Day 12

On watch again at 0400, good visibility and low traffic density. Pilot boarded at 0800 and I went down aft to help with mooring. Alongside in Portsmouth at 0930 with bunker barge alongside to load Avcat (a less volatile form of aviation fuel that we carry in bulk).

The second watch of the day saw us leaving Portsmouth and steaming towards Falmouth to perform DP* trials before heading south.

  Bunker Barge alongside in Portsmouth

DP* Dynamic Positioning is a system used on board used mainly for survey work. It links the 4 thrusters (2 forward and 2 aft), the azipod, main propeller and rudder to a central system that can hold the ship on a location using a reference system, for the trials we will just be using 2 GPSs and 3 Gyro compasses. The trials are to test the redundancy of the system.

Day 11

Day started at 0400 for my first watch on the bridge. Quite a bit of traffic about, learning about the different pieces of equipment on the bridge and procedures for maintaining a safe look out. 

  At night, rounds have to be done every 2 hours; the accommodation is checked, social areas, laundry rooms, holds, workshops and engine room control room. This is done to check for any potential fire hazards (blocked dryer filters, cigarette butts not properly extinguished, etc) as well as making sure items are stowed properly and cannot cause damage in rough seas, the lashings on the cargo is checked and the refrigerated containers (reefers) temperatures are checked locally.

Between watches; gym, uni work, lunch, read and sleep.

1600-2000 watch; arrived on the bridge with visibility at 100m and about to enter the Dover Straits. Not too much traffic about and no erroneous activities from the other ships. Also beginning to fill out the log and putting positions on the chart, filling out the weather information and using the radars.

ETA @ Portsmouth 0800. Departing @ 1500

Day 10

First job of the day was with the Chief mate to do a dock water test. This involves taking a sample of dock water and testing its density.  A ship can only be loaded to a certain level, called the plimsole line, so when a ship is ‘down to her marks’ she is fully loaded. Dock water has a density less than seawater, so it can be loaded down beyond her marks in the dock and once out in the sea, she will be above her marks again due to the higher water density.  The density testing was done so this value can be put into the stability programme to check it will in fact rise up to her marks.

 Tula was lifted on board and final lashings were done in the holds. The ship had to move across the dock to load explosives, and then we had a fire and boat drill. These were to get everybody to the correct muster stations/lifeboats and familiarise everybody with the kit.

Lines were dropped at 1900, I was in the aft party, stowing lines and driving the winches. First bridge watch is at 0400 tomorrow.

Portsmouth bound.

Day 9

All the loading is complete, we have to move across the docks to load explosives tomorrow then finally setting sail approximately 1800.

  The yellow Room (crew only)

  Red Room, half of the bar area

  Green room, big tv, lots of dvds

  Lower Hold, full of fuel drums

I’ve been splicing lines for the RIBs lifting rigs, eye and back splices. Quite a slow day today, the stevedores have left, leaving only the riggers and ourselves to do the last bits. The boatswain also gave me a crane driving lesson, I was only picking up strops from the quay but it was enough for the first time.

Day 8

Helped the 3^rd mate check the FRC (fast rescue Craft) and Tula (landing craft) for the MCA inspections tomorrow, it seems Tula has sprung a leak, 4 inches of water in one of the bilges. Supervising the continuing loading of Hold No. 2, stowing dunnage (timber used to pack around cargo to prevent shifting during voyage) and stowing paint. More stores loaded and the vital beer and spirits.

The afternoon was spent, sorting out orders and stowing gear. I had to check off the new lifting gear and record the unique serial number for each one, then green tag it to show it can be used this season.

Life onboard is great. I’m learning my way around the ship and getting back into the swing of working on board. All the crew are looking forward to setting sail on Saturday, things will then settle into routine. I’ll be doing 4 hours on deck (maintenance), 8 hours off, then 4 hours in the bridge doing navigation etc.

  Hold No.2 half full

  Top of Hold No.2

  'Tula' Landing Craft

  Lifeboat

  Humber RIBs

  Fast Rescue Craft (FRC)

  Boatswain Store

  Engineers Workshop

  Snow Machines

  Fire Hydrant for Helicopter fire

Day 7

Well after a lie in this morning (work starting at 0700!) I was overseeing the loading of cargo into the aft hold, making sure the stevedores were doing things safely. I was helping to stow some steel on top of all the drums that I counted on yesturday, the count was bang on! more luck than judgement. After the 'tween deck was closed, I was working with the boatswain to tidy up in there in preparation for cargo loading tomorrow..
    There was the main ships crane loading No.2 hold, a shore based crane loading the helideck and our own stores crane loading miscellaneous office equipment, tools, ropes, etc.

My kit bag also arrived today

3 x pairs of socks
1 x thermal work boots
2 x work trousers
1 x duvet salopets
1 x duvet jacket
1x thermal boiler suit
2 x glove liners
1 x thermal work gloves
1 x cold weather work gloves (suitable for conditions down to -25° C)
1 x thermal high vis jacket
2 x fleeces
3 x thermal base layers
1 x buff
1 x knife
1 x sunglasses
1 x waterbottle
1 x belt
1 x warm hat
1 x thermal hard hat

Day 6

Early start this morning. The drums of aviation fuel had to be tallied on, that was my job for most of the day (I was the tallisman), apart from when the 2 lorries full of frozen food arrived and had to be man handled into the freezer. The lower hold is now full, with 1200 barrels of fuel, the rest to finish tomorrow then beginning to load containers and all the break bulk cargo into the various spaces. The landing craft was brought from Grimsby today and will be loaded this week.

pop quiz, can you guess what this is?



















Answer- A rat guard, stops rats leaving or entering the ship via the mooring lines