The Excerpt:
It was a cold misty night in Black Sea (An almost landlocked sea in Europe) Cold as in 2 degree celsius below zero and significant wind blowing over deck. That makes a bad combo indeed.
Chief (Boss) called me in CCR (Cargo Control Room, from where all the remote operations of valves and pumps used for cargo/ballast/heating/transfer takes place) after the usual 4 to 8 watch on Bridge.
He seemed to be tense.
One of the two ballast pumps (ballast is sea water taken in ship to maintain its stability in absence of full load of cargo) was not functioning.
"Be ready to go to pumproom !!"
(Pumproom: a feature majorly present in tankers, a section between cargo area and ship's accomodation, having the cargo/cleaning/ballast/heating pumps ).
"OK Sir"
I was like (Not aloud) - " For what? At this time ? It's cold outside, I don't wish to venture out at night ... Has to have some reason"
"The ballast pump number 1 is not online today. Engine room told me to manage the whole thing using only the 2nd one"
"OK? Night time Ballast ?? At sea ? " My mistake - I asked this one aloud.
Ignorance used to be a real bliss then.
"You better learn something, else one day you would turn out to be a loser officer"
"Sorry Sir"
"Ok, we have to exchange the whole ballast of the ship keeping the ship stable all the time and before reaching our next port"
"Your royal colleauge is not fit for handling this at night on deck. I have asked Pumpy (Pumpman) to help us. See here, this paper. This is the whole plan for the operation. The intermediate loadicator printouts are given along with. You take care that she remains within this blue line all the time. Pumpy doesn't know a shit about these stress reports. You better start taking lead or else I'll have to think something else for you. And this paper is to be kept safe. It's not for wiping your shit off your ass, got it ??"
In next 5 minutes, he explained the whole thing to Pumpy too. At that point in time, it was all hebrew to me.
What's this crap ?
Why does he need me to do this ?
Why isn't my royal colleauge being asked to help??
Night is same for both of us, right ?
Pumpy was good. He informed me that it was being done so that we comply to the ballast water management rules present in country of our next port. The water was supposed to be pumped out in phases, and then taken inside tanks in phases, alternating the whole tanks' set using dump valves and pumps as and when required. All during this the whole ship should remain in complete upright condition and it should not shake a lot. The programs were designed in a fashion that would tell us whether she (The Ship is always female .. :P) will behave well or not.
So it started - At Mignight.
Control of whole pumproom was shifted to CCR.
My first steps - Report to duty officer before going to deck, line up valves, check the soundings, If needed take ullages from corresponding hatches, check the loading program at every stage changeover, go to pumproom every hour and record each and every thing in chief's CCR Log.
Pumpy would be in cabin, standby on walkie talkie. All from 0000 hours till 0600 hours. Deck lights to be asked for only if you really need it.
And all alone on deck.
Alone part was bit scary, and I could say only one thing - "Let's see".
I didn't even know what was I walking into. Just plain ignorance made me say yes to everything till it finally came to me. "It" was a big thing for me that night.
At 0020 hours, after reporting to bridge, I opened the accomodation gate.
Brrr.... It was freaking cold. I ran for my parka kept in changing locker which was accesible only from deck.
Wore it tightly around me, donned the helmet and gloves and started for the Pumproom. Steel stairs led me down by 18 meters near the bottom plate and there were the valves I needed to operate before I started the pump. Next 5-7 minutes, I was done and up near pumproom entrance again.
I just turned to go back inside the accomodation when just due to curiosity I glanced the deck through corner of my eyes in peripheral view. It looked scary. The same beautiful deck we all knew in daylight, looked like haunting loom at night with light mist adding to the magnitude of darkness. It was my first night at sea when I was all alone on deck, with no deck light, I told to myself - WTF !! How would I go there near ballast tank domes ?? Forget it !!
I started telling myself - "Ok, lets see ... There's first time to every thing in life."
Back in CCR, I felt warm and waited till I could get back some air in lungs. After 10 minutes I was done with the whole "starting" thing.
Pumps were roaring so much so that vibrations were audible even in CCR. I waited for 30 minutes till I donned my parka again to go to deck.
Afetr calling bridge on walkie-talkie, I moved out of the accomodation. No deck lights !! One flashlight and that too was freaking almost discharged. I had my ullage tape with me.
While walking towards forward most ballast tank, I never tried to look over my shoulders. I just kept on moving towards 1 port ballast tank. After I reached, religiously, I placed the flashlight on deck to keep my ullage tape in vision and opened the butterfly nuts of tank hatch cover. I hated pulling the hatch cover up since it always gave a weird sound. That sound was always accompanied by a horrific sound of gushing sea water in ballast tanks beneath. I quickly lowered my tape's sinker and soon I got the water surface.
*#cking 4 meters only.
Another 14 meters to go before I could changeover the valves to ballasting mode from de-ballasting. It's going to take jolly good amount of time.
No problemo ... Lets see.... I swear to whatever shit god exists today, I had no intention to look anything above my waist level. But just due to curiosity, I raised my eyes to eye level and then automatically they wandererd up and up and up .... and then round round and round .... I could not see anything around me !!!
Wait ... Am I awake ?
I looked around once again ... I could not see anything indeed ...
Had I gone blind ?
I looked down at the opened hatch cover of ballast tank, the place where I was engaged all the while till now.
Yes, the ballast hatch, it was there, but little hazy.
I got it. Our ship had entered in a deep fog. Since this was the first time with me, I was terrified to the dna's inside my blood cells. I called up 2nd on walkie-talkie, "Sir, Is it foggy around the deck ? Can you see me ? I am near No. 1 starboard ballast tank dome with my flashlight on"
2nd Officer replied, "Yes Tweety Bird, I can see your flashlight. It's hazy down there. You come back to accomodation fast. And don't bump into any of those vents and pipes!!"
I could not see anything even through my flashlight, it was just a long loom of it which lighted the fog around me. How could 2nd think that I would come back to accomodation "fast" ?
I was thinking to first find out the safety walkway lines and then follow them back to accomodation when suddenly I felt ...... as if ........ someone is standing behind me.
My heart skipped a beat ... may be two.
I don't know how I could garner that courage, but I turned around to see ...
Nothing ... again.
It was all gray (thick fog).
Not in a mood to waste any more time there, frantically, I reached to the nearest offset of safety walkway and I found it exactly where I expected it to be. I started moving towards the accomodation finally. By the time I crossed the midship locker, I was almost running. It was like a feeling that you experience when you are struggling for air under 12 feet of water column inside swimming pool and you start rising to surface. It seemed like finally I'll be out of this dreadful dungeon.
And .... Then "it" happened.
I saw a human figure.
He just crossed my path ahead perpendicularly in lightning speed.
From left side to right. I was petrified.
I could not follow this figure because my eyeballs got jammed due to sheer shock. I must have went blank when I tripped on my own leg and crashed into a vent pipe ahead.
Luckily, I didn't hit it that hard. It could not stop me from regaining my speed towards accomodation, though, sans the flashlight now.
---------- To be contd.
No comments:
Post a Comment