Gulf Hansa

After having handed over the RH balance to the RH mechanic and the Nedgulf administration to the ship’s agent I thought it high time to go ashore. Just taking a look whether the “Alley of Everything” still had to offer everything!  In the city centre a taxi driver demanded 50% more than the amount on the meter, so my rooted distrust towards Italians once more was confirmed.

I refused to pay after which he more and more emphatic insisted on paying. Fortunately a police officer passed by who I called for help. He explained to me that because of the far distance the taxi had driven in several zones and for that an additional charge was applied. It was a reasonable explanation, but I thought it rather odd that this hadn’t been shown on the meter. Furthermore I thought it peculiar that Italian taxi drivers in a rather big harbour, where several passenger ships regularly moored, did not master the English language.

Genova by day looked  quitedifferent than by night, in any case the harbour district. In broad daylight it turned out that also normal tradesmen did their jobs between all café’s, nightclubs etc. and the “Alley of Everything” looked quite different. After some shopping and  a bite to eat near the Central Station I called it a day. The taxi drive back turned out to be as expensive as the outward journey, so that I had got excited wrongly.

My entry with chief engineer Roos wasn’t exactly to be jubilant about; his wife flew home to Holland from Genova after having been on board for quite a while, while he would stay on board for some months. Before she left the ship she and her husband came into the radioroom to say goodbye. In my innocence I wished her a merry christmas. I thought they looked quite queer when I said that!
Just before departure I tested the weatherchart fascimilé after having consulted the nomenclature of Special Services.  In this book one can find the stations with their frequencies and transmitting times of different navigational services, such as Meteorology, Navigation, Medical Advice, Epidemics, Timesignals, Ocean Station Vessels etc.
Radio-Holland had delivered some crystals for Bracknell Radio with which a perfect weather chart was produced. In this way the receiving of Portishead Radio’s analysis could be omitted and I didn’t have to draw weather charts anymore, so I thought. Unfortunately Great Britain had issued rules in such a way that the fascimilé chart was broadcasted after the analysis. Consequently it sometimes happened that a chart of dubious quality came out of the machine while I of course had not received the analysis.  To always have a chart in reserve I continued to receive Portishead Radio’s analysis. In any case I now had one more appliance to maintain; especially regular cleaning was advised as the machine produced pitch-black graphite dust that rather polluted the interior. Regular replacement of the electrode on the metal belt was also necessary, as otherwise the quality of the charts deteriorated fast. After some time the amount of spare electrodes seemed somewhat low to me, because I had to replace them quite often. To be on the safe side I ordered in the next port a big amount of electrodes.

About fourteen days after our departure from Genova Christmas was celebrated in the southern hemisphere with climax the dinner on Christmas Day.  The food on board the Nedgulf ships normally could be classified as good, but during Christmas the galley, under supervision of chief cook Monteiro, could compete with the kitchen of a first class restaurant. Monteiro is a Cape Verdian and is considered – at least by me – as one of the better cooks with Nedgulf. The Christmas dinner he surprised us with consisted of  eight courses and was accompanied by excellent wines. Of the five Christmas dinners I enjoyed during 10 years of merchant navy (Parthenon, Ampenan, Gulf Italian, Gulf Hansa and Kryptos) this one was the best with the of the Gulf Italian as a good second.  

  Christmas dinner 1968
                          
                              From left to right: 3rd engineer Ruts, chief cook Monteiro and 2nd engineer Dijker

                       
                             The race circuit in the messroom                                                        The trophys and the racing cars

Initially I produced a truthful report but very soon I made up something or other and that flew into a daily invented story full of nonsense. I invented all that nonsense while typing and after some weeks such a story covered a complete page, that I distributed together with the newsbulletin. Previews, race reports, reviews, the latest news from the race in-crowd, gossip and backbiting, everything was dealt with in this instant paper.
So someone had invented that the performance of the car increased if the turning-point was put before the chassis. Normally the vertical little plastic plate that held the car in the groove of the track, was situated between the two front wheels with on both sides the two metal strips for contact with the metal strips of the track under low voltage. 
Broader and softer  back tyres also were “popular”; they were made on order by engineers out of a kind of rough, soft synthetic material. This way the backside of the car less easily slipped sideways! People even didn’t hesitate to introduce extra ballast in the car, so that the balance would improve. This way I one day trained too long with my too heavy BRM, so that the small motor – after having produced some foul smell – kicked the bucket.
Fortunately there was a brisk trade in spare cars and spare parts, so that I still had a motor at my disposal.   The wearing out of the metals contacts of the cars was prevented by soldering them; one had to be aware to have them extremely smooth before the race. Scalextric cars were surpassed at last by Fleischmann cars, so I asked Thea in my next letter to buy me one and send it to me.
Next to car racing the other recreation, consuming beers and so in spare time, went on as usual. . Besides the refreshments before the meals there of course were evenings on which one could consume something in someone’s cabin. Then here, then there, so that the charges were equally divided. Dependent on the difference in time with GMT my job was done early in the evening or I had a late finishing. A realy late watch was the one from 22.00 till 24.00 hours and hereafter one always could sit with the 3^rd mate and/or 4^th engineer who also came off duty at that hour.  When I was at a loose end earlier in the evening I nosed around here and there in the corridors to find out if someone wanted to have a pint with me. One of those nights ended in a big swim party. It was an extremely enjoyable evening in chief engineer Roos’ cabin and if the chief early in the night thought it enjoyable, then he had an irrepressible inclination to stimulate everybody to jump fully dressed into the swimming pool. Preceded by Roos we jumped en bloc into the brine, what caused an immediate sobering up.

Please Sparks, one more bearing ...!

In the middle of March captain Sluiter was relieved by captain Tholen, who I met for the third time. Chief engineer Roos also went home and 2^nd engineer Exoo became (with dispensation) chief engineer. First mate Jan van Vark was relieved by  Wiegman, an ex captain who now once more acted as first mate. A captain together with an ex captain on one ship would hardly become a succes; the cooperation between the two passed off rather stiff.
To my big surprise we received orders to unload the Venezolan cargo in Rio de Janeiro. Until now I hadn’t gone beyond the numerous ports between Cartagena, Colombia and Paramaribo, Suriname, in other words the northern coast of the South American continent. Both east- and westcoast of South America were unknown territory to me, although  I had heard something of course during my time with KNSM and Van Nievelt about the goings-on on those pleasant coasts. Also the communication with again new coaststations I experienced as pleasant; the investigation of  the hours of service, transmission times of trafficlists, coastal and landline rates, transmitting frequencies  etc. broke the regularity of operating with widely known coaststations.  I could get rid of my OBS messages to Belem Radio/PPL and Olinda Radio/PPO and – if the statics became too heavy – in shortwave to Fortaleza Radio/ PPF. I scrupulously followed the traffic lists of Rio Radio/PPR of course after I had informed the ship’s agent Petrobras in Rio de Janeiro about our arrival. The list with requested foreign currency was drafted, after which a telegram was sent with a demand for money and other necessities. On the day before arrival I received the message: berthing upon arrival. Awaiting high tide we anchored in Guanabara bay. The next morning the harbour pilot came on board accompanied by several Brasilian clever-clogs, as – until then - we were the biggest ship unloading her crude in Rio.
After anchor aweigh we set course to the assigned spot between two buoys near Rio Branco. Because Tholen mistrusted the doings of the pilot and the chart of the bay indicated the depths very scanty, he asked to be on the safe side whether we could reach our berth without problems. “Plenty water, captain; you see, even passenger ships alongside without trouble”, the pilot assured in his best English, after which the ship came into motion to loose speed not long thereafter.

                                 "Have a go at it?"

From the first mate on the foreship was understood that the depth of 38 feet had diminished to 36 feet. Tholen immediately understood that we had run aground and immediately took command by thanking the pilot for his efforts. In presence of the perplexed Brasilian clever-clogs the overwrought pilot cried: “I don’t take anymore responsibility, now it’s all your responsibility”.  Tholen set the pilot’s mind at ease by saying it was all OK and ordered an extra tug, because after anchor aweigh we were escorted by only two tugs, which was absolute insufficient to get us out of trouble. Full astern would put starboard even more into the mud, so instruction to the tug was given to pull the bow sideways while the ship gave full astern. This perfect cooperation achieved to set us afloat after which we dropped anchor. Due to the lack of depth indications on the chart Tholen decided to enlist Kelvin Hughes’ services that had the disposal of a vessel equipped with specific equipment to chart the bottom. A diver was chartered to investigate the damage below the waterline and first mate Wiegman went on board the KH vessel.  
In the meantime the Brasilian authorities after the grounding of course were quick to seize their chances to claim a fairly high security for the Gulf Hansa might have damaged a telephone cable between the shore and an island with a military installation.  This security amounted to “just” one million guilders that had to be paid by Nedgulf. In connection with this accident Tholen registered a sea protest at the Dutch consulate in Rio.  While we lay quietly at anchor awaiting the result of the investigation of the bottom we were a popular target for boats full of pretty, ugly, pitch-black, coffee brown, white, big breasted, flat, young and old women.
At the first tidal wave of women one crewmember quickly had directed two pretty, coffee brown, big breasted, young women into his cabin; here clearly was some talk of great necessity! On captain Tholen’s request I accompanied him to aft to impress the (younger) crewmembers to close their cabins carefully. One assistant engineer threw our advice to the winds and found his cabin emptied upon returning from watch.  

          104º F (40° C) in the shadow

The diver’s inspection didn’t reveal any damage and now we had to wait for high tide, so that we could continue our trip to the buoys. In the meantime the results of the bottom investigation by Kelvin Hughes had been delivered to the captain. The white spots on the chart of Guanabara Bay were fairly filled with depth indications, so that a safe route to our berth could be mapped. Early next morning the ship got going and reached the indicated berth at Rio Branco without further difficulties. Because the cargo was unloaded via hoses attached to a buoy, those who wanted to go ashore had to do that on a small boat that sailed at fixed times. I made use of it as well in daytime as at night. In the daytime to buy spare parts and cars in toy shops with some race fanatics; at night to pamper the stomach in restaurants and bars with some eat and drink fanatics.
The running aground upon arrival caused an extra long stay in this metropolis that I fully utilized for sightseeing. In a department store I bought a bunch of semi precious stones and some small stuff for just some hundreds of cruzeiros. Already then a cruzeiro was as good as worthless; I value about 0,2 Dutch cents. The banknotes contained multiple zeroes and  more than once it happened that in a pleasant bar I gave about 500 cruzeiros for the tip-bowl (really one full Dutch guilder, because I’m not the most avaricious person!).  Big distances we generally bridged by taxi but short trips were made by tram. In fact it was a little back-to-the-fifties for the trams looked exactly like the open trams from my childhood years  in Amsterdam with every now and then bunches of people hanging on the step.
One day was utilized to look at all the beauty of the worldfamous beach of Copacabana; a wonderful experience, one hadnot enough eyes. At night six of us went into town to have diner. A taxi driver was asked to take us to a good restaurant; the man acquit himself of his job perfectly because we ended up in a beautiful, big establishment with an enormous barbeque in the middle of it. The cook invited us to taste and then make a choise from the many skewers with meat being singed close to the charcoal. On a big butcher’s block he cut several slices of meat with a razor sharp knife from the skewers, making our choice increasingly difficult. I decided to order something of all the skewers, including two delicious garlic sausages.  The one who had ordered a T-bone steak was surprised with a slice of meat that hung over the edge of a rather big plate. In almost every port I have visited I ate out, but the meat dinner in this Brasilian restaurant still is the number one in my memory.

          
                                          Cristo Redentor                                                                The small train to Cristo Redentor

                               
                                                                                                 Páo Asucar

The next day four of us  undertook a trip to Cristo Redentor. This enormous statue of  Christ rises above the city on the Corcovado mountain and is with another mountain, Páo Asucar (Sugarloaf), one of the biggest places of interest of Rio de Janeiro.  Páo Asucar can be reached from the city by cable car, but we decided to go to Cristo Redentor up the mountain with the little cable train. This enormous colossus is 30 meters high and alone the head measures 3,75 meters. The distance between the fingertips amounts to 28 meters, the hands are each 3,20 meters long and the body is 8,5 meters broad. The head weighs 30 tons and the arms each 80 tons. To stand at the foot of this enormous colossus and to enjoy the beautiful view over the city I endured as an unforgetable high of my visit to Rio de Janeiro.
The entire day would become unforgetable because at night we went through a lot again. As said before a sloop sailed from the ship to shore on fixed times and to a fixed point where we would be picked up later. After a night of shore leave we returned around midnight to the spot where the sloop always was waiting. By approaching the gate close to the berth of the sloop we were summoned by a (probable) custom officer to vanish immediately. Not entirely sober we brought up against it that we had to catch the sloop to our ship. The man however directed us to another place on the quay, but half drunk we insisted that we wanted to go back to the ship with the sloop from this spot. Now the man got realy vicious, he pulled a gun and began to brandish this iron yelling that we better could leave rapido, so that we dived behind a pile of crates and finally followed his advice. On the pointed out place the sloop was waiting for us patiently and the boatman brought us on board unhurt. Most likely we were accidental witnesses of smuggling and was also the sloop polite but urgently requested to move to another spot.

Always a warm welcome in Ben Bosgieter’s cabin

After having arrived in three load and unload ports after we had left already, my new racing car finally arrived in Rio de Janeiro, a red Mercedes. This car had travelled half the world before it finally could attact the first place in the overall list of rankings. The car had arrived just in time because in Rio a selection of racing cars was for sale. Some people bought here a new car, especially the Lola of 3^rd mate Kakebeeke was impressive. At the same time we replenished our dwindled amount of spares. 

    The aerial of the direction finder needs maintenance as well..  

Direct after leaving Rio the race competation was resumed and my new red Mercedes turned out to be that fast that I drove more outside than on the track; so I was back again where I started for of course I had to get used to his fast car. Again I trained till sometimes 2 p.m. and slow but sure the achievements improved. After some quarter finals and a half finale I won in a thrilling final race the challenge cup and the fierce desired trophy for the overall winner, a piece of modern art by the engine-room.
After we had received orders to unload our cargo in Portland, Maine it turned out that Radio-Holland had provided us with the wrong crystals for a weatherchart of the U.S.A. Continuously captain Tholen asked me urgently for a chart, but after studying the List of Special Services it turned out that the crystals on board were those of a station in New York that no longer existed. Of course this was an excellent opportunity for a sarcastic letter to Rotterdam. Generally the flow more or less sarcastic letters was from Rotterdam towards ship, so I seized this chance with both hands. The answer undoubtly must have been an A-4 full of empty text, for this was the way it always went; the head office and the inspectorate just ascertained mistakes but never made them theirselves.
In Portland we received the news that Riet van der Duin (a second engineer’s wife) had given berth to Sheila. Instantly was decided to send after departure a CTV telegram (delivered with text and a present) on behalf of all of us; the text was accompanied by flowers (for Riet) and a bottle of cognac (not for Riet).
For some considerable time during this voyage an inflamed back tooth was troubling me and I decided to see a dentist in Portland. According to him the only thing left was to pull the tooth and with hands like coal shovels he pulled out – with cracking noises - the inflamed back tooth. I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink during the first hour but before I had returned on board I already had taken a whisky “to forestall the after pain”. In the meantime I had been on board for about four months and slow but sure I began to long for the end of the voyage. I’d like to be home in summer for a change; the last time I stayed home in June and July was six years ago. Since I stepped on board the Alwaki on June 2^nd, 1964 Radio-Holland had succeeded in keeping me systematicly on board a ship during the summer months. Nice for colleagues with kids going to  school, but six years in a row was a little bit too much of a good thing.

                                       Uh, uh ....!

While having a drink by chance a conversation was held about firearms and captain Tholen thought it usefull that his FN pistol would be overhauled and cleaned. Since I was the only person who had been a military man  I offered to do so. After all I had learned to dismantle and assemble blindly the FN, the UZI submachine gun and the Garrand rifle during my military training in Hilversum. Tholen however chose 3^rd engineer Koelers, who had knowledge of  weapons as his brother was member of a rifle club (sic).  My statement you never must point a weapon at somebody  was also welcomed with the necessary hilarity. If you had just cleaned and controlled the weapon one could with impunity point at someone, was the general opinion. That it would be better never to point a weapon at someone because then never by accident a loaded weapon was pointed, they failed to see.   

Fortunately we remained at the good side of Africa and Europe for the remaining two months, so that in the course of May we received orders to load in Punta Cardon for Rotterdam. It could be better of course; the mood rose instantly to an acceptable level. Normally one got a bit irritable after about four months on board a ship, that generally continued till the announcement that relief was at hand. The world look a lot more cheerful then and if the orders read Western Europe, slowly the so-called Channel Fever reared its head upon approaching of The Channel. Channel Fever is a serious, but not infectious disease that only goes around among seamen. The symptoms vary from asking every four hours the arrival time in Rotterdam or Amsterdam till already packing the suitcase three days before arrival. The patient is more nervous than normal, but on the contrary more cheerful than normal despite the sometimes disturbing medical symptoms. Channel Fever only appears when the ship has a northeastern course in The Channel; during a southwestern course Channel Fever does not appear, but just the simple seasickness.  

The arrival time could be influenced to some extent by captain and mates by catching or missing the rising tide before Dover and the falling tide after Dover. The ship is going to stem the tide then. The waters in The Channel and North Sea namely flow simultaneously to Dover. After high tide in Dover the water flows back in both directions. If possible the bridge of course tries to make use of the rising tide in The Channel and the falling tide in the North Sea by asking the engine-room for some more horsepower. So instead of 100 RPM it became 105 RPM, or an extra five rotations of the propeller shaft.  That this is worth while points to the fact that between the most unfavourable case (twice head tide) and the most favourable case (twice tail tide) is a difference of six hours till Hook of Holland. This uncertain factor is one of the causes of Channel Fever.