The Merchant Marine Express

As I peer out of the bridge windows and gaze at the horizon, I bear witness to many other ships, awaiting orders while, at anchor. And as I sit here, right now, pecking away at the keyboard, like some specially trained chicken who’s only reward of grasping the concept of, “correctly typing the characters gets a reward” is positive feedback only.

My typing skills are average at best, yet, my ability to convey through email to you folks through text, alone, reaps the rewards through the positive responses as I’ve received, thus far. Well, there are approximately thirty other ships within my immediate viewing area, my peripheral only being one hundred eighty degrees True! Not too many people can say that their parking lot adjacent to their job site is filled with cargo ships with vessels of varying types, and size, for that matter. I notice they’re mostly tankers, as the Galveston/Houston region is a Mecca for oil refining, as it goes without saying, as other petroleum by products are rendered, as well.

However, a couple of containerships, and a few heavy-lift vessels and an occasional general bulk cargo ship float, in anticipation of their moment when their name is called by the region’s Vessel Traffic Service (VTS), for orders. With each passing second, and almost continuously, the radio transmission of some ship or inshore tugboat requesting an intention for passage through one of four radios tuned into various frequencies which causes my work place, the bridge, to falsely mimic a group of people such as that of a typical business office. I can only guess that some of the names of the vessels can only be picked by some apparent landlocked company as
motor vessel “PINK SANDS”, and “GREEN ACRES” venture on their passages
between nations!

Or with a name like “ADVANTAGE”, wouldn’t you think anyone associated with that vessel has something to hide?! Ha!( I remember mentioning the name of my vessel to some as they stepped back a couple of paces-the words “Chemical” And “Explorer” together just doesn’t conjure environment friendly thoughts.)

And These are mostly officers and unlicensed crew of Pakistani,Filipino, or Greek decent onboard such named vessels..their strong accents responding back to the strong Texas Drawl of the dispatch officer; neither side actually understanding what the other has to say, initially! Many times, an order has to be repeated two to three times before the responding party understands what has been parlayed. It’s somewhat comical, at times.

For eight hours, I have nothing more to do other than stare out the window, taking half-hour fixed positions from the Global Positioning Satellite Transceiver (GPS) as I take in all of this “steel” environment around me. I have added benefit of the much valued binoculars as I keep tabs of other ships around me, though. A neighboring vessel, for instance, had a medical emergency whereby it requested the assistance of the US Coast Guard.

A Dolphin helicopter was dispatched and it was soon hovering just fifty feet above the stern section waiting to hoist the helpless victim. I was monitoring the VHF frequency and stood with amazement how such an operation could occur over just a half hour or so, merely hundreds of feet off my starboard beam. This recalls the moment when I had a similar situation happen just a year and a half ago, while working onboard a Great Lakes freighter when a crew member collapsed due to a heart attack, yet, even with the quick response of the US Coast Guard’s helicopter and 41-foot patrol boat, nothing could save that engineman.

Thinking back during that surreal moment, I could only surmise that in this present day situation, the crewmember onboard the vessel at anchor adjacent to us, would have been whisked to a facility within a few minutes of being rescued. I would never
find out what fate lie ahead for the ship’s crewmember.

This is a scenario that could happen aboard anyone of the dozens of ships anchored before me.

But we sit, and I keep lookout and watch!

Have a great day, folks

Tags: Chemical Explorer