Onwards to Dubai

Monday 24th November

The first job this morning was replacing all the lifeboat gear. It was all smartly painted and looking smart. I had just spliced a lanyard to one of the compass binnacles and was cutting the loose ends off and my knife slipped. It was pretty sharp and although it only touched my finger the skin parted. Amongst the blue language and red blood I found the Purser/Chief Steward who took me to the dispensary where he cleaned it up. And dressed it. I realized it wasn’t a “pay off job” and as we were discussing this I suddenly felt faint and semi-flaked out. I came round sweating buckets to the pungent odour of smelling salts. As I had been working outside in the sun a lot recently in various states of undress he decided that it was a mild form of heat stroke. I took some salt tablets and drunk some water and worked for the rest of the morning feeling fitter than I had done for a few days. Now I make sure to take salt tablets in advance when working on deck in sunny hot weather.

Tuesday 25th November

All day today was spent cleaning up the holds. The fo’csle and 2A in the morning and 3A and 4 in the afternoon. First all the gratings were swept, all the dirt to one side. This was quite pleasant as the heat from working kept you warm due to the refrigeration in the hold. The gratings above the hatch into the next hatch were then lifted and the wires for opening the hatches put into place over their respective rollers. The dirt was then put into plastic ‘dustbin liner’ type bags to be jettisoned. Several boxes of bananas had prematurely ripened and so some of these were extracted for use later and put in the night pantry (which by coincidence and several bananas later is just opposite our cabin).

Wednesday 26th November – Thursday 27th November

These two days were spent cleaning up the red leading and top coating the windlass, self tensioning mooring winches and all the fair leads, panama leads and rollers. This was a time consuming job due to the awkward positions and hidden parts of several of the subjects which needed plenty of thought to paint. I found that if you were not careful after painting one bit you were forced to crawl over it to reach another, getting paint in your hair etc. etc. Therefore every angle has to be considered before applying the brush. On Thursday we each did an hour at the wheel in order to keep in practice.

Friday 28th November

After finishing off the fair leads we helped the crew to rig the derricks again. This included painting the derrick heads which were a bit worse for wear after continued resting in the crutches (which were also painted). The crew have all been in good tempers this week as they fly home tomorrow. This afternoon they were given a half day off to pack and we were given the afternoon off as well.

Saturday 29th November

At 08.00 I went fo’ward with the Bosun and checked the anchors before getting them ready to drop. The windlass is put in the correct gear and then the clutch put in. The compressor bars are then lifted and the plates over the hawse pipes slid back. The brakes are released and the anchor walked out a few links and then back again to ensure all is moving correctly The brakes are then tightened down and the clutch pulled out. The anchors are now ready to be released. At 09.00 we were called to stations. I went up for’ward again with the Bosun and 3rd officer. Shortly after 09.00 we anchored about 3 miles off the shore (Dubai). Later we found out that the relief crew would not arrive till Sunday at 23.30 and we would not be unloading bananas till the 2nd or 3rd December!! Dinner tonight was a bar-b-que a first class affair in perfect conditions. The crew were celebrating going home and it was a free drinks night in the bar. 

Sunday 30th November

Sunday, day of rest welcomed as usual. However, we were still on ‘standby’ as the pilot was supposed to be taking us in but did not show up. We heard later that the new crew would not be arriving until tomorrow.