The Merchant Marine Express

But before I go into any details, I was able to visit with my second cousin, Rabia, and his family while in the city of brotherly love; Philly. The two older children ages fifteen and twelve along with the fraternal twins, aged three, were a cheerful bunch, removing all worries and tribulations of whatever projects were still at hand, aboard the ship as these bright eyed and awesome second cousins couldn’t be more of a fascination. With loads of energy, they seemed to recharge my spirit! A feast for a king was offered to me as well- a homemade presentation including Shourba, a soup among other dishes followed with a divine mix of homemade cookies and fruit completed the lunch. Before I left Pennsylvania, I was able to see a glimpse of what South Philly had to offer with Rabia leading the tour, as well when we were docked in Gloucester City in New Jersey just a river’s width across the water I made it ashore for a haircut and a bank run.

Gloucester, notably, was founded in the mid sixteen hundreds and maintained some recent historical landmarks including the location from where the famed Bill Haley performed back in the mid nineteen fifties his rock n’ roll
melodies.

Back in Philly, the load out of cargo went longer than planned. My first true supervision of a regular cargo Watch was a busy affair. With the arrangement of the usually empty lower voids and top decks now replaced with boxed container cargo of various shapes and sizes, the ship morphed into this gracious Albatross rather than some drifting Tern as it was now responsibly caring for her valuable shipment.

The longshore gang responsible for the safe loading of cargo and subsequent lashing and stowage of cargo worked in unison. Although their conduct was a bit unconventional in the eyes of a sea going Mate, their wittiness along
with vociferous bantering made me wonder in what part of the country might these men be from, exactly- almost to a point of ‘Barbaric’ as my father would say. I was humored, to be truthful. Both the second mate and myself
worked twelve-hour shifts with the Chief Mate continuing to oversee the operations with My Watch starting at noontime and finished at midnight. My job was to make sure all lashings intended to support all stowed cargo was
secured to the pieces of cargo, keeping them from shifting in anyway, during the up-and-coming transit.

The weather held off, as rain, began to fall only on the morning of Departure. The ship was delayed for some time as a electrical glitch in the steering system prevent an on time Departure. She eventually was repaired
due to some faulty fuse. She coasted off the dock by sundown and moseyed down the Delaware River.

Have a great weekend, Folks!

Tags: MV American Tern