JOURNALS OF A FILIPINO SEAMAN

67 days onboard Cape Tallin (M / T Cape Tallin Plus 67) Enroute to New Orleans, United States of America Much to the surprise of everyone , Vetting inspections of this ship will be done in the U.S. and this time it was announced a bit late. I'm not exactly sure on how the vetting inspections are done here in a crude oil product tanker but on what I recall about the Vetting inspections done on a chemical tanker when I was still a deck cadet, it was a tedious and laborious objective , and on what I recall I had to stencil from forward of the ship down to the aft part for two weeks and the work was from sunrise till sun down (unfortunately I was in Europe in that time and the sun doesn't come down till 10 pm during summer time). Nevertheless it's a horrible work from what I recall. A.B. Patrick says that vetting inspections on a product tanker aren't that meticulous as in a chemical tanker. In other news related to work.. Not feeling absolutely well this ti...

Weather is not improving at all - in fact it's getting worse as this ship approaches New Orleans area in the United States. It's not surprising though, since summer season is at it's height on the north Atlantic region and core temperatures are quiet hot , as a matter of fact the temperatures here are similar to tropical countries (like the Philippines) for now and getting hotter (or even hotter) . In relation to work, its very difficult to work on a hot weather and I had to bring at least a canister of water with me every time I go out , as this ship lacks sufficient fresh water outlets to keep myself cool. Last Saturday July 20th 2013, the whole crew was busy preparing for a grill party. First work we did was hauling off from the steering gear room the barbecue equipment stowed there, and the next thing we did was wash off the whole deck area on the accommodation with sea water. Then haul off the tables from gymnasium (ships gym) to the starboard side. We had trouble...

Already finished checking out the isolation valves for COW IGS butter wash machines together with the new pump man and now I'm cutting out gaskets again on the Teflon sheets. On the crew mess, I received and signed up the memo I got from Captain Igors Slabada about the specific duties of an Ordinary Seaman. I think this memo is based on the company SMS of career and not just pure made up rules imposed as there is a document number and reference number as well. This is what is written on the memo 1. He has the required certification and qualification for the position he is employed for particularly with regard to the bridge watch keeping and tanker operation. His department head is the chief officer - latter will allocate the day to day work. 2. He will be engage with engaged with bridge watch keeping and assist the OOW with the lookout and steering and all other task that might arise 3. He is a member of the deck crew and participate...

Cape Tallin enroute to Houston, Texas U.S.A. , Some where in the Atlantic, time zone is UTC -03:00 Was off the hook in cleaning the distilled water tank located on the steering gear room and instead was put on the task in helping out the new pump man in changing the isolation valves for the COW IGS machines (a.k.a butter wash machines) and replacing the old gaskets, For the moment where still in the 3 wings area (cargo hold area no.3 port and starboard side , Left and right for short). One thing I find funny on the said task is that I'm cutting out gaskets in Teflon plastics sheets, Honestly I don't see any point on why am I making Teflon gaskets and making that much effort , I mean during my previous ship we don't exactly "Made" Teflon gaskets at all and instead buy them from IMPA and received them via the provisions. I guess Career and CSM Management is very stiff when it comes to its crew eh ? Oh well anyway it doesn't really matter at all if that wou...

Cape Tallin , Position : In the North Atlantic enroute to U.S.A. E.T.A. July 28 2013 After sometime that he was suspected that he used the IMMARSAT phone , it was finally revealed that A.B. "Patrick" did not used it at all. He's innocent - it was Mess man Ferdinand Penera who used it. Captain Igors Slabada verified the number that registered to the IMMARSAT to Career Ship management and Captain Galang ( Career Superintendent ) said that the number was from our Mess man. I'm not sure what will be the repercussions for mess man Ferdinand on using the IMMARSAT phone - it could cost him he's promotion for O.S. ( Ordinary Seaman) , or a bad report to the shipping office. What ever , It doesn't really matter anyway . The main point was A.B. Dondonilla was exonerated from the accusations, showing he's innocent - that the accusations are purely vengeance and jealousy related. A real sense of justice for him knowing that "Patrick" was right and them wron...

PAki rEpOSt LaNg sA mga cAlL CeNtEr AgEnTs nA MAgSeAseAman.......... For more info , come and visit my blog memoirsofafilipinosailor.blogspot.com Right !! since I don't have enough much time to write and I'm pretty much busy getting all the equipment I needed by now. I would just like to inform (and share) to the general public what three simple important rules that a sailor would be dealing at. Hope this will be important and that 8 to 9 months of contract can be hell if you don't remember this simple rules. Some rules here are not socially acceptable but here onboard it is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. Nevertheless I will not be responsible if your going to use these pointers on land and received a lot of complains from neighbors about it. 1. Never trust a fellow Filipino sailor especially folks that have an ethnic origin in the "down south" if you know what I mean. Sure you might be comfortable trusting your own countrymen but ...

EVENTS HAPPENED DURING THE LOADING OPERATIONS IN AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS July 05, 2013 Saturday to July 10, 2013 Wednesday. Been quiet a while since I had been here although on a very different circumstances, almost been nearly 2 years since I went here and I was working on a chemical tanker ship , Now I'm here again - This time in a Crude Product Tanker. On Friday I was waiting for the whole morning as what I latesty heard from the crew that berthing operations will be on early morning , I got up early and woke up unfortunately there was no berthing that happened that morning and it was rescheduled to be happening in the late afternoon. From what I heard on 3rd Mate Corales the Berthing mooring arrangement will be 3 : 2 : 2. Which obviously meant 3 headlines , 2 breast line and 2 spring lines. I waited for the whole morning till evening but no news came in. Until on Friday midnight BOSUN AMICAN knocked on the door of my cabin and said "its time to heave the anchor" , I kn...

Immediately after Cape Tallin Departed, the whole deck crew was put in securing all mooring ropes in the BOSUN Store area and Steering Gear Room. It took us the whole day for the ropes to be finally secured. Aside from that we also lashed the Anchors and secured a few remaining safety equipments like life rings, scupper plugs and such. My thumb was also badly injured during the lashings put up in the anchor chains, it was only minor though. On Saturday, I was busy cleaning the whole upper deck level of the accommodation area. Apparently the new chief mate noticed that the whole level was littered with dirt marks of shoes and told the BOSUN , The BOSUN of course ordered me to clean the whole floor area. Late afternoon I heard from A.B. Patrick Dondonilla that the loading operations in Rotterdam will be ship to ship and that there will be five to six barge that will be loading crude oil to this ship. Unfortunately for me I don't really have much experience in ship to ship operat...