I finally left my bunk around 06:10 and hit the showers. There was a crewman there taking samples of the water in a vial. Like the Friendship, you have to add a certain amount of bleach to the potable water tanks to keep the water safe for consumption but too much bleach would be deadly. The crew takes samples of the water from multiple sources a few times a day to insure the water is always safe. After our talk, I literally hit the shower as I was getting tossed around so much in the stall I bounced off the walls a few times. I finally got out nice and clean (and slightly bruised) right after they called reveille.
I grabbed a quick breakfast and got dressed for Muster. I was careful to put on my foul weather gear as Sail Stations were set to be at 08:15. After Muster we were called into a group and told that we would not be doing sail stations again today as the weather had turned bad but we hoped to go to sail stations later today. They also stressed for everyone to check the meal schedule with the CO's and direct any questions to OC Bruce. Since our Snafued lunch the day before, myself and Calen waited to talk with him to see if we were rescheduled. OC Bruce said he was told that we had already been rescheduled but didn't trust it so we followed him to check the schedule and sure enough we weren't on it. He said because of yesterday we deserved to be scheduled back in so he put me on today's 11:10 CO lunch and Calen on tomorrows. Woo-hoo!
Today we had MAA (Master at Arms) assistance from 08:00 to 11:00 that means Chief Willard would direct us to go for any basic maintenance that needed to be done. We reported to the Waist and the Chief explained some of the assignments. Cleaning behind the single and double stairways was three days overdue, the laundry room needed cleaning, the supply room needed to be resupplied and lastly the garbage room needed to have the trash consolidated to make more room.
Orion, myself and a crewman were had been getting to know from Antigua (Jarvis) volunteered as mules to move the supplies from ship stores up to the supply room with Chief Willard. He directed the rest of the group to their duties and we followed Chief to the supply room to make sure we knew what we needed to resupply. Because the weather was getting worse we were getting tossed around pretty bad so we all felt bad when the Chief pitched to the side in the supply room and cracked his head hard on an emergency light. He took a minute to recover and reviewed the supplies we'd need to get. We headed down to ship stores that are located below the workout room. I assisted with the hatch and he went down and handed me up the boxes we had to bring up. I passed the supplies on to Orion and the other crewman. We distributed the supplies, replaced some mop heads on deck and then waited for everyone else to regroup. When enough people arrived, we headed to garbage detail.
All trash was put into bags and thrown into a large cool locker. Our job was to take all the smaller bags and put them into big ones by pulling all the current bags out into the hall first. Yes it was nasty work but with so many helping, we made short work of it and the Chief dismissed us early.
I went to my berth and again changed into some nicer clothes for my CO lunch. I made my way back and into the "Flag Room" which really is just the right side of the CO's room. Here I met Nelly, Daniel, Harris and a girl from the San Diego museum that works on the Star of India named Katherine. An older gentlemen came in and asked Nelly and myself to move as I was sitting in the Captains chair and Nelly the first mates. This man I later found out was called "Red" and was a former master of the Eagle and had 23 years on a cruise line as a Master as well. He was so polite as he asked each of us who we were. You could tell right away he was a class act.
The Captain broke in quickly while we were talking and directed us to take our seats immediately as the table was partly set and since there were no sticky mats on the table, it was hard to keep the items from flying off. We sat down and the FS2 (who I'd come to know as Jamie from the galley) got some help and served us some salads. The Captain got a large salad and the rest of us normal sized. He said that he has a weigh in next month and needs to get his weight down. He gained 16 pounds when he worked "on the hill".
I made a faux pas and started eating before the Captain. I only realized this when he directed everyone else to eat. I later warned Calen to watch for it during his lunch. I will admit I was hungry so I did what comes naturally when someone puts food in front of a hungry person.
The Captain was jovial as he first related the history of the Eagle. Like the Sun Sighting, he had probably given this talk dozens of times. But at the end of his talk he asked each of us a few questions, starting with how each of us got here. Everyone had a different story to tell and I weighed carefully the information I wanted to relate. I didn't want to bore him or the group but still wanted to relate my experience. I think I did ok when all was said and done.
After our salad plates were taken away, a crewman came in with the noon report. I'm not exactly sure how it works but the gist is that traditionally when a deck officer believed it to be noon, he would report it to the Captain. If the Captain agreed, he would tell the officer to "Make it Noon" which eventually became "Make it so" so the ship would then be on the same schedule. Captain Pulver is a big believer in keeping Maritime traditional alive as we discussed the sun and celestial sightings class and how some branches in the government were pushing to eliminate charts altogether. Obviously something Captain Pulver doesn't support and after hearing some of the stories of charts and sun sites saving peoples bacon when the ships equipment failed, I fail to see how these things can be safely eliminated.
The Captain asked for no further food for himself and they served us some massive plates of burritos, soft shelled tacos, spicy rice, refried beans and a corn mix. During this whole dinner, silverware and condiments regularly went flying and I learned to keep one hand on my drink and the other on my plate. Every padded chair also had hooks that would hook into the bottom of the table to keep you from sliding out and boy did we need it. The seas were getting rougher by the minute.
While talking, the Captain regularly got called and he picked up the phone immediately every time, gave some orders and then continued in the conversation. We talked for over an hour before another officer came in needing a meeting with the Captin so Captain Pulver dismissed us. We heartily thanked him and we carried our plates over to the CO mess then made our way back to our posts.
I donned my foul weather gear again and got to the weather deck in some horrific weather. I went looking for the 2-Z3 group first on the fantail but no one was there. The back of the ship was coming up so hard I had to take a photo of it but when I did, I found myself airborne! I came down a bit hard and started sliding towards the rail. I had a brief scare until I managed to grab post before hitting the side rail. I checked my camera and realized I had left my phone on video from earlier and caught the whole thing!
I grabbed a quick breakfast and got dressed for Muster. I was careful to put on my foul weather gear as Sail Stations were set to be at 08:15. After Muster we were called into a group and told that we would not be doing sail stations again today as the weather had turned bad but we hoped to go to sail stations later today. They also stressed for everyone to check the meal schedule with the CO's and direct any questions to OC Bruce. Since our Snafued lunch the day before, myself and Calen waited to talk with him to see if we were rescheduled. OC Bruce said he was told that we had already been rescheduled but didn't trust it so we followed him to check the schedule and sure enough we weren't on it. He said because of yesterday we deserved to be scheduled back in so he put me on today's 11:10 CO lunch and Calen on tomorrows. Woo-hoo!
Today we had MAA (Master at Arms) assistance from 08:00 to 11:00 that means Chief Willard would direct us to go for any basic maintenance that needed to be done. We reported to the Waist and the Chief explained some of the assignments. Cleaning behind the single and double stairways was three days overdue, the laundry room needed cleaning, the supply room needed to be resupplied and lastly the garbage room needed to have the trash consolidated to make more room.
Orion, myself and a crewman were had been getting to know from Antigua (Jarvis) volunteered as mules to move the supplies from ship stores up to the supply room with Chief Willard. He directed the rest of the group to their duties and we followed Chief to the supply room to make sure we knew what we needed to resupply. Because the weather was getting worse we were getting tossed around pretty bad so we all felt bad when the Chief pitched to the side in the supply room and cracked his head hard on an emergency light. He took a minute to recover and reviewed the supplies we'd need to get. We headed down to ship stores that are located below the workout room. I assisted with the hatch and he went down and handed me up the boxes we had to bring up. I passed the supplies on to Orion and the other crewman. We distributed the supplies, replaced some mop heads on deck and then waited for everyone else to regroup. When enough people arrived, we headed to garbage detail.
All trash was put into bags and thrown into a large cool locker. Our job was to take all the smaller bags and put them into big ones by pulling all the current bags out into the hall first. Yes it was nasty work but with so many helping, we made short work of it and the Chief dismissed us early.
I went to my berth and again changed into some nicer clothes for my CO lunch. I made my way back and into the "Flag Room" which really is just the right side of the CO's room. Here I met Nelly, Daniel, Harris and a girl from the San Diego museum that works on the Star of India named Katherine. An older gentlemen came in and asked Nelly and myself to move as I was sitting in the Captains chair and Nelly the first mates. This man I later found out was called "Red" and was a former master of the Eagle and had 23 years on a cruise line as a Master as well. He was so polite as he asked each of us who we were. You could tell right away he was a class act.
The Captain broke in quickly while we were talking and directed us to take our seats immediately as the table was partly set and since there were no sticky mats on the table, it was hard to keep the items from flying off. We sat down and the FS2 (who I'd come to know as Jamie from the galley) got some help and served us some salads. The Captain got a large salad and the rest of us normal sized. He said that he has a weigh in next month and needs to get his weight down. He gained 16 pounds when he worked "on the hill".
I made a faux pas and started eating before the Captain. I only realized this when he directed everyone else to eat. I later warned Calen to watch for it during his lunch. I will admit I was hungry so I did what comes naturally when someone puts food in front of a hungry person.
The Captain was jovial as he first related the history of the Eagle. Like the Sun Sighting, he had probably given this talk dozens of times. But at the end of his talk he asked each of us a few questions, starting with how each of us got here. Everyone had a different story to tell and I weighed carefully the information I wanted to relate. I didn't want to bore him or the group but still wanted to relate my experience. I think I did ok when all was said and done.
After our salad plates were taken away, a crewman came in with the noon report. I'm not exactly sure how it works but the gist is that traditionally when a deck officer believed it to be noon, he would report it to the Captain. If the Captain agreed, he would tell the officer to "Make it Noon" which eventually became "Make it so" so the ship would then be on the same schedule. Captain Pulver is a big believer in keeping Maritime traditional alive as we discussed the sun and celestial sightings class and how some branches in the government were pushing to eliminate charts altogether. Obviously something Captain Pulver doesn't support and after hearing some of the stories of charts and sun sites saving peoples bacon when the ships equipment failed, I fail to see how these things can be safely eliminated.
The Captain asked for no further food for himself and they served us some massive plates of burritos, soft shelled tacos, spicy rice, refried beans and a corn mix. During this whole dinner, silverware and condiments regularly went flying and I learned to keep one hand on my drink and the other on my plate. Every padded chair also had hooks that would hook into the bottom of the table to keep you from sliding out and boy did we need it. The seas were getting rougher by the minute.
While talking, the Captain regularly got called and he picked up the phone immediately every time, gave some orders and then continued in the conversation. We talked for over an hour before another officer came in needing a meeting with the Captin so Captain Pulver dismissed us. We heartily thanked him and we carried our plates over to the CO mess then made our way back to our posts.
I donned my foul weather gear again and got to the weather deck in some horrific weather. I went looking for the 2-Z3 group first on the fantail but no one was there. The back of the ship was coming up so hard I had to take a photo of it but when I did, I found myself airborne! I came down a bit hard and started sliding towards the rail. I had a brief scare until I managed to grab post before hitting the side rail. I checked my camera and realized I had left my phone on video from earlier and caught the whole thing!
I moved forward and found Orion and Calen on the bow holding on hard but yelling with joy ever time we came down hard enough to spray the deck. The ship was bobbing fore and aft hard! We all managed to get some good video of this. Johnson directed us to our Boson who was walking them through learning the ships lines. We followed him and eventually arrived back at the fantail. Rain was coming down hard now but since we were much farther south and it was 66 degrees, I didn't mind so much.
We were getting lifted off our feet regularly now and had to find good spots to hang on while still talking. During this, an announcement came through for all off duty crew and guests to go to their quarters and berths due to the hazardous conditions. Since we were on Deck Watch, we had to stay on duty until 16:00 and tough it out. We ended up taking more video as the storm raged on and they announced low visibility conditions and that we were approaching a squall.
We were getting lifted off our feet regularly now and had to find good spots to hang on while still talking. During this, an announcement came through for all off duty crew and guests to go to their quarters and berths due to the hazardous conditions. Since we were on Deck Watch, we had to stay on duty until 16:00 and tough it out. We ended up taking more video as the storm raged on and they announced low visibility conditions and that we were approaching a squall.
Lookouts were posted on every side of the ship and the fog signal went off every two minutes. Of Course this made some conversations amusing. At one point we headed to the port side holding the railing hard and whooped with joy when the entire bow flew up over some large swells. We also held hard on the aft railing to look over to see the screws jet out water when the aft section got lifted so high up.
We were getting one hell of a workout as it took all you had to stay balanced and no one was able to fully succeed. Calen tried jumping in the air at one point when the aft section lifted to it's highest and of course ended about 10 feet away when he came down. I told him he better be careful or he's going to end up in a Jackass video. The deck officer came back when the storm was raging and asked who was on aft watch. He was surprised when he heard us all reply "We are!". Orion volunteered to go to the back railing to keep watch even though from my position on the aft house, I could see everything.
As the storm slowly died down, so did our conversation. But we started telling stories and the conversations started flowing. Despite all the excitement, the watch seemed to drag on. Luckily we had a good group to help pass the time. Jarvis, our local Antigua USCG CO decided to tell us a joke about a woman cooking dumplings and how she had to eat twice as many to make sure they came out just right. Johnson and I just stood staring at him...waiting for the punch line. When we realized that was actually the end of joke, we almost died laughing at the absurdity of it. Jarvis immediately became one of our favorites.
We were finally relieved and found out we had to come back an hour later to relieve our relief so they could have dinner. An hour? It would take me twenty minutes just to pull off my wet gear! Orion was still on the aft watch and we all sneaked away without telling him we were relieved just because we could. I went down to my berth, pulled off my wet gear and managed to pass out in my bunk for a few minutes before getting geared back up to relieve the watch. But when I got up there, the head of the watch group was telling OC Bruce to go and said they would just eat staggered. I joking complained that she never told me I could leave as she dismissed me.
I started heading back down and found storm lines had now lined the decks. The lines went in a rectangle pattern on the waist and were meant to help people keep their balance in the heavy seas. I was doing good with my balancing act so I dodged the lines and went to the Mess deck for the weather briefing. It was OC Johnson’s time to present the report to the Captain. If the weather cleared later, the Captain wanted to get all our sails out, hopefully around 18:30. Based on the weather report, we should have a good westerly wind that would be perfect for our southerly course.
Knowing we might have Sail Stations at 18:30, I skipped dinner and took another nap. I was still quite full from lunch and didn't want a full stomach to interfere with going aloft. I woke up when they called the mast captains and safety officers to the Waist. I donned my foul weather gear again even though the rain had mostly abated when I got to the weather deck.
I didn't wait and went directly to the storage bin behind the main mast and pulled on a harness, hoping to get some more time aloft. I went back and lined up with the rest of my division at the Mizzen Mast. On my way there, the Captain recognized me and greeted me saying glad to see I was already geared up and ready. I replied, "Aye, I'm ready and eager to work". We were ordered to move the mizzen gaffe and yard back to centerline and then over to port. We all manned the lines assigned us and did so though it probably took longer than it should due to the ships constant rolling.
To my surprise, they asked for some climbers to remove the gaskets from the Spanker and the Main Staysail. Apparently they managed to fix the Spanker before the weather got bad. If I didn't mention it already, we found out the Spanker wasn't working when after we left port. I guess when they were doing maintenance, they over varnished the area and it fouled up the outhaul. Now it was working again. I was glad they got it fixed but it meant I was less likely to go aloft with the Main or Fore crews.
As the storm slowly died down, so did our conversation. But we started telling stories and the conversations started flowing. Despite all the excitement, the watch seemed to drag on. Luckily we had a good group to help pass the time. Jarvis, our local Antigua USCG CO decided to tell us a joke about a woman cooking dumplings and how she had to eat twice as many to make sure they came out just right. Johnson and I just stood staring at him...waiting for the punch line. When we realized that was actually the end of joke, we almost died laughing at the absurdity of it. Jarvis immediately became one of our favorites.
We were finally relieved and found out we had to come back an hour later to relieve our relief so they could have dinner. An hour? It would take me twenty minutes just to pull off my wet gear! Orion was still on the aft watch and we all sneaked away without telling him we were relieved just because we could. I went down to my berth, pulled off my wet gear and managed to pass out in my bunk for a few minutes before getting geared back up to relieve the watch. But when I got up there, the head of the watch group was telling OC Bruce to go and said they would just eat staggered. I joking complained that she never told me I could leave as she dismissed me.
I started heading back down and found storm lines had now lined the decks. The lines went in a rectangle pattern on the waist and were meant to help people keep their balance in the heavy seas. I was doing good with my balancing act so I dodged the lines and went to the Mess deck for the weather briefing. It was OC Johnson’s time to present the report to the Captain. If the weather cleared later, the Captain wanted to get all our sails out, hopefully around 18:30. Based on the weather report, we should have a good westerly wind that would be perfect for our southerly course.
Knowing we might have Sail Stations at 18:30, I skipped dinner and took another nap. I was still quite full from lunch and didn't want a full stomach to interfere with going aloft. I woke up when they called the mast captains and safety officers to the Waist. I donned my foul weather gear again even though the rain had mostly abated when I got to the weather deck.
I didn't wait and went directly to the storage bin behind the main mast and pulled on a harness, hoping to get some more time aloft. I went back and lined up with the rest of my division at the Mizzen Mast. On my way there, the Captain recognized me and greeted me saying glad to see I was already geared up and ready. I replied, "Aye, I'm ready and eager to work". We were ordered to move the mizzen gaffe and yard back to centerline and then over to port. We all manned the lines assigned us and did so though it probably took longer than it should due to the ships constant rolling.
To my surprise, they asked for some climbers to remove the gaskets from the Spanker and the Main Staysail. Apparently they managed to fix the Spanker before the weather got bad. If I didn't mention it already, we found out the Spanker wasn't working when after we left port. I guess when they were doing maintenance, they over varnished the area and it fouled up the outhaul. Now it was working again. I was glad they got it fixed but it meant I was less likely to go aloft with the Main or Fore crews.
The Mast Captains and Boson got all the lines ready and we hauled the Spanker out and then the Staysail mostly without incident. I say "mostly" because I saw a small bolt fly onto the deck but I have no idea from where. I immediately grabbed it and called for the Chief and handed it to him. Since we had no idea what it went to, he handed it to another officer who would deal with trying to figure out what it came from. A couple of days earlier, I had been writing on the meal deck when a large nut came rolling towards me after a crewman closed a bulkhead door. I called over a officer on hand and we figured out what part of the door it came from and reattached it. I guess this is one of the hazards of working on a steel ship.
We then assisted the Main and Fore working the halyards to raise the yards. The interesting thing here is that when we got to the main halyards, we "walked" the lines from the fore and main on opposite sides of the ship in two different directions. So when we were ordered to walk the lines after they released the sails, our group walked the halyard aft and when we came to the end of the deck, we released the line and walked through the galley hatch to the other side of the ship, grabbed the halyard there and pulled that halyard forward and switched off again when we got to the end of that deck. We kept doing this until the yards were fully raised, gave a few more short hauls and made them off.
Unfortunately even though I enjoyed the whole thing and stayed out for quite a bit more helping here and there, I never got to go aloft on this rotation. The ship was moving a lot smoother now and we were now seeing heat lightning. I headed back to my berth and pulled off my wet gear and went to the Mess deck to write some more. They turned on a movie, the Expendables 2 and I checked the schedule and POD for tomorrow. We have an 08:00 to 12:00 Bridge and Engineering watch which means we skip morning muster. It's late and I'm caught up so I'm heading to bed. Hopefully I can wake up early enough to catch another shower.
Day Seven
http://emaxadventure.weebly.com/1/post/2013/05/-day-seven-wednesday.html