ODYSSEY 2005

PM Nov 27 – Marseille

For the past two and a bit days we have been doing our grand impression of a speed boat. In one 24 hour period we covered 482 nautical miles at an average speed of 20.08 kts, not bad for a mature lady and we weren’t even at ‘Flank’ speed (sorry couldn’t resist it) as that burns too much fuel, (a 3 knot current did help a bit). Actually I always acquaint the word ‘Flank’ with meaning ‘rear’ you outflank your enemy, you study a female’s flanks etc – so, I guess Flank speed could mean ‘Go to the back very fast’ – or ‘run away, run away (with apologies to Monty Python). I hope the photo gave you an idea as to the old girl although it’s a couple of years old. Clive found it in his cabin along with a few other old shots. Finding a scanner ashore to do the job wasn’t easy and took up a lot of valuable eating and drinking time.
From Valetta we steamed to the southern tip of Sardinia then headed about NNW(ish) 370 then 375 (or close to it) to Marseille. The port pilot was an excitable sort of chap, not a good trait for a pilot, I like the ones who almost seem to be asleep, they know what they are doing.
Some dockyard wallahs are going to have a bash at plugging our leak from inside and by diver outside the hull; we will see if anything can be done that way. However, even today it’s a wooden gland seated in the hull and to do a proper job is a dockyard operation.
The weather is still bright but the temp is down to 20c so winter chills loom on the horizon along with some long grey clouds. Alby our greenie (electrician) and radio guy delighted in telling me that it’s max 12c in Skagen today – I could go off Alby.

The sealane is now getting very crowded, and it’s tricky as, due of our cargo, we have to stay outer lane and some ships are also out of the centre lane simply because they are not very good at navigation. We at all times fly Bravo (dangerous cargo) but some ships still wander across our bow – seamanship isn’t what it once was; half the time I don’t think they even know what the flag means.

Today we are loading some cargo for Hamburg, mainly parts for building electronic ‘stuff’, but also 5,000 plastic buckets for some supermarket chain I guess that it has to come from somewhere but I have never heard of manufacturing in the Marseille region (perhaps best not to ask). As in the past, French officials are a pain in the arse, arrogant and dictatorial (just my opinion); I think they must have a huge inferiority complex. Clive didn’t help by telling one of them that my name was Nelson, which went down like a lead balloon.
Our 975 close range radar is being fixed today. Radar is temperamental stuff although the gear that the BAG carries is all pretty modern. I think the problem stems back to the bad weather we got not long after leaving Moresby; we did take one hell of a pounding.
The Idiot (actual name Barry) and Primrose (actual name Evan) are working ship today. Primrose is now the senior, junior officer and really getting into the way of things. Strange that a ship that stays mainly in the east is, apart from Sam and one of the engine room trolls all European/British of some sort or other.
Clive, Chalky and I are going ashore for lunch but as we sail at 2200 there will be no night follies tonight … rats. However, we intend that it should be a very long luncheon – no point in getting back too early, people might want us to ‘do’ things.
Some of the crew are heavily into carpet cleaning – soap suds everywhere and blowers by the dozen. I hope they know what they are doing. Still, the old girl was starting to get a stale smell from the carpets which have been wet and dry with salt water a few times on this trip. Passageways and flats are mainly lino tiles; it’s only cabins and rec rooms that have carpet.

PM on the 29th (local time) we should pass Gibraltar, then it’s all North and into colder climates. I haven’t yet done any chart work but I think we are due in Hamburg on 3 December, so I will miss having my birthday onboard by one day. I hit 59 that probably means that people will expect me to start becoming more sensible. Well, they are gunna be disappointed.
Red would have been 60, yet, for me, she will always be as I last saw her. I remember her 40th birthday, we were in Honkers and threw a big bash at (I think) the Marco Polo or it might have been the Mandarin, the old brain isn’t what it was, come to think of it, it was never that good to start with. Of all the people at that party only I and one other are still alive and kicking … that’s not conducive to happy thoughts. We almost took over the dining room until about 4am and then everybody crashed for 2 days. If memory serves, we tipped the stewards US$300 each to keep serving. Red and Taff danced the night away ably assisted by the other guys – but I got the last dance and that’s the only one that counts. It’s hard to image that it all happened nearly 20 years ago and half a world away from here. Today it seems like yesterday but yesterday in another, long mislaid world.

The final plan for the trip Hamburg to Skagen isn’t quite complete but Clive is working on it with some of his contacts who are now working with my old contacts. One way or another I seem to be giving a lot of people a lot of hassle … I like that.
I believe it involves a couple of long haul trucks. Denmark isn’t very big, so a day and a bit should, with a bit of luck, see the trip accomplished

Closer to home, there is some work to be done prior to lunch; some of the deckies are starting a big paint job on the hull as she has a few weep marks, mainly around the bow and we want her to look her best for the Germans … not. Our fwd deck crane is getting recertified again today, all the little bits of paperwork you have to keep in order if you are going to do things properly (The Ducks never bothered with that stuff). In Valletta we had all the fire extinguishers, hose and halo systems checked and recertified. We also have to study all the new procedures for entering Northern European ports – what with the extra security it’s all a bit of a bore.
My EC passport came aboard this morning, that’s a huge relief; it will certainly make moving around easier.
If time permits, this afternoon I want to wander up to Notre Dame de La Garde Cathedral, it’s actually only about 160 years old but from the first time I saw it as a youth I got the impression of extreme age. Wander is probably the wrong word as, these days I could never make the hill, so it will be by taxi. On my last visit I also had a young lady by the name of Gina draped on my arm; I wonder …. But ‘No’ sometimes wondering is not a good thing to do.
I guess today is also the last of the acceptable weather, from here on in it’s all downhill temp wise. It will be interesting to see how I handle the cold … it’s been so many years since I have known it. Actually that’s wrong as I did encounter winter during my 03-04 saga but I don’t remember a great deal about it as I got slightly ill and brought home. Hamburg today is 5 – 13c (Alby again - I really hope that one day he gets his wires crossed). Soon the airy Med water will become the metallic lead Atlantic water, each ocean has it’s own look and feel.

Both Valletta and here have brought back lost feelings of history to me. Nothing in the East or Oz is really that old unless you get up into Japan and China and there the architecture is so different that you don’t notice it. Now the buildings are getting a bit more European (some even British) and you start to again sense the memory of countless events, endless centuries.
Still no Oak, Ash, Beech or Willow but they are still to come, just round the proverbial corner. By now the trees will be getting rather bare of leaves; that’s something else I haven’t experiences in a long, long time – in Oz and the East most trees stay green all year. Somehow I rather expect a bit of culture shock; Yes folks, The British are coming, the British are coming … back.

After leaving Hamburg the BAG is going on the UK, there Lenny will leave the ship and fly home (Kiwi). He had decided to go back to college, finish his education and come back to sea as an officer; good for him he has the brains and the personality to make a fine officer (even if he is a Kiwi).

If I was doing a good job with these notes I would ad more stuff about day to day onboard life, but I’ve done that and it’s all very much the same – like going to the office every day, nothing out of the ordinary or exciting. One thing, I am sure going to miss the food.
I will confess to being a bit tired but that’s only normal for my age and it certainly has been a hectic few weeks – still plenty of time to rest later.

Only one major task for the immediate future … Lunch

The conclusion from (hopefully) Hamburg around December 3.