A very happy Easter to you all; I
understand the weather back in Blighty has improved slightly. It’s still damned
hot here in the Gulf of Guinea, although I have managed to make a breakthrough
with the air conditioning and it is now working much better. However I think
that is more to do with getting acclimatised as suddenly a temperature of 25°C is regarded as cool!
Well read on for an insight into
the continuing adventures of Pugwash, the Ancient Mariner; there’s never a dull
day on the Maestro Sea.
A Grand Entrance
The first port of call this week
was Lome in Togo, a former French colony on the Northern coast of the Gulf of
Guinea. After almost a week at sea it would be a relief to see some land again,
get a phone signal and watch some television. However first we had to arrive
safely! And so arrival; it was hot, very hot in the engine control room and one
thing that engine controls do not like is heat, they also don’t like moisture
and vibration but that isn’t essential to this tale. As we prepared the
machinery for arrival, things began to go wrong, rapidly. We started two of our
generators and connected them to the main switchboard, something was wrong. We
started a third generator just in case, by which time we had entered a very
crowded anchorage (Lome is classed as a “safe” port so there were over 50 vessels
at anchor). As we headed to our place in the anchorage, BANG; a very
large tongue of flame fired out of the switchboard, the engine control room
filled with smoke and the lights went out! Seconds later the main engine began
to slow down as the pumps supplying its essential fuel and cooling water
stopped; and so as we sped onwards through the anchorage out of control with no
engine or lights, the Master pulled a handbrake turn by swinging to the left
(port to us sea dogs) and dropping the anchors. As the anchors held firm we
slewed left and rapidly came to a halt; I’ll tell you readers I have not seen
an entrance as impressive since Simon (Scouse) Jones parked his Dad’s car in
the entrance hall of the Sunnyside Hotel in 1986.
You’ve Done What?????
Calamities never happen in the
singular; where there’s one, another is soon to follow. After a night at anchor
we headed into the port of Lome to discharge our “luxury used cars” and our
Class 1 hazardous cargo. In case you are not aware, Class 1 hazardous cargo is
actually ammunition. As the day turned to evening and into night, the discharge
continued until very early in the morning the vessel was shaken awake by a loud
bang and shuddering. One of the forklift trucks used to transport the Class 1
hazardous cargo had lost control, run down an internal ramp and bent the ships
frame and punctured a hole in the side of the ship. It had also squashed flat
some oxygen and acetylene gas bottles; it had done all of this whilst carrying
a container loaded with 30 tonnes of mortar shells!
With a hole in the shipside,
several pressurised damaged gas bottles and 30 tonnes of mortar rounds, the
driver did the safest thing and legged it; followed by most of the ship’s crew!
In situations like this you need to be calm, assured and in control; you do not
need to be in West Africa at 2.ooam with a bunch of
“You’re very perceptive, Chief”, “No I’m just pissed off!”
With numerous changes to the way us
seafarers are policed and regulated we have several levels of officialdom to
deal with; Flag State are inspectors from the country the vessel is registered
and Port State are inspectors from the country you are visiting. There are
several others but today we will discuss Port State Inspectors from the
Togolese Authorities; when you are busy, you can always guarantee a visit from
some kind of inspectors and this day was no different. Just as were attempting
to proceed with the repairs, two of the Togolese government’s finest,
upstanding men arrived to “inspect” the vessel. As they went through the
various certificates and documents with a fine toothed comb, it became clear these
guys were not interested in my safety or welfare (which is their job!) they
were here to make some money. Despite knowing how busy I was, demanded to see
everything; the more documentation I produced the deeper they delved for a
flaw. After over an hour with these stinking, corrupt, French speaking idiots;
it came down to the issues as follows. I didn’t have any Marshall Islands
documentation (he refused to accept the Certificate Recently Applied form
because it was a copy and not the original), the sewage plant approval
certificate was a copy and not the original, the oily water separator
calibration form was not stamped with the correct colour ink (seriously) and
some of our documentation was stamped with an older version of the ships stamp!
In the end I just said “what’s the fine?” the reply “Aaah, Chief you are very
perceptive.” No, I was just very pissed off and had far better things to do
than piss around with corrupt officials!!!! He went away $400 richer, he wanted
$1000 but I said I only had $400 in my safe; the moral victory was mine.
Piracy Central
After spending most of the day and
night fixing the damage sustained in Togo our next port of call was Cotonou,
Benin; now for some reason Cotonou is classed as one of the highest risk areas
for piracy attacks, so you would think a visit to such a high-risk area would
be quick. Oh, no; here we are sat at anchor watching the little boats going by
with no idea which are the pirates and which are just innocent fishermen going
about their daily business.
It is also Easter weekend so Cotonou is in party mode,
which means the port is closed until after Easter and all of the residents of
Cotonou are on the beach partying “like its 1999”, as the song goes! The port
being closed isn’t too much of an issue, the longer I stay here, the bigger my
piracy bonus; however a massive beach party within earshot of the vessel is
torture. Actually the torture was the Filipino crew on the karaoke machine.
(Note to self: Remove fuses from crew karaoke machine.)
“Eastenders”
As we were at anchor of the Lome
coast, we were able to tune the television into various TV stations. I managed
to find French speaking channels from Togo, Gabon and Benin, as well as English
channels from Ghana and Nigeria. Currently the African Cup of Nations U-20’s
championship is being held in Algeria, and Ghanaian television was showing the
semi-final featuring Ghana and Mali; during the game the commentary team
repeatedly mentioned the England-Montenegro game. And so at 7.30pm I settled
down to watch the England game only to be shocked by a familiar theme; oh yes,
7.30pm on a Tuesday it could only “Eastenders.” 4000 miles from home and I still
can’t get to watch the footie because of Eastenders….. And no, I didn’t get to
see the game.
Just so you know, Ghana beat Mali
in the semi-final but lost on penalties to Egypt in the final.
What were
they thinking?
Ships can be quirky things; something
that is perfectly rational to the designer can look rather odd to those not
used to his way of thinking. Take, for example, the showering and toilet
facilities aboard mv Maestro Sea. Yes, dear readers, that is a toilet in my
shower and it does beg the question why. It’s not like you can use the toilet
whilst having a shower; the toilet paper gets wet. I bet the designer didn’t
think of that one!
… and finally…..
This week’s shout out is to Sam
Burrow; have a very happy birthday on Saturday 6th April.
And so, as I bid you all farewell
for another week here is another recipe from the chef. This week we are going
veggie…
Spinach
A wonderful
green-leafy vegetable is often recognised as one of the functional foods for its nutritional, antioxidants and
anti-cancer constituents. It contains a good amount of soluble dietary fibre. Spinach is a rich source of several vital
anti-oxidant vitamins like vitamin A, vitamin C, and flavonoid poly phenolic
antioxidants such as lutein, zea-xanthin and beta-carotene.
Parmesan Spinach Cakes
Ingredients: 12 ounces
fresh spinach, 1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese; 1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan
cheese, plus more for garnish; 2 large eggs (beaten); 1 clove garlic (minced);
1/4tsp salt; 1/4tsp freshly ground pepper.
Method: Preheat oven to 400ŸF. Pulse spinach in a food processor until finely chopped. Take a medium
bowl and added cottage cheese, Parmesan, eggs, garlic, salt and pepper; stir to
combine. Grease 8 cups of muffin pan with cooking spray. Pour spinach mixture.
Bake the cakes for about 20 minutes. Loosen the edges with a knife and turn out
onto a large plate. Serve warm, sprinkled with more Parmesan, if desired.
Spinach & Frisée
Salad with Tangerines & Coriander-Crusted Scallops (I have no idea what
“frisee” is either)
Ingredients for
vinaigrette: 2tbsp extra-virgin
olive oil; 1/2tsp tangerine or orange zest; 2tbsp tangerine or orange juice;
4tsp white-wine vinegar; 1tbsp minced shallot; 2tsp finely chopped spring
herbs, such as chervil, chives, tarragon and/or dill; 1tsp Dijon mustard;
1/4tsp salt; 1/4tsp freshly ground pepper.
For salad: 6 cups baby spinach; 6 cups torn frisée; 2 tangerines
or oranges; 2tsp coriander seeds; 1/4tsp coarse kosher salt; 1/4tsp freshly
ground pepper; 1lb dry sea scallops, patted dry; 1tbsp canola oil.
Method: Take a medium bowl and whisk olive oil, tangerine (or
orange) zest and juice, vinegar, shallot, herbs, mustard, salt and pepper to
prepare vinaigrette. Take another large bowl, and combine spinach, frisée and
tangerine (or orange) segments for salad. Add the vinaigrette and toss to coat.
Divide the salad among four plates. Take a small bowl, add coarsely grind or
chop coriander seeds and combine with kosher salt and pepper. Sprinkle on both
sides of scallops. Take a non-stick skillet and heat canola oil over
medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add the scallops and cook
until golden brown. Serve the scallops on the salad.
