Sea Life Chapter 13

Eagle Atlanta

30^th March 2006 to 19^th November 2006

I was suppose to enjoy my 5 months paid leave as promise by the company, but they use my friendship with Kenneth to get me to join one month earlier. Kenneth need to go back urgently to settle some legal paperwork on his property, but the company could not get replacement for him in the past few months. I happen to be enjoying my well earn paid leave during this period and I became an easy target as usual because of my soft hearted nature.

One of engineer which I had sail with once told me that our paid leave are not as good as we thought, taking into account of the Public Holiday and Weekends that we have to work it is only a reasonable compensation. The company did try to convince us to switch our tanker allowance to paid leave, but most disagree with it because it is just a delay payment which allow the company to earn more interest.

Same like AWS (Annual Wages Supplement), it is introduce when they change the weekly payment of salary to monthly payment. 4 weeks will come to 28 days, but other than February all the other months had more than 28 days. Taking into account of 2 to 3 days extra for each month and not counting the extra 1 day for the leap year which occur every 4 years, the AWS still short change you by 1 day as the extra days amount to 29 days.

I met CJ again and he is Fourth Engineer now, there is also China Third Engineer Fu Sheng who is always calculating his salary and bonus. I told him that if he would spend more effort on his job, he would have become a better engineer. But he still more interested in his paint business back in China, I am glad that his mentality did not affect the China Fifth Engineer Ming Fan.

There is an incident which happen on one of the vessel where an engineer got injure by the door swing out under pressure, the engine room is always maintain under positive pressure for all tanker ship to prevent toxic gas from entering. The company ask all the ship to start measuring the air pressure inside the engine room with various condition of door open and shut or fan running on ventilation or exhaust mode.

I remember when I was fifth engineer on Neptune Crux, we encounter Typhoon when going to Korea for loading. Whole vessel was down with sea sick, and when I go to control room for tea break I saw all the engineer laying flat on the floor. I feel a bit awark being the only one siting up, so I decided to join them and lay down on the floor.

Chief Engineer came down to see how we are doing in engine room, he open the control room door and saw all his engineer laying down on the floor. He thought we were overcome by toxic gases and he quickly shut the door again, after thinking for a while he realized that it is just sea sick so he question me why I lay down when I am not even sea sick like the rest.

I also encounter a few rough sea during my cadet ship, and it was so bad that only me and pump man were still standing. I keep watch in engine control room controlling the engine speed to prevent over speed while the pump man steer the vessel on the wheel house. I always make egg sandwich for Chung Hun and Eric whenever they got sea sick, and funny thing is that the Second Engineer always visit them in their cabin to ask if they had feel better so that they can go down engine room to work again.

Chief Engineer Patrick join later with his wife, he decided to on his honeymoon mode when he saw me onboard. The number of time he go to engine can be count with fingers on one hand and the numbers of time he went ashore with Captain cannot be count with both hand and feet.

Before I join the vessel we already had a lot of piping problems, Kenneth had requested for piping material and a welder for the repair but the material only arrive after he had sign off. The welder never came after a very long time, and we are also busy with main engine bearing job on top of a lot of oil major inspection.

The ship use a common telephone exchange system and some of the cabins are sharing the same line under the common server. I try to assist the Electrician on the issue when we encounter some issue with the system and found that only those with three connection will work well. We only have spare for those two connection type, in order to resolve the issue I had to replace one of the two phone in my cabin with the one with two connection.

As I am sharing the same line with one of the AB, I had to off the ringer for the bedroom phone to prevent them from waking me up when they call the AB for night duties. Then there was one occasion where the Chief Engineer cannot get me on the phone and he report the issue to the Captain and claim that I am irresponsible.

Got another occasion he was force to carry out the main engine bearing job with the China Third Engineer, the Third Engineer had done the job many time together with me and he should be able to handle it without any issue. But the China Fifth Engineer told me later that the Third Engineer was not familiar with the Special Tools and cause a lot of delay on the job.

I was really disappointed with the company as I had told them I am planning to get married after this vessel, they had promise to get a replacement after 5 to 6 months but they back out of their word. I had to cancel all my reservation and redo all my planning after I sign off after 8 months and I thought to myself it is time for me to leave this life behind.

Sea Life Chapter 12

Bunga Kelana Satu

3^rd June 2005 to 2^nd November 2005

This vessel was the most challenging of all the vessel which I had join, the company show me a 15 pages list of 193 oil major observation before I join the vessel.They also had to replace all the Liner for Main Engine due to crack and leakage as told by Superintendent Ang when I met him on Eagle Tucson.

“This is Mission Impossible!” I say.

“Mission Difficult will be a Walk in the Park for you.” said Superintendent.

On top of that they are also planning for the vessel to operate in America which I came to know much later. I spend two month getting the ship to good condition and manage to clear the oil major inspection with only 19 minor observations. The company informed me that they plan to bring the ship for operation in America after that.

I was surprise that they are able to arrange for USCG (United State Coast Guard) Inspection in Singapore Anchorage. The inspector was rushing for time, and with just a boat drill and fire drill he clear the vessel for America Operation which mark the start of our nightmare.

We had an oil spill during cargo discharging when the stripping line for one of the cargo pump give way due to rust corrosion, they trip the cargo pump and I went on deck to find out what is the problem. The deck crews were shock and I manage to get Bosun to help me bring the saw dust from his forward store at the bow to stop the spill from getting worst.

There are some leakage from the ship side plug as it is unable to seal tightly due to rust corrosion and we manage to discover it early and arrest it with mop before it touch the water. Captain Chowdury from Houston Office visit the ship and told office that it is not suitable for America Operation. We had long voyage to Caribbean and South America after that due to this incident.

When I first join we had problem with ballast pump suction valve, it is indicating opening and shut according to the hydraulic indicator but it is actually stuck shut inside the line. After checking the hydraulic system with no issue I decided to access the valve from the sea chest filter side with calculated risk.

It is not a pleasant experience as I can feel the pressure coming direct on my face every time a wave hit the suction side of the system. They were suppose to station one person outside to ensure my safety but due to shortage of manpower I can only use constant interval reporting to the wheel house by a walkies talkie.

There are a long interval when I was busy cutting the fishing net from the valve spindle that I am unable to communicate with the bridge and that is when they got worried and send a cadet down to check on me. I had to drill out the broken stud in order to install new bolt on the valve secure to the spindle.

After I had finish with the repair, I met the Burmese Captain Zaw Min in the Accommodation Passage Way. He was so stressful about the vessel condition that he started speaking Burmese to me, I try to listen with patient and understand that he is talking about the Deck Air Supply for their power tools to carry out deck maintenance. Suddenly he realize that I am Second Engineer and not Electrician Min Aung, I assure him that I will provide higher pressure from my main air compressor instead of using the portable deck air compressor which the company provided.

One morning we heard a loud bang and we saw the fan blade from the forward port side ventilation fan had protrude out from the trunk casing. Upon opening up, we found that the whole assembly was rusted and and the fan impeller had broken from the shaft. We had to grind off the foundation bolt before we can remove the motor for shaft replacement and repair the trunking while trying to balance the fan impeller.

I had a very heated argument with Chief Engineer when he show me the Docking Report and told me all the 20 over Fan, Turbine and Pump Impellers are already send for balancing test during the last docking. It is only possible to balance about two impellers for those big size machinery like Vent Fan and Turbo Charger, and the report show all the impellers are balance on the same day.

My prediction came truth when we are doing gas free operation at Venezuela Anchorage, the Inert Gas Fan Impeller also damage the casing when the shaft broke. Before we carry out the operation I had told Chief Engineer that the vessel configuration was different from other vessel which we had sail before. Usually one fan is only 75% of the maximum throughput but this vessel is design with 100% throughput according to the system manual.

They wanted to complete the gas free faster and so the Superintendent decided to run both fan together. The back pressure became too high and the star delta connection switching of the motor control was not long enough to build up enough momentum to overcome the inertia force.

The repair took me 72 hours and me and my crew work round the clock without any sleep or break for three days at the IG Fan Platform. The Superintendent send the Fan Impeller ashore for balancing test and true enough I win the bet and doesn't had to go home without any replacement.

It was actually quiet sad for me as I had to manage manual firing of the boiler for cargo operation later when the control circuit board got damage. I had requested for emergency spare and expected to receive it within two weeks, but the ship had been calling all the remote location port and the spare took three months to reach the ship. All my engineers had been so familiar with the manual operation that I worry they would not get use to automatic control after I fix the issue.

We discover that the fuel oil control piston are leaking and need to service, Chief Engineer ask for the company to send the repair kit as I had carry out the servicing of the control system when I did my docking of Eagle Boston. As Chief Engineer smoke and drink a lot, his hand are shaky and I had to be the one adjusting the control air pressure from 3.5 bar back to 2.0 bar after we complete the servicing of the pneumatic pistons.

The vessel also not discharging with Inert Gas System when I first join, I found out that the three way pneumatic control valve had been damage and would not be able to control the vent of the inert gas when the pressure became high. I did not have any spare for it so I had to modify another similar one to fix the issue.

We had become expert in mechanical seal as most of the pumps doesn't have any spare for overhaul, we had a treasure chest in the work shop where we keep all the unknown spare inside. We would go to the treasure chest and savage any useful part and assemble a modify mechanical seal for most of the pump rapier.

I had raise the requisition for the shaft and mechanical seal, but due to delay of the supply of spare I am only able to get the machinery working condition from 30% to 70%. I was suddenly told by the office that I had to sign off after 5 months as I had already overstay my temporary permit from the Malaysia Port Authority.

Sea Life Chapter 10

Eagle Tucson

28^th July 2004 to 19^th March 2005

I join this vessel as Second Engineer, Kenneth was there to guide me on most of the paperwork require. My batch mate James had been sailing on various vessels and writing operation manual for all the same type of vessels, it had become a very useful project for the whole fleet.

This vessel had a few issues with the generators, one of the design failure is the lub oil purification inlet and outlet were position side by side which cause a short circuit that reduce the efficiency of the purification process. This was later resolve by modification of the piping system by shift the inlet away from the outlet at another location near to the flywheel.

Another issue is there are no water washing arrangement for the turbo charger, and we have to remove the newly design scoop type turbine blade for cleaning every month. This issue was resolved later when the maker install the modified water washing arrangement.

The last issue is the Exhaust Valve Spindle Stem Seal was not design to withstand high temperature, so failure of the stem seal cause large amount of lub oil going into the combustion chamber and cause a lot of carbon deposit. This worsen the situation for the turbo charger with the previous two issues, but this was resolve earlier with new spare which is able to withstand high temperature.

I once ask the Indian Fourth Engineer to ease up all the vent flap in the engine room during one Saturday as we are doing our Saturday Routine, he told me that he had already completed the job by morning tea break. I saw the condition were mostly rusted and seize in open position, I am not sure if he is so strong that he is able to ease up all of them within two hours.

I went around and check on the job and found that most of it were not done, some of the pull chain were also damage and require some repair. So the Electrician was surprise that I as an Senior Officer had to carry out the job myself when he saw me in the engine room going around with hammer, pliers and grease gun to repair and ease up all the vent flap. Electrician respect me a lot for that, but I am more concern about the safety of the vessel as it is critical for us to isolate the ventilation in case of fire.

I heard that my batch mate Chung Hun also do the EGE (Exhaust Gas Economizer) Washing himself when he sail with Chief Engineer Ahmad when he was Second Engineer. This is the Leadership by Example that I had learn during my army training, and I don't think this mentality will be able to pass down after we quit sailing.

We are not concern whether the job is difficult or hard, the more we do the more experience we gain. We have seen a lot of young engineer only concern about their pay, welfare and promotion, they are not interested in improving their knowledge and experience. The company culture had make us more competent as compare to other, and we are able to adapt to various situation with ease.

I remember when I am sailing on one of the ship as third engineer, the chief engineer was surprised that I am able to carry out Generator Overhaul alone as it is using hydraulic jack to loosen and tighten the nuts. Usually for those using Torque Wench would require at least two person.

Sea Life Chapter 9

Eagle Boston

4^th November 2002 to 4^th May 2003

I join this vessel in New York, but I did not get any chance to visit New York. The only place I get to visit is Philadelphia, and when I join the vessel my luggage was detained by the airport security for inspection and it arrive later with some damage on the locking arrangement. The vessel had very good voyage of going between America and Canada, and I had the worst Chinese Food in my life when I went to the Chinese Restaurant to have dinner in Canada.

The vessel went to Portugal for docking toward the end of my contract, and we encounter a lot of issues with the System Monitoring and Alarm Panel after the docking. I had notice abnormal low insulation with the 440 volt electrical panel when the yard side connect the shore power supply, they have their cable soak in the water and even after bringing up the issue to Electrician, Chief Engineer and Superintendent with no result.

As the panel is very sensitive to the current, abnormal defects start to happen after we complete the docking repair, I help Electrician troubleshoot and isolate a few of the control card in the server unit. I also had to savage some part from old computer to fix the work terminal, the only part lacking is a very old type of network card which they manage to found it in Russia after I sign off.

The Superintendent is my previous Chief Engineer Firoz, nobody are able to stand his Donald Duck voice nagging. I am not sure why he like to chat with me so much, got once he told me he wanted to get the Inert Gas Fan Casing de rust and coated as I had open it up for survey inspection. He was thinking whether to use hardener paint or epoxy for the coating, before he could make up his mind I had already completed the job with his initial instruction of using epoxy.

He told me that I should not have carry out the job myself and should have ask one of the junior engineer to do it, I told him that all the other engineers are also busy with other jobs and it doesn't really take much time to complete the job. Chief Engineer Paul was doing the docking with me, he later became the Superintendent for Bunga Kelana Satu after Superintendent Ang left the company.

I join Bunga Kelana Satu later when Superintendent Ang challenge me when I met him on Eagle Atlanta, I thought I had seen so many difficult ship in my life how difficult can Bunga Kelana Satu be? I was wrong when I board the vessel later in my life and I found out that 70% of the machinery are not working and they had been discharging cargo without Inert Gas System.

The vessel was handover by Malaysia Company when our tanker fleet was brought over, the vessel was only 8 years old but it was much worst than 30 years old ship which I had encounter later when I did a FPSO conversion project in Indonesia. The first Second Engineer resign after three months, the other Second Engineer emergency sign off after three months too and I took over.

Actually the Malaysia Port Authority rejected my application due to their requirement for Senior Officer with at least a year experience. My sea time was just short by two months, and the company was suppose to take me out when the temporary permit for three months expired. The office was surprise that I am able to last so long on that ship without requesting for signing off, so they decided to keep quite about the whole incident until the Malaysia Port Authority discover that I am still serving onboard after 5 months and threaten to impose a very heavy fine on the company before they told me I had to sign off at the next port of call in America.

I was suppose to attend the court case of the Austin Incinerator Incident in America after I sign off, but due to Visa requirement I would need to fly out of the country first and return back on a Tourist Visa instead of Seamen Transit Visa. The company actually arrange for me to fly to Canada for the reentry but after speaking to the company lawyer on the phone they think that I present is not require and I fly back to Singapore direct from America after that.

Sea Life Chapter 7

Eagle Auriga

5^th March 2002 to 6^th September 2002

I join this vessel after the 911 incident, my sign off had delay for a month due to security issues and both me and the Second Officer had to go to the airport at least 5 hours before the flight for the security clearance procedure. We are the first to try out the procedure after the 911 incident and the check in luggage had to be open up for inspection and all the items inside had to be wipe by a chemical paper to check for any explosive content.

I had manage to break up with my girlfriend due to her unreasonable demand of long phone call which is not possible after the 911 incident. I had went for a backpacking trip to China spending a week each in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing after that.

I took over the Generator from another third engineer and all are due for major overhaul, we mange to complete one of the major overhaul with two second engineer in just two days before one of them sign off and the other one took over.

The remaining two generator had to be done over the span of six day with two units per day as we had a lot of STS Operation after that. The other engineers will keep 6 on 6 off watch while me and fifth engineer will carry out the overhaul during the short voyage out of the river.

Most of my time are spend on preparing the cylinder heads at the Generator Platform, each generator had 6 cylinder heads and each cylinder head will take about a day or two to prepare. With the major overhaul of all the three generators with 18 cylinder heads to prepare and service, most of my time on this ship are spend on the job.

There are a lot of leakage around the engine room, cleaning also took up most of our time as there are a lot of oil major inspection coming one after another. Fifth Engineer CJ is always complaining about the job, but his complain doesn't really have any effect and in the end he still had to carry out most of the job against his own will.

Second Engineer Sam doesn't really talk much, he became a contrast to Chief Engineer Patrick who join later who like to talk a lot. Chief Engineer Patrick join the company after he left another better company when he was third engineer, he always comparing how life were better in the previous company. When he first join this company he cannot get use to the fact that most of the job had to be carry out by engineers ourselves, he use to having engine crews in the previous company and all he have to do is just supervision.

Our company happen to let other company manage 4 of our vessels later towards the end of my sailing career, one of my fourth engineer met the crew from the other company and try to chat with them about machinery maintenance. He realize that the engine crews actually know more about the machinery than the engineers as they are the one that do the actual job.

Chief Engineer Patrick told me more about the famous Rogina, he was sailing on one of the vessel and Rogina was the Third Officer. Most of the guys onboard were very interested in her but she only have eyes for a fourth engineer name Soh Hai. So one day the fourth engineer went to Chief Engineer Patrick and start crying and saying that he had been sexually harass by the Third Officer. When Patrick ask about the details he found out that Rogina had brought some candles and light a path from fourth engineer cabin leading to her cabin.

I had heard about how two of the girls from my batch had join a container ship and turn the vessel into a love boat where one having a relationship with Second Officer and the other had relationship with Third Engineer. There is also a Professional Third Engineer who sail on one vessel with his wife, when the vessel arrive Singapore the office inform him that his wife had requested to join the vessel. He start to panic and that is when they realize that he is having two wives in different countries, some rumor say he actually got three wives in three different countries too.

Sea Life Chapter 6, 8 and 11

Eagle Centaurus

3^rd April 2001 to 9^th October 2001

26^th December 2002 to 31^st July 2003

14^th April 2005 to 19^th May 2005

This installment consist of three chapters, namely Chapter 6, Chapter 8 and Chapter 11. Usually the company like to send me to different ships for me to gain more experience and expose myself to different configurations and machinery type. But this vessel is one of the top three difficult vessel where Bunga Kelana Satu at first place and Eagle Auriga at second place. Even Neptune Orion and American Pegasus had to fall to fourth and fifth place.

I had sail on this vessel three times, twice as Third Engineer and once as Second Engineer. The Second Engineer duration only for about a month as I was activated last minute by the company to bring the vessel for docking repair in Portugal. The Outgoing Bangladesh Second Engineer had tender resignation and the Incoming Bangladesh Second Engineer still not confident enough after one month of double up.

The first time I sail on this ship I join with my Cadet Ship Professional Third Engineer Falzan, he just got married to Rogina and had pursuit his further studies of Class Two COC. I never understand why he always get very frustrated whenever he is unable to get his wife when he call, then one of the AB who join ship with me told me about the History of his wife.

She was Third Officer on one of the vessel and one of the AB going to get married with her, the AB already brought the Diamond Ring for the proposal but an incident happen during her cargo watch and the AB was one of the three casualty that die in the pump room. He met her when he attend the funeral and that was the remaining part of the story after that.

The Chief Cook like me a lot, he thought I bring luck to him when he gamble. So during one of the port stay in America I did not get to sleep for 72 hours. I am keeping 4/8 watch, the first evening the Third Officer want me to go Hong Kong Bar open by a Vietnamese guy with him. The next day morning I went to visit NASA Space Center, then that evening the Chief Cook want me to go Casino with him, The following day morning I go to shopping mall and supermarket get some stuffs for the SRC, then that night the cargo discharging finish and the ship not sailing off until the next day so Third Engineer want me to go Strip Club with him.

The first three months was quite ok with some short voyage to Mexico, but the last two months we are doing about 8 STS Operation per months. So we get to alongside port twice every week and have been keeping watch round the clock, the Chief Cook always prepare special for me in the kitchen and I put on 20 Kg of weight on this vessel. When I sign off and go back Singapore, my mom doesn't even recognize me anymore.

The ship staffs gamble a lot every evening, the Captain finally put a stop after Third Officer lose three months of his salary. But Chief Cook still visit casino often, I heard he miss the schedule for ship departure after I sign off because of his casino visit.

The second time I join this vessel with Chief Engineer Ahmad, Raphael was the Second Engineer who join later and sign off together with me in United Kingdom. There is another China Fourth Engineer Guang Dong onboard, we became very close and became the three musketeers.

Chief Engineer Ahmad is still very short temper as usual, and most Electrician are afraid of him because he always like to fiddle around with controller and spoil it. I remember I need to run around engine room to manually control Jacket Water Temperature, Scavage Air Temperature and Fuel Oil Pressure when we do maneuvering operation for 36 hours voyage up the Mississippi River to Baton Rouge during my cadet ship.

This time round I was told to overhaul the Jacket Water Cooling Pneumatic Control Valve as it is always stuck in one of the position. The telfon seal rings were found to be wear off and renew of the seal ring solve the issue, Chief Ahmad was very happy and start to take credit for his expertise in pneumatic control system.

Then the problem came for the sewage treatment plant, me and another Indian fourth engineer were appointed to carry out the repair as Chief Engineer Ahmad, Second Engineer Raphael and Fourth Engineer Guang Dong will be busy with the Main Engine Cross Head Bearing Replacement.

I found out that the three way valve for the sewage treatment plant was fitted wrongly, so whenever we open it to overboard it is going to the plant and whenever we open it to plant it is shut and not going to plant or overboard. This mistake must have been there since the last docking as the plant have a lot of waste which are not discompose by the bacteria. We have to dose the yeast to cultivate the bacteria again and ban the use of harpic on toilet.

Raphael told me they forgot the aluminum spacer for the cross head stopper plug during the replacement, as the material is very soft it should not cost any damage to the unit. It was later that I bring the vessel for docking that I found out that the office had to send a service engineer to supervise the cross head replacement due to damage on the gliding shoe bearing surface.

There is also another service engineer from Yanmar to supervise the Cam Shaft replacement for one of the Generator Engine as pitting damage was found on the cam surface. The service engineer became very close to me as I had provided a lot of assistance to him, I met him again when I encounter some problem with cargo pump on one of the new build project in Thailand.

There was an oil spill from the clean drain tank due to misoperation of the three way valve, the scavenge air pressure went into the clean drain tank and the tank overflow. It should have switch to the bilge tank with the orifice plate when main engine is in operation as the diversion to clean drain tank is just for drain of remaining water residue when the main engine is stop.

It was a very small issue but Chief Ahmad start to throw his temper, he threw the whole tray of fried fish on Chief Cook when he went for his dinner. He is very frustrated with the fixed weekly menu onboard the ship, we usually know which day of the week by just looking at what dish the Chief Cook prepare for that day. Fourth Engineer Guang Dong suffer most, he say before we join all the food is yellow in colour but now is all red in colour.

Fourth Engineer Guang Dong encounter some issue with the Purifier, he ask for my help. We could not figure out the actual problem, so we ask Raphael who had more experience. He found out that the telfon plugs supply by the company are not original but fabricated instead, we had to measure every piece to ensure the height match before we can get it to work.

Since I became Second Engineer I did not get any time to enjoy my paid leave, I met Kenneth on Eagle Tucson when I first became Second Engineer. I extent my stay for 8 months due to company unable to find replacement when i am due for sign after 5 months, and less than a month later they activate me to bring Eagle Centaurus for Dry Dock. I attend the wedding of Dennis right after I get off my flight and within two weeks I had to join Bunga Kelana Satu due to my Neptune Crux Second Engineer Saleh emergency sign off in Singapore due to steam burn on his leg when he overhaul the Boiler Circulating Pump.

The company promise me to let me enjoy my five months of leave after that vessel but finally activate me a month before to join Eagle Atlanta as Kenneth need to settle some paperwork on his property in Malaysia. Eagle Atlanta was the last vessel I sail with the company as I am getting married and was very disappointed with the Chief Engineer Patrick who sail with me before on Eagle Auriga.

I join the vessel for the third time in America as I will need to do tank cleaning for the bunker tank before the vessel enter dry dock. The two weeks long voyage from America to Europe are use to prepare the vessel for the docking, the crews standard had drop and most of the task I had to handle by myself.

I was having late dinner at the mess room when the service engineer from Sulzer and Yanmar arrive, they thought I was Chief Cook and ask if there are any food left as they had not have their dinner and came straight from the airport. As I know Chief Cook very well I ask Chief Cook to prepare some simple meal for them, a small gesture go a long way and they had been very close to me throughout the docking period as none of the other staffs actually care about their need when they needed it most.

I was dismantling the attached pumps on the Generator Engine when the Service Engineer came down to inspect the spare Cam Shaft for replacement, he was surprised that I as an Second Engineer was working alone and never give up even after they found out that the spare Cam Shaft does not have any timing gear install on it. We have to transfer the timing gear from the old shaft and during the process the Fourth Engineer who is suppose to assist on the job got chase away by the Service Engineer because of his attitude.

The Service Engineer was only suppose to supervise the replacement process and give advise, but end up he is the one working with me for the whole process. He taught me a lot of things about the design of the engine which I did not know previously, he also came to my cabin to drink and chat after we completed the job.

He told me about his ghost encounter where he wake up one night when he was in Indonesia Hotel and saw a small kid playing with his watch. As he did not do any bad deeds so he is not afraid of it, he start to talk to the kid and ask the kid to promise him not to disturb his sleep if he take off his watch and let the kid play with it.

I had to go sea trial to monitor the cross head bearing temperature after the docking repair as requested by Superintendent Seah, he ask me to get some him some steel wire and rubber gasket as he need it for the repair of his house toilet flushing unit. I left the ship after completion of the sea trial at late night and get to enjoy half day in town before I fly home in the afternoon.

Sea Life Chapter 5

Eagle Austin

25^th May 1999 to 18^th December 1999

I decided to sail one more vessel before I go back for my Class One and Class Two Combine Course, I already got the 18 months sea time required but I just want to gain more experience. I join this ship as the second batch, it is also a new vessel but delivered from Korea. I heard about the oil spill incident and the detention in North Korea before I join, the vessel was at anchorage for few months and the official from the port board the ship every day to take stuffs from the ship.

After investigation it was found that the sea chest valve for testing the cargo pump during sea trial was not blank off, it had cause leakage during the cargo loading. The vessel had to survive on minimum provision for few months until the company send someone from the office to negotiate for the release of the ship.

The ship had a very impressive computer control monitoring system but it is not really practical as it always give a lot of false alarm. The system cannot withstand vibration and heat and very sensitive to small variation of electrical current changes, I encounter a major problem later in another ship when we did a docking in Europe.

The most common false alarm is the Vacuum Failure for the Sewage System, the pressure sensor pipe is too small and get choke easily. I usually will shut and open the cock a few time and use my adjustable spanner to give a few knock to clear the line.

Professional Third Engineer Donald is a very good temper guy, he help me improve my welding skill as there are a lot of repair work due to sub standard material use for piping work. This had benefit me later in my career when I become second engineer and I am the only person skill enough to carry out repair on boiler steam pipe and main sea water cooling pipe. I did suffer welder eyes on a few occasion and it had affect my eyes condition to be extra sensitive to bright sun light.

Eric was there too as Fourth Engineer, he sail with me for a short period and sign off. Second Engineer Aun Aun and Third Engineer Teoh join later, Second Engineer Aun Aun sign off together with me after he suffer some injury onboard. We both went to the Clinic and Hospital twice and was misdiagnose, I had hit my toe against the coffee table when rushing down to engine to answer, he had cramp and numbness on his leg.

The first clinic we visit at America, he was diagnose with muscle strain and I was diagnose with dislocation. But after two weeks both of us still did not recover and we went to a Hospital in America, this time the doctor took X Ray for me and found hair line fracture. He was diagnose with Hamstring Tear and recommended for sign off, I advise him to seek a third opinion in Singapore and found out that it was spinal cord slip disc.

He station in Singapore Office for a year helping the Container Fleet install the CCTV Monitoring System while receiving his Physio Therapy Treatment, I visit him when I went to the office to settle my paperwork before I join as Third Engineer after I got my Class Two COC (Certificate of Competency).

As Teoh just join the vessel and I was ask to bring him for Saturday Routine checking on all the LSA (Life Saving Apparatus) and FFA (Fire Fighting Apparatus). We manage to finish early and Teoh wanted to fabricate a Tool Board for his Generator Platform. As we were busy in the workshop, we heard a cry nearby and as I lift my head in that direction I was shock to see a man whole body on fire running towards us.

I thought I was dreaming as it is only something you will see in Hollywood Movies, but when I heard him trying to speak Hindi to the Electrician Ranjit I realize he is the Engine Cadet. As Ranjit is trying to remove his boiler suit with Fifth Engineer, me and Teoh connect the Fresh Water Hose to spray on his body to put out the fire and cool his body. Second Engineer call the Wheel House but the Second Officer did not believe what happen, I told them to bring the cadet to the hospital first then go to wheel house to drag second officer down for the treatment.

I went out of the workshop following the trace of the oil and found a burnt plastic bucket near the incinerator, I collect the content inside the bucket as I know we have to investigate the cause of the incident. As I clean up the oil stain on the floor plate, I notice Electrician came over and isolate the pneumatic system of the incinerator to shut down the equipment.

The cadet had been told to carry out some cleaning on Main Engine Crankcase, as I am doing Saturday Routine with Third Engineer Teoh in the morning he could not find me and decided to take the chemical from Steering Gear Room himself. The cleaning chemical had a lower flash point of 25 degree Celsius and I usually mix a little bit with half pail of water for them to clean, he had took half pail of concentrated chemical for cleaning instead.

He saw Electrician helping the deck crew burning cardboard at the incinerator, the Electrician had bypass the safety limit switch so that they can open both the loading door and the ram flap together for faster loading and burning of the garbage. The cadet should have dispose the chemical into the sludge tank but we are not sure why he decided to dispose it into the incinerator instead.

The rest of the incident as you can guess, the low flash point chemical back fire when it touch the hot metal plate of the ram flap. The fire burn the cadet face and he panic and drop the bucket of chemical on his body, his clothing start to caught fire and he was lucky enough to remember there are people working in the workshop nearby for him to seek help.

The cadet suffer 70% of second degree burn, he was lucky to survive. The Captain did not want to incur additional cost for Helicopter Evacuation and decide to let the Cadet suffer for a day before we arrive port. In the end we still having to send him by Helicopter as the Ambulance is unable to enter the jetty.

I had seen a lot of accidents throughout my sailing career, I am lucky to survive in one piece after ten years of sailing without any major injury. I had seen Burmese Fifth Engineer injure his fingers when the Piston Stuffing Box slide down during Main Engine Overhaul during my cadet ship. I had also seen fourth engineer finger crush by the Auto Back Wash Filter Gear later when I become third engineer on another ship as he try to make adjustment without isolating the control system.

The incident had create a mental stress on most of the ship staffs, some of them even question whether they should continue their career sailing onboard ship or to find a shore job and stay safe and alive. I am not sure if the company arrange for any psychology counseling for them as I took a year to study for my advance diploma in polytechnic after that.

Sea Life Chapter 4

Eagle Albany

12^th August 1998 to 18^th February 1999

I fly to Japan for the New Delivery in July 1998 about two week before the vessel is set to sail off. We stay in a Hostel near to the yard, and Dennis is my room mate. The senior officer had been there few months before and they just completed the sea trial recently. We change into our working clothing and start our inspection of the vessel, taking notes of the defects which we had notice and making mental notes of the stencil marking and layout setup for future operation.

Dennis forgot to bring the charger for his video cam, by chance it was able to use my digital camera charger. We planned for a visit to Hiroshima during one of the weekend evening, but we did not know that the cheaper train ticket we brought took 4 hours to reach the location. So by the time we reach there it was already about 2200 hrs at night and most of the shop and shopping center are closed.

We get another chance over the weekday as the yard is planning to paint the ship getting ready for delivery hand over. We did not know that day is the Atomic Bomb Memorial Day, so when we arrive at the town early in the morning we saw a lot of local heading to the Memorial Park. We walk along the Shopping Street and visit the Memorial Park, the crews are crazy about getting electronic goods at Pawn Shop while the Officers are interested in the 200 ($2) Yen Value Shop.

We also did went out the night before the ship sail off, as we are going for a long voyage we need to get some stuffs. One of the main item is the pillow, as the one provided by the Japan yard are too high and too hard. Second Engineer Aun Aun wanted to make the spare Master Key, the Key Smith check the catalog to ensure it comply to their country security standard before accepting the job.

We went to a local pub nearby to meet Third Engineer Kelvin, he was crazy about a Japanese Waitress there and trying to get her contact before we left. As 50% of the Japanese words are similar to Chinese, I became useful in getting the mailing address for him to write his love letters. They are having some harvest celebration at the small town near to the yard, we manage to met a local who speak English to explain to us about the origin of the celebration.

We sail off at 12^th August and will be stopping by at Singapore for our Bunker, Store, Spare and Provision. Second Engineer Cheah knew another Fourth Engineer Teoh will be joining in Singapore, so he send message to him asking him to bring some entertainment stuff from Malaysia.

The vessel arrive at Singapore Anchorage and I was busy taking bunker on deck, Superintendent Toh came and ask me for direct around the ship. I thought he was the ship chandler but later was told by the other ship staffs that he was the Superintendent. Superintendent Ang also came onboard for a visit, I met him when he was having lunch at the mess room, If the Chief Cook did not introduce him I would not have thought he is Superintendent too as he was wearing working clothing and just did a tank inspection.

New join crews brought a PlayStation Gaming Console, a few games and a few VCD, that will be our entertainment for the 45 days long voyage to America. We proceed to Australia first to load Crude Condensate, the cargo corrosive properties will help to clean the cargo tank. It can strip paint to bare metal on contact and Bosun kept a few jar in his store for future cleaning.

Burmese Electrician was not happy that the company cancel his request for power screw driver, as he will need to open a lot of screw for ceiling and bulkhead inspection he decided to get one himself. He later brought a set of Infinity Speaker Set and a Digital Universal Remote Control for his Home Entertainment System, he was kind enough to impress us during one of the SRC Movie Screening Night.

Chief Engineer love the Female Actress Whitney Houston in the Movie named The Body Guard, every evening after dinner he will be the first in the TV Room to watch the movie. We had watch the movie more than 40 times during our long voyage because of him. A few of the younger crew members prefer to challenge each other in fighting game in the other TV Room.

We saw the Cape of Good Hope after about 30 days of long voyage, it was the first time we saw land since we left Australia. Captain Mogay make a remark on Chief Officer Mohana Cabin, empty beer cans were rolling all over the cabin when he went for inspection. Third Engineer Kelvin bring Third Officer Dennis to a strip club when we arrive in America, Dennis say he had to wash his face for more than a week after the visit.

Both of them planned to visit Laos and Cambodia after they sign off from the vessel, and it led to a joke later when Dennis Sister call my home looking for him while my mom who answer the phone thought why my friend sister call me to look for their dog. I realize that it was Dennis Chinese name and call her back and told her about his trip and ask her to confirm if his passport is not at home.
 

We also visit Bourbon Street in New Orleans, both my fifth engineer were very exited when they saw the Mardi Gras style of celebration during New Year Eve. Second Engineer Wife adopted a small parrot which lost it way and wander around our ship, but the bird die after a few days and everybody feel sad.

The Second Officer who taking over Dennis claim he is a Computer Expert, but Dennis found out later it is otherwise. He call Dennis and say that he cannot find the file that Dennis handover to him, Dennis ask him to look for it on A Drive as it is save on Floppy Disc. He insist it should be on C Drive as he had already put the Floppy Disc into the Computer and the Computer should be C Drive.

He then call Dennis on another occasion claiming that all the data on the spread sheet are gone, Dennis thought he had accidentally delete it by mistake. When Dennis went to the computer he saw the marker on the screen is at the last cell, so Dennis just press Home and Page Up together and the data magically appear again.  

Me and Dennis sign off around Chinese New Year with some deck crews, we were suppose to arrive Singapore on the third day of Chinese New Year. But due to a lot of flight delay, we had to stay one night each in Houston and Los Angeles. Our luggage also could not be found when we arrive in Singapore on the fifth day of Chinese New Year, after checking with the Baggage Claim Department we found out that our luggage still in Los Angeles because they did not transfer it to our new flight when we switch.

Sea Life Chapter 3

American Pegasus

24^th February 1998 to 7^th July 1998

I join this vessel as a Fourth Engineer for the first time, Fourth Engineering Eddie Batch Mate Raphael was there to guide me. This is the sister ship to Orion with a lot of similar setup, the voyage and the people onboard are very interesting. The vessel seldom do STS operation like other vessel because of it's machinery problems, the voyage are fixed to three short voyage to Mexico and one long voyage to Venezuela.

It was the first time I met Chief Officer Vijay, and he always left his collection of magazine in my room whenever he sign off. I met him again later on another ship and the deck crews seem to know who to look for to get their entertainment whenever Chief Officer sign off. Professional Third Engineer Wee always bring me out in Mexico for drinking at the disco pub, and Deck Cadet Randy is the party animal who always try to get me drunk.

The similar incident happen to me and Raphael like what happen to me and Eddie during the major overhaul of the Air Compressor, I thought he would have clear the crankcase while I went to get the lubricating oil, he thought I would have clear the crankcase before I pour the lubrication oil. So when we test run the air compressor we heard a loud noise and quickly stop it and open to check. A hammer was left inside and lucky other then the wooden handle of the hammer got damage everything else seem to be ok.

I was busy trying to rectify the Fuel Oil Purifier issues during one of the Cargo Discharging Watch when the Superintendent Vern from the Houston Office came for a visit. He was happy to see a hard working engineer working on machinery maintenance during cargo watch and try to get my attention by making remarks about me making the manual dirty. I just ignore him and continue working on the purifier so that it will not affect my cargo operation watch keeping.

Later when Chief Engineer came down to control room to welcome him he ask me about the proper opening and closing of the steam valve during cargo operation. I told him usually we just use the valve key to open and shut taking care to crack open for warming up to prevent water hammering of the pipe line. He say he notice that a lot of valve gland are leaking and we should have carry a spanner along and loosen the gland before we operate the valve and tighten it back after operation. I told him there are so many valves we had to open and shut during the preparing of cargo operation so we do not have time to loosen the gland for every valve we need to open or shut.

After Raphael sign off an Indian Fourth Engineer came to take over, since I am familiar with most of the machinery I let him choose what he is confident of. I was surprise that he choose purifier instead of boiler or air compressor, but later I found out that he did not know any of the machinery well.

The incident happen one night during one of the cargo operation after I hand over my watch and went back to my cabin for shower. After having my late dinner at the mess room I pass by the cargo control room and ask Chief Officer when the cargo discharging will complete as I will need to take bunker sounding for the completion of cargo operation and departure of port. Chief Officer look very stress and told me that the engine room inform him that the boiler had trip and all the cargo pump had to stop until they rectify the issue.

I was surprise that they did not inform me or the electrician about the boiler issue, so I just call electrician and told him to meet me at the boiler panel to trouble shoot the issue. When I went down to engine room I saw the Fourth Engineer keep repeating the procedure of resetting and firing of the boiler even after so many fail attempt, I ask him how many time he had to try before he would call me to open the burner unit to check.

Electrician came down and start opening up the burner unit with me, he test the ignition spark while I clean the rotary cup. I notice that the rotary cup was spinning very smoothly which is not normal, we open up the casing and found the belt from the motor to the cup was broken. After replacing the belt the boiler start up normally and I went down to see if the Fourth Engineer already open the dumping valve to the condenser at the cargo pump platform.

I really got a shock when I found that he is trying to start back the cargo pump and want to hand over the control back to the cargo control room. I told him he had to open to dumping valve first to ensure that the flow is constant before the boiler trip again due to high pressure cut out. He just ignore me and ask me not to interfere with his cargo watch and continue to start the cargo pump, I storm out of the engine room and electrician went to look for Chief Engineer to inform him of the whole situation.

One night when I was keeping cargo watch, Chief Engineer came down to control room and offer keep cargo watch for me. I thought I got sack from my duties when he finally say the Fourth Engineer had been working on the Purifier for three days but unable to solve the issue. He want me to take a look and see if I can locate the problem, I went to the Diesel Engine Platform beside the control room and start assembling the purifier.

Chief Engineer came out to observe my work and ask if I need to replace any Rubber O Ring. I told him the Fourth Engineer had already change two full set of Rubber O Ring and the existing one condition are still ok as it is new. I notice the top discharging pipe assembly were not tighten properly before the test run and a locating pin had shear off causing the pin hole became elongated.

I had to tap the screw thread on the hole and replace the locating pin with a screw so that the proper function of the purifier can be ensure. As I test run the purifier I notice that the solenoid valve SV11 which control the outlet is not closing, this had cause the water seal unable to hold during the initial start up of the purifier. I inform Chief Engineer about the issue and told him that the electrician had to open up the solenoid valve to check tomorrow.

Chief Engineer assure me that he is expert in solenoid valve and ask me to get him a screw driver for him to open up the solenoid valve. A spring jump out of the assembly as he open and he panic quickly searching the missing at the Diesel Generator Platform, he finally found it and give to me asking me to pass it to electrician the next day. As expected the electrician make a very big fuss about Chief Engineer trying to open up the solenoid valve without informing him, he would not able to get a replacement spare if Chief Engineer had lost the spring.

I was lucky that I only sail four months on this vessel as the company inform me that I had to go Japan to deliver a new ship. I will only get to rest for a month before I fly to Japan where I met Third Officer Dennis which became a very close friend.

Sea Life Chapter 2

Neptune Crux

26^th April 1997 to 29^th November 1997

After I completed two and a half year of my national service, I thought of quitting my sailing career. I took Diploma in Computer Studies during my national service and work for about six month in the IT industry. But I realized that office desk job was not suitable for me, so I join back as fifth engineer and join the vessel in Singapore with an Indian Chief Engineer. It was a smaller product tanker as compare to the Alfamex Crude Oil Tanker of my Cadet Ship, the voyage are tramping around Asia and Middle East region and should be more interesting than the fix STS operation in America.

The first Loading Port was Keelong Taiwan, we arrive at the anchorage and met with force 10 typhoon. The famous Technical Superintendent Tiger Tan visit the vessel during the one week anchorage and wanted to lower the life boat in extreme weather condition. Burmese Third Engineer got Sea Sick after trying to rectify the releasing mechanism of the hook and came to engine control room looking for a replacement. Fourth Engineer Eddie also very prompt to sea sick so I was the only choice left, I manage to board the life boat quickly due to my previous army training and the Superintendent was very impress.

But due to not getting enough sleep the night before because of maneuvering duties and the constraint and stuffy environment, I do not have the mental power to fight the sea sick. Chief Officer Manji send some cold drink down for us it was nice but my stomach just can't hold the orange soft drink and throw up outside the life boat. They thought the paint from the life boat had peel off when they saw orange patch floating away from the life boat, then the Superintendent saw me vomiting at the side and decided to get me up. I had to lay down on the roof of the life boat for a while for some fresh air before I recover my strength to climb the ladder.

The Bangladesh Second Engineer is very afraid of the Superintendent, got a few occasions he saw the Superintendent coming into engine from one of the stairway and he quickly escape from the other stairway. I was helping Second Engineer updating the PMS (Planned Maintenance Schedule) in the ship office at night after our dinner and the next thing I know I am alone with the Superintendent in the office and Second Engineer was nowhere to be found.

The Superintendent like to chat with me while we make coffee near to midnight, he say not much local are willing to sail anymore and we are rare breed like endangered species. There is a China Cadet who join before me, he is not happy with the life onboard as he had to work very hard. He told me he use to work government job in Suzhou and all he have to do is just to show his face in the morning and he can do whatever he please for the rest of the day.

 

Fourth Engineer Eddie always suffer under the Bangladesh Second Engineer, I became his assistance when I join the ship helping him on various maintenance for Boiler, Air Compressor and Purifier. Got one occasion we were ask to replace the lagging material for the boiler and while he is removing the rivet with a drill the asbestos fell on him and he was scratching all over for a week or so like the monkey king.

We also once ask to replace the canvas trunking for the Air Conditioning Unit at the upper level, while we were tightening the bolts and nuts, a small 10 mm spanner fell inside. We look at each other, shine the torch light to see that the spanner never land close to the blower impeller and decided to forget about the whole incident as it will be too much trouble to open up the whole blower casing just to get it back.

A Malaysian Deck Cadet Joe became very close to me because we speak the same dialect Hakka, the other Engine Cadet Eric join later and we became the Iron Triangle due to our friendship. I found out later that I did not get to meet Third Officer Dennis as he had sign off before I join, but fate manage brought us together when we deliver a new vessel in Japan a few years later.

After Joe sign off another three China Deck Cadet join, one of them is from Guangxi and two of them are from Suzhou too. So the five of us became the lowest form of life on the ship and always sit at the same table for our meals.

The vessel went to a lot of places, from Korea to Middle East and even Sri Lanka toward the later part of our voyage. Middle East was very hot and dry, I bet with Eric to see how long will it take an Ice Cube from the Mess Room to melt on the Deck. Eric guess 3 minutes and I guess 1 minutes, to our surprise it disappear withing 10 seconds.

We encounter a lot of issue there, the cooling pump filter were choked by sea weed. We had to remove the filter to clean every hour and the valve can only be force shut with the help of chain block. We also had to clean up all the sand inside the engine room which is blow in by the blower, I was told later that they actually sold the sands as a souvenir as the sand got 7 different colors for each different state.

We saw a lot of crabs floating on the surface and manage to hook a few with just aiming the weight and projecting the lines of hook to get it by chance. We saw a lot of bird migrating during the season and they decided to rest on our ship, the deck cadets had a hard time cleaning bird shit on the deck after they left.

We saw volcano eruption when we pass by Sumatra, and the Second Mate is skillful enough to navigate between two ten stories tall wave and sail in between two wall of water like Moses splitting the red sea.

We arrive at Pusan Korea and Burmese Third Engineer want to find Ginseng Chicken Soup, as we are unable to speak their language we had to act like a chicken to make them understand what we want. It is like the Radio Officer cannot take Beef and we had to act like a pig to order Tacos which is Pork instead of Beef in Mexico during my cadet ship.

I fall sick after we departure Korea, I pass out blood from my urine and had high fever, they suspect Kidney Stone and send me to an hospital Dubai for check up when the ship arrive. I was suppose to carry out the video scope inspection but the company call the agent to cancel the medical examination as it is too expensive. The doctor prescribe some medicine to clear my kidney stone and by the time we arrive Sri Lanka I had already alive and kicking.

They still insist on sending me to a clinic in Sri Lanka to complete the video scope examination but the clinic doesn't have the facilities to do that and the urine test result only show infection which is probably cause by the stone scraping the passage when passing out.

Sri Lanka was a very dangerous place, I had to walk an hour passing three security check point before I reach the town. Every time the security guard ask me the three standard questions of Who am I? Where am I from? And Where am I heading? I start to question life and did some soul searching on what is the purpose of life.

Some vendors came onboard ship to sell precious stone, Chief Cook brought two ruby and later found to be fake when he bring to town for verification. I brought some cat eye, sapphire and topaz from town at a cheaper price but never really bother verifying it as it is just a souvenir. I also brought some cray pottery bowl for my mom and a leather bag for my sister.

Chief Cook sign off at Sri Lanka with Bosun and two AB (Able Bodies), they were lucky that the hotel they stay got bombing by the Tamil Tiger just a few days later after they fly back Singapore.

Superintendent decided to send the whole valve block for the stripping pump for replacement, it took eight of us to carry the parts down to pump room. We had been doing mechanical seal replacement for the cargo pump every month as the stripping pump is not working and using the cargo pump to strip will cause the mechanical seal to run dry and damage easily.

The ship went to Suez and all of us were very excited to visit the Pyramid in Egypt, the Captain refuse to grant shore leave and everybody were disappointed. We also did not get shore leave when we are in Japan too, and maybe is retribution that our ship bang into the jetty when we are going along side and three different loading master came onboard each day to ask for cigarettes to compensate for the damage to their railing.

The Captain decided to lock himself inside the room and never went for his meals, Chief Officer use Master Key to open his cabin to ensure that he is still alive and nicely sleeping after we left port. Most of the people doesn't like the Captain, he was selfish enough to cut ration to get bonus from the office. Only meat and rice were order for other race provision and dahl and chapati for his own race, no fruits or vegetable for months and constipation became a common issues for all onboard.

A lot of the staffs decided to request for early sign off to shorten the period of their suffering and I am the few lucky one who manage to sign off from the vessel when it reach Singapore.

Sea Life Chapter 1

Neptune Orion

2^nd June 1993 to 10^th March 1994

I join the vessel in America with another Engine Cadet Chung Hun, Chief Engineer Ahmad and Captain, it was a long flight to the other side of Planet Earth. We transit at Japan Airport, both myself and Chung Hun were like mountain tortoise and start taking photo at the transit area. We didn't know that we are able to clear the Security Check and enter the Boarding Area, we were waiting outside for the Boarding Information Display to indicate Boarding for our flight. When it finally show boarding there are already long queue in front of the Security Clearance, we are lucky that the Flight Attendant came looking for us and bring us to Express Lane. Chief Ahmad was not happy when he saw us just minutes before the Flight took off, the Captain try to put in some good words for us as it is the first time we travel for work.

After about 36 hours of Flight, we finally arrive at Portland Maine. The agent bring us to a very nice cottage style hotel to check in, I think we get special privilege because we are traveling with Senior Officer. The next day morning we had a very nice breakfast at the cafe, Chief Ahmad ask us why do we choose sailing as our career. Chung Hun say he came from a poor family and does not have a choice but to sign long term contract with the company, I say I join because I was told that I would be able to see the world. Chief Ahmad just give me a eerily grin, I do not understand it until much later.

We were so exited when we first board the ship, we carry our luggage to our cabin and change into our working clothes and start exploring the ship. As usual we took a lot of photos which we knew later in our life that most of it were unnecessary, as we settle down at our new environment we start to know that life would not be easy as we had join with one of the famous Chief Engineer in the company.

The Burmese fifth engineer came to our room in the evening to collect Telephone Bill and Electrical Bill, we later realize that it was actually SRC (Shipboard Recreational Committee) contributions. We are heard of other cadet getting prank for getting key to start the engine and standing by at the bow to lift the Equator Line or International Date Line.

The first party we have to welcome the new comer, they put a case of beer in front of me and told me that there are 26 personnel onboard and two are keeping watch. So I had to bottom up 24 bottles of beer with every single one of them for my orientation.

As we start our work in the engine room the next morning we met Chief Ahmad taking his round near the Control Room, he make a remark of no happy with the engine room colour. The next thing we knew is we had to spend the next three months of our life painting the whole engine room from top to bottom.

Our first Loading Port is Shetland Island in Scotland, it had a Seamen Center where we can drink and play billiard. I brought a Sheep Skin for US$50 to put it over my chair, Chief Ahmad say I got the most expensive ass in the whole ship when he saw that during the cabin inspection. Our first discharging port was in Houston Texas, we get the chance to visit the NASA Space Center. I brought some T shirt for my cousins.

Fourth Engineer Santana were signing off, we had a party onboard on night before he go. He is the SRC Chairman and Chief Ahmad also give permission for us to drink. He ask me to choose from Bacardi Rum, Jim Beam Whisky and Martel Cognac, of course I choose the most expensive of all. He say since there is only half bottle left, I can have the whole bottle to myself. I sit down quietly and drink my cognac and only realized that the after effect was so strong when I stand up to go back to my cabin. The whole ship was spinning and I know I had reach my limit, what surprise them is that I am still able to get myself back to my room, brush my teeth and still left a notice outside my door saying I am drunk do not disturb. They really let me sleep until noon the next day.

We had to wake up early at 0530 hrs and went down engine room for our duties of morning round and taking log machinery and sounding of tanks, one day when I open the gate of hell a smell of heavy fuel oil came together with the hot and humid air welcome me in the morning. I knew straight away that there is a fuel oil leakage some where in the engine room. I went around check every corner but could not found any leakage, as I return to the control room to finish my log I notice there is a fuel oil fountain at the Purifier Platform.

I activate the engineer call alarm to wake everybody up and change over the fuel oil booster pump, as we were cleaning the Purifier Platform which we had recently painted Chief Ahmad came by and say:”You say you wanted to see the world? Now you had seen it. That patch over there is Asia, and that patch over there is Europe. Not forgetting America and Africa to the left and bottom. When you are done with Australia, please carry on with the rest of the continents.” Chief Ahmad was discussing the mechanical seal issues with Fourth Engineer Koh, it was much later that I realized their theory were wrong as I had a very heated argument with my Classmate Tor Hai when we are doing our Class One and Class Two combine course.

The next three months became the best time of our life, we were doing STS (Ship to Ship) operation and transporting cargo up the 36 hours river passage of Mississippi, we got bad bunker fuel and it cause the Main Engine Fuel Pump Plunger to cease due to carbon deposit built up inside the barrel. The engine getting misfire on a few units and we were told to keep watch in at the Fuel Pump Platform. Second Engineer was not very happy about it and wanted us to do some cleaning job during our watch, and one night when Chief Ahmad came down in the middle of the night he found that no one was keeping an eye on the fuel pump and he had to get his uniform dirty just to ease up the plunger himself.

He finally manage to found me happily mopping the floor at the bottom platform and took my ear muff off and throw it away, Second Engineer was given a scolding for making us do cleaning during our watch and I owe Chief Ahmad a new set of uniform.

One afternoon the bridge call me at engine room and told me that there is water coming out from my room, I thought the ship is going to sink and I try calling Chung Hun but was unable to get him on the phone. I went to my cabin and found water rushing out from the tap while Chung Hun nicely sleeping with stuffs floating around in our cabins. He was not aware of the maintenance work carry out on the sanitary water supply system that morning and he forgot to turn off the tap before he go to sleep. That evening both Engine Cadets and Deck Cadets were busy scooping water out of our cabins.

Chung Hun and Fourth Engineer Koh like to play the Guitar, Chung Hun taught me about a song name Love Me by Colin Raye as he know I like Country Song. But he unable to accept the way I sing Take Me Home Country Road, I also brought a few CD of Garth Brook and Shania Twain.

Winter came and we were very excited, America was hit by cold front from the north and our ship encase in three inches thick of ice. Second Officer told us it was minus 40 degree Celsius, but the actual temperature might be lower than that as 40 degree is the lowest the thermometer can indicate. We arrive at anchorage but the windlass were unable to lower the anchor, whole ship were activate on deck to break the ice. We were having a bet before we arrive at the anchorage to see who can wear the least amount of clothes and take photo outside the accommodation, I wear only a pair of jeans with slipper but Chung Hun wear only his underwear. I lose a case of soft drink to him because of that, I later also lose a case of soft drink to Fourth Engineer Koh when I bet with him that he could not lift up the purifier bowl assembly with just his little pinky finger.

The Bosun manage to find a few lobster after bring up the anchor and we have famous Portland Maine Lobsters for supper before we left the anchorage.

The last three months we were preparing for dry docking of the ship, Fourth Engineer Koh decide to extend his contract to do the docking with us. Chief Ahmad knew we did not get time to do our shipboard assignments and he actually sign the whole book for us making us promise that we will complete it before we left the ship. The last three months we were rushing our assignment and manage various problems in engine room where the cylinder liner for main engine crack and the boiler not firing properly.

I start to miss home when I call back during the Chinese New Year, but our request for signing off after the Dry Docking was rejected by the company due to manpower shortage. Chung Hun was very depress after that, he receive a lot of letters from his girlfriend and he always share some news paper cutout which his girlfriend with me and Fourth Engineer Koh.

The company decided to dock the vessel at Alabama, one night I went out with Bosun, Second Cook and Fourth Engineer. As we return to the yard late at night we saw a few fire engine rush pass us at the gate, Second Cook make a remark of not sure which ship so unlucky caught fire in the yard. When we arrive at our ship we saw all the fire engine line up in front of our ship with thick smoke coming out from the Pump Room, Chief Cook rush down of the gangway and told us not to board as it might cause an explosion. I was call by the Second Engineer to don the BA (Breathing Apparatus) Set and the Fireman Outfit to prepare for Pump Room entry, before I could proceed the shore side fire fighters had already found the source of fire and put out the smoldering oil light up by cigarette from yard workers.

Fourth Engineer sign off just few day before the Dry Dock end, he make a lot of noise back in the office claiming that both the engine cadet are going to commit suicide. We manage to receive new of our sign off just a day before the vessel sail off from the yard, Chung Hun did not believe his eyes when I show him the telex message I got from the Captain. He finally doesn't have to suffer sea sick and love sick and can go back to Penang after nine months of suffering. We bid farewell to the new Eagle Orion as the company decided to change the tanker fleet to American Eagle Tanker from the original Neptune Orient Line. 

Me and Fourth Engineer visit Chung Hun about a month later in Penang and spend a few days there. We also visit Second Officer who claim that he was possess by some evil female spirit when he was onboard and was acting weird taking special interest in me. Well he is practicing the Lou Han Fist and at least I know he is not gay. He bring us to eat one of the famous Bak Kut Teh in Butterworth.