The first question to a mariner is always, 'How does it feel to be on land again?'.
Many would say,'It feels great to be back on land'.
But me on the other hand would like to say, 'Hell, I wanna go back again as soon as possible'.
My first ship was a VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) of GT 161202T with a size of 333m X 60m, joined at Fujairah on 4th April, 2013. We sailed mostly from the Middle East to India, carrying crude oil each time. Had a chance to visit South Korea as well.
Here's a pic of my ship:
When I first Signed-On in the ship, it was a dream come true. But the first 2 months were very crucial, to be frank, I was like, what the hell am I doing here? Don't believe me? Well here are some pics of my E/R:
The engine room was so huge, that I lost around 10kgs of my weight in the first 4 weeks. In the first month, I only had to trace lines, make layouts of each platform, & most importantly, I had to make sure the E/R was always clean. Now I know that you maybe thinking, what has cleaning got to do here? Well guys, lemme tell you one fact, 5th Engineer/Jr. Engineer is always incharge of cleaning & maintaining the E/R clean. Don't expect that you will be given to do work on machines unless you have proven yourself a good cleaner.
But everything works out as time goes by. Slowly you start to learn small things by observing them. Soon after I joined the ship, I got a chance to see the procedure to change the liner of M/E, then a Generator broke down, so got to see it completely dismantled, including its body & frame, & then again another liner change of M/E.
Well that's me during changing of M/E liner. The M/E was of Sulzer with 36960 BHP, while the generators were of MAN B&W. As our ship was an oil tanker, we had COPTs for discharging:
As I said, the first 2 months were crucial, as I was finding it hard to cope up with the huge E/R, but well, after somedays I started to enjoy the huge E/R. Due to its enormous size, we had lots of space to work & no cramped places.
Slowly I started to learn things step by step, from starting the generator, to starting the M/E plant, from cleaning to overhauling machinery. But as always my foremost job by the end of the day was to ensure that the E/R was clean.
Since our ship was a VLCC, it didn't see much ports. We had to stay on SBM (Single Buoy Mooring), a place far from port, for loading & discharging. But yet, I got to go on shore leave in South Korea. The only drawback of an oil tanker is that you don't get to see much ports. If you want to see ports & visit other places, the best option is a Bulk carrier.
Finally after 2 months, I was completely settled in, & happy with my work. The best thing was that I started loving my job. It wasn't the cleaning that I loved, but the overhauling of various machinery & their troubleshooting.
After completing 5 voyages, from India to Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia & South Korea, I finally signed off at Gujarat after 7 months of sea service on 28th October 2013. For me it was the best job satisfaction, working with big machines & a big ship. Can't wait to pass class IV exams & return to the sea once again. :)
