New cruising grounds

Having signed off last April I knew that the stay in Singapore was over and also my counterpart resigned for landbased work, I was now the senior Captain but it didn't look good for the future as both Chief Mate's that I had were not considered mature enough to be promoted and relatively new in the Company.

Columbus Caravelle alongside in Jeju island

My counterpart had relieved me as his last turn and sailed the vessel from Singapore to Shanghai. There I signed on in June and we were cruising Shanghai to Jeju Island in South Korea. It was good as long as the weather lasted, but when a typhoon hit we could be sitting in Shanghai for a week or so before the seas calmed down enough for the guests to be able to take it. I was asked frequently "can we go? can we go?" to which I said "yes, we can always go but I can't guarantee the comfort of the guests", "so we go".

Then we'd go and guests would be playing baccarat around the tables and hold onto paperbags where they'd "yawn" at regular intervals. My predecessor had had an incident with a local barge that had T-boned itself in the middle of the river and despite best efforts he couldn't stop the vessel because of the current pushing the stern, our ice strengthened bow ripped the little barges superstructure apart like a house of cards and we got a bit of dents and some paint scratches. This had been quickly fixed by a local metal contractor and the rest we painted over and then we were good to go. Our Technical manager was proud of with how little he got away with.

Usually we berthed at the cruise terminal at Gayouanglu wharf, the jetty was in a pretty sad state and probably sunk in the riverbed as it was usually submerged during high water, especially if it was full moon. The jetty was conveniently located in the Huangpu river next to the Bund and it was nice to get off the ship and go for walks around the historical Shanghai, of course it didn't look like anything when I had visited in early 90's but there were still old resident blocks that were sort of it's own microcosm of people living in there. We used to go there for fresh noodles and dumplings at various hole in the wall outlets. In general the restaurants in Shanghai were fantastic, I recall especially a Mongolian hotpot restaurant where we used to return frequently for big dinners.

As the months went by I heard from various sources that the new charter wasn't paying their bills, I informed office who wasn't perturbed as they had a deposit at hand. We also had some clients visiting the ship as potential buyers and I got some business cards in my file. Then I had my share of bad luck and during a trip on the coat tails of a typhoon we made our approach to Jeju Island, I had informed we'd be circling the island until morning when the wind goes down and make fast. The Charter pleaded if we could go in for the night as they were all exhausted (form seasickness). 

So, I did query the port if it is possible to enter and they said go ahead. I didn't know that the port was still officially closed but I made my plan to enter. I steamed in with good speed and planned to swing around and back up the ro-ro berth but as I entered I discovered the basin had a fishing boat anchored in the middle so I had to crash stop and subsequently everything I did just made the situation worse and I struck the wavebreaker with one propeller after which the ME stopped. I already had the anchor down so could only stay there on it. 

Next morning we had officials onboard and divers. They confirmed one propeller damaged but no holes in the hull apart from large dents. I got permission to sail for Shanghai so engineers secured the damaged shaft and we limped back over to Shanghai. Then we had to drydock and ended up cutting off 2 of the propeller blades to match each other in weight and we sailed as normal. The vessel only lost perhaps a knot in speed so it wasn't too bad. Dents were cut out and repaired. 

Then the suppliers in Shanghai had had enough and one day we were arrested and that was that. The following week all entertainment crew was sent home and only a skeleton deck and engine crew remained onboard. We were moved from the cruise jetty to a buoy and waited for the lawyers to sort out the liens that had been raised against the vessel. I was getting 6mths full onboard and requested relief and soon me and my chief mate was relieved by Ukrainian officers, I knew then that the story was over and this was the last contract although nobody told us anything. We handed over in proper fashion and flew home, it was time to turn the leaf for new horizons.