The Merchant Marine Express

A darkened bridge with only the slight bit of light emanating from the dimly lighted controls of RADAR sets and VHF radios as the morning sun has a few more hours before she rises from the eastern horizon and a pure blackened sky is now present.One has to be cautious as the bridge is layed out with equipment poised in strategic locations yet your eye becomes familiar with this layout over a matter of minutes.

Only a scattering of dots outside and signifying only a small portion of the billions of stars, cast above me as I stand on the bridge wing, still in amazement, of a sight not as visible at home. An occasional flash of a passing airplane alter my focus from the seemingly hypnotized look that transcends me as I am a witness looking into the vast sky.

You see, we operate solely in the dark, without any lights as this helps with our peripheral vision. Our eyes train on flashes of light and steady beacons from distant oil rigs and other ships as the RADAR verifies those positions and alerts me of anything closing in as blips on the greenish screen, infront of me. It’s difficult to make out the horizon as these lights from stationary icons play with your psyche as you’re not certain if that is sea or sky. Both blend in as neither one can be truly discerned from one another. I never trust my eyes.

AB “LG” and I are the only witnesses during the four-to-eight watch, and all hands are fast asleep and await another day of work aboard this “twenty-four-seven” operation.

A course change to one-four-three degrees establishes our heading towards the south-east now. He takes the wheel and slowly turns towards the left, and the rudder responds.The sun,too,is slowly meeting the horizon as a glow has started to form in the eastern sky!Daylight and night time meet!

Have a good one, folks!

Tags: Chemical Explorer