seventh ship- gem of vizag

This was my first ship, after I resigned from Shipping Corporation of India. This ship was owned by West Asia Maritime Limited and managed by ETA Ship Management Company, Madras. Since the office was in Madras, it was easier to join ship. There was no need to go to Bombay. I was supposed to join this ship in Korea.WAM had bought this ship from her Croatian owners and we had to take over the ship from the Croatians.

I signed the contract and was scheduled to join the ship in Pusan, South Korea. Everybody, except for the Master and Chief Engineer was supposed to join together. We officers were from Madras and the crew was from Bombay. We had to fly to Bombay and then all of us had to fly to Pusan. Our route was Bombay -Bangkok - Hongkong – Seoul.We went to Hongkong without any problems. But the flight had landed late in Hongkong and so the connecting flight had left without us. We approached the airlines staff, who told that they would make arrangements for us to stay in Hongkong and put us in the next flight to Seoul. We were almost out of the terminal, when a person came to us and told us to take a flight to Bangkok and from there to Seoul.So, we had to fly back to Bangkok again. We boarded a flight and reached Seoul, after a long flight. A bus was ready for us and it took us to Pusan, which was about 5 hours drive. The ship was in anchorage and so we had to board a boat, which took us to the ship. It was late evening by the time we reached the ship. The crew and officers, who were leaving the ship, left shortly, even without proper handing over.We picked up anchor and started proceeding towards high seas, when the engine broke down. The sea was rough and wind was very strong. Due to this the ship, started rolling very badly. Things started banging and breaking in the cabins, bridge and other places. There was total chaos in the ship. Crew members started wearing their lifejackets and were getting ready to abandon the ship, if needed.There was a tiny reset switch, which nobody knew in the engine room. After several phone calls to the old owners and the new owners, the chief engineer traced out the small reset switch and reset it. The engine started after that. Everybody thanked their lucky stars and heaved a sigh of relief.

Our first loading was in Australia. On our way to the loading port, we had to navigate between the Great Barrier Reef and the coast of Australia. It was nice to see the coral reefs, every now and then. The sea water looked so clean, that we could see the reefs submerged inside the sea. We loaded there and came all the way to Vizag for discharging.After 15 days of anchorage, we berthed. Raji had come along with another officer’s wife and his father. She stayed on board during the port stay. Owners came on board and saw the ship. We went to South Africa from Vizag for loading. During loading, one crane had a major repair. It took almost 24 hours to get it working.We went to Vitoria, Brazil for discharging.On our way to Brazil, we experienced very rough seas, with wind speed of about 70 knots. The ship was barely moving during that period. We completed discharging and went to another port in Brazil, Rio Di Janeiro for loading. Before loading, we had to clean and wash all the cargo holds and the next port was not even a day’s sailing away. The crew demanded extra overtime for doing that in a short time, which the Captain did not agree to. All the officers and engineers got into action and we started cleaning a cargo hold. Meanwhile, the Captain talked to the office and the crew, after which they agreed to clean. By this time we had completed cleaning one cargo hold. Somehow, we managed to clean all the cargo holds just before arrival. We were loading steel products and so that took time. I went out along with other colleagues and saw the world famous Copa Cabana Beach.

It was a long sailing of 40 days to our discharge port, Port Klang (Malaysia). Till date this is the longest nonstop sailing I have done. Raji joined me there, along with two more families. This is the first time she was sailing. We went to Singapore from there. Raji and myself went out to Serangoon Road, had a nice south Indian tiffin, went around Mustafa Center and came back. Next port was Hongkong. We were in anchorage there. We went out once there also. Next discharge port was Kao Hsiung (Taiwan). The sea was a bit rough and because of that, Raji had seasickness.

After completing discharging in Taiwan, we went to Australia, again. It was a very long anchorage here. We had to wait for 15 days to get berth. I was lucky to go out here too. I did some shopping with Raji and came back. The ship was almost set to sail back to India, by the time we came back.

We came back to Vizag and it was more than 6 months since I joined the ship. I got my reliever here in Vizag and signed off along with Raji.

This was the first time I was working on contract and it was quite a nice experience, particularly with lots of tamil speaking people on board.

TOTAL TIME SPENT ON BOARD: 6 months and 9 days

PORT VISITED: INDIA- Vizag
OUTSIDE INDIA- Pusan(S.Korea), Hay Point(Australia), Richards Bay(South Africa), Vitoria & Rio Di Janeiro(Brazil), Port Klang(Malaysia), Singapore, Hongkong, Kao Hsiung(Taiwan), Dalrymple Bay(Australia)