Ahoi! (Day First)
First 24 hours of me being officially a seaman have passed. And in this time I managed to put myself in a better situation then the rest of my mates. But before that, I have to tell you, that there is a huge seamen history in my family: my father is a captain, his brother is an officer, their father was one, my mothers father...well, it's huge... So whenever there is a captains son as a cadet on a ship, other seamen, they... (to put it nicely) are not very nice. Following my fathers advice not to tell anybody around if some asks about my „connections” I didn't say a single word. I went onboard with two other cadets I sadly share my cabin with. One of them is a complete idiot, the other one... he wants to be the first to do something, has no clue how to do it, even after being told how to, like zillion of times, eats only once a day (but Dude, are the portions HUGE), and while doing it he doesn't lift his hand with the fork but lowers his head to the level of the plate he's eating from (I guess it comes from low expiriance in eating – I ate at least 3 times more often and became a Master in it – I know, I have references). Well, an officer noticed me, my behavior, how I hold back and still keep up with the excpierienced seamen. He also noticed how I come dressed up for work. So he asks me, Is your Dad a Capt'n? No, I said. So I got all the extra points for my inteligence... ha, I know, right? :)
B.T.W., there is something very cool about working on a ferry. Next to the board staff there is also service staff...I guess you know where I am heading with that...
Everywhere, were there is bars, shops with perfume, casinos...well, there have to chicks, too. And they're HOT!
So, now, having some time off (it's 14:40 on the 16th Oct, and I didn't sleep in the last 40h) I will lay down in my CABIN (don't ever call it A ROOM, you moron)!
Phrase of the Day:
nobody will shoot with it – used by the senior sailors in conversation with the less expierienced once to state how the work has been taken to seriously (meaning: too exact, to much time consumption, etc)
Take care!!!
Aye, ya shore-rats-scumbags-of-the-turtle-bastards-ho!-ho! !!! (17th Oct)
Watch out, because sailor G. is about to drop some knowledge. About some of the sailor tradition, customs, or legends.
Since I started in a piratey way I will follow this lead... Once you've seen Pirates of Caraibean with all the fancy pirates wearing all this juweles and earings, you wonder how far did the fantasy of the costume designer go off books. Well, the juweles had some meaning. Most of the pirates' posession was spent on whores and rum, so they didn't have much left. What was left, was the juweles, used as a payment for their funeral when they passed drunk in a mud hole in some exotic port.
Staying in this part of the maritime myths, there is another one, very close to the pirates... It's the alcohol. There is a bunch of legendary stories of how drunk the sailors are, how much they are drinking. Of course is all bullshit, but alike any other legend or fairy tale, there is something true about it. So where is the genesis? Well, back in time, when there were sailing boats trying to explore the wide spaces of the endless oceans, the only drink on the boat was sweet water. Back then, transported in barrels, not in bottles like nowadays, it was going bad very quickly. The main cause of death on ships, next to sinking through the bad weather, fire on board, food poisoning, the attack of an enemy ship or the mythological monster named Kraken (or Krakkeen, depending on the country), was dehydration. Someone asks, how is it possible, to dehydrate when surrounded by plenty of water. Salty sea water, although may make you feel good for a couple of moments, but it makes you thirsty. So you keep on drinking it. And after about six hours, the water you drank, being cleaned in the kidneys, leaves a huge amount of salt in them and causes a deadly failure of those organs. So unless you get a kidney transplant you won't survive the next 12 hours. Back to the point. To make the water stay drinkable for a longer time, smart sailors as they are, got the idea, that alcohol doesn't follow the same reactions as water, and with high alcohol content, it doesn't go bad. They added rum to the sweet water. Before this alcohol, besides the officers on board, was strictly forbidden. Now it looks a bit different, but it's a different story, and I ran out of rum... Where did the rum go?
Sailors beard. I know I will make somebody happy with this story.
Well, as I said, the amount of sweet water was and is always limited on a ship. It doesn't look that ugly as it was now. But only the officers could wash up on the sailing ships in a bowl of fresh water, the rest of the crew could hardly ever count on that kind of luxury. And again, why not the sea water? And again – salt. When your skin dries out, you see white salt stains, then they start to burn your skin, and unless you wash it of (with what?), you will get a deadly infection. So they didn't shave, nor they washed themselves very often.
Some of you might have seen one of the greatest sailor movies ever made – Das Boot. There is a phrase used in the movie - „warm coy”. First things first, coy is this part the matrace is hanging on, the one, the sailor sleeps on. Well, although they were for example 40 crew, there were only 20 coys. Of course, as always, the priviliged officer rank had their own coys, the common seamen didn't. So when one of them finished his shift, he woke up the other guy for work, and jumped on the warm coy in his place, where the blakets have been warmed up for him already.
Phrase of the day:
commonly used on the ship I am at the moment, has been borrowed from Pulp Fiction – Fuckin' far away from OK. It's used in any possible context, as you see fit. But mostly it's about the woman on board. The saying says it's unluck to have a woman on board, it's a disaster to save one from water. Why is that so? Well, woman was always ehhh.... the human face of the evil, mostly in religious beliefs. It's not far away from the truth either. (Meaning: not OK)
I will write more tomorrow, so stay in touch!
Ahoi! (18th Oct)
Phrase of the Day:
angels pussy - used mostly after something has been cleaned, washed, painted, etc. by a sailor to state his happiness for how well he did. (Meaning: well done, great job, very clean indeed)
Tonight, starting at midnight, I will start my first bridge watch. I don't know what I will have to do, but it will take six hours, so I guess I will have something to write about later on.
Good Night!
PS. For the first time in days I set my foot onshore. It was ok. I guess I just feel better on a ship than offboard. I went shopping and I heard some news in polish TV. There is going to be a huge change of law in my country, that is very liberal when it comes to the ashes of the dead. Just a couple of weeks ago I spoke to my Ma about how I want my ashes to be burned and thrown in the sea after the cremation of my body. My Ma said that it is not allowed in Poland. I said, by then the law will change and this will be possible. Well, it changes, in a couple of days. I don't know, if I should read this sign in my favour really. I am not supersticious, but...using this opportunity – while my ashes will be thrown in the waters of the Baltic Sea, I want one particular song to be played in the background. Let it Be by Carol Woods and Timothy T. Mitchum. The one from Across the Universe movie. I listen to it right this very second, and for the thousend and first time I feel a horde of ants crawling down my neck and spreading all over my back. It has soul, the song I mean.
Good Morning! (20th Oct)
My first watch on the bridge started at midnight from the 18th to 19th Oct. As I was walking towards to bridge and passing the officers part of the deck I greet (as always) a person who was passing by. It just happend it was a chick, about 25 years old. I said the usual „How are you doin?”. She just smiled, said Hi and kept on walking. I did my duty, and followed the beauty with my eyes until she disapeared behind a corner. How surprised I was when she came to the bridge, and introduced herself as the third officer, the one I am holding the watch with (on a ship with 120 people crew you don't know who is who, it's just so many people, and when the officers are not eating in the officers mess, or wearing white shirts, you won't know). You can imagine how bad I felt; every officer should be „handled” with respect, not mentioning the captain. I apologized her. She just laught and said it's ok. I was locating the vessel on the map according to the GPS readings, changing course of the ship and the power of it's engines. It was cool, we talked a lot, I learned lots of new things, she, I hope, will still learn something from me. Imagine this: Guess who shagged the third officer tonight? Mhm, What-up! We did it on the radar...you know the drill.
I was introduced to the captain, but still I wouldn't recognize him (the lights on bridge are out at night, so the lights of other ships, lighthouses, or bouys can be seen from the distance of even 100 miles). And that's how the first 6 hours of me being on a watch as sailor have passed (I've been on a watch with my dad before). And on making tea for Asia (yeah, we are calling eachother by names). On the other hand, she has to be a bit wierd to be an officer. I mean, it's fuckin' far away from OK for a woman to to this kind of work on a ship.
Phrase of a Day:
You are either a complete fuck up, or a half-brained cloned ship. You doing this that way will bring you stempling letters in the post office, not make you a sailor. You're not only disabled with two left hands, you are the prisoner of your stupidity you fuck, 'cause it looks like they are tied up behind your back, too. (I was a witness to this scene, and the guy who fucked up so badly got smaller with every single word the bosman said. It was funny how almost 2 meter tall guy gets smaller then the less then 1,7m bosman.) Couldn't remember the exact word, I had to rephrase. (Meaning: Not this way, I already told you how. Why you are not listening? Don't do this again or else we will talk like men.)
Ooh Capt'n!My Capt'n! (21st Oct)
So here I am. Bridge, wheelhouse. It's 1:55 am, sitting in front of a radar, next to me this wonderful girl who has no clue what I think of her. I guess she thinks I am so polite and behave at my best because she is an officer and I would do a lot to be apprecated by people of a higher rank. What a bulshit. I am very certain she doesn't think of me the way I do. I know, I am just a job for her. We talked about movies and music, politics and football, our families and relationships. It's nice to know there is somebody out here I can have a proper converstaion about those things, and accidently it happens to be a person without a dick but a pair of well shaped boobs., that there is somebody who I am attracted to, but whom I won't sleep with. Yeah, it's rare, and kind of sad. I guess the sea treats me well, like I am on a sexuall detox. Being far away from home distracts you from all the daily problems. You focus on your job, the beauty and the endless power of the waters surrounding you. Having an affair, trying to star one, it could destroy all of it. I wouldn't want that to happen (it's a nice way to explain why I am not getting laid, right?) Did I tell you she is a redhead? A bit dark one, and fake, but hey!...You just know she likes it dirty...
When you are onboard your sex drive gets lost between all the work ( or is it because I didn't suit up?). You don't even want to train your hand, if you know what I mean. Of course you walk a girl with your eyes when she walks the deck. But you don't think of sex at all, well, barely...Ok, half as much as on soil, but still about thirty times a minute. Just kidding. And in the context of my officer in charge, she is a greast woman. Although, there is something sexy about a girl in a uniform, giving you orders to change ships course, or is it just me? I guess, the fact that after the 9/11 the safety restrictions have been tined up, and on a passanger ship there has to be a security officers, changes the whole fact relationship I have or could have with her. But I am not holding grudge towards Mr Andrew. He is a nice guy.
Back to Asia. She has a face like a doll. Her lips are huge, and I like them this way. I like it, when she falls asleep in front of a radar. Although it's dark, I observe her sleeping. Her eyes close for a minute or two, and every time she opens them I turn mine away, so she doesn't know I was watching her. She looks so sweet.
.
The nautical dictionary presents... (23rd Oct)
I reminded myself on a part of the movie I like very much. It is one of the first scenes, and the action takes place on a boat. 2 guys sitting on a bridge tell the third one to go the the aft of the boat. Well, he gets really chicky, because he cannot find an aft. He doesn't know what it is. So once he's been told he gets really angry about how everything gets so nautical on the sea. Of course, I am talking about the Leathel Weapon 4. And to be honest – it does get very nautical. Today I heard a sentence that none-ship person wouldn't understand. Out of 10 word in this sentence, 8 were nautical, the ninth was the verb „to be”, the other one,the tenth, used as a prefix - „fuck” or some variation – I don't recall.
Phrase of the Day:
The shot on the aft of the weather deck in the bow section has been fucked and the hull broke, because the wedge was falsly inserted and the cargo killed the longtudinal bulkhead..
You may laugh, but it actually makes sense. It didn't happen to me, but I've been told so, so I cannot vauch for the honesty of the story (but the essential – the words, in this order do make sense, and it's possible that what have been said to me really happend.
You may be wondering what I've been up to in the last couple of days...
Well, I became I flat structure conservator – I know, it does sound a bit serious at first. And it is kinda serious – I clean the deck, get rid of the old paint that shows the signs of rost, I conserve those, let's say – wounds of the ship, and then repaint it. Not to avoid the whole drama of expaining step by step what I am doing, I gave it a name – Flat Structure Conservator (FSC). And on a serious matter – without me, the rost would eat the steel, making holes in ships' hull, making it sinkable, which could be dangerous – for the crew and for the cargo. I am important.
The daily routine (24th Oct)
I will try to tell how my day as a flat structure conservator looks like. I wake up at 6:30 in the morning. At 7 I sit down in the beauro of the deck 3 with 3 senior seamen and one cadet. We drink lots of coffee and smoke a lot. We set up the start of work for 8, because is a bad habit to start when the clock isn't showing the round hour., but still we manage to start first at 8:10. Up till 10:00 we work very hard (preparation of the jobs we will do at 10:30, after the 30 minutes coffee break. This one is at least official. Around 12 o'clock we go for lunch, and start to work again at 13:15 until the job is done (15:00-15:30). Of course in between there are countless cigarette breaks. Then we're told to go to our cabins, to hide until 18:00, so the officers don't see us. Around 18:15 we all gather for dinner, then around 19:00 we go to manouvers (the part when the ship docks in the port, to throw the lines, so the dockers can tie us to the shore). Then, at around 20:00 we unload the cargo and upload the new one. On the ferries nobody calls it cars or trucks – on a ship it's always cargo, sometimes we call drunk passengers cargo as well. Around 23:00 we are finished and we go to manouvers again. And again, in between lots of cigarette breaks. So the normal day finishes. If you want to count the whole day consists of 7 hours of work. Which isn't bad at all. It's just that you don't work 7 hours straight, and you cannot use the pauses for sleep – that makes you tired. The fact, that it's loud, dirty and the ship moves with the waves also contributes to exsaustion.
It's 16:00, I won't work until 19:00, so I will try to watch a movie, makes myself tired and maybe sleep for an hour. Sail on!
Oh...the...
Phrase of the Day:
Third Officer(Asia): You really cleaned up the deck (floor). It shines like the mirror. I can see my reflection in it.
Senior Seaman (whispering in my ear): Such a shame she is not wearing a skirt.
Me laughing
Third Officer: What did you say?
Senior Seaman: Nothin' never mind.
Third Officer: Well, angels' pussy, guys, really...
Me: yes, we know :)
Some ground rules... (26th Oct)
I didn't write for two days, because I was laughing my ass off crawling and rolling on the deck like I didn't in a long time. The reason for that is this little list I saw printed on the wall in captains office.
Here we go...
1 Point – accidently not planned fucking snitching 5 Points - „accidently” not planned fucking snitching 10 Points – normal fucking snitching in private with your superior without any witnesses 20 Points – anonymous fucking snitching on yourself, without being guilty – just the be in the topic of every conversation 30 Points – fucking snitching with witnesses 40 Points – fucking snitching on your self in private with your superior 50 Points – fucking snitching on your self with witnesses 60 Points – fucking snitching to your superior in presents of the person you snitch on without any witnesses 70 Points – fucking snitching to your superior in presents of the person you snitch on with other witnesses 80 Points – fucking snitching in presents of the person you snitch on, although he is not guilty 90 Points – fucking snitching in presents of the person you snitch on, although he is not guilty, but the fucking snitch is 100 Points – fucking snitching in presents of the person you snitch on, although he is not guilty, but the fucking snitch is in cooperation with the superior you snitch to and make him think he is guilty
Bonuses:
fucking snitching on your best friend – additional 10 points fucking snitching before the act happens – additional 20 points additional 25 points – when you drunk the day before with the guy you snitch on, his vodka, at his house
*collect 3 or more points and you are FIRED!!!
Great, isn't it???
I've just recieved some intel, telling that tonight I will start my last 3 watches on the bridge with Asia. Two of them are night watches...
In the morning we had a fire drill, then the abandon ship drill, and after that, Asia was giving us lecture about the hypothermia. Because she is the leader of the second fire squad, she still had her fire fighter suit on (does she get any sexier?). It happend that my and another cadet were in the first row, just a handshake away from her. Her fire proof shoes were covered in this heat resistant silver material. It looked like the shoes from the landing on the Moon or the Apollo 13 shoes. So I started to smile to myself. And I have the habit to look at people very intense when they talk to me. So when she looked at me during the lecture she saw my astronomical smile. She smiled back. For the rest of the lecture our eyes met many times, me still having this smile from ear to ear, and she kept on smiling back. I guess it is going to be weird when we will work the next 36 hours with eachother. We'll see.