So, time to sign on again!
Companion is in Gothenburg already and I am preparing for my next trip, which is going to include both Christmas and New Year's Eve.
As always it feels a bit strange this evening. Good to come back to the ship where I've spent most of my time the last years, but also sad to leave the family at home. I guess that's a feeling that will never change. At least I hope so, the day you feel that your job is all you have must be pretty tough.
So, mixed emotions tonight, but I will keep you up to date on what's going on on board the next five weeks!
Usually we are around 20 persons on board, sometimes a few more and sometimes a lot more. The "normal" crew consists of master, chief officer, three 2nd officers, chief engineer, first engineer, two second engineers, four ABs, motorman, fitter, cooksteward and messman. Most of the time we also have an officer cadet and an engineer cadet as well.
Companion has four sister vessels, Atlantic Compass, Atlantic Concert, Atlantic Cartier and Atlantic Conveyor. All of the vessels are on the same route. Companion and Compass have Swedish crew and the others have mixed crew; Swedish senior officers and the rest of the crew are philippinos.
The engineroom
My first trip on Atlantic Companion was in the summer 2001, as engineer cadet. When I first saw the engineroom I thought it was really big (I still do) and that I would never be able to find my way around. Today I still keep finding things I haven't seen before...
Companion has a two-stroke crosshead diesel engine as main engine, a Burmeister & Wain. The cylinderdiameter is 900 mm and the stroke is 2180 mm. We run the engine mainly on heavy fuel oil and on heavy load the consumption is almost 100 tons/day.
The diesel generators are four Wärtsilä Vasa, equipped with NEBB generators.
We are six persons in the engine crew; chief engineer, first engineer, two 2nd engineers, fitter and motorman. We often have an engine cadet as well.
As I have mentioned before, the engine department is responsible for lots of thing on the vessel. The diesel engines are just a small part of our job, there are lots of other equipment, both in the engineroom and outside. A big part is the electric systems. After 22 years on the North Atlantic, lots of cables, lights and connection boxes are damaged and/or full of water. We have changed most of the electric equipment on deck, but there are still lots of work with it. Another big part is the hydraulic systems. On a RORO-vessel there are lots of them, since we have ramps, bulkhead doors and fan dampers, all of them hydraulic operated. There are also hydraulic systems for valves, mooring systems, the container cellguides and cargo hatches. Apart from this we also have the accomodation - sewage systems... Not my personal favourite, but it has to be done as well, whenever there is a problem.
All of us in the engine crew are working daytime, we start at 8 in the morning (except the fitter who starts at 7) and work until 4.30 in the afternoon. From 4.30 until 8 the engineroom is unmanned, and one of the engineers are on duty during the night. Being on duty, you don't have to be in the engineroom, we have pagers connected to the engine alarm, as well as alarm boxes placed in the accomodation.
Me, the 2nd officer Johan and 2nd engineer Jenny last Christmas.
I haven't even started to think about what I should get my family for Christmas... I need to be finish before next weekend and it is SOOOO difficult. I don't even know what I want for Christmas, but that's not a big problem. Well, I guess it will work out, but knowing myself I guess I will get it done next Friday... I need to get some Christmas decorations for my cabin as well, decorating is the best part of the entire Christmas. I just love that!
Christmas preparations on board last year.
It's been a while, two months. My vacation is almost over and November 27 I'm signing on Atlantic Companion again. The end of our last trip turned into a complete chaos. When we arrived in Gothenburg we suddenly got problem with the auxilliary engine fuel system and got a blackout. To make it even better we couldn't restart the engines at first, so out of electric power and unable to manouvre we ran aground... I don't think I have ever felt so stressed before and it took almost 24 hours for me to be myself afterwards. Anyway, everything turned out well, no personal injuries and no damage to the ship or the environment - I guess we were lucky after all!
I haven't been doing very much this vacation. A short trip to Stockholm last weekend which was very nice. Apart from that I've been staying home.
Since we're working on five-weeks schedule we're going to spend Christmas and New Years Eve on board this year. We did that last year as well, in 2004 we signed on December 27 and the year before we also had both Christmas and New Year on board... Not much to do about it and so far we've had a really nice time those holidays, so I don't mind.
That's all for tonight, I will be back before I'm signing on with more pictures from Companion.
