 A day In The Life......
To give you a bit of an insight into life on board, without giving so much away that I would have to kill you all afterwards this was my day on Thursday.
03.45 get a call from the Duty Watchkeeping Engineer who informs me that we have half an hour to go until Stand by. Stand by is a conditioin that we go to when we enter or leave Port, navigate enclosed waters or any potentially harardous situation. We have additional personnel in the Main Control Room to be able to cover anything untoward that may happen but it fortunately usually only requires the people to be there. I arange it so that the Chief Engineer attends arrivals and the Deputy Chief attends departures. We also have either the Chief Electrical Engineer or the First Electrical Engineer in attendance.
I arrive in the Control Room at 04.15, get a cup of tea and find out what has been going on from the Duty Engineer. For the duration of Stand by we chat about the job, life in general and I write a letter to my son. We arrive alongside at 05.45, I sign the arrival paperwork and I go and sit in my office for an hour and have a look at e-mails, Ebay, the Scale Model Forum etc. Meanwhile the duty engineer is occupied in shutting down propulsion and engines and changing over to port mode.
Yesterday we had a full crew immigration check where the entire crew of 975 of us have to go through our three monthly immigration check. Luckily in my position I don't have to wait the half hour that everyone else has to endure and I go straight through.
After that time i go for a shower, put my uniform on and go and have some breakfast in the Officers Mess. At 07.00 the rest of the team start work and I have a chat with the Deputy Chief and Senior Second Engineer as regards the proposed days work. Yesterday was a "Bunker Day" as we were taking on 1000 tons of fuel so the watches are arranged slightly differrently to provide extra cover. The guys on the 4-8 watch stay down until 10.00 and the guys on the 12-4 watch come down early at 10.00 so that the morning 8-12 watch are free to concentrate on looking after taking the fuel. I get the bunkering plan to discuss with the 8-12 watchkeeper and we agree on how we are going to load the fuel then, when the hose is all connected up from the barge we commence pumping.
Meanwhile the first visitors and vendors arrive from the office and the usual round of meetings starts. Yesterday this went on until 16.00 which is when they all have to get off again. The usual vendors are touching base, new vendors are demonstrating products and the office visitors are discussing everything from technical issues to personnel and scheduling engineers.
We finished bunkering at about 11.30 and I go through the mass of paperwork that has to be signed off for that. Our estimate was within 1% of the ordered amount so we were happy with the delivery. Samples were sent away for analysis, hoses disconnected and shell doors closed again.
I had lunch in the Officers Mess at 13.00 before continuing with the meetings. The food here is actually pretty good for modern standards although my many years in Cunard Line where we ate the same as the passengers spoilt me a bit. I can control my weight a bit easier here though!
At 16.00 hrs the final vendor left and we then start our procedures for departure. Gear is tested, paperwork prepared and the final stores and spares that have arrived that day are stashed ready for breaking down by the storekeeper and putting into the inventry. We disconnect the Potable Water Hoses as we are full with 2500 tons of water and close that door as well.
I go and phone the boss at home and have a chat with her for half an hour when I catch up on the weather, whose kids have got colds and the price of the skirts in Marks and Sparks etc..
Checks in the control room actually start with a steering gear check about an hour before Stand by but things get more interesting in the last half hour when we start up main engines and associated equipment and get ready for going on stand by again at 16.45.
Meanwhile around the ship the 2500 passngers we had in the morning have all left, all 900 cabins have been stripped and cleaned and the next 2500 passengers have joined us and are going through a boat drill. Not to mention a few tons of food stores has also arrived.
Back on Stand by at 16.45 which I leave in the capable hands of the Deputy Chief, although I usually call in for a chat every now and then. We finally get away at about 17.30 and accellerate up to full sea speed for the passage. Evaporators are prepared and eventually put on line as by this time the Potable water has already lost a couple of hundred tons.
The we finally feel like we have our ship back to ourselves again and we are where we belong and want to be, at sea!!
I had some dinner at abour 19.00 hrs, did a final few e-mails and send off my departure figures and weekly fuel report, checked in the Control Room that they were all happy and still feeling loved and go up to my cabin at about 20.00 hrs. Another home port over.
When you think that is just my side of the story, we also have housekeeping, galley staff, stores personnel and guest services all having pretty much the same sort of day you get some sort of idea of what is involved in turning us around.
Last edited by Bunkerbarge; 02-12-2005 at 05:49.
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