The Merchant Marine Express

At Sea
Off Mexico
Course 297
Speed 15.5kts

It has been one long roller-coaster ride.

This time yesterday. We endured the battering of the seas off the Gulf ofTehuantepec, which is Mexico. Over twelve hours of stormy, windy and high seas have made for nail-biting times among the crew.The ship suffered minor damage since a few of the twenty-foot waves actually washed up on deck just aft of the huge King posts midway of the ship’s hull. This action by the waves had dislodged the grating that sat atop the accommodation ladder on the starboard side,knocked off some of the life rings from their brackets, and water seeped into the forecastle’s store room causing some water damage..

With each pounding wave, you could see the fear practically in the eyes of the Bridge-team, gazing out from the forward windows. The winds approached fifty knots at its peak and the seas built to about twenty-five feet with swells that seemed like they were never going to end! These swells started out from a direction coming at the bow that the ship pounded against, and then veered along over time in a clockwise direction in and eventually was situated off the starboard beam- almost approaching the ship from its side.

This action isn’t great for the ship since rolling and constant pounding can cause fatigue of the ship’s hull and possibly breach its integrity and ultimately breaking the ship apart. If the ship is in the trough with the ship parallel to the waves, then the tipping effect can cause anything that isn’t secured, to roll off and break apart on deck. A cautious crew and the common sense to slow down can lessen the effects of such an action.

I was able to re stow the life rings that were put in the starboard
storage shack just midships. One of the brackets housing a life ring was slightly bent, otherwise, no damage. A nice, clear afternoon with Native sea birds flying up close to the bow where flying fish would be flushed out and that would be their chance at catching one.

Actually, while doing one of my inspections, I was chatting with the Chief Mate when all of a sudden,we observed a bird on deck near the bow. It was having a problem with flying. But, as It was attempting to scurry away from our advance, it belched some ungodly sight of
a half-digested fish and then proceeded to slip through the side railing and off it flew, to safety!

Tags: HMS Brenton Reef