Suez canal

Sunday 16th November

In the morning we assisted the crew in getting the mooring ropes up on deck. We arrived off Port Said in the afternoon and I was on the bridge.

Bitter Lakes - Suez Canal

As we approached the anchorage it got dark. We had a lot of difficulty raising Harbour Control on the VHF due to distortion. Finally we anchored. I took several bearings, the Fairway Buoy, a lighthouse ashore and several channel buoys to ascertain out position. Later we were due to move in to tie up at the canal entrance. I went up for’d with the 3rd mate and the Bosun. After an hours wait we weighed the anchor and proceeded into Port Said. As we neared the mooring buoys we lowered two headlines down to men in small boats below. They then took these and tied us up for’d. The same procedure secured aft. We then positioned the ship by means of the winches. By the time I got back to the accommodation it was swarming with locals selling all sorts. The Gully-Gully man came on board with his incredible tricks some involving chickens which he somehow got inside my shirt. Seeing the worried expression on my face as those little yellow lumps ran round me, he said. “Oh do not worry son! They won’t shit on you!” which was the first English he had spoken to us and surprised us all. We slept the night with the cabin door locked as the accommodation was full of chaps selling souvenirs etc.

Monday 17th November

After working late last night we were allowed a “lie in” until nine o’clock. Billy and I were on watches through the canal and as I was on the 12 to 4 with the 2nd mate I went up on the monkey island during the morning to admire the scenery. People had told me how boring the Suez Canal is with nothing but desert and I was surprised to see quite a lot of interesting features.

Monument to the canal mine clearing

The actual desert brought back faint ghosts of geography lessons 3 years ago with diurnal ranges, waddies, barkhans etc. One side (south) is green and fertile due to a freshwater canal and the other is dry and arid. There was plenty of evidence of “the troubles” with foxholes, shell craters, burnt out buildings, tanks and guns as well as new gear in operation and lots of soldiers. We even saw a group of prisoners being exercised guarded by a soldier with a rifle and fixed bayonet.

 After dinner I went up onto the bridge. At the time the pilot was using the VHF. It amused me to hear him waffle on in meaningless Arabic and then say in plain English “over”. I noted our position and time on the chart each time we passed a signal station or conspicuous point etc. There were few engine movements and we made between 6 and 9 knots. When we got to Port Suez, one pilot got off and another got on. He was only on for about 15 minutes to guide us out to the main channel, a reminder of the days when there was a lot more traffic. Later that night I went up on deck to see the view and was amazed how narrow it was. Big flares could be seen on each side where gas was being burnt off from the oil wells. We passed close by some offshore rigs.

 Tuesday 18th November

Before putting the lifeboat gear back the Chief Officer told us to service it and check the stores changing the water and milk. Most of the gear was so badly corroded it took us all day to clean it up and get the first undercoat on.