you prefer boys..." Words of wisdom. In addition to our fire patrol there was security patrols also and at times they asked us to come and help if there was a severe passenger disturbance somewhere.

For the Christmas Eve and Day the ship stopped in Helsinki and a crew party was arranged. I was still doing fire rounds and gangway duty so it was not much fun but I managed a few beers with the guys. This was my last time I was working as a rating as by summer I would receive my Officer's license...

Bore Britannica

Bore Britannica

18.05.1989 - 05.06.1989 OS
19.06.1989 - 13.07.1989 OS
18.12.1989 - 04.01.1990 OS
09.04.1990 - 20.04.1990 OS
24.05.1990 - 25.06.1990 OS
26.06.1990 - 05.07.1990 AB

After my military service I got employed back by Bore Line to Bore Britannica and I guess things were looking a bit up by now in Finnish shipping as they had bought a new vessel to the fleet albeit 2nd hand. I was also given a permanent contract this time. 

Britannica was ex APL ship that had been running over the Oceans and she had been modified a few times and had been manned by Brits. To . The covered weather deck was in such a thick rust that one could kick up sheets of it when walking to the forward mooring station. I guess because of the weather deck covering they had fitted the sponsors on the side to improve her stability.

Bore Britannica

She had as propulsion two V-engine Pielsticks made in Japan that I remember well after I helped out in the engine room doing a haul out of 2 pistons during a stopover in port. By then it became more common to have hired riding crews coming into port and overhaul any due machinery before departure so it was start to finish in one go, be it 24 or 48hrs. In todays STCW resting hours regime this would not fly anymore.

The vessel itself was pretty comfy and worked well, she was just very run down and crew was working hard to bring her up to minimum standard. Company also started saving as she was never painted the signature Bore yellow. The yellow was actually a custom color shade developed for Bore by Hempel and one could hardly see any other yellow ships on the seas as the old conventional style was black or any darkish color to hide the rust streaks.

In 1990 I resigned to join Aboa Mare school and continue my studies to become an OOW (Officer of the watch) as I thought I had gained enough experience as well as my fiancee at that time also pushed for it.

Pasila

21.07.1989 - 19.08.1989
Ordinary seaman

The bad times in Finnish shipping were still going on in late 80's and jobs were always temporary. Nobody employed crew on a permanent contract due to no vacancies as ships were sold en masse. 

This time I had been called up from the job centre to report to Pasila as ordinary seaman. I signed on at west coast in some port with a power plant as ESL shipping's vessels supplies coal to all of them in Finland. As soon as we were empty we sailed for Poland or another port on the Baltic south coast to load more coal and bring it back to the hungry power plants.

Pasila being towed (unknown photographer)

The boat was already then pretty old and worn out. I remember one night I woke up to a loud clanking and suddenly blackout. Apparently something had gone wrong with the main engine (obviously if it sounds like a church bell on speed) but could not have been too major as we continued our trip some hours later. Also the 3 cranes we had onboard were hydraulic grabs that frequently broke down and had our Electrician busy for long periods of time. The crew was pretty insular and I never got on friendly terms with them, don't know why.

Later as Neva Trader (courtesy of shipspotting)

The Baltic states were still under Soviet rule (USSR went defunct in 1991) and the state of these countries were pretty grim and depressing. In Poland the longshore men peddled work boots, gloves and "crystal" ware. All was Soviet quality which was not much to write home about. The boots soles cracked pretty soon and were cold AF in winter but the gloves were pretty strong. The crystal was merely shaped out glass. I reckon the better stuff could possibly be found in town if you would be arsed to go ashore. Obviously no one was going having been on this run for years on end so they knew there was nothing decent to be found. 

Once in Estonia I recall the foreman asking the Chief Officer for his "loading bottle" and he was so thirsty that he started emptying it straight away in our messroom and it did not take him long to be carried off the boat by his colleagues.

Another time we had to do ship to ship transfer from the flagship of ESL in those days, the m/s Arkadia, was too large to enter Helsinki port so she had to be lightered in order to be able to come alongside to the power plant jetty. The discharge of Arkadia was done by her crew and the grabs swung so fast it was not possible (or even allowed) to traverse between the ships at that time as coal was falling off the grabs in big chunks.

The boat had after all the years off freighting coal been permeated by the coal dust in every nook and cranny that every time I got up from bed my feet soles turned black from coal dust that had settled on the floor during my resting hours. I usually wiped the floor every day. The time passed pretty quickly as we were on the way all the time and soon enough I signed off in Lovisa. I was not impressed by ESL so never asked for another job with them either but then again I maybe got the bad luck of meeting the worst crew ever.

Surprisingly enough Pasila is still trading as Nordon somewhere int he world so it seems someone gave her TLC and makes money out of her.

Military service

In 1988 I was drafted to do my military service and I managed to get into the Navy. In Finland this could be tricky as the draft officers could be difficult and just assign you far up north to Lappland if you wanted to be in the Navy. Furthermore, I was a serving merchant navy seaman so it was bound to attract some questions if I would not like to go inland and serve my country. Fortunately the Draft Officer was in a good mood and after some discussion he assigned me to Helsinki to do my basic training. 

Photo by Kari Martiala

So, in the summer of 1988 I signed off Bore Britannica and reported myself to the Navy compound in good time for the II/88 contingent. I was given my gear, assigned my bed & showed how to do my locker. Sleeping was not difficult as I was used to different environments on cargo ships. Some smartass stragglers had decided to report a minute before midnight and some missed it just a few minutes or came in so drunk that the legs would barely carry. They spent the first night in the Navy brig and learned their first lesson in discipline. 

Photo by Kari Martiala

The first week went very easily with most of the time doing lessons and learning routines. When our medical was done the real stuff started and we mostly ran from place to place. We were assigned assault rifles and camouflage gear and we started running around in the forest shouting and generally playing war. I am grateful I was still 19 yrs old and had some play still left in my mind as it was really hard for some guys that were in their late 20's and had done their studies first and postponed the military service. I can only imagine what was going through their minds wielding an AK-62 and shouting "bang-bang-bang-prrrtttt" and then be interrupted by a drill sergeant screaming his head off "who is wasting ammo?" and "who gave permission to go on serial-fire?"

Tuima class (courtesy Wikipedia)

That time I was going out with Harriet but unfortunately this relationship did not hold the strain of the Navy and she broke up with me one evening on the phone. We were told in the beginning that some of you will break up and you can count yourself lucky because if the relationship can't take one short Navy service, then how can it take a life time commitment? I guess they were right on that.

The summer of 1988 is what we call an Indian-summer in Finland, it was so hot that we started sweating early morning 7-ish after breakfast. It also did not help we were given 3 pairs of socks that we got to change every week after the Friday sauna. Mornings were made so tight that you had to choose between one of the three S's to do, i.e. sh*t, shave or shower.

Just joined

After 2 months of grunt training we had passed all tests, some of us had been sent home with the milk train to grow up and come back later to complete their service, some were transferred to easier duties (B-men). It was time to take the oath and be promoted to Able Bodied seamen. It was a festive day and the whole Company was assembled at the parade grounds and made recite the oath to defend the country.

After this people were divvied up to the different ships in the Navy. I was assigned as Motorman to the Soviet made missile vessels called the Tuima-class but internationally known as the OSA-II class. They were small ships, abt 40m long, with 12 drafted personnel and 12 regular petty Officers and 2-3 Officers onboard as the full complement. The Navy had 4 of the same Class so we were pretty loosely scattered on all of the boats when they were in port. Old timers always referred to them as when they were on patrol one would first hear the noise, then see the smoke before the vessel would appear. I think this can be verified from the pictures.

The vessels had 4 pcs of projectiles that weighed 1 ton each, there was also a double barrelled cannon fore and aft. When fired it shot 2 rounds/ second. It was always a big job for the weapons guys to load the ammunition belts, usually tracers would be put at regular intervals to see how the shots went. When we tested the engines we clocked abt 40kts but it would not last even 24h on that speed as the engines were really thirsty. The commissioned guys said that after firing a missile the reply would come within 10 minutes so one has to be in a hurry to make oneself scarce or face the incoming music.

As motorman I had some interesting times learning and tinkering with the star engines that had 56 cylinders in 7 blocks. The ships had in total 3 engines (168 cylinders) that generated 10500kW propulsion power. When we were sailing it was my duty to stay in the engine room and monitor the engines and in the mornings start up the generators and disconnect shore power. During my course of service I was promoted to Engine Corporal.

Last month in Navy

I completed my service in 11 months and was honorably discharged and I left the Navy to join the Merchant Navy again for the summer after which I went back to school to study myself to Deck Officer. All thanks to the influence of my then girlfriend Tiina-Maria that wanted an Officer beside her.

Work experience as rating

In 1985 I graduated from the General Rating class on 31st of May as was customary for schools in Finland. During the spring I had been running to different shipping companies looking for a job and as it was a recession period in those days it was pretty hard to get hired. Finally, I apparently managed to impress the HR Manager at Bore Line, Mr. Kari Salminen, who sent me a letter of employment a couple of weeks after I've finished school. I was by then cleaning a supermarket as I needed a job to get myself some money and experience. Those days I was so fed up on school that I was in the mind set of never setting my foot in a school ever again.

m/s Bore Sun

I can still remember the day when I was walking along the piers in Turku port towards m/s Bore Sun with my first employment letter in the back pocket. She is built in 1978 in Norway as a newbuild for Bore Line. Originally she was tailormade to fit the locks up to La Rochelle, France.

Once onboard I was showed to the telegraphist who got annoyed as I did not have a medical certificate with me. So much for the use of schooling... I had to get into a taxi and go downtown to see the Seaman's Doctor to get myself certified medically fit for duty. Once done I was signed on and then the "Muster Man", as he was called, stamped the ships roll.

The sister ships, now renamed Norking and Norqueen and extended

m/s Bore King, built 1980 in Rauma

m/s Bore Queen, built 1980 in Rauma

I was doing leave replacing on many of the Bore Lines ships and was in those days probably the youngest employee in the Company. I was sailing to Harwich and Chatham, UK, Terneuzen, Holland and Cuxhaven, Germany. I was never employed as permanent staff as it would have been too costly to get rid of me in case business turned sour. This trend was new and is continuing even today all over the shipping industry. I held OS, AB and Engine apprentice positions and once I was replacing the Carpenter.

m/s Bore Britannica, ex APL ship, built in Korea

m/s Fortuna, ex. Schulau (Photo Jan G. Rautawaara)

In between contracts I did a trip on m/v Fortuna that was a German built small coaster from 1958, loading capacity some 725 DWT. The ship was owned by 2 brothers from Rauma and on this particular trip we were on our way to east UK, Gunness, with a crew of five. Captain, his wife, an Engineer, an AB and me. I still recall how we ran out of fresh food a day or two before UK and we had only some frozen peasoup to eat.

As a footnote to this ship can be said that she sank during a storm in the autumn of 1987 overloaded on sugarbeets in the Turku archipelago. Luckily the crew managed to climb on top of the hull and they were picked up by a passing passenger vessel, m/s Wellamo.

m/v Pasila, Owner: ESL Shipping

Then just before I was joining the Navy I did a short stint on m/v Pasila, the old one. It was a bulk carrier and we shipped coal from Poland to Finland and pyrite in bulk to Norway. It had 3 cranes with hydraulic grabs attached on them. The ship was depressing as I recall how I had to every day wipe the deck in my cabin clean from coal dust that had permeated everywhere.

In 1988 I was drafted to do my military service and I entered the Navy for the next 11 months.

Bore Queen

Bore Queen
Ordinary Seaman

26.02.1986 - 26.03.1986
11.04.1986 - 20.05.1986
01.07.1986 - 09.09.1986
23.09.1986 - 14.01.1987

In -86 I got a long run on Bore Queen replacing a deckhand on sick or paternity leave as I remember and it was good line, took us about 2 weeks to complete a round trip that took us from Helsinki - Kotka - Hamburg, Germany - Terneuzen, Holland - Chatham, UK - Cuxhaven, Germany - Helsinki.

In Terneuzen we always got a night over in port and many times I volunteered as the night watch (20-08hrs) because it gave good overtime and next morning I could go sightseeing, not that there was much to see in Terneuzen as it was a small village opposite of Vlissingen in Flanders along the Schelde river. The docks were behind a lock so there was no rope watching per se, only during loading and discharging that happened in daytime, very civilized. In those days one usually looked for stuff you could not find at home and there was quite a lot of that, especially in Holland & Germany the electronics were cheap. I once bought a microwave oven for my mother and it is still 35 years later working. 

Bore Queen (unknown photographer)

In Chatham we usually stayed 2 nights, I think the issue was waiting for return cargo as the remaining cargo discharge was done in a day. Here we also stayed behind a lock, the port was actually an old submarine port from 2nd WW. One could still see the hidden grooves for mooring ropes so submarines could be submerged in port in case needed.

The quiet evenings many crew booked theatre tickets in London and saw Cats etc. I was too young to appreciate such things and preferred doing the night watch and go daytime mooching around in London. I'd get off at 8am and get going in the morning train with the blue collar folks. Sometimes there was space only available in vans with no benches and people reading their news papers sitting on the floor.

Once in London I'd get a day pass for a pound and travel the tube everywhere, Carnaby street for leather products, High Street to buy music at Virgin. I remember I was once rescued by sure serious accident as I was walking along with my head up gawking at buildings when I suddenly felt someone grab me from behind and a car whizzed past me. Had that man not grabbed me I would have stepped under it. After a few hours in town I'd get the train back to Chatham and get a few hours of kip before the next nightwatch.

All the the other ports along the line were pretty busy, the main cargo was always loaded in Kotka as sto-ro so it was time consuming and we usually got a night out there as well. In Hamburg and Chatham we'd get the people over from the seamans service (MEPA) bringing papers & magazines and changing our video library (VHS) and then the Seamans mission (like Stella Maris). Usually they offered rides to the mission where one could come for a cup of coffee, go around shopping or just talk to the priest if you were inclined like that. In Terneuzen I think the people from the Antwerp mission would come to visit us.

Bore Queen had a nice crew, they were very close knit I think because they had a few years charters down the west coast of Africa and crew did not change except going higher in rank or pension. Like on Bore Sun I was a junior 17yrs of age and next eldest person were in their 30's and several were in their 50's.

Then in 1987 the other persons leave was finished and I was transferred to Bore Sun where I worked until it was time for me to do my military service.

Norqueen (photo Rickard Sahlsten)

As a footnote to the vessel, she was lengthened like her sistership 30m and renamed Norqueen in 1996. Next charter put her on liner traffic between UK and continent for P&O ferries for the next 20yrs. After that she was sold and sailed for Greece to be laid up and was renamed several times and then she was sold again and nowadays located in the Philippines as Supershuttle Roro 9 in 2013. I think that is where she probably still remains to this day (2017).  

Fortuna

21.08.1985 - 05.09.1985

Ordinary seaman

Having done my 1st stint on my budding seaman's career I thought jobs are going to roll in and I was sitting on my laurels at home waiting. Nothing came, nobody called so I had to start calling around again with the aid of the trusted seaman's calendar Shipping Company section. As Finnish shipping was going through a depression things were not good on the job front so I was getting the same "no have" replies as a few months earlier.

Fortuna

Then finally I got an offer to join a small coaster with Nord Shipping, a small one ship company run by 2 brothers. One was Captain and the other in the office handling charters I suppose. 

One has to remember that in these days there was no GSM mobiles, only telex, fax, VHF and the overtly expensive NMT (nordic mobile telephone) network that stopped working after passing Denmark. As she was a coaster she had no telex or fax facilities so only means of communication as I recall was VHF calls via coast radio stations (public patches into the phone network) so any confidential matters that you did not want the public to hear was better to go via Agents offices or by using codewords. 

This was none of my business as I signed up for one voyage to UK to replace a deckhand on sickleave. I joined ship in an obscure port on the W coast, I think it must have been in Pori and she loaded bulk for Gunness in UK, a total of 300tons in 2 holds. We left for Uk the same day or the next. Crew was minimal, Skipper, Mate, Engineer, deckhand and me. The skipper had his wife sailing with him. 

It was a big change compared to Bore Sun and I remember 1st morning I got up for breakfast and there was none. I think the deckhand told me here is no service, you make for yourself what you want, the stuffs all in the cupboard and fridge. Skippers wife prepared lunch once a day so at least something warm was gotten every day. The Engineer was ex Finnish Navy and more or less constantly drunk but kept the main engine running as long as he remembered to fill up the day tank. 

I recall the Mate trolling him once on the aft deck by saying that the Navy just cultivates drunks, god help us if there would ever be a war again. The Engineer was furious and could barely sit on the bollard and spat "I tell you that the Navy does not allow drinking", oh well, he must have been taking back the damage then. The skipper went down there every so often as well to check that everything was shipshape. I also furtively followed the Engineer doing his greasing rounds that had to be done at regular intervals as the engine was from 1958 it had hardly anything automatic. The valves were exposed on top and had oil cups on top, the propeller shaft had to have grease pressed in and the engine airbottle had to be filled. Soon enough I was doing these rounds as well, once I came up on the Engineer sleeping on the engine room floor with some rags as a pillow.

The trip progressed and we went around Denmark to save money on the Kiel Canal cost and then headed for Gunness (next to Hull). We were lucky with the weather and I had adjusted to the noise from the engine (only 2 thin metal bulkheads separated me from the engine room) and I also got used to the freezing water in the common bath room, made showers very economic. As we were just doing abt 9kts the trip took quite long compared to Bore Sun that did it in 3 days even with a pitstop in Germany we made it in abt a week. A day or two before we reached UK we ran out of fresh food so the Skippers wife pulled out frozen peasoup from the freezer and warmed that up. 

The riverpassage up to Gunness had to be done with the tide as we were passing Hull and going left before Goole and I think we went as far up as possible with our size of ship. There were no locks so once alongside ropes had to be watched and at low tide we sat in the mud. The discharge took a couple of days and I remember we went for the local pub and I was very impressed by a local damsel I met. The Mate got absolutely wasted and next day I had to keep him out of the way from the longshore men as he in poor English declared unsavory things he'd like to do to the British Queen. He started getting sidewise looks so I told him to shut up and get onboard before he gets black eyes or something worse. Soon enough the next day we had the holds empty and were waiting for the tide so we could return to Finland, this time in ballast. 

Also the return trip was uneventful, good weather prevailed and a week later we arrived to Rauma and the office brother came onboard to get the latest news and I suppose to give news about the next cargo. He was also going to Turku and so I also got a free ride home when I disembarked. Sadly they never had another position to offer as it was a pretty exciting way of doing business and going to small places instead of the impersonal big ports. 

As a footnote Nord Shipping sold Fortuna to another entrepreneur that one autumn in 1987 was doing the sugar beet run for the factories and in those days the loadline was on the wellingtons so to speak, as long as no water came into the wellie when standing on deck it was ok. When loading sugar beets the hatches were left open so they could take as much as possible when being paid by the ton so she must have departed fully laden and when going over an open stretch in the archipelago during bad weather waves must have splashed into her hold and subsequently she capsized and later sank. Fortunately all crew (2 adults, 2 children) survived as they managed to climb on the still floating hull and they were picked up by a passing passenger ferry, m/s Wellamo. Later she sank and is charted as a wreck. This accident followed by other similar ones made the Finnish maritime administration to have the coasters close their hatches as is supposed to.

Bore Sun

Having completed my General ratings school and received the relevant certificate I could not find a job from the employment centre and I was cleaning up a supermarket to earn a living from something. It was pretty tedious job as I always went in after closing hours when the mates started drinking beer and having fun as I remember. The shopkeeper was also very particular, there was to be no streaks on the floors so the machine needed changing water every so often and the pre-sweeping had to be very thorough. At least it taught me doing a proper job if nothing else.

Bore Sun (by Tommy Gjerling)

I already had a union calendar with all the shipping companies listed in them but every so often when I called to ask for a job the reply was always "no have". Then I thought (or probably my mom told me) of going to see the Personnel Managers in person and I went to those shipping companies in my home town of Turku. I can only remember the Bore Line office that was in the Rettig Palace in those days on Nunnankatu. Today it is a museum as the family donated(?) the estate to the city and when they did some works on the foundations they discovered a major archaeological find. The exhibit is really worth seeing, but I digress, back at Bore Line offices I met with the HR manager Kari Salminen and had a short chat with him, can't remember about what though. I must have made an impression as after a few weeks I received a letter from his office with "report to work" header and a date, 14th June 1985, I think it was a 2 weeks temp job replacing someone who was sick or had summer leave.

Anyway, the date came and I remember that after stepping off the bus and walking into the port I was sitting on a bollard on the jetty smoking and watching Bore Sun a few hundred meters away. I finished the smoke, picked up my bag and sauntered over to the ship, I think I met the Chief Officer on the ramp and as I explained my business he waved me to the crew staircase leading up to the weatherdeck.

"North State" was the real mans ciggie in those days, enough tar and nicotine to put an elephant down

Up on the weatherdeck I had to walk along the "cowbridge", a walkway that was used by crew to get to the engine room and holds from the accommodation that was in the forward. Once at the accommodation block I somehow ended up in the telegraphists office who did the duties of the purser onboard among things. I showed him my paper from the office and I think he already had my contract ready for signing but then he asked for my certificates and medical, I had the OS certificate but medical, huh? Sparky, Mr Helminen, huffed and swore under his breath and called HR in office (ship was connected to phone-grid when in port):

- They don't teach these kids anything in school these days, this new chap has come onboard without a medical cert!

- ...[office]...

- What? Send him to the Doctors? Where? Ok! Bye!

He slammed the phone and turned to me, wrote down the address and told me to get going there for my medical and be quick about it as the ship was leaving in a few hours. I think I got money for taxi and examination, had it done and returned maybe an hour later at the doorstep of Sparky. He was satisfied he could sign me on and I was duly signed on by the port official ("mönsträysmies-sign on man") and I was also issued a seamans book, wage book and a customs book. Where I would need these was still a mystery for me and as time went by these became obsolete and only the Customs book was needed to import goods bought abroad based on an elaborate points system. This was of course basis of always come up with as low as possible receipts for the Customs officers in order to save your import points and to avoid paying custom taxes.

Seamans discharge book with yours truly

At some point I got a cabin too, nice single room with ensuite and a porthole one deck above weather deck. On top of me were the officers cabins and then there was the Saloon and Captain's quarters with Owner's cabin. On top was of course the bridge. It would take me weeks before I was even taken to the bridge or meet the Captain. Then came evening and and I think it was around 8'ish all ropes were let go and I was looking aft as my hometown slowly disappeared behind the archipelago and sun was setting. I suddenly realized I did not even know where we were heading to. I found someone and asked where we were going and was told our next stop was Kiel canal and straight after that Cuxhaven in Germany and then it was Harwich in UK before heading back to Finland. We were doing 1 week roundtrips to Turku.

Boatswain S. Tilander mixing paint

On deck there was 6 guys and 3 of them were daymen and the other 3 watchmen. The pecking order was strict, the older chaps got the daymen duties and then after that the better watches (8-12) but as I was 16 I was not allowed watchduty before I had 1 year under my belt so I became dayman as well and worked 8-17. Of course in evenings there was many times cargo handling and mooring operations that I had to participate in. The 2 cargo lifts were always operated by crew back then, nowadays there are just ramps on ro-ro ships. 

One evening the older guys (I was 16 and the next oldest was 30 something) were drinking beers in the dayroom and of course as the youngest I got to bring beers from such and such cabin. As I was coming down the stairs with my hands full of beer an old codger climbed up the stairs and I just wondered who that was, it turned out to be Captain Nisse.

Weatherdeck of Bore Sun, on the right is the "cowbridge"

My temp contract went well, I worked hard and everyone liked me, I sort of became the mascot of the ship because of my age and I think my temp contract was extended a couple of times. Then suddenly the summer was over and so was my contract on 20th July 1985 and I remember it took me weeks before I could find my next job that was on m/s Fortuna but that's another story and thus my seafaring career began...

School - General rating

In 1984 I was completing my basic schooling from class 9 at St. Olofsskolan i Åbo. It was the only Swedish speaking school in my hometown and all with Swedish as mother tongue was attending this school. Even some Finnish speaking parents opted to put their kids through Swedish school so they would learn the language. Anyway, towards the last semester the study coordinator started briefing us kids of where to go and start higher studies.

Åbo Navigations Institut

We were given a book with all technical schools, institutes, universities, colleges etc. In there you could see what average you needed to get in and so on. I was a disinterested student in those days and had a very poor average somewhere around 6.5 (min 4 - max 10) plus I had no idea of what I wanted to be when I grow up.

We were also sent on familiarisation trips to different learning establishments around Turku to see what they are doing and let the school tell what they are about and what they offer. I can only recall my visit to Åbo Navigations Institut, the Nautical College. I liked the miniature boats and ships in display casings as well the presentation that was given of the school. Lastly we were taken to an auditorium and asked if we had any questions. I remember asking what a Captain was earning and the reply was around 10.000 Finnish marks (around 2500USD), to my 14yr old ears it sounded like a huge amount of money and in those days it was not a bad salary but I still was not deciding on becoming a sailor.

Me & classmates at their lodgings

Some months later the last semester was coming to an end and we had to fill in the papers to apply for other schools, becoming an uneducated laborer was out of the question, we had apply somewhere. My mother wanted me to study for architecture as I was not bad in drawing stuff but I found it not appealing. I was leafing through the book and could not find one occupation that was even remotely appealing until I came to the page of Åbo Navigations Institut. Then I remembered the tour we had done and I felt there was something in it so I filled in my application for going studying to become General Rating (deck and engine).

My mother was horrified and had talks with me that if I go this route I have to go higher than rating as seamen were guys who only were interested in 2 things: booze and loose women. She made me also apply to a Christian general education Institute in the Archipelago in case I would not make it and in fact I was put on the standby list as they had a full complement of applicants already. The whole summer I was then working at a general store in Nagu selling hardware and living with my Grandmother. I still had no idea of what autumn would bring.

Autumn came and leaves were starting to turn red and yellow and finally they turned brown and were falling off trees when I got the information that I had been accepted to the General Rating course at Åbo Navigations Institut. We started early August but there were no other students as the Officers and Captain students were still out sailing so they would be coming later in the month.

Lita at Long Beach Roads 1983, photo by Raimo Mäkinen

Lita at Long Beach Roads 1983, photo by Raimo Mäkinen

We had a lot of practical works to do and at times were sent to ships to work as apprentices while in port. I remember working on Henry Nielsens m/s Lita, one of the famous ships built 1975 in Sevilla, Spain. It was a nearly 200m long bulk carrier that could load 35000DWT. We were there helping it getting ready for it's last voyage as she had been laid up off Turku. We were rostered to go there certain mornings and "ring the bell", that was a line ashore going through a pulley and attached to a big schackle on aft deck. One would pull the line and let the schackle bang on the deck and a deckhand would row ashore to pick us up. Eventually she went from Turku to load cargo in Yxpila and from there I suppose she never came back to Finnish waters or flag. Two lucky classmates were selected to follow the vessel from Turku to Yxpila, my mother said no to such a trip. It was a huge ship in my eyes. Things did not go very well for Henry Nielsen as they ended up with one ro-ro ship and later the whole Company ceased operation, their era of bulk carriers were over.

s/s Borea

The other famous ship I was working on was s/s Borea, a passenger liner between Turku and Stockholm. She was originally one of Bore Lines ships and had been acquired by a team of investors to try and restore her fame on the same route. The effort failed and she had other people trying to make money from her and today she sits at Aura river as a floating hotel. I recall how we used to do various work in the steaming hot Engine room or on deck chipping rust but the perk was that we got to use the sauna afterwards and somebody always managed to get hold of a few beers from the friendly stewardesses.

Our teachers for professional subjects was Captain Kurt Eksten and Engineer Ralf who was a good team and they instilled in me the ideas of self discipline and work ethics and it has carried me forward in my life until this day. At mathematics we had Mr Goran that had the principle that no one knew how to count so he started from the start: 1,2,3...10 and so on. He really took his job seriously and gave me a new view of maths. As this class was also preparatory for Officers school we had to study quite a lot of extra beyond practical work and exercises. I believe this was interesting for me as I graduated with remarkably better number than a year before from the basic school...

Bore King

When I was doing my General rating school back in 1984-1985 we were sent as apprentices for one trip on various Finnish cargo ships, usually a roundtrip lasted for a week or so. I was with another 3 guys sent to Bore King and as I remember we embarked in Helsinki and sailed for Kotka - Gothenburg - Helsingborg and back to Helsinki. 

The vessel was pretty new in those days, built by Rauma Yards, Finland in 1980, LOA 141m and carrying 8000DWT with a crew around 23persons and able to carry 12 truck drivers. Most overhauls and services were carried out by the crew themselves. It was only later that the cuts were coming in place and crew was reduced and riding crews were implemented.  

The week seemingly passed fast and as young lads we did not want to go back home at all and maybe somewhere someone heard us as when we were going from Kotka to Gothenburg the ship hit a huge icebuoy in the middle of the Baltic sea. It must have broken its anchor and been adrift on the shipping lane. 

Bore King (by unknown)

The buoy hit our propeller and we were losing hydraulic oil so fast that we had to make an emergency stop in Gothenburg drydock to replace a propeller blade (they were CPP's). This gave us 2 days more as with cargoships time is money and the job was carried out really fast. 

I recall we went one evening out to see Gothenburg with my classmate and took a bus into town and when we were coming back we did not recognize ourselves and asked the driver where the drydock might be and he replied "My dear child, you have gone to the wrong direction". We had not realized it was a circular line and we were at the other end of the circle. We had a to wait a bit and the bus soon started its way toward the port.

After this 1st time apprenticeship I worked on her as Ordinary seaman several times in the late 80's and then she was lengthened abt 30m in the 90's, renamed to Norking and sailed between UK and the continent. In 2011 she was sold to Greek ownership & renamed Alios.

Alios (by George Koutsoukis)

I actually saw her in 2015 in Sounio port and wondered how she looks so familiar but her color was blue so it took me some time to recognize her from the lengthening as well. Shortly thereafter she dragged her anchors whilst in port during bad weather and destroyed some yachts. Looks like someone had put an evil eye on her as she ran aground in 12/2016 and probably that was the reason she was sold to shipbreakers and towed to Aliaga in 04/2017 for breaking. Long and colorful lifespan.