Durban 18th
Durban 18th
Much has happened since I wrote here last time.
First of, we came to Durban the 18th – a day out of the ordinary.
At half past four that morning I got a phone call from the Bridge watch announcing that we’re soon to receive pilot into harbor. After I got dressed & freshened up I went down to the engine control room.
Second engineer & I started to prepare for arrival = a lot of running around. Then I went up to the fire station to assist the two smoke divers who should be standby when the helicopter appears. There were two pilots coming onboard, one woman & one man. Safe & sound they got to the bridge looking comfortable with their responsibilities of getting us safe into port.
It was a successful arrival with the tugboats in front greeting us with their water cannons as it was our first time to appear in South Africa after the official birth of the ship. When the ramp had been lowered & the stewardess had started to get the cargo ashore the real work started. Together with the first engineer I began the inspection of the cylinders, piston grooves & scavenge air receiver on the main engine. For several hours we sweated both outside & inside the engine. You can see the picture below of the scavenge air belt. It was roughly 80°C in there & we had to put on an extra suit over our overalls as protection. So we looked like one of those guys in white suits dealing with radioactive materials. The last half-hour of cleaning inside the belt I felt like I was going to faint right on the spot. Dehydrated & all dirty I was finally complete & got myself a shower before I entered the galley to enjoy a well deserved dinner.
When the sun had started to go down it was time to start the stowage search. A company with specialized trained dogs came onboard, we guided them through the engine areas & they were impressively effective. The cute dogs seemed to like their jobs but it must be very tiring to do that all day in this kind of heat. Both dogs & leaders got as many cookies they liked before they went up the elevator to search the rest of the vessel. As far as we know they didn’t find any stowage’s, but it’s not rare that there is a few hiding in the cargo, hoping to get an easy route out of the country.
Later that evening I got to do the whole departure procedure surveyed by my trainee-supervisor. It went fine though I was pretty dead beaten by the day so far. And we wasn’t finished until midnight because there had been a delay with the pilot who should get us out on the open water.
So after that 18 hour working day it was unfortunately time for a night of interrupted sleep, four different alarms went off – forcing me to go get down to the engine control room. You can image how glowing I felt the next day when I ate my porridge trying not to fall asleep in it. I still haven’t recovered myself from it all.
Now we’re Southeast of Madagascar steering forth to Port Reunion, expecting to be there by Sunday morning. Till then.
