The Merchant Marine Express

I am reaching my two week-to-go milestone! My seventy-five day placement is on its down leg run, much similar to a turning point at a navigational waypoint, whereby the vessel on its approach to the pilot station. Although two weeks may seem to pass quickly, I still have a load and unload port to conduct before my victorious march and chant will commence.

In the midst of an approaching storm within the South-Eastern Texas region, the skies harbor dark, ominous clouds with no precipitation, as of yet. The temperatures are in the low eighties with high humidity making your lungs feel as if a medical compress has been applied. I’ve heard through the marine service weather via channel 1 on the VHF radio of flooding which has already occurred, inland. Seemingly, though, all the dominant action has been taking place quite a distance north of our position.

Currently, however, a calming sway of the ship gives off a false impression of the slow
lamenting cold front which still has some energy to the west and may deliver some much needed precipitation within the next twenty-four hours. I’ve made sure that the forward Hatch atop the Foc’sle, or bow section has been closed and secured, as Able Seaman Pedro has verified of this by two way radio.

The ship shall be okay from here on out with regards to any weather concerns
affecting the vessel.

Today, I thought it would be best to check on the ship’s general alarm bell system and make sure all remote bell locations were in good working order. This is a quarterly inspection which is compulsory yet is in the hands of the Third Mate #2 otherwise nicknamed, “Safety Mate” to complete.

In the event of any situation which would make it necessary for the raising of the ship’s general alarm, strategically placed general alarm bells, painted in fire engine red, and perched nearly flush to bulkheads around the ship alert the crew of the type of emergency based on what type of ringing the bells signal. I wrote a brief yet descriptive note on the ink board in the crew mess to alert all crew of the test at 1300, just following lunch.

This way, noone would be caught off guard and believe it was a true emergency.

An emergency or safety situation warrants a prolonged ten second ringing of such bells sending a high pitched echo throughout the ship. And the crew instinctively would scatter to their respective ’station’ to congregate, and in a hurry. My station is along the starboard side, at the aft portion of the barge, where six other crewmembers gather. I take a quick count and relay to the bridge of who’s present. With an abandon ship alarm, seven or more short dings, followed by a prolonged throng, tells the crew to muster nearby their lifeboat, and wait for further directions. At each of the location, it’s imperative that roll-call or ‘muster’ is taken by either an officer-in-charge, or an appointed crewmember dictated by the station bill before any action can further be implemented.

For the sake of safety, it’s nice to see that all general alarm bells are working, and ring with a distinctive pitch. So, with that, I walked around to each bell which has been labeled on a spreadsheet and its location and with the go ahead, gave Travis, the 3rd Mate, who had the watch and poised on the bridge ready for my instruction, as I gave the ‘okay’ via two way radio and he proceeded to sound short rings as I ensured each bell rang off.

Of the thirty-six bells, only a handful needed some quick maintenance of oil to lubricate the hammer mechanism as certain bells fell silent to the task. This sort of adventure sent me on a scavenger hunt as it took me through parts of the ship, I’ve never ventured beyond. Tunnels connecting the two engine rooms, and hidden passages leading to darkened compartments intended for storage of engine room equipment were areas I’ve never been, but heard about.

Episodes of ‘Cops’, or anything mysterious comes to mind, here. I walked with caution, too, as many areas had grating which wobbled and creaked. And in an quick hour, the test was complete, and I quickly scribbled a brief note substituting the previously mentioned alert with a phrase, “..regard any further alarms beyond this point” on the ink board.

My day was complete and I was satisfied that what I accomplished would help with the safety of the crew and any deficiencies otherwise not known, until now, would be noted and fixed from here out.

Have a great day folks!

Tags: Chemical Explorer