I reported to the office and they told me that I was being transferred to an oil tanker and that I will have to join the ship at Haldia. I immediately conveyed the message to appa/amma by telegram, since there was no phone at home. I collected the air ticket and went to the airport to board the first ever flight in my life. I reached Calcutta airport, took a taxi and went to the office. They told me that there would be some delay in my joining.
I went to Saroja Chitti’s home for a visit, and after spending some time there came back to the office. I took my baggage and went in the car provided by the office to Haldia. The journey took me about 3 hrs to reach Haldia. After completing the customs and other formalities, I boarded the ship, “M.T. Lance Naik Albert Ekka P.V.C”. It was basically a product carrier, but was in the crude oil trade now. The ship was discharging crude oil there at Haldia. I changed into my boiler suit and started getting used to the ship. The ship sailed out of Haldia after completion of discharge and was on its way to Lavan Islands(Iran), in the Persian Gulf. Like my previous ship, I was keeping watches with the Chief Officer from 0400 to 0800 and then again from 1600 to 2000.
Since this was a tanker, life here was entirely different. The layout of the ship and the equipments were completely different. I was slowly getting used to the ship and the equipments. Suddenly one day morning, I started feeling feverish. I told the Chief Officer that I was not feeling well. He told me to report to the second officer, since he was in-charge of the medicines. I got some tablets for fever from him and went to my cabin. I had the tablets and tried to sleep. The fever subsided after sometime, but I was feeling very weak. The next day, I got the fever again and I was shivering too. I got some more tablets for the fever. The fever used to subside by daytime and used to increase by evening. The Captain, chief officer and second officer were confused, as to what sort of fever this was. They suspected the fever to be typhoid or malaria.
The ship reached Lavan Islands. I was still not well. I had gone very weak. I was beginning to miss the care of Amma. I could not eat anything. The ship loaded crude oil there and left for Madras. The captain had already informed the office regarding my condition. Office had asked him to sign me off on arrival Madras and he informed me the same.
The ship reached Madras and docked at the oil terminal. I had packed my baggage and was all set to disembark from the ship. After clearing customs formalities, I reached home only to get admitted in Lady Willington Hospital for further treatment.
My stay in this ship was for just 24 days.
More to continue...........
Total time spent on board: 24 days
Ports visited: IN INDIA: Haldia, Madras
FOREIGN: Lavan Islands(Iran)
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