have not given the letter to the captain yet and not sure I will. Any
feedback from home would be appreciated though. Please email me at
crew06@ter.aplmaritime.com with any suggestions.
I am sure the letters format will be all screwed up, that seems to happen
when I email to the blogger. Rest asured that the formatting looks good on
this end LOL.... Here it is.
Captain;
I have found that it is imperative to address safety concerns during docking
and undocking operations on the stern of the American Tern.
Since joining the ship we have had two 3rd Mates direct operations on the
stern. There is a common thread that joins these two mates together.
Neither one seems to listen to the unlicensed crew members when those crew
members see and report safety issues or concerns. There have been many
occurrences, but I would like to focus on the incident occurring on August
31st as we undocked from Douala, Cameroon.
My seagoing vocabulary is still developing and I do not have the proper word
or phrase for the following situation, but I will call it "Gypsy Head
Whip-back". It is this action which caused very serious and permanent
damage to my right hand approximately four yeas ago. Gypsy Head Whip-back
occurs when the sailor is hauling in a line using the gypsy head, then
suddenly and violently the line reverses direction against the rotation of
the gypsy head and in an instant the working part of the line is "whipped"
from the hand of the sailor. The natural instinct for most people who are
about to drop something is to tighten their grip. I have trained myself to
let go of a line that suddenly whips, however there is still a brief instant
when the gripping instinct kicks in and must be overridden. It was one of
these instances where just the whipping action alone caused multiple
fractures and a sprain in my right hand. By coincidence my injury occurred
in Douala, Cameroon and involved a tug boat.
Having experienced this injury I made sure to share how my hand was damaged
to everyone I work with on the stern, including the 3rd mate prior to
docking. My intention was not to tell sea stories, but to try to let
everyone know of this danger and to be careful.
Undocking went more smoothly than usual until it was time to haul our line
from the tug boat back in. I was on the Gypsy Head. I was hauling in the
line with 3 wraps around the gypsy head and things seemed to be going
smoothly, when suddenly Gypsy Head Whip-back happened. About 2 feet of line
was pulled back through my hands. I suffered a small amount of pain in my
right hand from the old injury but nothing serious. I asked the 3rd Mate
"What happened? Why did that happen?" His reply to me was to give me a
dismissive look and with the back of his hand wave me off. He did not reply
verbally.
The 3rd Mate then ordered the winch operator to continue, so I began hauling
on the line again. Once again a very sudden Gypsy Head Whip-back, this time
taking even more line the wrong direction and more violently. Again, only
shouting louder and admittedly in an angry manner I asked "Why is happening
mate? I can get injured doing this shit, tell me why this is happening!"
His reply to me was "Just do what I tell you!" At this point my anger was
growing rapidly. AB Melody let me know at that time that our line was still
attached to the tug boat. So now I knew the 3rd mate had me in a game of
tug of war on the loosing side. Tug boats always win those games.
Again he ordered we continue hauling on the line. And again for the third
time in a row the line was ripped out of my hands even more violently than
the first two times. At this point I unloaded a verbal assault on the 3rd
Mate who was clearly intentionally taking up all the slack so the tug and
ship could not move with out causing the Whip-back. There was no regard for
my safety. There was no forward thinking on the mates' part. My concerns
were brushed aside with a cavalier and dismissive attitude until I reached
the boiling point and was forced to walk away. While standing clear I
witnessed the mate taking control of the gypsy head which he quickly
succeeded in knotting up which demonstrated his lack of experience to me.
Once the line was aboard, I assisted in stowing all the stern lines and
continued on to assist in rigging the pilot ladder before knocking off.
I understand we do not want a line dragging behind the ship near the
propeller, but there is no reason that the 3rd Mate could not let some slack
in the line remain, even if that slack was floating in the water until the
tug boat was close enough to let go. At very least he should have left
enough slack, so that when he saw the line coming tight, he had time to tell
me to let go of the line and stand clear. A third option, could have been
we wrap the gypsy head up and no one tends the line, just let the line pile
up. Or he could have told me we were still attached to the tug and I could
have decided with him the safest way to proceed.
There are several alternatives that could have been taken to avoid this
problem. No amount of hard hats, steel-toe shoes or orange vests is going
to prevent a line handling injury. I have suffered one injury; I do not
plan on receiving another. If these mates persist in ignoring the concerns
of their shipmates during these operations they will find themselves in a
worrying position as someone is being carted to a hospital, or worse.
I did not write this to be a problem maker, I wrote this because I am very
concerned someone will get seriously hurt. It is not my intention to get
anyone in trouble, but rather bolster communications and a sense of
responsibility for each other.
Sincerely
Jesse S James
AB
An aside: I would be grateful to learn the proper name or term for what I
call Gypsy Head Whip-back. I hate to be ignorant of these terms but I could
not find a proper definition.
Cc: Chief Mate
Cc: Bosun
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