 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Rewritten May to June 2011 while onboard M/T Ternvik
  M/S Tina
I took this picture when we were in Stockholm with M/S Tina autumn 1986
Tuesday 12th of August 1986 and I joined M/S Tina in Ystad, Skåne.  I must have joined the ship in the afternoon after a train journey from Båstad. Tina was loading rapeseed for Hamburg.
We were 8 man onboard, 3 ABs, 1 Cook, 2 officers and 1 Captain. In the engine room there were 1  Engineer and 1 Motorman. I think she was owned by AB Sölvesborg's Skeppsmäkleri, but port of registry was Hällevik.
+++++++++++++++
Wednesday 13th of August 1986 and according to my letters home I started to work with chipping and painting first thing in the morning. The autumn is lurking around the corner so I guess they are in a hurry to get some paint on the ship.
We completed loading of the rapeseed in the afternoon and we left for Hamburg around 5 o'clock in the afternoon. +++++++++++++++
Friday 15th of August 1986 and we were discharging the rapeseed in Hamburg. You can see how it  works on the above picture. They are sucking up the cargo through the pipes, just like a vacuum  cleaner. And the BobCat in the cargo hold is feeding the rapeseed to the pipes.
When we're coming down to the bottom of the cargo hold. And at the end they use brooms to clear the cargo hold from the cargo. Sweeping the bottom and then they moved the pipes to the heaps of rapeseed around the bottom of the cargo hold. Yes, exactly like a vacuum cleaner. Well, Friday night in Hamburg and I went ashore with our Cook and one of the ABs for a  few  beers. Well, it turned out to be a few more than a few beers. 
+++++++++++++++
Saturday 16th of August 1986 and I wasn't back onboard until 8 thirty in the morning, yes, we can  imagine how fun it was to start work right on when coming onboard.
We left Hamburg bound for Ystad where we will load rapeseed to Hamburg again. +++++++++++++++
Sunday 17th of August 1986 and we arrived to Ystad around 12:30. The sun was shining and we had some drizzle at times, all according to my letter home.
+++++++++++++++
Monday 18th of August 1986 and we started to load the rapeseed in the morning. I don't remember  much from Ystad. But I remember that I bought a record with  Busungarna.
And seriously, I can't understand why I bought the darn record. Well, most likely because I had nothing better to do.
We got our next voyage or at least they had been working on a few cargoes after discharging. After discharging our rapeseed in Hamburg it looks like we will load grain in Hamburg for Rostock in East Germany or DDR as they called it back then. And they had a voyage with gypsum to Bålsta from Rostock after discharging in Rostock. 
Well, anyway we were running up and down Elbe and the Kiel Canal back then and as an AB it was hand steering through the Kiel Canal. For sure, you can have better times.
  went ashore for more beer. But Monday night in Ystad and there was f@ck all to  do. One of us got the concrete hat on and felt asleep at the table, no names mentioned.
Well, I also wrote home that I had got a job for 2 to 3 months on this ship.  - Hmm, always the same.
Yes, a job for 2 to 3 months and  when the contract is finished you have to ask to be sent home.
Well, anyway, according to my letter I believed that we were going to leave Ystad in the evening of the  17th of August. The next date in my letter is from the 22nd of August 1986.
  +++++++++++++++
Friday 22nd of August 1986 and we were shifting jetty when we completed the discharging of our  rapeseed. We will load grain for Rostock.
The Swedish seaman's Church came onboard in the evening and they took us to a sport arena for activities.  They usually arrange international sport weeks for the ships staying in the port of Hamburg. This week it was  track and field sports. But they also arrange soccer, table tennis and so on.
  Anyway, we had to stop for a beer on the way back to the ship.  Our Cook, Chief Engineer and our Hero
+++++++++++++++
Sunday 24th of August 1986 and we arrived to Rostock anchorage around 2 o'clock in the afternoon.  And we thought that we would come inside the 25th. well, at least this is what we thought when I was writing my letter on the 24th.
So while anchored we were working daytime, no need for watches for  the ABs. So we were busy painting and chipping rust.
And of course, I had to splice the wires for our hatches. We had 3 cranes on deck. Those were mostly used to open and close the hatches and as we only loaded bulk so there was never any use for the cranes for cargo handling. But I remember how stupid I was back then. Going up from the cargo hold and I used to  hang in the hook and they lifted me up instead of me using the ladder going up from the cargo hold.
Imagine if the crane stopped to work while I was hanging over the cargo hold. How many minutes before I would have to let go of the hook?
+++++++++++++++
Tuesday 26th of August 1986 and we were obviously in Rostock because I wrote in my letter that we were shifting jetty around 1 o'clock in the morning. By then we had discharged our grain at Rostock Seaport and we were waiting to start loading the gypsum. We had obviously shifted from the Seaport to a jetty smack in the town of Rostock. I wrote home that there were houses along the jetty and it was a 3 minutes' walk up to Rostock Hotel or whatever the name was.
  Our Hero had to hide while taking the pictures or STASI would have come running with guns
 Our Hero had to hide while taking the pictures or STASI would have come running with guns
 Our Hero had to hide while taking the pictures or STASI would have come running with guns
Rostock is situated at the Warnow river and we were loading at Unterwarnow so we were just a few  minutes away from the night life. I remember us to go drink
In East Germany we had guards on the jetty with machine guns. They said that they protected East Germany from people from the West. But everyone understood that they watched the gangway so no people escaped from East Germany. Before we left they always searched the ship with a dog. It was absolutely forbidden to take any pictures but I managed to take a few in Rostock. We must have spent a week or so in Rostock. I didn't write  anything in my letter between the 26th and 30th of August. Well, anyway, my writing left a whole lot to wish for. But still, nice to have the letters and great that my  Grandparents saved them, otherwise I would not have had much to write about on my web page.
 First page on my 2nd letter home from M/S Tina
+++++++++++++++
Saturday 30th of August 1986 and we shifted jetty a few hundred meters at 02:30. We're only  waiting for a ship to be ready before we can start load the gypsum. And I write home that we had spent the whole week working day time chipping and painting.
And as it was Saturday we went ashore for a few beers in the evening. I was ashore with our Cook and we went to a restaurant we had a look at the menu. Kaßler kotlet - What the f@ck is a Kabler kotlet? Well, the kabler kotlet with sauerkraut was the only thing looking interesting on the menu so this was our Cook's order. I didn't order anything, just drinks. When the kabler kotlet came on the table we discovered that it was kassler (smoke-cured loin of pork). Well, I had studied German language for 3 years, but I had forgotten all about the ß sign that looks like a b, but the sign is ss and I remembered it the same second the kassler came on the table.  Our Hero had to hide while taking the pictures or STASI would have come running with guns
 Our Hero had to hide while taking the pictures or STASI would have come running with guns
 I found an old picture of Hotel Warnow where we used to drink beer on http://commons.wikimedia.org
+++++++++++++++
Sunday 31st of August 1986 and we were waiting for departure, most likely late night according to my letter. Sunday and we had our day off, and believe me, there wasn't very much to do onboard M/S Tina. So I decided to go ashore to buy some postcards.
 My postcard from Rostock
I went to a restaurant so I could write the postcard while drinking an orange juice. I swinged myself up on a stool in the bar and I ordered a glass of orange juice. I don't think it's any good juice, but I gave it a try.
- We only sell orange juice with alcohol, the said. - Well give me a vodka orange, I said.  Later in the afternoon, after a few of these orange juice there was 3 or 4 police cars arriving. I still remember seeing them parking outside the restaurant and I was feeling sorry for the poor  bastard STASI was here to pick up. But no drama, 3 or 4 Trabants so there was no screamin' and smokin' tyres when they arrived. Well, there might have been a slight drama when 10 Police Officers bursted in to the restaurant and I was mighty surprised  when they came for me. ME??!! I had done nothing but drinking vodka and writing post cards. The picked me up and drove me to a police station. They put me in a cell and when they came back they asked me:
- How much money do you have? - I have 20 mark. I had to pay a 20 mark fine and they released me. I had no clue where I was and as I had no money I had to walk back to the ship. I failed to mention this in my letter back home, but I wrote that we left Rostock at 23:00 bound for Bålsta. But first we had 2 Police Officers with dogs searching the ship for East Germans wanting to leave the country.
 +++++++++++++++
Tuesday 2nd of September 1986 and we had passed Kalmarsund during the night and I got to see  the well-lit castle on Öland. We arrived to the lock in Södertälje around 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
If I remember it right it was a few hours in Lake Mälaren from the lock in Södertälje to Bålsta. Our Cook and I hitch hiked in to Bålsta in the afternoon. There is a small shopping centre. Well, I don't know if I want to call it shopping centre. There was a Pizzeria, a convenient store, A video rental place and the most important, a post office.  My postcard sent from Bålsta, obviously the date is wrong. 9th of October we were in Holmsund
We also did many voyages between East Germany and Bålsta with gypsum. Back then they had  tax free shops in East Germany (DDR) where we could buy very cheap Vodka with Western currency.
We discharged at Gyproc's factory in Bålsta and it was not so far away from the post office. A case or two every  time in Bålsta and I had plenty vodka when I signed off M/S Tina. And of course, there were always a party in my house back then.
And we had the Custom onboard every time, they spent  hours searching the ship. Yes, they were climbing around with mirrors and stuff.
I remember one time under the fo'c's'le, one female Custom officer was climbing and crawling on the shelves under the fo'c's'le looking for liquor. She climbed over my cases with her mirror looking. I   almost felt on the deck laughing
Yes, I could not help myself. I asked her if this wasn't a waste of time. No she was taking her job very seriously. Well, if they had caught me it would have been expensive. According to my letters I had a salary of 6282 SEK  per month, that is about Scooby point Scooby dollars, nothing. So if I would have got caught I would have lost a few months worth of salaries.    Tina when I discovered that it was not Bålstad, but BÅLSTA. Well, no problem, easy to change thanks to Dreamweaver's function “Find and replace”
I bought a film for my camera when we had sent our parcels at the post office. I  don't remember if we had a pizza at the Pizzeria, but I don't think so.
I remember us walking back to the ship and I was talking cameras with our Cook. He had a nice  camera and right there and then I  decided to buy a camera. I had borrowed a camera of my Grandparents. Of course, I had my own Instamatic. But our Cook got me interested in photography and I decided to update my Grandparents camera. And I bought a new camera when I was working onboard my next ship, M/S Bellatrix. But I learnt a lot from our Cook and my Grandparents camera. Hmm, well, obviously not enough judging from all the shitty pictures I have taken during my days.
 +++++++++++++++
Thursday 4th of September 1986 and we left Bålsta at lunch time and according to my letter it took 3 hours to get to the lock in Södertälje. We were going to load Rapeseed to Rotterdam.
 I meet him at my Fire Fighting Course in Göteborg 2009. Now he is a Chief Officer in Wallenius
We got a new Captain in Södertälje. And I remember it as we went ashore to drink beer in  Södertälje. This was nothing I wrote home about so I'm not sure. But I remember me and one of the ABs walking in to the city of Södertälje. Might have been another time, but I only have records of one visit to Södertälje.
But I remember the AB, never paying any taxi and he still owes me money. Yes, we have all met these people and  they are always at the restroom when the bill is about to come.
+++++++++++++++
Saturday 6th of September 1986 and we're stopping in Karlshamn to take onboard spare parts for the engine and the old Captain is signing off. Then we proceeded to Kiel for transit through the Kiel Canal to Rotterdam.
   enough helmsmen from shore was not required so the ABs had to do the hand steering.
Well, it was better than just stay looking out in the blue, but I would have preferred to  be on deck painting or something. Time would for sure turn faster.
Spending the watch on the bridge steering isn't all that fun. But, well,  hmm, when on deck I want to be on the bridge and when on the bridge I want to be on deck. Never satisfied, the grass is always.....
 My postcard from Rotterdam
+++++++++++++++
Monday 8th of September 1986 and we took Pilot outside Rotterdam at 22 thirty in the evening. Of  course, when the weather is bad it is nice to go through the Kiel Canal and according to my letter we had bad weather all the way from Elbe to Rotterdam.
And I wrote the date 8th of September 2 days in a row in my letter back home. But I'm pretty sure it was on the 9th of september and we started to discharge around 5 o'clock in the afternoon and we were ready 9 o'clock in the evening. So it was pretty quick to discharge and we left Rotterdam in the evening bound for Uddevalla in Sweden. +++++++++++++++
Thursday 11th of September 1986 and we arrived to Uddevalla 9 o'clock in the evening and I had a friend visiting me. I knew him from when I was at navigation school in Go:teborg. He lived in Uddevalla and I think we went to drink a beer in Uddevalla, or if we had a pizza. I don't remember, but we went ashore.
 +++++++++++++++
 Sunday 14th of September 1986 and hasn't my web page turned in to a real scrap book? I
 and now it is online for all to see.
We arrived to Rotterdam sometimes before lunch and the Swedish Seaman's church came onboard at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Well, I always write the Swedish seaman's Church, but it could as well have been HKF. Well, most likely it was HKF if there was sport involved. They had an International sport week going on and as this was the last day and they wanted us to do some sports. Well, we made it to the 4th place. But that really doesn't say very much. We get points and if you're, let's say, 150 years old you get a million points just by putting on your shoes. So the place is never mind, but it was fun. +++++++++++++++
Monday 15th of September 1986 and we started to discharge in the morning, but we had to stop in the afternoon due to rain. Yes, when it rains we have to close our hatches so the grain doesn't get  destroyed by the rain. And we spent the evening in Rotterdam, the Swedish Seaman's Church picked us up in the evening. I also remembered that I was at Botlek stores and I bought some records, of which I have none left today.
Most likely we left Rotterdam on the 16th and I wasn't aware of our appearance in the magazine. They took our picture at the International Sport Week but if I knew that we would have ended up in a magazine I would have been on the bathroom  while the picture was taken.
Here I am telling the people back home that I'm flying around in the space shuttle while it is in all the magazines that I'm onboard M/S Tina, and that is not exactly any high end position and the ship was for sure not turning anyone green of envy. But the space shuttle, that's another story..... +++++++++++++++
Thursday 18th of September 1986 and we arrived to Wismar around 4 o'clock in the morning. We  were going to load gypsum for Bålsta. I wish I had some pictures from Wismar, but the Police came onboard and destroyed my film.
I had been taking pictures of our ship when we were loading and it didn't take long before we had the whole ship full of people in uniform. I lost my film and, well, I wish I had the pictures.  My postcard from Wismar
+++++++++++++++
Saturday 20th of September 1986 and we left Wismar 2 o'clock in the morning.
+++++++++++++++
Sunday 21st of September 1986 and we arrived to Bålsta at 9 thirty in the evening. The jetty was  occupied by an East German ship so we have to wait for them to be ready before we can go along side. So we dropped our anchor and we spent the days waiting by chipping and painting.
+++++++++++++++
Tuesday 23rd of September 1986 and the East German ship left at lunch and we were shifting to the discharge jetty. We went ashore in the evening and we went in to Stockholm. One of the ABs were living  in Stockholm, or if it was his sister. I went to visit our previous Cook that was living in Stockholm. Well, we got drunk and I  remember taking a taxi back to Bålsta in the morning.
+++++++++++++++
Wednesday 24th of September 1986 and I remember waking up late after a late night out in Stockholm. But not so late that I missed work, just too late for having my breakfast. We were down in the cargo hold  sweeping when they discharged.
The Stevedores just swept the worst so we had to sweep after them just to make it easier to prepare for the next cargo. I remember that I got a  terrible pain in my stomach and I had to lie down on deck. I could hardly make it out of the cargo hold. DARN! They had to send me to the Doctor and they could not find anything wrong with me.
Back onboard and the 2nd Officer thought that I had not eating my breakfast because of my stomach pain. - I thought you skipped breakfast because of the pain and not because you were ashore. Well, I don't know what it was, but it was for sure nothing to do with any hangover. Back then I never suffered from any hangovers.  +++++++++++++++
Thursday 25th of September 1986 and we left Bålsta in the morning bound for Södertälje where we will load rapeseed for Hamburg. Well, yet another transit of the Kiel Canal.
 First page on my 4th letter home from M/S Tina
+++++++++++++++
Sunday 28th of September 1986 and we arrived to Hamburg at 22 thirty so the below pictures must be form the 28 when we're entering the lock in Brunsbütel
  She was discharging at the same jetty so we moored outside M/S Havsö and when she is ready with her discharging we will take her place.     +++++++++++++++
Monday 29th of September 1986 and M/S Havsö completed discharging around 4 o'clock in the afternoon and we took their place and we started to discharge our rapeseed.
 +++++++++++++++
Friday 3rd of October 1986 and we arrived to Köping in the morning. We will load oats  for a place somewhere around Umeå in the North of Sweden. And we will only load part of the cargo in Köping and we will go to Stockholm to load full cargo.
I'm not sure if we dropped anchor on our way to Köping or if it was on our way to Stockholm from  Köping.
But our Captain was only allowed to drive the ship for 6 hours without Pilot onboard and then we needed to drop the anchor so he could get a rest. +++++++++++++++
Saturday 4th of October 1986 and we arrived to Stockholm around 3 o'clock in the morning. Saturday and we're not start loading until Monday morning. Yes, no work on the weekends and I had a chance to spend money. DARN, back then I had exactly ZIP when I signed off the ships.
Well, anyway, I wrote home and in my letter I wrote that I went ashore in the afternoon to have a   look at Stockholm. To have a look at, it sounded like I was a tourist looking at the castle and stuff.
Believe me, there was no sightseeing, I went straight to the first bar and I got dead dunk. Can't say that I was very interesting in castles and stuff.   My postcard from Stockholm
+++++++++++++++
Tuesday 7th of October 1986 and we arrived to Holmsund around 5 o'clock in the afternoon. It is 15 km to Umeå and we took the buss to Umeå in the evening to watch a movie.
 My postcard from Umeå
+++++++++++++++
Thursday 9th of October 1986 and we left Holmsund around 6 o'clock in the evening. We're bound for Stockholm and it seemed like we were loading Oats back up to the Umeå area again.
 +++++++++++++++
Friday 10th of October 1986 and we arrived to Stockholm at 19 thirty. And according to my letters we didn't know if we were going to load or not. We would not get any information until Monday and we had to spend yet another weekend in Stockholm. Well, I remember that I went ashore for a few beers in Stockholm and I spent most of the Sunday sleeping.
+++++++++++++++
Monday 13th of October 1986 and we started to load grain before lunch. We loaded for a place called Hörnefors, and I only knew because I have two pictures marked with “Sun Set in Hörnefors”
 My postcard from Hörnefors
It didn't take long to load and we left Stockholm around 6 o'clock in the evening.  +++++++++++++++
Wednesday 15th of October 1986 and we had obviously been waiting at the anchorage because  I wrote home that we heaved up our anchor around 7 in the morning. I also wrote that we were discharging in the middle of nowhere. I didn't mention any strike in my letter. But my picture is marked with “strike” and that we discharged in to trucks.
We got a ride to Hörnfors with one of the trucks. There was a convenient store and a few houses. Well, enough for us to rent a few videos. It was 27 km to Umeå +++++++++++++++
Saturday 18th of October 1986 and if I remember it right we had been in Umeå drinking beers on Friday night. Well, anyway, we left Hörnefors at 11 o'clock and I have never been there since. Can't say that I miss the place.
We're bound for Köping where we will load for DDR (East Germany) I finish the day in my letter  with a note: I will soon sign off.
++++++++
Monday 20th of October 1986 and we arrived to Köping in the morning. We're loading grain for Wismar in DDR.
Quick loading and we left at 15 thirty and the weather was quite nice, at least according to my letter. +++++++++++++++
Wednesday 22nd of October 1986 and we arrived to Wismar 22 thirty and it was raining.
+++++++++++++++
Friday 24th of October 1986 and we left Wismar around 10 o'clock in the evening bound for Fredericia, Denmark. We will load peas in Fredericia for Hamburg. It is 140 nautical miles between Wismar and Fredericia so we will arrive tomorrow around lunch.
 +++++++++++++++
Saturday 25th of October 1986 and we arrived to Fredericia around 11 o'clock. They will not start load until Monday so we have the weekend off. As I wrote home, weekend off means less money in our pockets. But the problem was the party Saturday nights when we had the Sundays off.
Yes, what to do onboard a Saturday night? And what to do in Fredericia on a Saturday night? I don't know and I took the train to Copenhagen. I remember going back to Fredericia on Sunday. I was in the same compartment as 2 girls and their mother. Obviously the younger sister and the mother were going to drop off the older sister at a home for children with problems. Most likely with drugs and alcohol. I was back onboard around lunch time and, yes, there wasn't much to do.  +++++++++++++++
Wednesday 29th of October 1986 and we finally left Fredericia around 7 in the evening. Loading  had taken a very long time due to rain.
I also remember that we had to be in the cargo holds, on top of te peas when they were about to completed loading. We had to spread the peas in order to be able to close the hatches. They loaded the peas and the cargo was topped so it would have been impossible to close the hatches.  Last page on my last letter home from M/S Tina
I finish my last letter home with: I don't know where we're going after Hamburg. But I will soon go home. I found old postcards and one is from the 11th of November 1986 and we're loading Coal in Västerås for Åhus in Skåne.
 My postcard from Västerås
I wrote that I gave my notice and I was hoping to go home soon. Well, I left 17th of November and it must have been in Södertälje according to the post card
 My postcard sent from Åhus in Skåne 14th of November 1886
Well, I signed off M/S Tina 17th of November but I don't remember where. But I know that I signed on M/S Bellatrix 2nd of December 1986 in Helsingborg so I had a few days of holiday OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it  be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.
So
So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff! 
 Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas
 Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!
 Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!
 Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra
 Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!
 คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้
 Вы говорите по-русски? NJET PROBLEMA! Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!
 E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.
    
You are visitor no.
To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011
|
Yes, give it a try by push the play button above. For sure 
nothing you bring to your favourite pub.
Dresden. Radeberger ranks number 9 among Germany's best selling breweries.
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||