The Merchant Marine Express

Vol 1, No.3
IN PORT-NEWPORT,RHODE ISLAND

Well, hello and Welcome to Land!!


We arrived into port a couple of days ago, into Newport,Rhode Island (RI)!!The weather, in port,has been off and on rain showers and moderate heat index with a higher than usual humidity level.We are at the Navy Base, in Newport. It seems to be a nicer-looking place and more going on, than our previous port. A Nice view of the hills to the east, a large Bay with a bridge much like the Golden Gate, in the distance to the South, and a couple of islands (Conanicut and Prudence Islands) just west by a couple of miles.

The few days that were spent out at sea, were non-eventful. Each day, out at sea, was calm with minimal winds and swell. Only during the transit into port, was a nail-biter If you can call zero-visability due to fog, an extreme. We had a few close calls from small boaters who were,literally, tens of feet off our bow. Our Chief Mate, acting as look-out on the Bow, could only identify color and shape as we neared these small vessels.I would say, one particular vessel was fifty feet off our Starboard Bow, and saw this large behemoth of a ship nearly about to swallow them up! Well, I figure the ‘gross tonnage rule’ applies to this one! (The one with the most tonnage of the two-wins!..um I mean gets priority).We had our Harbor Pilot, onboard, and he didn’t seem to find the close-proximity of these vessels to be of concern, and almost seemed not to care. His non-chalant ways was a concern!

We eventually made it to our Berth, and I assisted on tying up on the Bow, with the Bosun helping. Since it was my first attempt with the mooring lines, I figured I would be observer. The Smaller kevlar lines look frail and don’t seem to be strong, at first glance, but are tougher and more durable than the conventional nylon braids. It takes about five mooring lines, per end, to successfully tie up!

The Second Mate was In-charge of tying up, on the Stern, while the other Third Mate, ‘JB’ as we call him, was on the Bridge and tending to Navigation and log-entries. The Chief Mate eventually was tasked to mark where we could moor and make sure we were clear of any obstacles, on the pier. It took a good hour, but we were ‘made fast’ by noon time.

I was able to make it, ashore yesterday. The walk to the gate takes about 20 minutes, but I reached the Naval Exchange in about 15 minutes. The Navy Exchange is like a Department Store and sells clothing, appliances, and the much awaited magazines!! Although no BMW magazines were found, a good article on the new Corvette was published in the current issue of “Road & Track”.

Since doing some Overtime earlier in the day, and just plain exhausted,I had retired into my cozy bed and drifted to a nice REM state, in a short while before starting the whole day over.

Adios until next time-

Tags: USNS Charlton