26 Dec'09
It was in Jun'09 wen i was transitting thru the gulf of aden in maharshi shubhatreya,v were coming out of the gulf into the open sea,in the evening i hear on vhf the distress message transmitted by one of the ships,she was being attacked by the pirates,she kept shouting v r under fire,v r being fired at,v request assistance but none of the warships patrolling tht area heard them.i recorded the message n had tht ship's name but never paid attention to its name. I joined Richmond Bridge on 17th Dec'09 early morning at 0100Hrs while transitting thru suez,the freeboard was soo low i couldnt believe me putting my luggage by hand from the shore boat to the ship's main deck. We were to head for gulf of aden yet again to proceed towards far east. The next day we got a alot of stuff from company in the name of measures to take for security.The time was limited and so was the manpower,so we managed to make the bars which would be attached to the ship's side and the barbed wire would pass thru them. We got the steel plates put up around bridge to prevent any bullets coming in. We rigged fire hoses with deflector plates so tht all the water wud b concentratd on going to any boats planning to board us. We had wire mesh for the window in front of the bridge but time wasnt permitting us to put tht up. We had around 50 sand bags to be put up at the brige wing to prevent any RPGs or gun fire but time again didnt permit us to put them in place. We had a meeting prior entering the area with all the crew and that is wen i came to know tht Richmond Bridge was once attacked arnd the gulf of aden a couple of months back. The chain of incidents sounded familiar,so i went back to my cabin to listen to the recording of tht ship n it wasnt a surprise to know tht the other day the ship asking for assistance was Richmond Bridge.She was going unescorted,was attcked by arnd 10 pirate boats but managed to break their attempts by its own manouevres. We transitted thru the gulf of aden in group transit,we didnt have any warships escorting us but were going wid the rest of the merchant ships,the whole passage was peaceful and most importantly without any attcks or attempts. Slowly as the days passed,i learnt that the condition of the ship was bad but it was worse earlier. The ship was taken over by anglo crew in Feb'09,she had completed just abt 10 months wid the new management,but she was 18 years old. The crew who had been part of take over had the worst of times,they had put down their papers to resign from the active duties atleast 6 times in deifferent occasions during their stay here. The conditions were the main concern,imagine a ship were the A/C doesnt work at all,its so hot during night tht everyone in the ship slept out on the main deck everyday. The water supply was a big issue,there wud be water supply for just 1 hour during the day or none at all,during winters it used to b chilled water thru the taps,n during hot sunny days it wud b hot water flowing out. The sewage system was worse,it dint work for months so everyone used the scuppers on maindeck for those months. Its not tht bad except the A/C,the rest of the issues dont exist now n the A/C isnt tht bad tht one has to sleep on open deck,it does get hot inside though. I was surprised how everything goes bad here,had a strong reason to quit staying here too but tht wud only mean i'll run away from the challenges,so gave up tht thought too..afterall,someone rightly said,Anyone can take the helm at calm waters.It was on 21st Dec early morning arnd 5am,i get a call from 2/O saying tht hes seen a lot of sparks coming from forward store,i rush up and realise tht i need to go forward to have a look....n on reaching forward its the biggest surprise of my life n my career,the stbd anchor has gone overboard,we lost it in the middle of the ocean,it broke all the extra wire lashings we had taken,broke the bow stopper and went giving out huge sparks which v had suspected as being fire...later we realised tht heavy weather n shipping seas loosened the brakes of the windlass,nobody agreed to it though until i had to prove it to the captain....10 shackles(1 shackle is 27.5 mtrs)of chain gone along with it into the open sea, we couldnt believe but had to.On 3rd Jan'10 we stopped at singapore OPL to pick up a new anchor from the barge....the whole operation had to b carried out using our resources,v declined tht use of shore crane as it was costly....the picking up of anchor cable was going fine,v had sufficient slack to put over our windlass tracks to use our windlass power n stop using the spring wire v were using uptil now to pick up the cable slowly,taking stoppers in between using wire lashings...just wen v thought it wud b a smooth operation,v realised tht the cable started slipping frm the barge,it went into the water,took the anchor lying in the barge n with the great jerk it caused,it shook the winch which had spring wire attached to one of its end....the barge supervisor n one of our company guys were just looking at the cable slipping until i averted them of the jerk it cud cause,luckily they moved out well in advance but v were not lucky enuf to stop the anchor n the cable from going into the water....now wid just the spring wire being the only contact wid 11 shackles of cable n the anchor,v cudnt heave up the enormous weight wid our lil winch....v spent hours deciding different techniques,until after 6-7 hrs v decided to pass on the wire to the barge which had stronger winch n tht wud in turn pull up the cable....the operation started arnd 12 in the noon n although v expected it to last a maximum of 2 hours,it went on till 4 in the morning wen v had the whole cable n the anchor on board....wen v sailed i lashed the brakes too wid wire slings as i didnt want to dismiss the fact tht it wud slip everytime v encountered rough weather....the rest of the days went by calmly,v prepared ourselves for the inspection expected at korea...this was imporatnt as richmond bridge had been blacklisted in her previous inspections,she was in everybody's eyes by now n everybody wanted to see each n every thing to make sure if shes really seaworthy,this is one term which i wud deny fit her in any way,but thts my opinion as a mate sailing here...v reached korea on 12th n were told tht its gonna b a long anchorage till v berth anytime now....the ABS survey was overdue,v had to pass it widout n observation cos failure in this wud mean none of the inspections can ever take place on board n tht wud in turn mean tht the ship is officially unseaworthy in all respects...v had the survey on 19th Jan,n v passed it widout any observation,the surveyor did comment tht the ship is in a much better condition than it was before,it was this compliment tht v longed to hear all this while....On 20th Jan,arnd 1330 Hrs,an announcement was made on PA,2/O looking for me,i ran upto the bridge,saw a ship,Rainbow star drifting dangerously close to us,i knew wat was happening,ran forward wid a walkie talkie,had my cadet n 3/O wid me,the rest of the crew joined me on the way...on reaching forward captain informs me tht v dont have engines ready right now so v helplessly stand there,v decided to slack some more of our cable so tht v cud drift away from the other drifting ship....there v were standing forward,looking at the huge tanker,drifting just past our forward,she stopped close to our starboard bow n after sumtime started coming closer to us....it was not till she was right ahead of us wen v got our engines,v went a lil astern giving her more space,the distance estimated was abt 100 mtrs,less than our own ship's length...only if v dint have our engines by then she wud have collided wid us,the damage is sumthing i wudnt want to think abt as she was loaded wid crude oil n v were fully loaded wid butadiene,thinking of arnd 9500MT of Butadiene n more than 1,00,000 cubics of crude oil getting into water n resulting in any explosion cos of the collision is beyond me...the rough weather,choppy seas n her dragging her anchor contributed to the whole scenario...wen she was clear of us,she got her engine powers n went off....v stood there as v were before wondering how close v were n how huge she looked wen she was so close to us... a couple of days later on 12th feb,exactly a month since v anchored here in ulsan,early morning arnd 2 am i get nother call....its the 2nd officer yet again n the situation turned out to b similar to wat v had before,there was nother ship called venuzs dragging dangerously close to us,the weather was bad,wind force was upto 7 beaufort scale n the sea was choppy as ever wid swell going up n down pushing sprays all over the deck...v didnt have much of choice but to pick up the anchor n drift out...the port authorities were informed n they suggested the same to move out of the anchorage....the rough sea demanded the anchors be lashed before v get into nother trouble...wid temperature going down to sub zero,sea water spraying n hitting us all over the deck it took us atleast 2 hours to lash the anchors n by the time v were done i was completely drenched was shivering in the cold n sumhow felt the pain on my spine....v drifted outside the port limits for 2 days untill the weather calmed down,n anchored yet again to wait for further instructions to touch the port....finally on 16th feb wid improvement of weather v were called in to discharge one parcel of butadiene...v had all the inspections tht were due all this while,it went much better than v expected,the ship isnt blacklisted anymore,shes been certified seaworthy n got remarks as being in a much better condition than she was in before.....
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