Daily Journal

June 20, 2010

By David M. Lawrence

Today began rather bizarrely for me. After serving on evening watch last night and catching up on some writing work, I fell asleep in my bunk as I was trying to reset my alarm to wake me at 0545 hours. Instead, my alarm went off at 0220 hours. I managed to finish resetting it and falling back asleep, only to wake sometime later after having a dream in which I woke up late for watch.

I am told it is a common dream aboard ship.

Today, during our morning watch (0700 to 1300 hours) I served on engineering duty. Our first task was to turn on the deck generator to run the fire hose pump – we did not have a fire, but we use the water from the fire hoses to wash the deck. I helped with the deck washing, too.

Yes, I swabbed the deck, matey.

The day quickly got more complex. I took a break from engineering to help ready sails for a neuston tow, then went below to help chief engineer Dave Reynolds and assistant engineer Sarah Lake work on a number of tasks. We checked on the coolant systems for the ship's refrigerator and freezer, repaired a broken fitting on our fresh water hose, and spent quite a bit of time in the engine room performing an oil change on our main generator.

Today's "black gangs" – as engineering crew were called in the days of coal-driven steamships – may not have to breathe much coal dust anymore, but they still have to work in a tight, hot space full of big moving machinery and innumerable opportunities to get oneself hurt. The temperature in the engine room today, even without the diesel engine and main generator running, was more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Nevertheless, the two engineers work hard keeping all the machinery – including the all-important pumps in the heads – running. Today's experience made me appreciate them and their efforts all the more.