(Oct. 1973 - Aug. 1994)
The hard fact of a seaman's life
"For the 99 times I did right,
Nobody remembers.
For the 1 time I did wrong,
Nobody forgets."
The antidote?
Do it right and safe,
The first time always.
.....Roger M
What are on this page:
A. Troubleshooting a malfunctioning gyro compass
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A. Troubleshooting a malfunctioning gyro compass
by Roger M
Salary-wise, 1975 signaled the start of a lucrative period in Filipino seafaring. In that year, the first vessel with full ITF (International Transport Workers Federation) wages was given to local shipping agency for mixed crewing (senior Norwegian officers and junior Filipino officers and ratings) by a Norwegian shipping operator. This was followed by two more ships from the same company the next year.
Taking cue from the experience of the first one who did it, another Norwegian shipping operator turned over four of its ship for same mixed crewing arrangement in 1977 followed by three others the next year.
By early 1980s, the Filipino seafarer’s image in the world’s merchant marine labor market has become well known to be reliable, competent, having well-adjusted personality and, one considerable factor to be taken into account since commercial ships are operated for profit, least expensive to feed (low victualling cost). After the government has relaxed its policy in response to a growing demand, a number of Norwegian recruiting agencies have started sprouting in Metro-Manila.
The first ship to hire a mixed Norwegian-Filipino crew in 1975 was the result of an intense lobby put up by the President of the largest seamen’s union in the country. That decision, which came when the world’s merchant marine fleet was being roiled up by ITF interdictions, couldn’t have happened at a more opportune time.
Stepping up its campaign against “flag of convenience” (FOC) vessels, ITF ship inspectors have been tying down ships in Australian and European ports which they consider as having on board sub-standard conditions including low crew’s wages.
To avoid their ships being tied down which meant disruption in their business operation, a number of shipping companies have agreed to adopt the ITF wage structure on board their ships and were issued “blue certificates.” It was a moment of jubilation for the select crew embarking on board “blue certificated” vessels. And there was another good thing to enjoy about the ITF rates; they never stay where they were. They kept increasing each year.
At a time when foreign principals were weighing Filipino seamen against other nationalities while at the same time Filipino seamen were trying to assert themselves that they do weigh up to that measure, it needed some kind of quid pro quo. The President of the seamens’ union where I belonged then knew all that, so he took care of sending only a select crew when a new ship was turned over to him for crewing. He made it a point of personally meeting the selected crew on the eve of their departure and motivating them with words like, “If the shipowners are satisfied with your performance, they’ll be giving us more ships to man which means more jobs for Filipino seamen.”
As Radio Officer, I was included in a select batch of 25 Filipino crewmembers (9 Deck, 10 Engine and 6 Galley) contracted in March, 1976, to take over M/V Brockman at the Tamano shipyard in Japan. The Spanish crew who were already gone when we arrived was bad enough (there won’t be any smooth turn-over formalities anymore), but the fact that the ship was already being refloated from the drydock to the anchorage area as we climbed on board coming directly from the airport was even worse. The crewmembers involved in the maneuvering had to drop their baggages in the corridors and ran to man their respective stations.
M/V Brockman was a 33,938 GRT, American-owned, Norwegian-operated, Liberian-registered iron ore ship. It plied the route Port Hedland, NW Australia (loading), Rotterdam (unloading), Tubarao, Brazil (loading) and Mizushima, Japan (unloading).
On one of our trips to Japan, the gyro-pilot malfunctioned four days before arrival. The gyro compass was hunting (jerking) and gyro-pilot steering became erratic. The Master ordered the disengagement of the gyro-pilot and to revert to manual steering while the Electrician labored to eliminate the problem.
With the Electrician having no luck in correcting the fault until the next day, I volunteered to help him. I asked him to produce me the schematic diagram of the gyro-pilot system.
(Each time I face a radio/electronics/electrical troubleshooting job on board, I’m always reminded by what my MIT professor has said shortly before graduation: “What you learned in school is only 10 percent of what you need when you are in the field. The other 90 percent is common sense.”)
I found out from the diagram that the three circuits going to the three compass repeaters were tapped to the gyro-compass tagboard through their respective pairs of screwed-on mini glass fuses. Using fault localization technique, I isolated one at a time the three repeater circuits by screwing out their own pair of glass fuses. When the circuit going to the port wing repeater was isolated, the gyro-compass scale suddenly stopped jerking and returned to smooth clockwise and counterclockwise movement. I deduced then and there that the fault lied in the circuit going to the port wing repeater stand.
When the port wing repeater’s dimmer box where the malfunctioning circuit terminated was opened, it turned out it was full of salt. Obviously, the box’s watertight integrity has been broken down so much so that each time the deck people wash -clean the deck with powerful seawater jetstream (as was the custom every after loading and unloading to get rid of the powdery iron ore dust), seawater seeps in into the box. The Electrician cleaned the dimmer switch box accordingly, restored its watertight integrity, reconnected the circuit and the fault was completely cleared.
On knowing that the gyro pilot was put back into normal operation, the Norwegian Master was overjoyed for having avoided four things: delay in the arrival of the ship due to manual steering imperfections as compared to automatic steering by gyro pilot, wastage of bunker fuel caused by the delay, lost man-hours in the maintenance of the ship due to posting of an AB (able-bodied seaman) to steer the ship 24 hours daily, and expense in seeking shore technical assistance on arrival to repair the malfunction.
To show his appreciation, the Master had one case of beer charged to his representation expenses and given to the crew. It was one of many reasons for a happy crew to celebrate. –o0o-
Fotos
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| Foto #1: M/V BROCKMAN as she steamed through the English Channel enroute to Tubarao, Brazil. Photo courtesy of Skyfoto, a company specializing on aerial photography of ships which was headquartered nearby. |
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| Foto #2: Australian CIQ (Customs-Immigration-Quarantine) officials boarding their helicopter on the deck after clearing the vessel on arrival at Port Hedland for loading, Dec. 4, 1976. One of R/O duties on board was facilitation of ship’s clearance by Port Authorities. |
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| Foto #3: The Norwegian officers at the dinner table, clockwise from left: Capt. Olsen, C/O Mellegard, Mrs. Mellegard, and C/E Aadna |
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Foto #4: Roger M setting up an SSB call (there was still no satellite communications then) via Rogaland/LGB Radio, Norway.
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| Foto #5: R/O Roger M voluntarily taking his turn in steering the ship when the gyro pilot broke down. |
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| Foto #6: The port wing compass repeater stand that was at fault. |
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| Foto #7: This picture shows Messman Molano being tickled on the ass (the whole crew knew he was extra-sensitive in that part of his body) by Bosun Sanchez at the time the camera's shutter was pressed. Chief Engr. Aadna (3rd from L, last row), a mean looking Norwegian guy who seldom smiles, found the need to show one of the few grins he kept. R/O Roger M is at the back of the tickler. |
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