April 2009


Wednesday 1st of April 2009 and I was dead tired when I went to bed at 10:30. I had been up since 19:30 yesterday. And luckily enough I managed to get some sleep yesterday afternoon.

I dropped a sleeping pill at 15:00 and I woke up at 19:30. I only had 3 hours sleep previous night so sleep was needed. A quick shower and it was nonstop action until 7 o'clock in the CCR and of course waiting for M/T Delos calculation.

The crew were surprised to see me when they got up in the morning.
- Are you still onboard?
I spent yesterday walking around with my suitcase waiting for the launch service. Captain told me that the launch would be here in 15 minutes and at 15:00 I gave up and I went to my cabin and I dropped a sleeping pill. Well, after listening to the radio conversation between Captain and the Pilot boat we understood that there wouldn't be and going home for me.
M/T Delos
M/T Delos
M/T Delos fully loaded

We completed discharging at 06:24 and the cargo hose was disconnected at 07:25. I was hoping for us to be out of here before 8 so I could go to bed. But we had to wait for M/T Delos to Surveyor from Nigeriacomplete their calculations before we could leave. It was around 9 o'clock when they were ready. 500 tonnes difference Disconnecting the hoseand I just knew that this could take long, and I was tired.

At 10:30 they were taking their 2nd ullages and I went to bed. No sleeping pill and I didn't have the good sleep I was hoping for. I woke up every now and then and at 16:30 I went up to get a shower.

Coming to my office after my shower and I called our former new Chief Officer and now it was only 390 tonnes difference, but still no news about any departure.

Well, while waiting I packed up my stuff again. Luckily enough I didn't throw away all my shirts yesterday. I washed them this morning and now it's back to the very same as before I was about to sign off. Well, not quite the same as before. I bought an insurance and my brother paid for it on internet. Valid from 1st of April, the day I expected to be landing in FUNKY TOWN.
- Hmm, I wonder if I can get the company to pay for it.
- Isn�t there any benefits to stay onboard?
- Of course, another day, another dollar. And I will have more days to lose weight on!

At 17:00 they had sorted out the calculations onboard M/T Delos and it's about 400 tonnes We're soon readymissing. But we will not leave until tomorrow morning.

When Captain told me that we had to wait until tomorrow I thought that we had to stay until tomorrow I thought it was because of the missing 400 tonnes. But I was wrong.
- M/T Delos will leave tonight and we will stay until tomorrow morning.
- Good, at least we will get rid of her, I said.

We have two Surveyors onboard and they cannot send a boat for them after 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Yeah, we have the two last days off signing drama fresh in mind. The launch service in Cotonou leaves very much to desire.

We finished the documents and M/T Delos sent us a protest for not accepting their “Notice of Time for M/T Delos to leaveReadiness” until 13:24 on the 30th of March. Well, actually I never wrote any time or that I accepted their NOR. I just signed and stamped “for receipt only” on their NOR.

When we discovered this protest we had to make another protest. Send it over for a signature before we could leave. NOR accepted when all fast is pretty much the normal procedure all over the world.

We arrived 28th and we expected to start the operation 29th. But M/T Delos left Cotonou in the morning to attend stowaway business in Lagos in the morning. When she came back it was dark and we had to wait until the 30th to commence the STS operation.
Well, typical Greek ship to tender notice and they are not even here. Now I hope they lose their demurrage and that they have to pay our demurrage as well. I don't know if Vitol has any interest in paying demurrage for 2 ships while one of the ships is not available.

At 19:35 M/T Delos left us and the first thing I asked Captain was if he got his keys to the slop chest. I need a new toothbrush and darn, I found three Ritter Sport Marzipan. I could not help myself. But tomorrow
Before
After
it will be back to my language course, gym, constitutional and my daily hour in the pool. Well, after more than 6 weeks in Africa waiting I think I can indulge a little when we're finally are ready with the whole operation. And believe me, it will be very nice when we're leaving tomorrow.

Thursday 2nd of April 2009 and today we have planned for a tank cleaning. My guys have prepared deck. Well, they finished preparing yesterday while waiting for M/T Delos to be ready. But they start at 6 o'clock in the morning and they did a few last minutes preparation in the morning before I got up.

I changed the crews working hours from 8 to 5 and I have 7 days of painting and blasting. But why should I be the a-hole? So I changed it back to 6 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon and now they clean their cabins on Saturdays and they have Sunday off.

But today it's tank cleaning day, but first our morning tea. It has been a few days since our last GOD MORGON MYS by now and I had been looking forward to it. And what a disappointment our GOD MORGON MYS turned out to be. We were just about to leave our Surveyors when I came down and our Cook had to have his breakfast alone.
Early morning at Cotonou, Benin
Surveyors are leaving in the middle of our morning tea time
I got my plate of tuna and I left it and I went on deck to say goodbye to or Surveyors and when I was back in the mess room our Cook was ready. And he was disappointed.
Tank cleaning- Where did you go? You just left your plate and left!
- I had to attend to some important stuff.

I brought my tea to the CCR and I calibrated our gas meters so I Tank cleaningcould measure our tanks before the tank cleaning. Must be less than 8% oxygen. But no problem after the discharging. We had 3,2% oxygen and about 12% VOL gas.

I had our OS with me and I explained the difference between VOL% and LEL%. And yes, my “EASY TO UNDERSTAND” drawings have received plenty appreciation and I made one of my pedagogical drawings to show him why you need to have a VOL% measurement when you have inert gas.
- You will be years ahead of your class mates when you start school to become an Chief Officer.

At 09:25 we started the cleaning and we were ready at 13:35. Well, almost ready. They had Tank cleaningproblem in the engine department so we had to finish the Tank cleaningcleaning. When things were back to working order again our crew started to strip the tanks.

They managed to strip 12 tanks and we will leave 9 tanks for tomorrow. We will purge the tanks with nitrogen during the night. We started to ventilate 3P/S and we stopped the fans at 5 and they will start them again 6 o'clock tomorrow morning. Hopefully we will be gas free on Saturday and on Monday our Bosun will repair the pump in 3 port.

I took the opportunity to get my constitutional on the catwalk while the Bosun and one of the ABs were stripping the tanks. When they finished a tank I went to the CCR to turn off the pump and to start the next in sequence.
After dinner I got 1 hour in the pool. It has been a few days since I had time for the pool last time. It was very nice with fresh deep ocean water in the pool.

Friday 3rd of April 2009 and today I would start by measuring gas in our tanks. But first our morning tea. Well, our OS is about to apply for the very fine school to become a Chief Officer and gas measuring is an important part of the job.

I called him on the radio when I finished my morning tea.
- Yo! Come to my office and I will show you how to calibrate the gas instruments!
Our OS calibrating our gas meter
Our new Chief Officer keep an eye on the OS
Our OS learns the tricks of the trade
Our OS stepped in to my office after a few seconds and we could start the calibration. When we Our OSwere ready I asked if he understood what he had done. An excellent opportunity for me to make a new drawing on our white board and today I had my camera with me.

Cargo tanks 1-5 were gas free and we will go down to check the pump in 3 port on Monday. Hopefully cargo tanks 6 to 10 will be gas free tomorrow morning and we can turn off the nitrogen purging. Then it should be pretty much ready to start welding on deck. And there is plenty to weld.

The rail on the platform is severely damaged after the storm in November 2008. They lost drums with tank cleaning chemicals and the rail was ripped to pieces. The covers on the gears to the anchor winches are rusted away and we need new covers.
Plenty of the supports on deck are just rusted away. But our Deck Fitter is working 12 and a half hour a day in the engine room so it should not be any problem. I have our Fitter on Barcarolle and he was kicking ass on deck so it should be possible to do it on our deck as well.

At least I hope so! Since the engine department took over the Deck Fitter the jobs on deck pretty much has come to a full stop. It started when I came onboard and we did a safety round on deck. I asked our deck Fitter how the work with the steam pipes. (The reason for him to be onboard)
- I'm not working on the pipes right now. The Engineer told me to work with other stuff.
Yeah, I got furious and I took over the responsibility for our Deck Fitter. I told him that he only had to do the jobs I gave him because the company send Inspectors complaining about the slow progress with the steam pipes. When the new Chief Engineer came onboard he asked if the Deck Fitter could work together with the Engine Fitter.
- They can work with both deck and engine stuff, he said.
- Of course, this is how it should work, I said
And from that point the Deck Fitters work on deck pretty much came to a full stop.
Captain told me he was working 12,5 hours per day and I asked him how many hours he thought he spent on the steam pipes.
Cover for the hawser pipe is missing
Before
Cover for the hawser pipe is missing
After
We need the cover for the hawser pipe to prevent stowaways and robbers to climb onboard. We discovered the missing hatch and we tried to use the one on port side. But it didn't fit.
Well, after 6 weeks nothing had happened with the cover and this is pretty much a simple work for our skilful Deck Fitter.
Control to our winches forward
Before
Control to our winches forward
After
After 6 weeks drifting the control to our winch forward is still leaking oil. Coming to port with hydraulic leak on the winch and any Nigerian Port Inspector would have loved this one. He could have fined us and thus been able to feed his whole family for a long time.

Platform for the pilot gate
Before
Platform for the pilot gate
After
Here is another one for our Nigerian Port Inspector and as you understand I was angry. Nothing happened on deck and I was angry. I asked Captain if the Deck Fitter should work in the Coffee break in the Suez cabinengine room.
- Yes, he can be in the engine working.
Well, no one cares about the deck and I stopped caring as well. When I was in charge for the deck Fitter he changed the platform on starboard side in one day. A steel plate, 4 holes and 4 bolts. How long should it take? When one of our ABs had to spend his days sorting the garbage I had enough and I gave my notice. Now I'm busy trying to find meaningful tasks for our deck crew.

Well, hopefully we will be gas free tomorrow and our new Chief Officer and I will measure the tanks tomorrow. But, of course, first our morning tea.

I spent the afternoon checking if there was air coming out air from all the drain cocks on the cargo pipe system. We have one air driven fan blowing on #3 manifold to get all gas out of the cargo pipes. We stopped the fan just in time for the crew to go have their dinner.
Our Cook is visiting the guys during the break
Time for a break
I was surprised when I came to the Suez cabin. Our Cook enjoying his coffee break with the deck crew. I never seen him there before and, well, there was no chair left for me. I needed to plan next week�s work with Bosun. Our deck crew finished the stripping and super strip of the cargo Bosun scolding our OS (Arranged picture)tanks today and next week will be a busy week. Repairing the cargo pump in 3P and check all our mooring lines. Many of our mooring lines were destroyed while we were discharging to M/T Delos.

We were rolling heavily alongside M/T Delos and our mooring lines took a lot of beating. Stripping of the cargo tanks took much longer than normal in the rolling, up to 10°. Not enough to make us seasick, but for sure enough to make trouble for us.

Signing off in Las Palmas seems to have been changed to Algeciras in Spain. We're going full speed towards Algeciras and a possible Naphtha cargo. Las Palmas cancelled and a few of us were disappointed. We had planned for a few days holiday in Las Palmas before returning home. Algeciras had nothing to offer, except pumpernickel in the department store. At least they had pumpernickel last time I was in Algeciras a few years ago with Pegasus.

Saturday 4th of April 2009 and we (Me and our new Chief Officer) started the day by measuring gas in the cargo tanks. Well, first we had our morning tea and we calibrated the GOOD MORNING ACTIONgas instrument. We logged the calibration and use of the instruments. Otherwise it's FY from Vetting Inspectors. For sure, if the Inspector would find something like that we would have made his day. He could have gone home to his wife in the evening nagging on her about his IMPORTANT job to keep order on the shipping business.

Algeciras is cancelled and now we're back to our original plan to My bathrobesign off in Las Palmas. So maybe we can go back to the original plan to stay a few days in Las Palmas.

But I only have one shirt, OK, I can keep one of my other shirts as an “Emergency shirt”. But I will have to hand wash my SIGN ON/ OFF shirt every day.
Easter is coming up and I guess the laundry service at the hotel can be a wee bit slow. But let's see what�s happening.

But for sure, it will not be worse than staying at Swissôtel The Stamford in Singapore. Claiming to be a 6 star hotel and they for sure charge you for staying in style. So you don't expect to run around collecting stuff and put them in your bathtub if you want them changed. You know how it can look in a hotel room after a late night out. Then you have to start do the room cleaning first thing in the morning, with a raving hangover. Next time (Well, it will never be any next time) they expect you to clean the bathroom by yourself.

Well, my shirt and I remember 2 months ago or something like that. Our Cook was in my cabin and Barbershophe caught sight of my shirt.
- A bathrobe! Very nice.
- Well, hmm, it's my shirt.

Beautiful day and I went to the pool after lunch. Coming to the pool and I had to return to get my shoes on, deck was very hot. On my way back I remembered last time when I got burnt and I returned to my cabin to grease myself up with anti-sunburn gel, factor 20.

Pool deck was full of people sunbathing and I expected to experience an socialising extravaganza in the pool with frolic and lark. So I was in for a surprise. Grown men sunbathing and there was exactly ZERO of the frolic and lark that I had expected.
- HEY! I thought sunbathing was for old ladies only! I tried.
Our Bosun lights up the BBQ
Our Bosun lights up the BBQ
Don't be alarmed! We're gas free
We're gas free and tonight there will be a BBQ on deck. Our Bosun put fire to the BBQ in the The Super Chefafternoon and I was there to take the pictures. And as I suspected, I ate too much and I will try to blame it on our Cook so I can feel better about myself.

I was quick to leave the BBQ, already full, but the potato salad was very nice. I felt like another helping and I left before the temptation took control.

A diet drink. I would have given almost anything for a diet drink now. Our 2nd Engineer asked if I was addicted.
- Maybe. But it will not affect my job performance.

We will get a new Bosun in Las Palmas and our Fitter knows him and I asked for his e-mail address.
- I will ask him to bring 3 cans if diet drinks.
I will drink 2 onboard will having the last minute pep talk with our Chief Officer and the last one is for the trip ashore. From the moment I set foot on Spanish soil it will only be white wine.

I will send an e-mail to the company and ask them to make my reservation to FUNKY TOWN for Monday the 13th so I can spend the weekend in Las Palmas having a good time.

Sunday 5th of April 2009 and I woke up to a beautiful day. The Atlantic was calm like a windmill pond we're steaming on a NW'erly course west of Liberia toward Las Palmas. ETA 08:00 Friday morning @ 13,3 knots and I'm looking forward to a diet drink.

Monday 6th of April 2009 and today it's time to go down in cargo tank 3 port to check the cargo pump. But first our morning tea. Morning tea is important and it's a nice time of the day (OK, I GOOD MORNING ACTION in cargo tank 3 Portwould be better off in bed ) but today we had important stuff to do and I was in a kind of rush.

I brought my tea to my office and I started to calibrate our gas instrument. Our next Chief Officer joined me and when I finished my GOOD MORNING carrot we left for deck.

We will go down in cargo tank 3 Port and I measured 3 port and starboard because it's important to measure all tanks with connection to each other. I measured the gas myself today, people will depend on a good measurement or they will die. Our new Chief Officer can measure as good as I can, but I'm still responsible. Both tanks were gas free and we entered.
- I will go down first! When I tell you can come after me!
- I want to go down first, Mr X said.
- NO! I'm responsible so I go first and no one follows until I say so!
Yes, I'm responsible and if I die in the tank no one will give a shit. But if I have one of the crew dying on me in the tank I'm an a shit load of trouble. And It would have been pretty hard to live the rest of my life with a dead AB on my conscience. SO I GO DOWN FIRST!
- OK!
- When I'm down the first steps I will take a picture off you looking down the hatch, I said.
GOOD MORNING ACTION in cargo tank 3 Port
GOOD MORNING ACTION in cargo tank 3 Port
Repairing cargo pump in 3 Port
Before we entered we started the air for the purging and when we came down we could hear the air coming out from the pump. Leaking cargo seal. Good, we knew what to do and we got right on with the work.
GOOD MORNING ACTION in cargo tank 3 Port
GOOD MORNING ACTION in cargo tank 3 Port
Our OS will have plenty experience when he becomes a Chief Officer
It took quite some time to remove the pump and when the pump was removed we could see the busted cargo seal. But we were soon to discover that the ceramic sleeve and the upper cargo seal were busted as well. Busted, it was trash.
GOOD MORNING ACTION in cargo tank 3 Port
Busted cargo seal
GOOD MORNING ACTION in cargo tank 3 Port
Busted cargo seal and ceramic sleeve in 100 pieces
We had skipped the coffee break and when we finally had removed the shaft we were late for lunch as well. But we were in a good mood. After lunch we went to get new cargo seal and a new GOOD MORNING ACTION in cargo tank 3 Portceramic sleeve. NO CERAMIC SLEEVE!

Darn! No spare ceramic sleeve and I needed to get one ASAP. I went on deck to measure the tanks for gas. While the guys were in the tanks putting new cargo seals on the pump I GOOD MORNING ACTION in cargo tank 3 Portwent on bridge to call our Inspector in Sweden. The plan is to get one ceramic sleeve with one of the on signers in Las Palmas.

After several calls I gave up. I left a message on his answering machine and I sent an e-mail. I wanted to call him later on in the evening but Captain told me it should not be any problem.
- You sent an e-mail, that's enough.
OK, I hope so. The crew was back up from the tank at 2 o'clock and they continued to work in the Bosun's workshop. It's freshly painted and now they mark all the tools. This has to be ready on Wednesday and on Thursday they will prepare themselves for leaving the ship on Friday.
GOOD MORNING ACTION in cargo tank 3 Port
GOOD MORNING ACTION in cargo tank 3 Port
Bosun and OS working with the pump
Chief Officer taking pictures while giving stupid pointers
I spent the evening watching a movie in the day room. I have not been there for a very long time now. And I remembered why when I made 2 sandwiches, seems like I have to have something to munch on as soon as I sit down in front of the TV.

Tuesday 7th of April 2009 and today we have to check all our mooring ropes, they took a lot of beating at the STS operation. But first our morning tea.

Coming on deck and you could feel that we were steaming towards North. Windy and a bit chilly in Checking mooring ropesthe wind. It would have been perfect if it wasn't for the wind. A smell of fish or seaweed or something similar on deck. 3 days to go Checking mooring ropesto Las Palmas and I hope its weather for shorts. Well, I'm sure it is, it was nice when we passed there 8th of February South bound.

One rope forward was discarded and we brought up a new rope from the Bosun store under the fo'c's'le. We also had to cut one rope by about 25m and one by 10m so the crew could to splice new eyes. We have a kind of mooring ropes I can't remember ever seeing before. 7 strand lined with a jacket. The jacket was damaged on several places so the crew had to wrap them with rope.

One of our 2nd Officers, our Cook and OS sent an request to stay in Las Palmas until Monday so I guess there will be some party Friday and Saturday. Sunday will be spent eating B-12 vitamins and on Monday I will be off for FUNKY TOWN.

But I found out that I made a miscalculation, one of the main reason for me to stay in Las Palmas was to avoid the NEW YEAR in Thailand. 14th Checking mooring ropesof April and now I found out that 14th of April is on Tuesday and I'm not looking forward to the Thai NEW YEAR celebration.
To experience Thai NEW YEAR once is enough and I had been unlucky enough to experience it several times. But this time I came up with the Las Palmas master plan trying to dodge the whole event but I failed.

Later on in the afternoon I got an e-mail from the company. All flights are full on Monday and they will try to get me out of there on Saturday or Sunday. It's the Easter weekend coming up and it seems hard to get any seats out from Las Palmas. Luckily enough for the off signers the on signers have their tickets so no one has to stay onboard. Well, I have no worries, my reliever is onboard.

Wednesday 8th of April 2009 and I was in an instant good mood when I got dressed after my
Before
After
shower, 11 holes in the belt. Well, anyway, today we will try to discharge our SLOP. This is the last thing our new Chief Officer wants to see before taking over. But first our morning tea.

I had our OS to turn the blinds to our nitrogen line and the overboard line. So now we're not gas free anymore and exactly ZERO has been welded on deck. I asked Captain yesterday what they had for plans about the welding on deck. I was not in charge for the Deck Fitter anymore, not since Captain told me he should work in the engine and I asked him:
- What's your plan for the welding? We have been gas free for 4 days now and f@ck all have happened on deck.
- We do it some other time. You can open the blind to the slop again.

What the f@ck am I waisting my time making lists for things to be welded on deck? We have neen gas free since Saturday morning and nothing have happened on deck. Anchor winches, rails, supports and we should warm the nut to the break adjuster for STB anchor. Only a few mm left when the break is on and we tried to adjust the nut. But it's stuck and we need to heat it with a gas torch.
- We do it after Lagos when we weld the anchor winch.
Sounds good and I remembered “They can work with both deck and engine stuff”.

While drifting in Lagos our Chief Engineer told us that we could only use starboards anchor in an EMERGENCY. Someone must be responsible to get the winch welded because I'm pretty sure someone is paid for having the responsibility. So you could expect the winch to be repaired first thing. Fer f@cks sake, if something is broke so we can only use it in an EMERGENCY shouldn't the pool deck be cleared and all hands be on deck repairing the anchor winch when we're gas free, but f@ck all have been repaired.

And for sure, in my job description it's not mentioned that I should be the village idiot onboard. I'm hired as a Chief Officer and this is the last time I make a fool out of myself making a things to be welded on deck list.

And we wasted cubic meters of gas oil purging the tanks with nitrogen for about 40 hours. I call it sabotage and it�s an outrage. Not only wasting the time and money. But no one cares about the ship and when I want things to happen they think I'm a pain in the arse. And it's not the first time there had been problem with the engine department. When they started to do the ballast tanks they soon got angry and gave up because there were difficulties with the engine department. I heard many stories like this onboard and amazing how 1 person can be allowed to destroy the whole ship.

I really don't care but I'm tired of being a whiner. Always complaining but I refuse to work with drunks and I will continue complaining. I'm complaining when something is wrong on the ship, well, at least I think something is wrong when we have been gas free for 4 days and f@ck all have happened on deck. I'm hired as a Chief Officer and it's my job to make sure the ship is SHIP SHAPE. When we have a “once in a year or less” chance to weld our deck it's more important than sitting on pool deck saying that we don't have the time.

Last Friday after lunch. We completed tank cleaning and I turned off the power packs. I called the engine department.
- We're ready with the power pack and you can repair the pipe to cargo pump 4P.
I have mentioned several times and Bosun has showed it for the Fitter and after almost a week f@ck all have happened with the pipe. On other ships a leaking hydraulic pipe is considered as something we need to repair ASAP.

Now I know what you think. Yeah, you think that Aladdin is the kind of guy they want on the ship. Well, you should know how it works in life, at least you over the age of 25. I'm a pain in the arse and difficult to work with.
OK, I don't have to care about the darn deck. It�s not my ship and I receive my salary anyway. But what really makes the job worth doing is the pleasure after a day of a job well done. But of course, then the Inspectors can't visit the ship in exotic ports complaining about rust and stuff Discharging slopand then we have destroyed their day.

And yes, if they want Bro Promotion to look like a PanamaGreek I don't care, but I will not be onboard. Well, anyway, after our morning tea I took our new Chief Officer to the CCR and we could prepare to discharge the SLOP.

We started to discharge the slop at 09:15 and there should not be much gasoline in the tank. After the super strip we expected maybe 1 to 2m³ of gasoline after draining the manifold back onboard after discharging. When we started there was no interface between the water and gasoline so this should be (hopefully) to discharge the water.

When we were up and running I opened my e-mail and I had my flight details and there will not be any time to spend any money in Las Palmas. I will take a tour on town and spend the night drinking diet drinks in my room. I expect them to call us at 3 o'clock in the morning so we can be at the Time to measure gas againairport in time.
4VLFCF
KL3324  T  11APR    LPABCN       0710  1120
KL1668  T  11APR    BCNAMS       1505  1730
KL 668  T  11APR    AMSBKK       2045  1230+1


While discharging the slop our new Chief Officer calibrated the gas instruments. I was only in the back keeping an eye on things. He did the enclose space entry permit and he was off to measure cargo tank 3P. He needs to go down so our Bosun can show him the pump that we could not put back together due to the missing ceramic sleeve.
We expect to get the new ceramic sleeves with DHL in Las Palmas Keeping an eye on thingsand by then our new Chief Officer is alone and he need to be up to date by then.

We completed the slop discharge at 11:20 with only a few mishaps. We managed to discharge almost 400m³ of water. Flow meter was working well and I thank our Electrician for lightening the territory for me.

I filled up the oil record book and I was ready just in time for lunch. Two small bowls of Sukiyuki or whatever it was.
Before
After
Delicious, but I didn't take any third helping. Yes, 11 holes and I are aiming at the 12th hole. For sure I don't want to go back to the 10th hole. I can be at the gym Monday morning before going to school instead of hanging around in Las Palmas drinking beer and that's the good thing with having my flight Saturday morning.

The crew spent the afternoon picking up the last things from deck and tomorrow they will spend the day cleaning their cabins. I spent the afternoon with my agony. Our I'm losing my cashElectrician has his birthday and I could not help myself. I had to take a piece of cake and unluckily enough I slipped with the cake slicer and my piece got a wee bit bigger than intended.

I was in the Suez cabin with our Bosun, OS and one of the ABs when we finished for the day.
- What�s happening tonight? I asked.
- We can play something, our Bosun suggested.
- What?
- We can play poker, Bosun suggested.
I'm losing my cashWe agreed to meet in the crew's mess room at 18:30. Bosun and I were in time. Our OS had to clear some problem with his overtime and the AB was a no show.
Well, I lost my money real quick and I had to return to my cabin for more cash.

Well, I was under the impression that they were going to let the Chief Officer win when they suggested poker. But obviously I have to send them chipping in the DB to learn how to play poker. Our OS won everything we had and I returned to my cabin at eight thirty.

I spent 20 minutes in our new Chief Officer's cabin talking about the good old days before finishing the day by watching movie in my cabin.

Thursday 9th of April 2009 and I thought this should be our last morning tea onboard. But head GOD MORGON MYSwind has slowed us down and it looks like we will arrive to Las Palmas tomorrow afternoon.

The crew started the day by cleaning up in the Suez cabin and there were plenty laundry to be done before signing off tomorrow. Our OS was putting up the last tools in Bosun's workshop.

I don't have any laundry to do, I will throw away all my shirts. No need to bring any extra shirts when I fly home with the first flight.

Still plenty garbage on the poop deck and I guess they don't Our garbagehave the time to burn the garbage. Busy, well, busy is not the word I'm looking for.

It's an emergency everyday Monday to Friday 08:00 to 17:00, no time to do anything in the engine room and after 17:00 and in the weekends it's the pool deck.

But there is time to clean out the steering engine and bring up all the hydraulic hoses on deck.

The co-operation has left much too wish for. Well, there had been no co-operation at all. I'm used to trying to wash deck once a week and at least once a week I want to have the superstructure washed. Our superstructure is very dirty by now because we haven�t washed it down for a few months. I want my crew to do it in the evening after dinner so they can spend the day painting and blasting.
- HEY! You can't use water on deck after 5 o'clock. We need to be in the engine room when we run the fire pump and we stop work at 5.
- OK, fine by me. We skip the washing of the superstructure.
So now we have a dirty superstructure and the engine department can sit by the pool.

It's a gloomy and grey day and what to do? I can choose between go on deck and make a list of things we need to weld or I can watch a movie.
- Hmm, I think I take the movie and I can kill some time until lunch.

Friday 10th of April 2009 and my last day onboard M/T Bro Promotion and my last morning tea with the boys. Our Cook brought the last pack of pumpernickel for the festivities and I was looking Our last pumpernickelforward to wolfing down pumpernickel with the boys.
Pumpernickel
the word, was used as an insult in both Germany and Sweden. In Sweden from the 18th century. If you read Nationalencyklopedin they think that they started to call the bread for Pumpernickel because of the effect the bread has on your digestion.


Pumpernickel means a person that is clumsy, ungainly in German dialect. Pumper= fart and Nickel is disparaging for Nikolaus. Or as our German Captain on Pegasus said:
- A farting Santa Claus!

Pumpernickel is dark, dense German bread made from coarsely ground whole meal rye. Originally from Westphalia in Germany.

Hmm, I though they called me Pumpernickel because of my healthy lifestyle.
But there had been a misunderstanding and I never received any wake up call.

So I was not in the mess room until 20 minutes after 8 and I meet them when they left the mess room.
- Where have you been? DARN! Our Cook had prepared the last pumpernickel and I missed it. But I made a bucket of tea and some pumpernickel with cheese on. I didn't wanted to drink my morning tea alone so I joined our Beautiful morningCook in the kitchen. I told our Mess man that our Cook was angry at him. - I never got up and our Cook missed the last morning tea with me!
- But I thought you said that I shouldn't call you today.
- Well, a misunderstanding, never mind. I'm always in a good mood. But our Cook......

When I finished my morning tea I went to the crew's deck to see if they were ready to go. We will arrive to Las Palmas around 2 o'clock in the afternoon and they were putting the last hand on the cabin. I asked one of the ABs where the Thai music was.

I made a DVD for him yesterday with Thai music. Our ABs computer capsized and sank a few months ago and he went in to Motorman's cabin with his DVD soon we had Thai music blasting high on B deck.
Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria from my window
Just before 10 o'clock I could see Gran Canaria from my window and now it's only a few hours to Las Palmas on the North part of the island.

Quarter past 12 the crew started to prepare the accommodation ladder on port side. 1 hour to go. It's heave sea and swell due to strong winds and I hope we manage to get down to the launch. We're 12 or 13 off signers and we expect provision so it will take some time in Las Palmas.
Waiting for the launch of Las Palmas
Off signers waiting for the launch
Waiting for the launch of Las Palmas
Launch arriving with on signers and provision
Waiting for the launch off Las Palmas
At quarter past one we were waiting on deck with our luggage and we had to wait a while for the launch to arrive. They had to stop at another ship before us for a quick crew change.
Las Palmas
Lifting onboard provision
Las Palmas
Our new Bosun with provision
On signers had to get right on the work with the provision

Our new crew came onboard and we remember our AB from Skåne signing off in New York. When he came onboard he told me first thing that it had been a success with the snus order to the Philippines. I had forgotten all about the snus but he told me that I had told him that it was easy to order snus from Swedish Match.
- I ordered 6 rolls and it took 3 days to get them. Thank you for the tip!

There was a new 2nd Officer coming as well. He had searched for Bro promotion on the internet and he found my page.
- Very good, I knew everything about the ship before coming here.
Las Palmas
Bosun on the pilot ladder
Las Palmas
Bosun on the pilot ladder
1 hour later Bosun gives it a second try
We had lifted onboard all the provision and we had all our luggage in the launch and it was time to get off. Our Bosun was on the pilot ladder ready to get off. Suddenly Captain changed course and we got heavy seas from forward and we had to abort. The launch jumped up and down.
Las Palmas
Las Palmas
Las Palmas
Getting off the ship
We made a turn to get the sea in from our starboard side and the launch was back about 1 hour after the first try. When the launch was ready to take us onboard I told the crew that I wanted Finally we're off the shipto go off as second.
- I will take a picture of the first guy leaving and then I can take pictures of the rest of the crew coming down the pilot ladder.

We left Bro promotion around 4 o'clock and she could leave for Sines in Portugal. We had to make one stop at another ship to pick up a few off signers before we could come ashore.

Waiting and waiting.
- Where the hell are they?
We wanted to come ashore to the hotel so we could get a cold diet drink and a shower.

Bro Promotion
The best picture
I'm off for my holiday.



       
                  



                                       

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