Conventions regulating ships

All might have heard of different Conventions and Standards etc. stipulating different rules of how a ship has to be built and managed.

The top of the pyramid is actually United Nations (UN), and in there is an Organization called International Maritime Organization (IMO) and from there most of the regulations are churned out for our safety etc.

The 1st regulatory item came out shortly after the Titanic disaster and it was called Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), this book has now been edited numerous times and is a big tome today. In this book you'll find standards set for hull, machinery, electric installations, safety equipment, safety of navigation & other misc items. This is the corner stone when you start to build or alter a vessel.

After SOLAS it was followed by the launch of Maritime Pollution prevention convention (MARPOL) due to all oil pollution in the world and if I remember correctly after the foundering of Amoco Cadiz in France. Today it is an equally impressive book as SOLAS and it covers all aspects of pollution including exhaust emissions. This resulted for the 1st manual to be placed onboard, namely the Shipboard oil pollution prevention plan (SOPEP).

Then when the disasters came one after the other the eyes turned into the education of seamen onboard and the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) was launched in 1978 and in 1995 was revided extensively. This book as it says covers what your training should be if you want to study for a STCW standard certificate.

After these books it was quiet for awhile but when the Herald of Free Enterprise capsized outside Zeebrugge and the Scandinavian Star burned down on the North Sea then in 1990's the International Safety Management (ISM) was brought forward. A seemingly draconian system to find the weak link in accidents which increased paperwork onboard ships dramatically. It is now mandatory for all ships over 300GT to have this Code implemented and when used right it becomes an effective tool for the Ships Officers.

Eventually Osama bin Laden shocked the world with his twin tower bombing and it resulted that the International Ship and Port facility Security Code (ISPS) was launched onto us. This code is similar as the ISM code but relates to the security aspect of the boat. As an interesting tidbit for everybody to know is that this Code is divided into two parts and those boats who pays visits to US ports have to implement both parts. Additionally there is no size restriction for ships entering US, all must have a Ship Security Plan onboard.

In addition to these publications there are instances like the Chamber of Shipping and MCA publishing manuals and books that refers and translates these regulations, also IMO publish numerous smaller rags that relates to Load lines, Code of safe working practices etc.

Anyways, the publications mentioned above are mandatory for SOLAS ships, i.e. >300GT and carries more than 12 passengers so you may wonder what is in this for yachts?

Well, if they are not SOLAS yachts then there not so much that applies but if you are a Commercial yacht you need to comply wiith the MCA Large Yacht code (LY2), now launched as a M-notice by MCA and can be downloaded for free on the net. As a Large Yacht you need to have most of these pulications onbaord as well as the ISM implemented etc.

Some useful links:
IMO home
MCA home
MCA M-notices
MCA MAIB reports
C.I. regs

SOLAS: International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 : 1994 amendments

Quit smoking 10yr anniversary

This is my story how I started smoking and quit smoking.

I must’ve seen first as a 7-8yrs young kid my dad smoking cigars after dinner, this was a very rare occasion and for me and my kid sister it was something special and exciting, the smell and the smoke. Sometimes we would ask a puff on the cigar and then we would cough ourselves silly.

When I got into the last classes of elementary school I think from being 14yrs or something me and my best friend Jere would steal ciggies from her mother and we’d escape up to the attic to smoke them there. At intermission from class at school I’d follow other kids who also started smoking and smoke ciggies. It was all about the novelty, looking tough and having the forbidden fruit. As my friends parents were heavy smokers I’d always smell of cigarettes so I always blamed it on them when I came home.

At 16 I went to sea and started earning my own salary so I was free to buy tax free cigarettes and tobacco. I was smoking full time as any other adult. I was smoking Camel regulars with no filter tips. I was smoking a pack a day. If I was getting drunk, I’d smoke more.

At 19 I was drafted into the Navy for my compulsory military service and I prepared for it by hoarding several kilos of rolling tobacco, paper and Camel cigarettes. It lasted throughout my 11mths of service. Funny enough my condition became better even though I was smoking. When you are young you seem invincible, nothing affects you.

After the Navy I moved in with my future wife who was also a smoker, we happily puffed away. She on her Marlboro’s, me on my Camel’s.

At some stage I turned into smoking pipes, it became my hobby. I quit cigarettes altogether and there I was – 2 wooden heads connected by a stem. I was smoking the American brand Half&Half then.  I swear at times it tasted like chocolate. Wonder where that notion came from as when I had relapses after a few short attempts to quit it always tasted like sh*t. Living together with another smoker is tough to not smoke or try to kick the habit. Those times it would have started during an occasional smoke in a party and then smoking secretly and after getting caught or tired of the stupid hiding around, smoking as usual.

My pipe hobby lasted for a long time until I went to work on a cruise liner as a 2^nd Officer. There they banned me from smoking my beloved pipe as it “smelled” bad!? What about cigarettes then? Yes, I could smoke them, so being addicted to nicotine I took up smoking Indonesian kreteks, Gudang Garam’s. They are spiced cigarettes with cloves and who knows what and very strong too. Your lips are tasting sweet after you’ve smoked one. In my opinion the kreteks smelled far more worse than my pipe or ordinary ciggies but nobody complained as they were cigarettes.

In my next cruise liner I was also forbidden to smoke my pipe or kreteks so now I was puffing on Marlboro’s which really tasted bad compared to my pipe. About the same time I moved to Thailand and even on vacation I was smoking Marlboro’s as I could not find my pipe tobacco and I was also travelling light, furthermore my pipes would not dry up in the tropical climate.

Then one morning in 1998 or 1999, when I was abt 30yrs old and divorced, I was waking up as usual in Bangkok and went out on the balcony to have a smoke, did not want my apartment to smell bad. There I was, sitting in the searing heat of the glaring sun, starting to slightly sweat, I was puffing on my ciggie that tasted like dung and I started wondering “what on earth am I doing? Sitting out in the sunshine, sweating, not even enjoying my smoke. Why am I doing this? “To hell with it” I thought and threw my ciggie, my cigarettes and my lighter. I was not going to smoke anymore.

I did not smoke for the next 5 years. The agony of quitting was as usual, the first 2 weeks was spent getting rid of the physical craving and then to deal with the mental craving. I was also suffering at what to do with my hands as usually I’d tinker with my pipe, cleaning them and drilling them open. Like I said pipe smoking is a hobby, I had some 30pcs of them. I was constantly dreaming of smoking and in the mornings I was waking up having the same ashtray taste as I’d had when I was smoking. Not to talk about all the black and brown phlegm I was coughing up. As the time went by I was having less frequent smoking dreams and I thought I had lost my addiction until the next thing happened.

After 5 years I was working on a small cruise liner that got sold and I followed the ship working for the new Owner. There was a lot of work to be done as she was to be converted and so, I got stressed or at least that is my excuse. During the transit from China to Mediterranean we had some barbecues during the voyage and while having a few drinks I took to “borrowing” a ciggie from anybody that was smoking. I thought there is nothing to it, one can’t hurt.

About a month later we arrived Greece and the pressure was growing. By then I was buying ciggies from ashore and smoking them like there was no tomorrow, taking back the damage from 5yrs abstinence. The Greeks made it very easy as smoking is for them like a national pastime. When I’d smoked a month I started thinking of myself and my stupidity of falling into the same old nicotine trap again, after 5 clean years, what a waste.

It took me another month and I was still puffing away and I was reading the local English newspaper services section and my eyes fell on an ad saying “quit smoking”. I read the ad and it was saying that it was hypnotherapy and guaranteed results. I thought what nonsense but anyway I picked up the phone and called the number. It was a Scottish lady, Ms Carolyn Clarke, that answered and she told me after all my questions it is 50€ for one time and guaranteed results if I really want to stop smoking. So I thought to myself again 50€ is a week’s worth of smokes but if it is for life, then 50€ is peanuts. I decided to go ahead with the therapy. I was driving up to her clinic and when I found a parking spot I lit up my last cigarette from the pack and smoked it while walking to the reception.

Once in the clinic I had to fill up some background info for my profile so she could evaluate how to motivate my mind or something like that (I presume). After all that we chatted about me awhile, obviously she was picking my brains for info that she could use. Then she put on some chill-out music and she started to take me under hypnosis, it was like being asleep but all the time awake too. There were questions and recommendations, I can’t recall the words anymore and suddenly it was over and she counted to 10 and I was awake again. During the whole time she had made a self hypnosis tape by recording the essential parts of our session. She gave me the tape and told me to listen to it for minimum next 2 weeks as many times as possible.

Well, said and done, I was listening to the tape morning, noon and evening. It was kind of relaxing too getting hypnotized and after 2 weeks or so I started mostly falling asleep when I listened to the tape. But one thing was for sure, I have never touched a cigarette again. I consider myself lucky that I got the extra push from my hypnotherapy that enabled me to quit again when I was feeling not strong enough of mind to quit by myself as I did the first time. After seeing my relapse after 5 yrs pause I can realize that “once an addict, always an addict” there is no middle way.

Somehow I am jealous for those fellows who can once in awhile indulge in a cigar after dinner on a whim but not being addicted to the nicotine. That all is off limits for me unless, of course, I want to get into the same circle of self deception again.

Quitting smoking has at least given me better physical condition, better taste, no morning cough, no smelly clothes, no extra expenditure and no bad looks from the non-smokers. Let’s face it, smoking is bad for health, it most likely causes cancer and one also exposes the surroundings to 2^nd hand smoke. It is one of the most dangerous legal drugs in the world and the health bill it causes is immense but no government is ready to ban it because of the huge tax income.

I always knew smoking was bad but I always found excuses why to do it, maybe out of spite, rebellion, because other were doing it etc. The excuses are numerous. 

Today, if I don’t count those 2 months in Greece before the hypnotherapy I have been without smoking for 10 years and I feel good about myself that I have been able to maintain my resolve. I hope people reading this story and also possibly trying to cut the habit can get some ideas out of it.

Anatomy of a grounding

Wonder how they managed this...

An unfortunate accident happened when the Captain (not me) sailed onto an uncharted reef. We might consider us lucky because another 6m to port and we would have been sliced open like a can of sardines.

It might be added that several ships hit reefs in the Maldives every year but it is not largely shouted about. 

Prudent Captains prefer to exit any atoll to deep waters and then re-enter it again (instead of sailing shortest route A to B inside the atoll), thus minimizing the risk of hitting an uncharted reef. Below is the initial report that was sent to the office and entered in the log book.

INITIAL GROUNDING REPORT

General

At 27^th January 2008 on voyage from Vakkaru Island to Kunfunadhoo Island vessel hit an uncharted reef enroute. At the time of impact weather and visibility was good with partly overcast skies, wind was N’ly 1-2 beaufort.

Chain of events

1240 Anchor hoisted into pocket and secured, voyage commenced under Master’s command, passengers and crew: 7/16, mean draft 2.5m;

1253 ship was on course 117º and speed 16kts, when suddenly a double impact was felt at φ=05º 08.1’ N, λ=072º 57.9’ E, ME’s clutched out, water tight doors closed;

1254 GA sounded, crew and passengers mustered on muster station with lifejackets, C/O, AB’s and Engineers started sounding of void spaces and tanks.

1300 Hull confirmed not leaking, no pollution resulted from the grounding. AB’s donned snorkeling gear and checking hull on outside, confirmed both port side stabilizer fins damaged with minor indents in hull resulting from impact of fin into hull;

1305 Emergency called off for crew and passengers;

1320 All crew out of the water, stabilisers centered from bridge;

1330 Continued voyage to Kunfunadhoo Island with continuous watch at stabilizer voids, no leaks detected;

1339 Owner informed by telephone;

1346 DPA informed, by telephone;

1420 Let go anchor at Kunfunadhoo Is, finished with engines.

Prologue

Ships tender surveyed area of impact and it was discovered that ship had hit an uncharted reef max area 15 x 30 m, with a 2 m² coral pillar rising to a depth of approximately 1,5 m at the edge of the reef. Rest of the reef has an average depth of 2.5-3.5m. Coral stone debris from the collision was seen scattered at the area.

Subsequent action

After anchoring at Kunfunadhoo following was done:

• AB’s & Master surveyed both stabilizers more thoroughly with scuba gear. Fwd fin bent close to 90º, beyond repair, it can be deduced that most of impact energy was absorbed here. Aft fin damaged ;
• C/E locked both fins with bolts into center position and turned off pumps;
• Reef depth survey report will be prepared and sent to British Admiralty chart department for use in chart corrections.

All information above believed to be correct to the best of my knowledge.

Link to video

Near drowning incident

A few weeks ago I went out for my morning walk with my colleague Wendy. She had been hankering for days to walk on the beach and the idea was cool to me too, so we took our rubber dinghy and drove to the closest beach near the shipyard which is Woodman's point.

We beached the dinghy and started walking, we reached the end of the beach in abt half an hour and turned back, after walking 10 minutes I saw a boat and wondered whether it is our boat, to our relief it wasn't. Just a local angler. Another 10 minutes of walking and we saw another boat floating around and, I'll be damned, it was ours.

After a short deliberation with Wendy I stripped to my budgie smugglers and started swimming for the dinghy, it wasn't far, maybe 300meters away. As I was swimming the boat floated further away because the wind was from shore. I swam and I swam and then I realized I was not going to catch the dinghy and also saw that if I don't turn back I won't make it either.

I turned back there and then. I must've been out 300-400 meters, by this time I was starting to get short of breath. I swam towards shore and I was running out of energy, more and more. I tried swimming on my back to conserve energy but as I had no pointers to aim for I was afraid of swimming in circles so I turned on my belly and continued in a half frog style. I was panting and my body was burning of acid in the muscles, I was getting fatigued. I was maybe 50 meters from shore and I shouted for Wendy to help me. She was just talking on her mobile phone. I thought that I'll be damned if I drown here so close to shore so I bit my teeth together for a last effort and swam some more, everything was pure agony. I was trying to get bottom touch now and then and abt 7meters from shore I could finally stand and stagger ashore.

Wendy had called the ship to come and get us and the dinghy, what an embarrassment. I was sitting on the beach just panting, my heart was pounding like a rabbit on speed, I thought I was going to faint. Eventually I calmed down and I told Wendy that Mats, the Captain, would be very pissed at me if I drowned today as he would then have to postpone his vacation (he was flying this very day). Wendy told me off that how could I think of such things when I had nearly become a casualty.

After awhile the Captain came with our car and Wendy told me to act half dead as she had said on the phone I was having a cardiac arrest :) . Oh well, I guess I'm not an actor but Mats saw that I was dead tired. Our deckboys had lowered the rescue boat and they went to recover the dinghy, which by now was a few kilometers away. We all went back to the ship, but Mats made me go to the local hospital to check out my heart (that's an order!). I went and the Doc's verdict was that I was fit as a fiddle.

In the end I can just imagine that death by drowning must be the most horrible experience one can have (not to say the last). Picture shipwrecked people in the middle of the Ocean with nowhere to go, just mile after mile watery expanse. Nothing to grab for, maybe not even a lifejacket. The thought makes me shudder...

Shakedown cruise on Silver

Silver

Been awhile since the last time but I've been really busy starting up this yacht I'm working on. Currently we are doing a "shakedown" cruise to find all faulty systems and to see that everything is working properly. It has not been a walk in the park and is not ready yet, we still have the other part Owner onboard. It's difficult. One would think today people learn to give constructive criticism, but no. The motivation is not the best at the moment.

Anyway, the Australian outback has loads of animals in the sea. During last week I've seen humpback whales, sharks, dolphins, sea turtles, lizard fish, sea snakes, sting rays, squids, dugongs. It is really amazing how much life there is in the sea. The scenery is really deserted and desolate but beautiful. What else can I say?

I hope this job works out or at least I get a few more salaries before moving on...

Burglary

Damn, last nite we had burglars in the house. One of my flatmates, Wendy, forgot to lock the doors and they had been marching right in the door and took the closest thing available - her laptop. Luckily they did not take the other 3 laptops in the house, her jewellery, portable hard drives, my beers in the fridge...

We went to copper station 5.40am instead for our morning walk. How's that for a change? All in all an unfortunate situation. Our friend lost years of photos and her yesterdays work. Thank universe Wendy has backups. Well, gotta run off to work now. Have a freaking photo shoot to prepare, bleah.

Cancelled internet bill

Been too busy at work so this blog has taken it's time to get posted. Recently I wrote abt the 5000ozzie dollar internet bill we got and last week, I think it was thursday morning that I got better news. When at breakfast the Captain told me that the landlord had called him the previous evening and told him that they had sent a letter complaining abt their poor policy regarding going over the cap and the circumstances that we were in so the ISP came back and cancelled the whole bill. What can I say? Thank you universe, best news I've had in weeks!!!

Gotta run again.

Don't drink and drive, not even for the boss

Last week and this has not been good for our team here in Australia. Our Captain who was on a wine tasting session with our boss got nipped by the coppers on a DUI (just over the limit) and today our landlord called us that we have exceeded our internet cap by the double and the bill is 4200 ozzie dollars.

Holy s*it was our reaction. It seems that here in Oz they don't warn you if you exceeded your cap, they just open the throttle fully and laugh all the way to bank after they have presented the bill. Quite the different in other countries I've been to, there's a fixed rate and you can d/l as much as you like. Feels very ugly.

Oh well, the coppers came by today and gave our Old man a 500 ozzie dollars fine and banned him from driving in Australia for 3mths. We called our landlord and we promised to pay the bill. Easy come easy go, you could call it the revenge of Hollywood, but fear not, I am not on the negative side yet. So, there you see, keep the positive thinking up, use cosmic ordering and believe in the secret, all will come to you eventually despite some hiccups on the way.

Did I tell our Boss is changing route plans, we are skipping autumn/ winter in Europe for a better alternative. We plan to go east instead, our initial plan is something like Bali-Lombok-Great Barrier reef-Tonga Is, Tahiti, Galapagos, Panama, Cayman Is, Ft Lauderdale and Bahamas. By this time we should be in April 2008 and then we are heading over the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.

A millionaire's dinner

Yesterday our Boss came to inspect the ship he is building here in Australia. He had loads a meetings and finally settled down to discuss matters with the Captain.

I let him be as I saw it was gonna be a long time so I said to him to call me when he's ready and I'd pick him up as we have only one car to use. At around 6.30pm the Old man called and asked whats for dinner and I replied that we have that pot roast to put into the oven. Then he asked how long it'll take, so I replied 1.5hrs at most. Well, then he said cook for 4 as the Boss is coming for dinner as well.

Ok, I replied. The man wants to risk his health by eating my cooking, so be it. So, back to the stove I went, threw the roast in a baking bag together with some tomatoes, onions and garlic. Close the bag and shoved the whole thing into the oven in 170deg. Then I boiled some potatoes and grated some carrots. When the potatoes had boiled I peeled them and put them in a bowl where I added melted butter and started to mash them. When I had a somewhat consistent mash I added whipping cream (unwhipped) and also dry dill. On I mixed and mixed until it was ready. Then I prepared some brown gravy.

Dinner was ready and there the Boss came with the Captain. The Hotel Manager who also lives in the same house as we, was quite surprised, I did not tell him as I was afraid he'd mix with my cooking effort. Well, we sat down had dinner with some wine and surprise surprise the Boss went for seconds. First time ever I cooked for a millionaire. Maybe my cooking is not bad after all...

Outback Wallaby

The weather has been awful for the last week, rain, rain and more rain. Haven't seen raining men but it sure is close. Well, enuff of that stuff. Yesterday we went out cruising east on the intention of seeing wild kangaroos or skippies as they call 'em here down under.

And so we went, me driving, Captain Mats as co-pilot and our new 2nd Engineer Petrica and 2nd Mate Tapani in the back. Tapani was piloting me with the local map and we headed out towards Albany, some 350k's from Fremantle. When we had cleared all signs of inhabitation we entered a forested area and I switched on the cruise control (nice thing that 1, never had one before on any of my cars).

After I think abt 75k's on the road we stopped and turned into a dirt track that ran off the highway. We went along various dirt tracks and we soon lost ourselves in a maze of them when suddenly a rabbit ran across the road. Well, at least not a lost cause, one vabbit seen. On we went and as it was already getting dark we decided to turn back and then it happened.

A live kangaroo jumed out of the bushes on the road in front of us and then he/ she stopped and looked us. We also stopped and gazed at the live kangaroo or I think rather a wallaby. Small thing maybe 1m high he sat there staring at us, I managed to squeeze off one shot from my camera when he thought enuff is enuff and skipped off into the forest. Mission accomplished and we could head back home, I crisscrossed many dirt tracks and finally we ended back on the highway. So, total trip was around 150km's and a bonged a vabbit and a kangaroo. Now I can say that I have not only eaten skippy but also seen him.

Night out in Freo

Greetings from Australia once more. Have been down under in Oz for a couple weeks now. Last Saturday I volunteered to be the designated driver for my colleagues. Ah, need to back track some more. We live in a 3 bedroom (3-story) house that is near the center of Fremantle.

Very convenient spot, the center is like 5 blocks away and the cathouse only 3. Including me it is the Captain, a Swedish guy and the Hotel Manager, a Swiss guy, that lives in the house. It is almost like Big Brother but we don't have any chicks which makes it rather boring. We only work, work and work. Well, I been cooking dinners almost every night more or less. And so it goes.

Well, to come to the point of the story we went out on the Saturday night for dinner and beers to Northbridge, Perth where the meat vats are supposedly bigger and better. As I said I was driving and we headed for Perth and ended up in a restaurant called the Brass Monkey. Didn't see and monkeys though. We enter the restaurant and the waitress that comes to take our order has a name tag on her chest and I read a Finnish name, so I ask her do you come from Finland? The girl replies yes and continues in clear Finnish. As it happens she had just finished her studies and was backpacking around the world and had stopped to work some cash for her next leg of the voyage. It is just amazing how a nation of just 5mil people spread out. There you go walking into a restaurant practically on the opposite side of the world and you bump into a fellow country man. How weird is that?

Anyway, I had quesadillas for starters and a 300g kangaroo steak for main course. Man, I was stuffed, I couldn't have even forced myself to drink beer after this, so I was quite content to be the designated driver. After dinner we went around and looked into various venues but the area we were in was just too rough. Teenage guys in T-shirts and jeans, ratarsed and full of adrenalin, coppers everywhere ready to contain any arising situation. It was almost like being in Finland, just a bit warmer. So, we went back to the car and headed for Subiaco, another nightlife spot in Perth. Down in Subiaco bars were closing and nightclubs had queues of people lining up.

I haven't lined into a venue since I was in my twenties and I guess it was the same as with my colleagues. Then we bump into this Aussie guy who starts talking and it turns out he had been living a short while in Sweden and he wanted to guide us to another venue with no queues, so we hop into our car and drive on somewhere near Cottesloe which is almost Fremantle. We end up in a seedy disco with a clientele about 10-15yrs younger than us. Oh well... After a while looking at all the youngsters getting bombed out of their heads we decided it is time to head home for a good nights sleep. When we arrive home I chat on DC++ until 4.30am, so much for the nights sleep. At least I woke up without a hangover.

Fremantle, Australia

Been now almost a week in Oz and seen and experienced a lot.

I already had kangaroo on skewers (or skippy in Oz) the other night, it tasted a little bit like lamb. Meat was very dark and tasty. I can recommend it. :)

Last weekend we (the present ships crew) was invited to an outing on Saturday visiting some of Fremantles bars and discoes. Surprisingly there are a number of good ales in Oz, ranging from pale to black as Guinness. Even local breweries has sprung up here and there. So, for those who think Australian beer is only Fosters, it is not so. I also stand corrected and man, did I taste a lot of different beers.

On Sunday we visited the old Fremantle prison that ceased operations in 1991. It first housed convicts from UK and later on was turned into a prison. Pretty austere conditions they were living in as well as violent. Until closing the prison wasn't even fitted with plumbing so the inmates carried their droppings in metal buckets and sometimes they threw the contents around if they were displeased.

Other than that I've been working. The ship is not nearly as finished as I'd thought it would be. If this was the first time I saw a shipyard I would have been probably shocked by the late appearance in schedule but it is not so this is no surprise for me. But, eventually when she is finished she will be a state of the art yacht which will raise a not a few eye brows. So, my days goes on wrapping my brain around the ship and visualizing how the operation will be, what tools and materials do I need. Planning the trip to Europe and so forth. Millions of things to do and time is running out . . . fast. Hopefully we will make it to the Monaco yacht show.

Well, this is all for now, hopefully soon I will get some decent piccies to post. Until then, ta-ta..

Sign on m/y Titan

After having left CMA CGM Capella after completing my tour I was at home in Thailand. In a few days I was contacted by Captain Christos Ntaoutis asking if I would like to join m/y Titan as Chief Mate. 

Considering the offer and what the NSB was paying me I readily agreed to join and I subsequently sent my resignation to Germany.

I got a flight from Bangkok to Nice and soon enough I was off and after the long haul I arrived France 6th October. I was met by the Bosun in the crew car and whisked onboard to Monaco. Incidentally Bosun was also a Finnish chap.

Titan in La Seyne-sur-Mer

Titan was originally a British naval hydrographic vessel built by Brooke Marine in Lowestoft back in 1968 so she was as old as I was. The current crew complement was 20 and she was commercially registered as a small passenger vessel with a guest capacity of 24. 

As time went by I learned that she was almost single-handedly converted from navy vessel into a superyacht by the owning Captain, Mr Peter Bull. He designed the vessel with his wife and carried out all the DAD's with Lloyd's class into Cayman Island flag. Unfortunately he passed on from illness shortly after completion of the vessel so ownership had passed onto his family.

When I joined the summer season was just finished and a bit later we sailed for the winter season to La Seyne-sur-Mer, a small hamlet basically conjoined with Toulon for works. One of the main engines had a broken camshaft and would be later replaced after our drydocking in Marseille.

Footnote 2020: Eventually we fixed her up for the next summer and several charters lined up but the Owners had decided to sell her and move on with their life. The buyers were from Italy and senior crew including me were asked if we'd like to bring the vessel to Genoa and hand over to the new Italian officers and Indonesian ratings. As it meant a bit more money in the pocket for me I agreed although it was sad that the boat had sold and I would soon be on the street looking for a job.

Years passed by and from time to time I visited Genoa and could see her sitting there and once I collaborated with her on a common charter. Very little exterior changes had been made to her except renewal of her deck crane and change of hull color. 

In 2019 I came over the news that she had been sold and renamed Aqua Blu with new cruising grounds in Indonesia. Her Class had been changed to RINA (probably already back in 2006) and flag had been changed from Italian to Panamanian. 

CMA CGM Capella

Was home in Thailand looking for work everywhere and finally found out about a ship-management company in Buxtehude, Germany that had lately been looking and employing Finnish officers in their fleet. The company was called NSB Niederelbe Schiffahrtsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG. 

CMA CGM Capella (photo courtesy of Ivan Meshkov/ Shipspotting.com)

Shore based employment - Pandaw cruises

08.08.2005 - 20.12.2005

r/v Tonle Pandaw on Tonle Lake

r/v Tonle Pandaw, r/v Mekong Pandaw, r/v Pandaw 4, r/v Pandaw 2

Position: Marine Superintendent

GT: 553, 600, 550, 550

LOA: 55, 60, 55, 55

Class: River cruise vessel

Flag: Cambodian and Myanmarese

Sailed up and down Vietnam & Cambodia on Mekong river and Myanmar on the Irrawaddy river.

Was contracted to write ISM manual and completed task. Also required to take care of many other technical matters. Recommendation of safety improvements for existing ships and implementing planned maintenance which was hard to explain as crew was not used to preventative maintenance. They rather waited for things to break and then they dealt with matter at hand. 

In Cambodia sailed down to Ho Chi Minh City with stops in between depending on cruise. In Cambodia sailed once up to Kratie and Angkor Wat. Cruises took from 3 to 9 days.

In Burma joined a cruise from Bhamo down to Mandalay. Pretty awesome countryside that not many gets to see. The staff in Burma was very professional. We also visited the Katha village of George Orwell where he was stationed during the English colonial years. The area was totally dry now as the riverbed had moved quite far from the houses he writes about but the buildings still stood and were inhabited by locals.

Most memorable experience was when we had a weeks stop (a charter was cancelled) in Kampong Cham and one evening the Vietnamese Captain and Chief Engineer invited me ashore to come for dinner. They had found a Vietnamese lady who lived there and ran a restaurant. In fact there are plenty of Vietnamese refugees or immigrants in Cambodia, so they are not that hard to find. The highlight of the dinner was a 6kg python that was cooked to a curry. We ate snake and drank some kind of local liquor to wash it down. It was not that strong but we emptied several bottles in the course of the evening and were in a merry mood when coming back onboard.

Employed several qualified staff to the technical side, it was difficult to find personnel. 

Planned new building projects in Vietnam and Myanmar. Mostly gave insights of design matters at hand. 

Budgeting area of responsibility.

Owner/ Operator: Pandaw Cambodia Ltd.

Phnom Penh Center, Rm. no 229, St.Sihanouk 274 Blvd. Sothearos 3, Sangkat Tonle Bassac, Khan Chamkarmon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  

www.pandaw.com

Grounding of Margarita L

Back in 2003 I was in Greece working for SETE yachts converting Columbus Caravelle to mega yacht Turama and we were alongside in Lamda shipyards where I had a good view of the laid up vessels in the sheltered Elefsis Bay, one of the interesting vessels out there was Margarita L, her imposing silhouette brought into my mind a lot questions of what is this ship doing here, where has she come from and what is she doing here. Little did I know that she was the property of the Latsis family.

After some research I learned that she was originally launched as Windsor Castle and sailed for the Union Castle lines from UK to South Africa. She was the last cruise ship ever built by Cammell Laird shipyard. Eventually after the advent of air travel cruising was no longer popular and she changed hands and became property of Mr John Latsis who used her mostly in Saudi Arabia where he had business interests. After that she was laid up in Elefsina Bay.

Then one night in the middle of the winter in 2004, Feb 12th she broke her anchor chain during a winter storm.

Margarita L on Salamina

Apparently the night watchman on Margarita L had numerous times asked office for a tug to unwind her chain but it was ignored or forgotten for some reason and as such during the storm she broke loose and drifted onto the Salamina Island.

I was in Elefsina onboard Columbus Caravelle (now renamed Turama) and can indeed confirm it was quite the storm. We had new a new accommodation section welded on the quay and covered up with staging frames wrapped in heavy duty shrinkwrap for working the filler and I was afraid the staging was going to blow away. It was lifting from time to time as the gusts came through the bay.

Anyway, the storm and night passed and then Margarita L was in the morning on the Salamina Island and soon enough after office opening hours my phone started ringing asking how many hands I had onboard, I gave them the figure and was then told to leave only the minimum for safety and send the rest to board a tugboat arriving soon. In about an hour more men converged onto the yard jetty as they had been procured from SETE yachts different vessels around the Athens and a tug came and we were all told to get onboard.

After that we then motored to another laid up tug with coils and coils of old mooring ropes, some of them with a hefty 9in diameter. They were all laid on the tugs aft deck and we went for Margarita L. Obviously she was a dead ship and thats why all the able hands were needed, we climbed aboard and went to her foredeck and started pulling onboard lines, she was a big lady and I think the foredeck was abt 15m high so we were nearly 50 men pulling the ropes up with muscle power only. Once the ropes were on forward and aft deck the tug engaged and she was pulled up alongside the Lamda shipyard in Elefsis (where Columbus Caravelle was being converted).

During the time after the lines were on deck and she was towed to the jetty I had some time to roam around the vessel and visited onboard every nook and cranny that I could. It was for me very interesting to see her old DC wiring and Frankenstein switches and the enormous machinery meant to power her systems as well as her massive propulsion and what not.

I did take some pictures of the magnificent view from the bridge wing. Even then in her dilapidated state she was an impressive vessel, sadly they don't make cruise ships as they used to anymore. 

After she was brought alongside they spent a few days fixing up her anchor and towed her back to her usual anchoring spot.

Old radar

Her aft

Promenade deck

Captains fireplace

Captains office

Chart table

Bridge

View from bridge wing

Engine telegraph

DC switches

Margarita L under tow

Margarita L in Lamda

Margarita L leaving Lamda

Margarita L leaving Lamda

Margarita L Captains office

Fore deck

Margarita L alongside

Margarita L bridge

Margarita L engine room control

Saloon

Pool deck

Click for pics of Margarita L from the time of her incident by another enthusiast.

Click for her history on Wikipedia

Columbus Caravelle sold

30.01.2003 - 03.02.2003
M/v Columbus Caravelle

As I was looking for a new job I was contacted by the new Owner of CoCa (Columbus Caravelle), the Technical Manager Alan Lowry from CMM Ltd. asking if I would like to follow the new Owner's to Greece. He said my knowledge of the ship would be important for the project they were planning for her, she was going to be converted from cruise ship to mega yacht. As I knew the ship and the idea of being part of a conversion was exciting, I agreed. Not that I had anything else going at that time.

M/v Columbus Caravelle alongside Gaoyanglu wharf, Shanghai

(photo collage)

To begin with I flew to Hong Kong where CoCa sat at her usual buoy mooring and boarded her in a consulting capacity to Alan Lowry so as to know what was ships property and what was not. The people from Conning Shipping were a bit surprised how the tables had turned with me suddenly on the other side. Not that there were any surprises, Conning removed their stuff, mostly decorations and paperwork and such things. I also confirmed which crew was to follow us to Greece, the Ukrainians were a bit sad that they did not get to do the transit.

Columbus Caravelle

04.03.2000 - 31.05.2000 Chief Officer
01.06.2000 - 07.08.2000 Captain
02.10.2000 - 01.11.2000 Chief Officer
02.11.2000 - 04.02.2001 Captain
05.04.2001 - 04.06.2001 Chief Officer
05.06.2001 - 10.08.2001 Captain
09.10.2001 - 09.12.2001 Chief Officer
10.12.2001 - 26.04.2002 Captain
24.06.2002 - 07.01.2003 Captain
M/v Columbus Caravelle

M/v Columbus Caravelle in Jeju Is., S. Korea

As we did not have too many comers to CC or rather we weren't interested in Officers coming on for one contract and then moving on we decided we would rotate the position between 3 persons, C/O Perttu, me as C/O & Captain and Reijo as Captain. It worked well for awhile but was finished after Reijo got a position ashore and left seafaring life to be with his family.

By end of 2000 Conning Shipping acquired a bigger ship, Omar II, to cater for their growing clientele in Hong Kong and so we were chartered down to Singapore with a partnership where I think Conning Shipping also had a finger in the pie. The MO was casino cruises of course. The rumor went that someone had lost nearly 100mil USD in one night at the casino and that enabled for the fleet enlargement.

We made cruises up and down the Malacca Straits and even once we visited Bintan Island in Indonesia as a trial. I think the massive bribes to get a sailing permit there finished the idea. Usually we cruises up to Port Klang, then down to Melaka, from there to Singapore, then Pasir Gudang, again Singapore and Port Klang. It was a rather pleasant itinerary, some days we could go and explore Port Klang or Singapore.

The Indonesian shipping license, I was told the signatures cost a fortune

As I was going so often to Port Klang I applied and got pilot dispensation so we only needed a Harbor Pilot (he only came for the coffee anyways), but it sped up the arrival. Also the radio communication went entirely in Bahasa Melayu, the 1st Officer then, Jukka Kiuru, compiled a nautical phrase list that we rehearsed ourselves on before we started reporting in Malay.

Malaysian pilot exemption certificate

Furthermore, the requirements became more stringent on passenger ships and crew needed to have a Crowd Management course done. Reijo Granqvist had started this certification by making an onboard course and got it certified by Lloyd's Classification society, I continued his work after he left.

We also were required to start a maintenance program digitally, a program that would remind you if something was left undone. It took us about a year to put everything on database but we got it ready in time to our next external ISM audit. It was a really good tool after that.

Arrival ceremony in Shanghai, China (attended by R. Granqvist)

Then suddenly in June 2002 the charter ended in Singapore and Conning Shipping did not extend or renew the contract so they took away the ship and chartered us in traffic between Shanghai and Jeju Island, South Korea. I was on vacation when the transit happened and Reijo took the ship up north from Singapore.

The sailing was at times quite rough when it was typhoon season and the traffic in the river was chaotic. Nothing we had experienced in Hong Kong or Malacca Straits could have prepared us for the nightmarish traffic situation in Shanghai. The pilots were used to old ships, maybe even steamers as they had only telegraph orders for engines and at times were difficult to understand their pidgin english.

One 1st Officer, Heikki Kaukinen, once counted the traffic and got an average of 400 ships passing our berth in an hour. The berth we occupied at Gayonglu jetty was in the centre of the city so one could walk to the Bund and elsewhere. Unfortunately the Charter went bankrupt at end of 2002 and the ship was arrested and Conning Shipping took back the ship to Hong Kong.

I signed off in Shanghai and handed over to an Ukrainian Captain and left for vacation and to find new employment when the news reached me that the ship had been sold to a Greek buyer and Conning Shipping did not have a position to offer me (Omar II was 100% Ukrainian deck & engine crew and, of course, cheaper).

Oihonna

24.01.2000 - 16.02.2000
M/s Oihonna

Oihonna (unknown photographer)

LOA: 170, GT 20203, FG-Shipping

Shortly after arriving home I was called to do another stand in on Oihonna, naturally I went, another day another dollar as they say. Well, in my case another mark.

It was the same as before, the mind numbing liner traffic between Helsinki, Finland and Luebeck, Germany. All days melt together and some days you are not even sure at which end of the line you are unless you look out to confirm.

Oihonna (unknown photographer)

Winden

10.12.1999 - 07.01.2000
M/s Winden

M/s Winden

LOA: 70m, DWT: 4402, Rederi Engship AB (now discontinued)

Once again in Finland on vacation I was called from the job centre to join up on Winden as Chief Officer, as I could not sit around, I went. Winden was already familiar to me from the last time so it was easy to make myself at home.

I signed on in Raahe where we loaded steel for the continent to Rotterdam, Holland. I don't recall if we took any return cargo but I do remember that I celebrated the change of millennia by passing the Öresund and Copenhagen. It was very boring as none of the calamities happened what the doomsday sayers and Y2K forecasters promised. Not even our navigation equipment had hiccups. I think I drank a beer after sauna with our Engineer.

Then our next cargo down from Merikarvia was timber with part of it on deck. We were a bit perplexed that somebody wanted to take a cargo of timber in the middle of the winter as deck cargo, but the client is always right so we prepared the deck lashing equipment. I had loaded about half of the timber cargo in the hold when I signed off and the other C/O continued.

I heard later from one of the Deckhands that when they were enroute it was blowing a stiff NNE'ly and just when they rounded Ölands Södra Grund, and changed course to WSW the ship rolled once to port and once to starboard and the deck cargo went overboard in one fell swoop. The Baltic can be bad in winters if the cargo is not properly lashed down...

Columbus Caravelle

07.04.1999 - 22.09.1999
M/v Columbus Caravelle

LOA: 117m, GT 7560, Passengers: ~200

M/v Columbus Caravelle in Port Klang

After Oihonna I was in touch with Captain Reijo Granqvist and he asked me to join back to Columbus Caravelle (CoCa) as Chief Officer and as the boat was now under new Ownership, I agreed. There was nothing keeping me at home as my marriage was on the rocks in my own mind, I was stupidly divorcing Tiina-Maria.

The charter of CoCa had expired and there was a clause that after expiry the charterer have to buy the ship or forfeit the guarantee deposit of 2mil USD. As the Casino biz was booming they bought the ship as a natural evolution of things. So, now she was under Ownership of Conning Shipping and a proper shore Organisation was setup as per ISM standards. It was very nice to work together with Technical Manager/ DPA Mr. P.K.Yeung.

CoCa was still sailing out of Hong Kong on casino cruises so not much had changed, only the new development was that on Sundays we were doing a day cruise. We left around noon and was back around 10pm and after this the crew could relax until Monday evening.