The Merchant Marine Express

We weighed anchor, this morning, and proceeded to the anchorage area off the coast of Louisiana, where we currently are floating; awaiting orders for a berth alongside the Citgo refinery. Tentative plans are for loading Jet fuel around May 20th.

The perfect day started off as the vessel went through its usual gear tests performed by the second mate and as the chief mate, as well as the bosun, and dayman were summoned to tend to the operations of heaving the anchor just as I took over the Watch at eight o’ clock; it was quite the change from the ordinary from which we were accustomed as the ship had sat nearly all but two days during the previous thirty-four days at anchor. I heard that barnacles had started to attach themselves on the massive steel chain links and a putrid smell of old salty mud accompanied the parasitic bi-valves.

Any longer and our vessel might have gained notoriety by any of the other dozens of ships as the ship with the “longest anchored stay” award. Imagine getting an award for sitting ’somewhere’ the longest! At any rate, the engines came to life, with a thunderous rumble as you could feel the dual fifteen-foot long ‘medium speed’ (referring to the engine speed range of 400-450 rpm) diesel engines waking up from their slumber and dark puffs of smoke bellowing out the twin stacks just aft of the bridge, and only ten foot above from my vantage point. The call to the engine room for the transfer of engine controls to the bridge is known as Standby Engines or SBE and logged as such and with a push of a button from the bridge, the controls were conveniently in the hands of yours truly; answering to the commands ordered by the Captain in order for the ship to maneuver as the anchor was mechanically retrieved by the Windlass. And in a matter of an hour, we were to be underway and transiting through the anchorage and heading towards the east as this shortcut would shave five miles off the intended route. The Second Mate had laid out the original voyage plan taking us south using the Traffic Lanes exiting Galveston, then a slight course change to the south-east and eventually turning in a north-east direction and merging into another set of traffic lanes. This reduction in miles would allow for a savings of approximately thirty to forty-five minutes.

With that said, the lack of traffic, was most welcomed just as an alternative route using county highways and rejoining a freeway system at a later moment as one can relate using the roads in any metropolis. In this case, it would be more of an analogy of shooting through the plains in a four wheel drive just like one of those Jeep Commercials illustrating what their newest models could achieve.

Hey, any day now and I’ll be turning valves and checking on tank levels just as I’ve been trained. This is one step closer to actual work! This business of just sitting has become old and the crew just wants a change of scenery, really. Just at ten days to go before I head home, folks!

Have a great day!

Tags: Chemical Explorer