Loading cars in Japan

Friday 26^th December

Up at 06.30 and out with the Bosun at 07.00 to clear the anchors. It was bitterly cold so I borrowed an anorak from one of the crew. Both anchors were stuck in the hawse pipes so later, with a few of the men, we went up and freed them by dropping a 28lb sledge hammer on a heaving line down on top of them, with one person swinging the chain and another hitting the hawse pipe from inside down in the fore peak. The Bosun and I then rigged the pilot ladder on the starboard side. After breakfast we got all the mooring ropes up on deck and started to top the derricks. At dinner time I relieved Billy on the bridge and then continued to help rig the derricks in the afternoon. The islands around us were very beautiful and thousands of small fishing boats lined the way in. We reached Hiroshima and anchored off before moving in and tying up just after dark. They were not going to start loading until the next day, so I went ashore. We were just too late for most of the shops but I managed to buy a watch in one before it closed. I had intended buying a stereo cassette recorder but was out of luck. We were thrown out of several bars, the owners explaining they were for Japanese people only. Eventually we found one which let us in and we made friends with 3 Japanese people who spoke a bit of English between them. We became quite an attraction in the bar and the Japanese couldn’t get over the fact I was so tall (6’ 4”) and many of them made me stand up so they could compare themselves against me. When it was time for us to go they insisted on paying our bill but in the end we managed to persuade them to let us pay for half of it. One of them found us a taxi and instructed the driver to take us back to the ship. On the way back I hoped I wouldn’t get any after-effects from the dried cuttlefish I had been eating!

Saturday 27^th December

At 0900 they started to load the cars into No2 HOLD, the one I was stationed at. Until it got too tight they used a sling which carried two at a time and only just fitted down the hatch. They were very fast and efficient. I found out that the men who drove the cars into position (extremely skillfully and accurately) were taxi drivers and do the job in their spare time for 900 Yen an hour (£1.46). The cars were packed in and secured with Spanish Windlasses. At 10.30 the heel block on the Starboard derrick broke and so work ground to a halt. The workers however left No2 and went to work No3, coming back to No2 after dinner. Loading was completed just before 12.00 and we sailed just after. I was on the bridge for the first part of the pilotage. At about 19.30 Billy and I went down each hatch to check that no cigarettes etc. had been smoldering or caught fire.