Elle's news letter
March 2017
ELLE'S ADVENTURES - TWO YEARS ON
Where has time gone? Can you believe it's been just over 2 years
since I started my Deck Officer Cadet Ship, through MLOCS, and Chiltern Maritime,
at Warsash
Maritime Academy? I definitely can't.
A lot has happen in the past two years, the first of which you
can read here (
Elle's Adventures - One Year On). Like last year this
will mostly be an amalgamation of my previous blog posts, so bear
with if you're re reading parts. I recognise that last year's post
was extremely wordy, so I hope to keep this a little shorter and
sweeter.
One year on leaves off where I have not long started lectures,
having returned to WMA in the first week of January, and we were
thrown straight back in to work, with seven new subjects (well 5
plus cargo and, stability & naval architecture), four of which
gave us assignments within the first week!
Also during the Spring Term I took part for the second year
running in the annual WMA 24 Hour Life Raft Challenge. I'm sure by
now you all know that this is sponsored event in aid of
Sail4Cancer, where we spent 24 hours in a Life Raft, in the mouth
of the River Hamble.
By 1705 on March 11th we were all in our rafts, and
ready for the challenge to begin. Although we did have a small leak
in our raft, memories of 'Titanic Raft from 2015' came flooding
back, all was fine in the rafts, and the first few hours went
extremely quickly, and was filled with lots of laughing and even
more food, including a Dominoes Delivery.
Night time was extremely crowed, more so then the year previous,
however despite this, I managed to snuggle up into my best friend
Luke, and we let the hours pass by films on my tablet, and by
napping.
When morning came, we decided it was a good idea to sing. It
really wasn't a good idea. What was even more of a 'not good idea',
I decided that live tweeting and blogging was not good enough this
year, and therefore would vlog throughout the 24 hours, which
resulted in me awkwardly telling the camera what time it was
really.
By the afternoon we had exhausted the objects we could use for
I-spy, and granny had been to the supermarket various times so
everyone was starting to feel tires, uncomfortable and irritable,
however the news that we had reached £8,000 did perk up everyone's
moods.
In the end we raised approximately £13,000 for Sail4Cancer,
enabling 13 families to have a holiday, in order to gain respite
from their day to day lives. If you would like to read my full hour
detail of the challenge, including the above mentioned awkward
videos of me telling the time, head over to "
We Did It #WMALRC16".
Before long Easter was upon us, and the summer term began. This
started with rounding up the ends of our subjects and exams before
starting with new subjects, Orals Prep, Engineering, Transas,
Maritime Law, Maritime Business, and Command Management. These were
mostly all assignment based, including essays on the fault of the
Costa Concordia grounding, and planning a route for a ferry out of
Portsmouth (something I became very familiar with having been at
the helm for said pilotage many times) on the Electronic Charts,
and carrying out the pilotage on the simulators.
Command Movement was split in to various smaller assignments
including using the simulator to do some manovering and come along
side, and planning a route on the electronic charts. Along with
written assignments, we had a group presentation, in which I
volunteered as team leader; all were about search and rescue. Our
final assignment was our Signals exam, which consisted of
recognising Morse code, and flags and meanings, along with a short
written test. Our final part of Command management was an hour a
week about what engineers do on board.
Towards the end of term I was told that I would be joining
Windstar Cruises, on board mys Wind Surf from September through to
January, not only meaning that I had my birthday and Christmas at
sea, but also I had a month off, in which I spent time with my
family, had a wee adventure on my own. As I was missing Christmas
with my friends, the awesome people that they are threw me my own
special Christmas dinner and party in the middle of August. During
my time on board I would spend my first two months around the med,
followed by two weeks in Dry Dock in Cadiz, two week crossing/wet
dock, and my final month in the Caribbean.
On September 7th I flew to Lisbon to join the Wind
Surf, and set into work on the eight till twelve watch.
Despite being my third ship, the Wind Surf was completely
different to one I'd been on before, for one it had an actually
steering wheel (which made me more excited then what I would like
to admit!), and of course there were sails, but also Wind Star has
an open bridge policy, meaning that our guests were allowed to
visit the bridge whenever we were at sea.
With a day at sea before our first destination I was very
quickly thrown into the idea of having guests asking questions on
the bridge. It also gave me a good amount of time to learn my way
around the bridge equipment, especially the sail controls. During
this time I was working with the third officer, and therefore my
'overtime work' was made up of the maintenance of LSA, embarkation
training, and muster lists.
During my third cruise, while in Capri, I celebrated my
22ndBirthday with going on tour! In which I got to enter
the Blue Grotto, a cave where the water glows bright blue due
sunlight traveling through underwater cavities, the entrance of
which about a meter high so often cut off, taste food in Anacapri,
get a chairlift up nearly 600m high Mount Solaro, and ride the
cable car. With celebrations continuing into the evening with being
included in the Captain's Introductions, followed by cake with my
new friends.
Other than standard being on watch, learning as I go, looking
after Lifeboats, LSA, and such there isn't much that I can really
go into detail with for my first month. Most the on watch things,
compass errors, plotting position, assessing traffic I've talked
about in previous blogs. Don't get me wrong, I learnt an awful lot
working with the Third Officer, but not that's worth reading
about.
After my fifth cruise I changed watch to the 4-8, with the
positive note of getting to experience arrivals and departures,
getting to work more with the sails and their maintenance, being a
larger presence in crew training, (and getting longer/better hours
exploring), but with the negative that my nightly midnight visits
to my best friend and mama on board MJ, who was the night
shift.
At first I was not looking forward to waking up so early, but
soon realised I actually preferred getting up at half 3 then I did
half 7! On this watch there would be the more or less same routine
most days. Getting up as quietly as possible & getting ready in
the dark in order to not disturb my cabin mate between 0315 and
0330, stopping by MJ to say good morning, getting on to the bridge
for around 0345 and making a coffee, after the watch was handed
over, Second Officer Aline, QM Rosid, and I would walk something
like 70 laps of the bridge (about a mile) if safe to do so, while
discussing mostly travels, adventures and near death experiences,
an hour before the pilot we would start our pre-arrival checks,
such as calling arrival parties, contacting the port and/or pilots,
making sure all is in order for the Captain to take the vessels
control. On arrival I was in charge of fixing positions, the
arrival checklist and the rough log. Usually by time we were
alongside and moored it was about time to hand over the watch, and
have an hour or so nap before starting the days out of watch work,
be that sails or training, followed by lunch (usually ashore) and
an explore/nap before returning to the bridge at 1600.
Sails maintenance included routine checks such a movements and
mast inspections, emergency maintenance such as repairs, and
general upkeep such as greasing and topping up oil. It became
noticeable one day that our fifth main sail had a small vertical
tear, which resulted in spending our Halloween morning with a team
of sailors, lowering the sail and sewing a patch on either side to
cover the hole, my nana would be so proud, she always wanted to me
sew! I did get a little worried after proudly exclaiming that I had
help sew the patch (learning some Indonesian while doing so), that
it would come loose and the rip becoming visible again. Both our QM
Rosid and 2/O Aline both went up the top of the masts, which I
would have loved to do, but due to insurance I wasn't allowed. Most
sails days we did end up greasy, oily, mucky, sweaty and tired, but
it was such a great learning experience and I so much enjoyed the
hands on element.
Training was also such a brilliant thing to get involved in, as
I was able to see things we'd talked about at college happen on
location, and I got the practical side of things. Some trainings
included just discussing first response in the crew specific
locations, some presentations, some drills, but my favourite were
definitely ones that broke down what we would do in an emergency
while still carried out the actions, such as the day we inflated a
life raft on the quay side and in groups got the whole crew inside
so they saw how crowded it was and what you would do, but the best
and worse at the same time was fire team training. During this the
fire team, and usually myself, would dress up fully in firefighting
gear, practice using a fire hose from the aft mooring deck, then
practice entering a smoke filled/dark area retrieving a casualty
and putting a 'fire' out".
Although I preferred the latter part of my contract in terms of
work, I preferred ashore in Europe. I adored soaking up the
culture, eating new foods, marvelling over the architecture, and so
much more. I have some favourite places definitely Dubrovnik and
Portofino being top of my list, I think they are beautiful in
topography, architecture and just everything about them. Ibiza
surprised me a lot, all I really knew of Ibiza was parties so I
wasn't fussed, but I discovered that there was a historic side and
walked the city walls. Monaco is also a high point on my list,
though instead of the casino I went to the palace, museum and
aquarium. Other highlights include shopping in Sorrento, walking
around Kotor's old town, exploring the backstreets of Venice, and
Barcelona's Food Market.
During my time on board I went into my second dry dock. Having
not enjoyed my first, I went in dreading dry dock, and hoped I
would have work to do. I found myself regretting hoping for work
every single day. Every day I was busy, I was tired, I ended up
very sweaty every day, I got stressed, I loved it, maybe not at the
time (or at least most of the time), but looking back I know I
enjoyed the work, and I really appreciate the
responsibilities that I was given.
The best days in Dry dock were the days that I was allowed to go
into the dock itself. The first I tagged along with 2/O Aline
within a few days of arriving, second with most of the crew,
mid-way through the two weeks, and finally a couple of days before
we left, I was tasked on supervising a contractor doing some
work.
Every couple of nights we did make sure we had a break from
long, loud days and had what became known as 'family night', which
sometimes meant going for a meal, or to the nearby super store
(which sold Irn-Bru), but mostly consisted of getting a take away
and watching an animated film, usually Disney or penguin
related.
Wet dock was a complete different work schedule, paired with the
constant clock changes (retarding an hour every few days), my body
clock did feel a wee bit out of whack. During our two weeks
crossing I was on watch on the bridge between 0400 and 0800, though
I prepped the days permits to work, so often didn't leave the
bridge till 0830ish, then 0845-0900 I would join the sailors in
working around the ship, finishing just after 1500 each day. The
reason for this was that both the other deck cadet, Alistair, and I
could both do a navigational watch in which the sun was rising or
setting, in order to practice our celestial navigation, along with
completely practical maintenance tasks.
Each morning I would estimate a position for civil twilight
(basically when you can see the horizon and stars) that day
position using a previous and distance = speed x times. I would
then find an estimation of where in the sky recognisable stars
would be at that time. When said time comes around I'd use a
sextant and azimuth ring to find the bearing and amplitude of the
stars, of which I used to plot the ships position on the chart.
My first few days I was completely useless, my 2/O, Aline, had
to guide me step by step through the whole procedure, and to begin
with even shoot the stars for me. My first position told me we were
90 miles from our actual position, though I was reassure by the
fact that there was over 3000nm to our destination, if we were only
90 miles out we'd get to the Caribbean alright. As I became more
practiced Aline gave me more and more independence, checking how I
was doing between steps, double checking my shots, reminding me of
little things I may have forgotten, and there were a few times that
I missed a step, did something in the wrong order, or simply read
the wrong date and had to start the calculations all again.
However, by the end of the crossing I was left to do the whole
thing alone, by this time I had also got a lot quicker and accurate
at doing.
During the day I partook in tasks such as wash downs of the
ship, making sure things were back in shape for arrival in St.
Maarten, repairing and pressure testing fire hoses, working with
the Carpenters, and continuing the general upkeep and maintenance
of LSA, Lifeboats and Tenders, the sail system. Again during
the time it seemed like lot of work, and some days were quite
stressful, but looking back it was a fantastic to be fully involved
in.
We arrived at Philipsburg, St. Maaten at the start of December,
and I returned to being on 4-8 full time, however this time with
2/O Sebastian, however after my first week, Alistair disembarked,
leaving me as the only deck cadet on board, so did work with each
of the navigating officers, if and when required.
Caribbean days were repetitive as we anchored most days, and our
arrival and departures we're mostly the same time each day, not to
mention that we visited the same ports, either weekly or every
other week. This meant I did find myself getting more tired then
what I was in Europe, and lead a less adventurous life, but that
does no way mean I wasn't finding myself feeling amazing about my
training.
During watches my 2/O took a step back and it became more like
him shadowing me as to oppose to me shadowing him. He was very
reassuring that he was there if I had any uncertainties, to ask
away, but soon I'll be qualified and need to be confident having
the con, so good to have some practice with someone there.
Throughout watches he'd also ask me question such as what action I
think we should take when we sighted other vessels, reinforcing my
rules of the road practically. Along with often leaving the
pre-arrival/pre-departure checks down to me, though doesn't seem
like much, it worked wonders for me feeling confident about being a
future officer.
With work being done on the sails infrastructure during wet and
dry dock, and Sebastian's duo-ticket, the maintenance we did on
sails was different to what was done with Aline. My last few weeks
on sails were spent concentrating on the workings of the system and
trying to restore them to a near original condition.
During the Caribbean season I became more aware of other
operations that happened around the vessel, each cruise the chief
officer, invited me to host tables with him in the guest dining
room, I had time and energy to attend the on Deck BBQs & Line
Dancing, beach BBQs, I spent a lot of time at the Marina, and I
also managed to watch the crew show. I even sang Christmas carols
on Christmas Eve to our guests, and spent my New Year's Eve
interacting with guests in the Compass Rose bar. By this time this
had come around I was very used to interacting with guests, giving
them tours of the bridge, answering any questions, but hosting
tables was something different, every time I felt terrified
(normally only for the first 10 minutes or so), I really didn't
want to say the wrong with, or worse spill food on my formal
whites! Luckily, I got on very well with my chief officer, so my
mind was put at rest, and it was very easy to continue a
conversation. I genuinely think working with him helped me grow a
lot on board, hearing "Lee, you are the best," (Lee was his name
for me, don't ask I'm not entirely sure why either) multiple times
a day was great, I must say.
My first holiday season at sea was one that I won't forget
definitely! Christmas Eve consisted of buy Christmas crackers, lots
of candy, and somehow Waitrose products in Antigua. Christmas day
we spent the day at sea traveling north west, we had the perfect
wind for sailing, meaning we turned the engines off around 10am and
didn't turn them on till about 10pm, meaning my cabin was silent,
so outside of watch, and bridge secret Santa time I spent the day
asleep.
We sailed into the New Year also, but I was not in bed at
midnight to make the most of the silent engines. Every New Year
people in my village in North West England go for a swim in the
sea, this year I decided to uphold this tradition, although I was
in Antigua. Though this wasn't anything out the ordinary as I spent
the time at the marina, most days swimming, and using the water
trampoline, but I also discovered in Roseau, Dominica that I am ace
at Stand Up Paddle Boarding, however not that great at doing flips
anymore.
I landed back at Manchester airport mid-morning on the
8th of January, and returned home for my third
Christmas. Although nice to be home, I found myself longing to be
back on board. I really want to say thank you again to everyone on
board, I am very lucky to have sailed with Captain Gerard and
his wonderful team. Everybody on board taught me something, and I
have made some fantastic friends that I hope I do stay in contact
with. I feel completely privileged to work with who I have, if I
mention one person I'd have to mention everyone, or at least 95% of
the crew. When I said I didn't want to leave I was completely
telling the truth. I'm currently sat at home, feeling homesick (for
probably the first time ever) for the ship I called home for the
past four months, and the people I've called family, though I have
to remember what wise woman told me on last night on board, "It's
never goodbye, just see you later."
January 2016
30 September 2015
So it's 0254, on September 30th 2015 and I'm alone on
the bridge on my last watch (on my last day) on the THV Galatea.
We're currently on moored up in Harwich. Today I have been on board
for 12 weeks, and travelled approximately 3000 miles, starting in
Swansea, ending here in Harwich having gone via Plymouth,
Dartmouth, Penzance, Oban, Isle of May, Whitby, Great Yarmouth and
Dover, and spending my 21st Birthday 'Buoy Bashing' in
the Thames Estuary. During my time on board I have partaken in
'buoy bashing' - servicing, cleaning and replacing navigational
aids, planned maintenance - painting, checking lifesaving
equipment, greasing etc., emergency drills, hydrographic surveying,
and witnessed helicopter operations.
I've absolutely adored my time on board, and feel as though I've
been spoilt, as it's been a fantastic opportunity, not only to
train, but to spend time with such welcoming crews, who have taught
me so much. I know when I first was designated to this ship I was
disappointed as I wanted to get something where I would see some
far off countries, but not only have I had some fantastic training
and met great people, I've also now appreciate our wee island a lot
more having sailed nearly the whole way around it! Here's a brief
run through of my past 12 weeks!
As mentioned in my first updated, my first few weeks were mostly
made up of shadowing the 2/O's on the Bridge and learning what
everything was, carrying out basic tasks and learning what Trinity
House actually do. This trip (every 3 weeks equals a trip as
there's a full crew change every 3rd Wednesday) I
started in Swansea, sailed to Lundy Island for Helicopter
Operations, before making way to Penzance and the Cornish Coast for
Buoy Bashing. My second experience of Heli Ops came a few days
later near Plymouth. Heli ops mostly consist of transferring water
and fuel to lighthouses that can only be reached by sea / air. The
trip finished in Swansea where the ship undertook an MCA audit,
with the other Cadet, Kieran, and I being given the responsibility
to be on watch in port, together for 4 hours three nights in a
row.
My second trip started with setting sail for Oban the night of
Crew Change day, as the Pharros - our sister ship - had hit an
uncharted rock and needed to go into dry dock. During my first week
I spent time working with the Seamen on deck, this was mainly doing
PMs and loading the deck ready for heli ops. During this week I
drove capstans, went on top of the crane for greasing, cleaning,
and checking the on board boats. The middle week of this trip I was
on 4 - 8 watch with 2/O James, most of these days were around the
Isle of May, on Scotland's east coast, but the later were around
the English north east coast. These days were made up of more
detailed learning about the bridge, and procedures done, taking
gyro errors, calculating the tide and preparing the ship for the
day. My final week of this trip I was mostly painting the Focstle
and Buoy bashing, though I did have a day on the Longstone Light
Vessel. I also spend a night on the 12 -4 as I had not had much
steaming time, and not at all during night time (the Galatea
anchors most nights) so took the opportunity when I could.
Trip three, again I spent most the time on day work on the
bridge, however was given more responsibility to carry on PMs on my
own. The coolest thing that happened was surveying an area in the
Dover Straights where a fishing vessel had sunk the night before.
The science geek in me really found it intriguing how all the
surveying equipment worked, and after finding the vessel and
scanning over it in various directions I was amazed at how clear
the 3D image of it was on the computer! I spend another day on a
light vessel during this trip, and spent a few more days watching
the ETO try and fix it. The Varne LV was okay to get on, however as
the weather picked up in the evening it took some time to get off
safely resulting in myself standing on the ladder on the outside
for some time while the work boat tried to get in a suitable
position for embarkation. During this trip we spend a lot of time
around Ramsgate, Dover and the Thames Estuary - otherwise known as
'French signal and no signal'.
My final trip was made up of being around the same areas as the
third, and was mostly spent on deck. Again my first week was spent
taking part in planned maintenance, mostly greasing equipment and
testing it works properly. My final night of my third trip had been
a late night socialising (completely sober - well I was) with the
crew and three Trinity Captains, so I was hoping that I'd be told
to keep out the way on crew change like usual, but as I got to the
bridge I found out that a class one buoy had sunk, and we had to
retrieve and replace it ASAP. The retrieving was done by lowering a
hook over the side of the ship and grappling it; due to the higher
risk of danger with this I observed it from the bridge. I also
learnt how to chip, using a vibrating needle gun, and feather with
a grinder. This was needed doing in preparation for the Heli Deck
to be repainted. On September 24th I turned 21, and was
surprised by the whole crew singing me happy birthday with
presents, cake and prosecco in the mess. Being my first birthday
both away from my family and being at sea, I am so grateful that
everyone, especially 2/Os Steph and James, put so much effort in
and made my birthday special.
So that's me done on the THV Galatea, my parents (who came on
board tonight for a wee tour) will be picking me up in a few hours'
time. I have two weeks off, and I'm so excited to see my sister, my
nephew and my friends and family, but I'm sad to leave this
fantastic environment. On October 15th I will be joining
Commodore Goodwill, and freight ferry operating between Portsmouth
and the Channel Island, along with being in dry dock for four
weeks. Again I'm slightly disappointed I'm not seeing more of the
world, but if I've learnt anything from Trin it's that I don't need
to see the world quite yet to have a great adventure, during which
I'll get to explore Cargo Operations and experience Dry Dock.
Again I would love to thank both crew of the THV Galatea for
being so accommodating and giving me such a fantastic experience.
As I've been told when I've thanked people personally 'it's their
job to teach cadets and make us welcome', but I feel everyone has
gone beyond that to welcome myself and other cadets on board, and
make sure we're learning and happy. I just now fear that no other
ship I'm on in my cadetship will live up to the standard provided
by Trinity. I said within my third week that I would like to return
to Trinity House one day as a qualified officer, and I still stand
by that.
06 August 2015
Before start talking about my first month on the THV Galatea, I
will briefly summarise the week.
- Safety and security lectures, no matter how important, are just
death by power point pretty much.
- There are lots of types of fire, and lots of ways to put them
out
- Fire still scares me
- BA sets are heavy
- 260oC is quite warm
- When wheeled CO2 Extinguishers break and go crazy
while you're holding them, it's quite scary - though does look like
it's been snowing once it's empty
- Jumping into a pool from 3m when lights, sirens and water spray
going is fun
- It might save my life one day, but I don't like swimming in a
life jacket
- Nothing has really changed in the first aid world since the
last time I did it
Now that's done with I can start on how much I love being on the
THV Galatea, and what I've done in my first month on board.
I joined the ship in Swansea on July the 8th where I
was greeted, and taken straight to the bridge. However, it was crew
change day (these guys do 3 weeks on, 3 weeks off), so as soon I
got to know everyone, they all got off and the port watch joined.
Most of the day was spent settling in, and unpacking. This was
along with a tour of the ship, and some socialising time, getting
to know the rest of the crew, all of which was male.
On my first few days we had heliops (Helicopter Operations) off
Lundy South Light. Myself and the other deck cadet shadowed the 2/O
on watch, and we were shown and explained things on the bridge. We
also made a passage plan from Breaksea Buoy to Morte Bay, which was
approximately 40 miles. We first did this on the paper charts, and
we were then shown the ECDIS and transferred it to electronic
chart. As we steamed I spent the afternoon taking fixes to mark our
position on the chart, done by visual bearings, along with radar
bearings and ranges.
On the 11th Captain Wayne showed me the anti-healing
system, and the online weather and tide forecasters, the latter
factors determined where we were going that day, and where we would
anchor overnight. I watched as a buoy was picked out the water,
cleaned, serviced and returned, while this was going on, the
Captain showed me how to do a work log. We decided to go to
Penzance and stay overnight, so I got the charts out, the correct
folio, and laid them out for the second officer who I watched plan
the route was copied on to the paper charts from the electronic. I
also learnt how to use the AIS, log the weather at the end of a
watch and the mast lights. I spent the evening with the ABs
watching Marvel films, though as we got closer to the ETA returned
to the bridge to watch what the Captain did when we went to anchor.
When I was put in charge of the radio to the chippy controlling
anchor, I got so tongue tied!
Most of the trip continued like this. Eight till five shadowing
the 2/O's on watch, though I did watch on deck sometimes when buoys
were being serviced. However there was times where I completed on
my own, or with the 2/O maintenance on board, this included
checking the right things were in the right cupboards, and that all
the boats (we have 4 on board, a P28, a Workboat, a rescue boat,
and a 'rubber duck' aka a RIB) were in working order, and being
shown and taught more about entering enclosed spaces, and the
procedures done prior to that. I had a few days of getting
very wet, this was due to checking fire fighting equipment, or
because I went out on the work boat to check a lighthouse.
During my first trip with the port watch crew, I did manage to
get to shore a couple of times, even if it was just to buy a paper
and come back, in Dartmouth, Penzance, and Barry Island - which
isn't as exciting as Gavin & Stacy made me think it was, though
I didn't get to go on the log flume, or even go in that far to get
there tbh.
We ended the trip with an MCA audit looking at SMC, ISSC, ILO
and MLC. The day started with a meeting, and documents
review. And followed by Interviews with the Master, Chief, Chief
Engineer, and some other members of the crew. During these meetings
things that were discussed included, Masters Review, Internal
Audits, SMS, Deck Maintenance Emergency Preparedness, Shipboard
Operations, Food and Wages, along with checking certification of
all members of crew was in order. Before lunch we also had an
emergency drill. The scenario of this drill was that a smoke
detector had gone off in the paint locker, and I made the
announcement over the PA system for the incident party, as named on
the muster list, to check it out. They confirmed there was a fire
and the Fire Alarm was sounded. During this drill I was on the
Bridge (however for exercise purposes they needed a missing person
so my name was given to a manikin who got trapped in the paint
cupboard). During the drill I shadowed the captain following the
set steps, along with keeping communications with other areas of
the ship and relaying information back to Kerian who was record
keeping. The drill lasted just over 15 minutes and the auditor was
very impressed by the conduct off all the crew. The audit was a
fantastic one where we had no deficiencies, which the captain said
'it'll be a long time before that would happen again' and that it's
taken him over 30 years to have an audit that has resulted in no
deficiencies.
As a 2/O left ship that morning and we're in Port the watches
are a bit different, not the normal 12 - 4, 4 -8, 8 - 12. Instead
Kieran and I were on watch (just us, no officers!) between 6pm and
10pm when a night watchman took over until 7am when the Chief came
onto the bridge. We did the same the next night, and on Wednesday
the crew changed again, and the 'starboard watch' joined ship.
My last week has been my favourite so far. The lads on the port
watch didn't really let me do much the few times I went on deck
with them so I wasn't keen on deck work all that much, but the
chief put me on deck work for the whole week with this crew and
I've done so much, and learnt a lot! Here's my run down of the
week! Also with this watch the girls are starting to take over….
Well there's 3 of us, out of 23…
Thursday 30th July
First day of my week on deck, I spent the morning driving the
capstan to sort the chains out for the buoys in the chain locker.
The rest of the time was done loading and sorting stores. At 6pm we
set sail from Swansea to Oban where we'd be loading lots to take
over to the Isle of May to do the work the Farros who's in Dry Dock
after hitting a uncharted rock, while we were leaving the dock I
was on deck again, driving the capstan and hauling in the ropes. As
it got dark I headed up to the bridge to get to know the 2/O on
duty a bit more, and compare steaming at night to daytime. While up
there I also got to ask many questions, which we're all answered in
great detail.
Friday 31st July
This day I spent doing PMs (Planned Maintenance), which started
by climbing up the crane, one the AB's Ian, showed me how to use
the crane and explained all the mechanics inside it then I got
climb on top and walk over the top of it. This wasn't just for the
walk we were up there greasing the mechanics and checking that
everything was in order. We also carried out maintenance on the P28
and the workboat, along with greasing pulleys and some other stuff.
I did have to giggle a wee bit at the term grease nipples. Was a
fairly rough night as we got up into Scottish waters!
Saturday 1st August
Arrived in Oban about 9am, where we moored up to the quayside
where the Pole Star, moored up to us and we transferred 3 buoys and
some other stuff on to them. We then started loading stuff on to
deck from the shore side. There was a lot of stuff! After being
shown the helicopter for the 200+ lifts that will be happening we
had the rest of the day to ourselves. My self and one the second
officers went used this time to have a wander into Oban, which is
one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, in order to get
Oliver and my grandparents a postcard, along with getting myself an
irn-bru flavoured ice cream, which was so good! In the evening
myself, Kieran, a 2/o, the chief, the stewardess and a few the ABs
went into to town to the pub, and had a good night out!
Sunday 2nd August
Another day of loading, and another day where I went into town,
this time to the whiskey distillery to buy my old man a bottle. I
must say I was a tired Gadge that afternoon and may have fallen
asleep watching The Simpsons in the rec room. That evening we
set sail again, unfortunately I didn't get to see the colours of
Tobermory (Balamory) all that well, but the landscape was
amazing.
Monday 3rd August
Today there was not too much going on, spent the morning doing
some housework, vacuuming the rec rooms etc. Then joined the lads
on deck where we spent the day filling the water tanks for the
helicopter lifts. It needed 18 tonnes of water!!! The chief also
showed me about Dangerous Goods and how to handle different
things.
Tuesday was doing much the same as Monday, just preparing for
Heli Ops, and that was the end of my week on deck. Wednesday I
started my week on the bridge, compared to with the port watch,
with this crew I'm actually doing proper watches (just the two
4-8s, not just 8-5), which is great- though the 0330 alarm isn't
so!
I am loving my time here on the THV Galatea, both crews are
great and I get on with (pretty much) everyone very well! I know at
first I was a little disappointed that I'd be joining the ship in
Swansea, when my college friends are seeing far more exciting
places, but I have all my life to explore the world. Right now I am
learning so much and having a great time. I do hope that one day,
once I have seen the world and got a lot more experience in all
areas of shipping that I can come back to Trinity House as a
qualified officer.
09 April 2015
So that's my first term at Warsash done and I've loved it! Going
to be strange going back with friends (especially those on my
floor) who started engineering course in September going to have
left and gone to sea, and HND's that I joined with going to sea a
week after we get back.
In the past 9 weeks I've learnt:
- About buoyancy's, free surface movement, load lines, and small
and large angle stability.
- How to plot a bearing, water track, ground track and much
more
- How to plot on a radar to find 2 vessels closes point of
approach
- Planning a course using Plane, Mercator and Great Circle
Sailing
- How to calculate when high and low tide is at various ports
around the world
- About taking bearings off a star or planet, calculating time at
an exact place on the globe
- How a magnetic compass works, and how to cancel out as much
magnetic interaction from the ships infrastructure.
- About how to load and unload various cargoes, and the importance
of safety around cargo, and cleaning a tank
- and lots more!
I have also taken place in Sail4Cancer's 24 Hour Life Raft
Challenge, which the previous blog is focused on. Also, the blog
that I posted about the Life Raft has been edited in to an article
format as my Liaison Officer would like to have it published in a
magazine for previous Warsash cadets and officers. The challenge
has raised over thirteen thousand pounds so far.
Most importantly I have made some fantastic friends, and I found a
place where I feel I really belong.
Next term we have about 4 weeks of more learning/revision, and
then we have exam week mid May. Following exam week is short
courses. This includes fire fighting, sea survival, tanker
familiarisation, first aid and much more.
Over the Bank Holiday weekend I spent three days in the pier head,
at Barrow-In-Furness dock, with the hope to learn a little more
about port operations. My days started at 5am, which was a little
tough as I had missed my double bed while at Warsash, but it was
all worth it.
My first day started with a safety briefing, and learning about
the radio communications between the pier head and vessels, during
my first few hours there was much conversation over the radio as
approximately 20 smaller vessels (25m) went out to the local off
shore wind farms. While on a tour of the port/docks I witnessed
Wind, a platform vessel from Denmark move from one berth to another
opposite to it. This move was so that the Oceanic Pintail, a PNTL
nuclear flask ship could move from the dock to the berth. I was
lucky enough to get on the bridge and shadow the pilot during the
manoeuvre. During that day I also got the chance to go on a pilot
vessel to meet a pilot of the Causeway, which is carrying out
dredging in Barrow, and watch, and operate gates/locks controlling
water levels in the port.
My 2nd and 3rd day were made up of going out on a pilot vessel to
meet the City of Cardiff and shadow the pilot, who had before shown
and explained the process in making a passage plan, and learning
about the what happens when I comes into port, and its cargo
discharging operations, and then shadowing the pilot as he took her
out on the Saturday.
I found these few days very valuable, especially as it reinforced
things that I had learnt in class and on paper, by seeing them in
action, especially tides. I also learnt a lot regarding port
operations, and hope this will come in useful in the future, I'm
sure it will.
17 March 2015
I have just started my sixth week at WMA, and I love it. I have
got to the point where I know what my favourite/least favourite
lectures are, and I feel as if I truly belong here.
Our first week mainly consisted of introductions, talks from
various companies, and professionals from the shipping industry.
During our first week we also had the 'team building' activity of
paintballing. The beginning of that day I did not want to get muddy
or shot but 3 games later I was volunteering to be a zombie in a 6
against 60 battle - it hurt, but was great fun. The first week was
also when most friendships were built. I had spoken to a few cadets
via Facebook who joined with me, couple of which are sponsored by
MEF, meaning they all knew each other before we got here, so I was
quickly introduced to many great people. Also during my first week
I had my first go at sailing, and found it so much fun I joined the
Water Sports straight away, and have since sailed to the Isle of
White as a day trip.
As the weeks have gone by our time table has started to fill
out. I am enjoying the majority of the subjects, with my only
weaker subject being cargo operations. At the moment my favourite
subjects are Ship Stability, and Terrestrial Navigation, I think
this is primarily due to the fact that we are always doing math
based questions all throughout the lectures, whereas other subjects
are very much reading out of a book and non-interactive
presentations. I also like chart work, for this reason, although we
have done many questions on paper, my tutor is constantly asking us
questions out loud.
So far in ship stability we have explored using hydrostatic
data, the basics of gravity and buoyancy and load lines, and the
centre of gravity on a vessel. This has involved a lot of
implementing maths and physics. Some areas are new to me, and some
I have learned in previous education.
Although my maths lessons are optional I do attend nearly all of
them, although so far it's all things I can do but I carry on going
as I know the one time I decide not go will be the time it's a
subject I find difficult. A lot of my off time table maths practice
is helping a HND girl who lives on my floor to understand some of
her work.
Cargo Operations is a topic that I feel I should find
interesting, and there is elements of it I do like, and hope I can
gain some experience working such as on reefer cargo ships. I do
prefer wet cargo to dry, though I'm not sure if that's just I enjoy
the chemistry side of oil production and stowage.
Generally I love WMA, although I sometimes feel a little
'Warsash fever' now and then. Having lived in a small village, and
not being much of a going out partying person I'm not finding it so
bad although there are times when I feel there could be more I
could be doing if I had a car, or there was a train station in the
village.
My evenings are mainly made up of doing work for a couple hours,
having a walk - even if it's just down to the water or COOP, and
there are three pub quizzes a week in the village, which I try and
get to. Solent Student Union also put on a quiz every now and then
on campus, where in the times they have I've come first, second and
third. My weekend have involved a fair bit of sailing, along with
two trips to London, the first to Greenwich led by David Barker,
and the second to see a friend who treated me to see two of my
favourite performers in CATS.
I'm looking forward to learning more over the coming weeks,
along with being part of the team taking part in Sail4Cancer's 24
hour Life Raft Challenge in two weeks time. Here is the link
to my blog post about the Life Raft Challenge: https://ellewatson94.wordpress.com/2015/03/15/we-did-it-wmalrc15/
