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MV Greenpeace / PC 8023
May 18, 1996
Day 4
10 minutes into the watch when there was a sickening sound of
clunking metal followed. Mark, with coffee in hand was
swaggering down the walkway,between Esperanza and Betty Blue.
ticka boom shsss, they sounded as their huge pistons went up and
down. Suddenly, Marks'well tuned ears that had spent hundreds
of
hours listening to these engines, knew something was radically
wrong. There was the sickening sound of clunking metal.
In a couple of strides he was at the control panel and the
engines stopped.
A shock to Jeannette and I on the bridge quietly chatting and all of a
sudden an eiree silence. Jeannette phones down to the engine room, the
reply,"Can't talk, in a hurry." Uh oh.... Strangely some bolts had
worked loose and the rocker arm shaft was about to break free. As Mark
put it later,`blimen scarey, your first reaction is something is about
to explode.' A situation that can happen,engine rooms are a maze of
pipes, motors,switchboards and huge lunps of metal spinning and moving
up and down at incredible speeds, basically created by constant minor
explosions.(No nukes involved) So when something does go wrong it can
be dramatic. But luckily, within an hour the problem was solved and
were back on two engines. Talking of hours...... When travelling vast
distances across the earth, time zones change and so every now and
again all the clocks on board are moved an hour forward or backwards,
depending on what direction we are moving, east or west of the
Greenwich meridian. A concept I always have difficulty understanding,
but through some mysterious
means the captain seems to have a handle on it.
My clock reads 11.45 as I'm woken for watch. Thinking I have 15
minutes, quickly dress, grab a coffee and on the bridge bang on
midnight, only to discover I have another 20 minutes before my
watch begins!
Then 0100 Jeannette puts the clock back and it is 2400 again....
But at 0340 the next watch takes over.
After my morning sleep, I awake at 1030 old time ( forgot to put my
clock back) and marvel at how I cheated myself of the extra 40 minutes
sleep we all gained. But next time I will not be fooled. I'm leaving
myself a note beside the light switch,` Dear Tanya, you have 20 mins.
extra sleep, 20 mins. extra watch, 20 mins. extra sleep. Enjoy it.'
Tanya Popp
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