The next voyage

End Transmission

2009-09-15T16:59:00.000-07:00

Please send no more Email to Crew06@ter.aplmaritime.com I should be able to
get service on my laptop by 3am east coast time on the 16th. I will be
deleting all email and contacts from the ships computer. Any messages sent
now may be recieved by my relief.

My cell will work as well, feel free to call me.

Anyway...

We should be tied up to the dock in Glouster, NJ (just across the river from
Philly) by 9am on the 16th. Several crew members and I will be headed to
the Dr. office some time that same day. There are rumors, but no
confirmation that we will be releived on the 17th after the Coast Guard
finnishes the COI. So, I may be home by the 17th in the evening. We shall
see.

Well, just 10 days or so shy of 4 months, only saw 3 countries and the
Panama Canal. A combined total of 10 hours on shore. Anoter injury to the
right hand. And a record low pay. What a trip.

Hope every one is doing well. I'll see some of you soon.

Jesse

Correction

2009-09-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

My appologies to Naomi Klein.

Before sending out my book list I was on the bridge. I was having a problem
remembering who wrote The Shock Doctrine. I loaned the book to AB Melody
and I asked her if she remembered. She replied quickly " Anne Klein". Well
I knew Klein was right, and I did'nt doubt Melody; so I sent out my list.

Of course now I find out that Anne Klein is some sort of clothing designer
or clothes store.... LOL.

So I am sorry Naomi Klein, that was a terrible mistake. All that hard work
you did and I give credit to some one worried about the fall colors.

Anyway it's....

The Shock Doctrine
The rise of disaster capitalisim
By
Naomi Klein

More books.

2009-09-10T04:33:00.000-07:00

Here is most of what I've read since the last bunch of books I mentioned.

Brave New World
by
Aldous Huxley

****
It's a classic so I have to give it at least 4 out of 5 stars right? But
quite frankly I think had I read this when it was first published I would
have enjoyed it more. I am polluted with to many more up to date and modern
utopia gone wrong stories. Honestly though what's wrong with free Soma and
electrocuting babies? Read it if you haven't and get your Orgy-porgy on
baby!!!

The Shock Doctrine
by
Anne Klien

*****
Please read this book! Look for reviews online. I found it shocking, no
pun intended. Many of my previous thoughts on economics have been altered
since reading this book. I am still an advocate of Capitalism but clearly
government oversight and controls are necessary. The Corporatists must not
be allowed undue influence in government.

The Judas Strain
By
James Rollins

*****
It's more fun than a barrel of monkeys. "I was bit by a monkey once; I
don't want to talk about it". If you like action and adventure this is the
book. I had a great time and the pages flew by. Terrorists are looking to
control the cure for a deadly virus, so are the good guys. Marco Polo seems
to have the answers. This is the Da Vinci code meets Indiana Jones.

Whiteout
By
Ken Follett

****

This is another story of Bio-terrorism, with a family touch. I read this in
only two days. It was a page turner and I enjoyed it. The reviews made me
think there was more action than there really was, but I still found it
enjoyable. I like Ken Follett's characters, especially the women.

The Dwarves
By
Markus Heitz

***

It has been awhile since I enjoyed reading a fantasy. I did enjoy this one,
but Mr. Heitz is no Tolkien, (although he does honor Tolkien in this book.)
nor is he as good as Terry Brooks. It is not hard for me to put my belief
into suspension and enjoy a good fantasy but I still need a plot that is
more plausible than this to do so. I have not decided yet what this book
truly lacks, but it is lacking something. However it was interesting to
read a story where Dwarves are the heroes. I liked the concept. It is
translated from German (could that be the problem?).

Everything changes

2009-09-05T14:06:00.000-07:00

We have now nixed the Azores. We are headed directly to Philadelphia. The
Force Protection unit will come to the states with us then sail back to
Spain later on this ship. I feel bad for them, that is a lot of sailing
with nothing for them to do.

Working overtime has proven that what I thought was a nominal pain in my
hand/wrist is more serious than I thought. Turns out useing tools realy
hurts. I am now wearing a very stylish wrist thingy that keeps my hand and
wrist from moving to much. Over time for Jesse is now a thing of the past,
which kinda sucks, I could use the money and I am running out of good
reading material. I will see a doctor when we arrive in Philadelphia. I
hope nothing is damaged to badly, we shall see.

We are expected back by the 16th, but not sure when travel arrangements home
will be scheduled. Perhaps by the 18th.

Sofar no one has stolen my ice, but I am getting envious looks at meal time
now. Not everyone can find a bottle to freeze.

Jesse

New destination

2009-09-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Cape Verde out Azores in.

Just got word that Force Protection will not be droped off in Cape Verde.
So far this does not change our ETA for Philly which is still around the
18th. However, our home port destination could still change.

So, on to the Azores.

Jesse

P.S.

I found an old water bottle (I did not have one of my own). I am now making
my own Ice. I wonder how long it will be before someone steals my bottle
from the freezer? Steward Department still does not have the formula to
make enough ice for all the water pitchers.

humm

2009-09-04T03:01:00.000-07:00

I thought my hand was going to be okay. The pain was fairly constant but
not all that terrible for awhile. But on Thursday (yesterday) the 3rd I
worked OT and had to use the electric deck grinder. I found I have to use
my left hand. Also today I tried again to use the same tool, with the same
results. Looks like I am going to have to learn to be left handed.

Today I asked the 2nd mate to see if he could arrange for a Dr. to look at
it. I am unsure if that will be possible in Cape Verde, we will be alonside
a barge and not docked when we refuel. I may have to wait until we get to
Philly.

Still no ice. We have a freezer, but I don't think anyone in the kitchen
remembers the recipie.

Investigation

2009-09-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

Got word today that the Captain has decided to have the 2nd mate investigate
the safety issues on the stern during the undocking from Cameroon. I
understand he will talk to everyone tomorrow and then the issues will be
brought up during a safety meeting later on.

Hopefully we can resolve the communicaiton problems so no one in the future
gets hurt from something that is avoidable.

Over a week and no ice, just very warm water. Boy, a cold drink of anything
right now would sure be nice.

Jesse

lawyer?

2009-09-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

Any one know any Maritime Lawyers?

Seems like I may need to start keeping a contact number for one in my
pocket.

Just incase you know...

Jesse

I did

2009-09-02T05:56:00.000-07:00

Thank you for input on the letter I wrote to the Captain.

It is now two days since the undocking, and it appears my old injuries were
affected more than I thought. I am feeling pain on a fairly regular basis
in my hand, wrist and up to my shoulder.

So I decided the Captain needs to address this. I sat down and spoke with
him. He reminded me right away that the 3rd Mate is in charge of operations
on the stern during docking and undockings. He glossed over all the
communicaiton issues. I got the feeling that if the 3rd Mate ordered me to
take a bullet, I was expected to stand up and get shot.

However the Captain did say he would consider what I wrote and think about
it. I think that means the letter is in the garbage and I am up the creek.
We will see over the next couple days if he or the 3rd mate says anything.

I did get one consession out of him. He admitted to me, that the line could
have been wraped up on the gypsy head and the line could have piled up on
deck, no human on our end needed to touch it until it was all on board.

That however, does not make my hand feel any better.

Thank you again. I realy cannot wait to get home and enjoy a little time
with my Stephanie. Sweetheart, I love you and miss you and I need a
hug....!! :)

Jesse

The 3rd Mate

2009-09-01T12:37:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder, I cannot see replies or posts to my facebook page or my
blog, everything on my end is through email.

I understand however that my first post about our undocking in Cameroon left
people thinking that the 3rd Mate was injured. Please don't worry about
him. He is fine. It was I who was angry enough to go beat in his brains.
As it turned out however, he did manage to injure AB Melody during that
docking, by ordering her to grab a line that was running over the side
(because a tug was pulling on it!) I just learned of this, so it did not
make my letter to the captian. She will be okay, just a minor hand injury
which she does not feel needs reporting. Although she will back me up about
my concerns for safety on the stern.

If you are praying for the 3rd Mate, please ask God to make him steril so he
cannot breed. I would do this myself, but beeing agnostic I am unlikey to
get a positive response. LOL.

Anyway, Stephanie emailed me to let me know people were reading my posts and
were concerned. Thank you for reading, and I appologize for the terrible
writing and content this voyage... It really is time to come home.

Jesse

P.S.

I heard the party at the farm rocked the house! Wish I could have been
there to see you all. I hope you all had a great time.

crew06@ter.aplmaritime.com (my email address)

Should I or shouldn't I?

2009-09-01T02:49:00.000-07:00

oaky, following is how I decided to deal with the problem the other day. I
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

I am okay but

2009-08-31T07:41:00.000-07:00

No injuries, but the nice third mate had me bringing in a line with out
telling me that the other end of the line was attatched to a tug boat. The
tug of course did not want to cooperate.

I am okay, but I am still not sure if the third mate will survive the night.
An hour has passed, yet my anger still vibrates throughout my body. Almost
exactly how I received a broken hand in Cameroon last time I was here.

We are underway again. Heading to Cape Verde Islands. There we will drop
off our militrary escort, refuel and head to Philly.

Jesse

Delany Acers

2009-08-29T00:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, I should have the weekend correct this time :)

Beth and John, congratulations on keeping the farm in the family for the
past 60 years.

I hope the celebration goes off with out a hitch and everyone has a really
good time. I am thinking of all of you and of course I wish very much I was
with you all.

Father, Havnagootime Vishenuverhere

AKA
Jess

Party Crew - 2

2009-08-23T00:16:00.000-07:00

Okay... I was one week off on the party note. You try to sail across the
Atlantic and advance your watch 1 hour 6 times in 9 days then set your watch
back 1 hour on the 11th day.

I am lucky I know what month it is. You'd think living in the 90's we would
have a better way to deal with these time changes :)

Any way, we are still headed to Cameroon with 12 Navy soldiers and several
.50 Cal guns mounted around the ship. Bring on the Pirates!!!!

So next weekend you all have a great time at John and Beths party.

Jesse

Rota, Spain

2009-08-22T03:48:00.000-07:00

We arrived at the pilot station at 08:00. We were hoping to be docked by
08:00 but that was not in the cards. Eventually we were at the dock with
the gangway down by 10:00. I was one of the lucky few who would have a
chance to go ashore here in Rota.

Before leaving the ship I made arrangements with Melody (a fellow AB) to
meet at the Castillo De La Luna at noon. I ran down the gangway and once on
the dock decided I wanted to get some business done while on the base. I
struck out towards the Navy Federal Credit Union. At least I thought I was
headed that way.

There is a lot of road in the Navy base at Rota. Turns out I was walking
the wrong direction, so I had to turn around and back track. I managed to
walk about 3 miles the wrong way. After I backtracked 3 miles I had to walk
another 4 miles to get to the NFCU. So 10 miles later on a fairly hot day I
arrived at the credit union and opened an account. I have been told NFCU is
perhaps the best CU around especially when it comes to any type of loan.
They are also quite solvent. Since WAMU went tits up, and Chase seems to
suck so far I wanted a different option and being a Merchant Marine I
qualify for an account there.

Anyway turns out I could have called a cab...AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Okay, I was running a little behind schedule, but I did not get breakfast so
I had to eat something ASAP and change some money into Euros. I grabbed a
slice of pizza on the base; it was good, but so disappointing to not be
eating Spanish food. I just didn't have the time. I found a Spanish bank
on the base and turned $125.00 American Dollars into 80 Euros in a flash.
Talk about a week dollar...

I grabbed a cab and after some attempts at communication the driver took me
to Castillo de la Luna. I arrived around 12:30 and was happy to see Melody
had not given up. She was having a beer under an umbrella in the shade of
the castle. We each had a couple beers and I just relaxed there for awhile,
enjoying the view as people walked by on the cobblestone pathways between a
very old church and the castle.

The castle was smaller than I expected and we were not allowed to go in the
upper levels. Everything available to read was in Spanish so I learned
nothing about the place, but Melody took pictures of all the writing on the
walls and promised to have it all translated for me later. Her dad is
Mexican so it should not be a problem. The church next door had a very cool
steeple and bell tower. It appeared to be the tallest structure in town.

All the streets in the old town were very narrow, exactly like you've seen
in the movies.
People were often on their balconies cooling off in the light breeze.
Melody and I tried to find some stores for souvenirs, but I only came away
with 2 refrigerator magnates. With no luck shopping we hit up a local
establishment for drinks outside. After about 4 drinks I had to return to
the ship. I had a great time though and would like to return.

Party Crew !!!!

2009-08-22T02:07:00.000-07:00

To all of you attending the party at Delany Acers. P A R T Y O N!!!!!!!

Wish I could be there. Right now we are sailing past Morocco on our way to
Cameroon.

Please have a great time, party safely and don't burn down my place ;)

Derek, if they burn it down you got my rental policy right ? :)

I would like to know how the party went, so please email me. Did anyone get
drunk and try to ride Shrek? (the neighbors horsey)

Okay every one. Eat, Drink and see Mary !!!

Jesse

Update

2009-08-14T06:43:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like I may be able to get off the ship in Rota, Spain. It
will be a close call however. We recently got a cargo list of what we are
picking up. Turns out we only have about 35 pieces of cargo. This will
only take a couple hours to load, then we sail.

Right now it looks as if we will be tied up to the dock in Rota by 8 am.
This is good for me since I am off work at 8am. As long as customes clears
the ship quickly I should be able to go ashore.

The whole crew was dissapointed to learn that our stay would be so short. I
am hoping my luck holds out, I will be one of only 2 or 3 people that will
be off at the right times to go ashore.

The same problem will arise in Cameroon. As far as we know, we will unload
our cargo there and not pick anything up, so in and out real fast there as
well. I have no great desire to see Cameroon again so hopefully someone
else gets a chance to go ashore there.

Our return port in the USA will be the east coast, but the port keeps
changing, so that is still up in the air. Currently it appears we will be
home close to the 17th of Sept., but we will know better after we leave
Cameroon.

Hope all is well back home.

Jesse

Music

2009-08-02T08:59:00.000-07:00

4-16-84 Shakedown Street

Very Good.

Arrival/departure

2009-07-31T16:19:00.000-07:00

We will arrive once again in the US on August 4th. Docking in Norfolk, VA.
We will leave from VA on the 10th and head out to Spain then Cameroon then
return to the US in Philly.

It appears we will return to the US just about a week or so to early. This
company will not pay our way home unless we do the minimum 120 days aboard
the ship. This means it is likely that I will also have to do the trip to
Kuwait and on to Hawaii as well. I will probably wind up doing close to 6
months on this ship.

With luck, we will be delayed in Cameroon. I would much rather go home
after 120 than stay for 200. No crew changes are allowed overseas except
for the top three people onboard...

Last night I got to see stars. It has been some time, it was nice.

66 degrees 33 minutes point 000 North

2009-07-26T16:05:00.000-07:00

At 16:45 (12:45pm pacific) on Sunday 2/26/09 we crossed the Arctic Circle
line heading South. Bumped my head as we went over it.

The weather is getting colder now and we are experiencing fog again on the
way back home.

We are headed back to Virginia. Once there we will unload our backload from
Greenland, then head to another dock for Coast Guard Inspections.

Our next voyage is expected to take us to Rhoda, Spain for loading cargo,
then to Duala, Camaroon, then back home to Philly. I should be getting off
in Philly and heading back to the NW at that time.

I am looking forward to Spain. It will be my first time there. This will
be my second time in Cameroon. Last time I spent my time getting my hand
checked out by the local witch doctor. Hopefuly this time will be better...

I hope everyone is doing well back home.
Drop me an email if you like.

crew06@ter.aplmaritime.com

Take care
Jesse

Conversations with the crew

2009-07-26T04:57:00.000-07:00

Conversations with the crew.

Chief Cook: What would you like?
Jesse: I'll take two chili dogs.
Chief Cook: Would you like chili on those?
Jesse: Yes please, chili is one of my favorite parts of a chili dog.
Chief Cook: Okay.

----------------------------------------------
In Greenland

AB: Where are these people from?

Jesse: Denmark

AB: What do you call people from Denmark?

Jesse: Humm, not sure. Hey you suppose the cook left any "Danishes" out to
snack on?

AB: You're nuts, they never serve those.

Jesse: Yea, I know.

AB: Maybe Denmarkians...

Jesse: Yep, that has to be it. Look at that guy over there; he's been
working like a dog. He looks like a Great Denmarkian.

AB: You must be tired

Jesse: Why do you say that?

AB: Because you're not making any sense today.

Jesse: I know, sorry about that. Think I'll go below and read a little
Hamlet.

AB: Ok man, have a good night.

Jesse: Thanks, you too man.
------------------------------------------------------------

Chief Mate: Have you ever been to Mystic Connecticut?

Jesse: Yes, as a matter of fact I once...

Chief Mate: Yea, I went there once, it's a funny story. I was in New York
visiting my Aunt Nelly annnDuh she wanted to go to the Super Center to look
for a TV. Nelly doesn't drive so I agreed I would take her. So anyway I
was driving this Fiat which is really a great car, they got a bad rap you
know. So here I am getting the car a tune up at the service station my
friend Tom runs. Turns out I need to get new plugs so I wind up buying a
new set and Tom goes ahead and installs them for me. Annnduh - so I head
over to Nelly's house; she lives on Long Island. Nelly was a great cook and
she offered me some lentil soup, it was sooo good. So uh, eventually Nelly
gets into the Fiat. I was so glad I got that tune up. Annduh we head out
to the Super center. The Highway was packed; it always is though around
there... Annduuh..

Jesse: (drifting away in thought... Billy Crystal, Saturday Night Live-
"You know what I really hate? When you take an ice pick and slam it into
your ear really hard. I just hate that!")

Chief Mate: ....(laughs) so the TV won't even fit in the car. So I call
Laura Dern, she's a friend of mine, but she isn't the famous Laura Dern, you
wouldn't know her. AnnDuh, anyway she shows up with a pickup. Not a lot of
pick up owners on Long Island you know. Anyway she shows up and we put the
TV in the truck....

Jesse: (lost a mile away in thought..."I wonder what walrus tastes like?")

Chief Mate: So it turns out that Laura ate at this seafood restaurant in
Mystic and it was the best she ever had.

Jesse: Yea, I had a great....

Chief Mate: Yea, annDuh so I made the point to go there someday and check
out the seaport there and try out that restaurant.

Jesse: The old tall ships there are something to see, I got to tour....

Chief Mate: Yea? So anyway Aunt Nelly was wearing these fishnets and she had
a run in the left leg.......

Thule Greenland

2009-07-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

Located about 930 miles from the North Pole, Thule is a thule majestic
place. Thule boasts being the Northern most deepwater sea port in the
world. They also claim to have the northern most bar in the world, the Top
of the World Club; AKA the TOW Club. I did manage on one day to have a
couple beers in the TOW club but alas, my schedule was opposite that of all
the Thule residents.

Thule was established as a US Air Base in the early 1950's, yet I only saw
one plane fly over head during our stay, nothing landing, nothing taking
off.

From the ship I could see what I believe were two separate glaciers in the
hills surrounding the base. The jagged mountain sides straining to contain
the unstoppable ice sheets were occasionally bested by what looked like a
busted dam, where the ice seemingly poured out and down to the fiords below.

The blue water of the fiord in which we were docked was surrounded by
beautiful rock formations with sedimentary strata of differing colors from
deep browns to bright reds, black and sometimes I thought perhaps a little
green. Ice bergs flowed into the fiord and as I stood my watches, I would
witness the constant changing view. The ice came in so many shapes and
slowly the sun would circle the sky, casting new angles of light upon them
thus changing the appearance of each berg. Every day, every hour the view
of the fiord changed to my eyes.

On land toward the airbase, the windswept hills undulated into the unseen
lands beyond, or into the glaciers in the far distance. There are no trees,
no brush of any kind, and I had to look hard to find what I think may have
been grass. The hills were barren to my eyes and looked like a dessert, the
soil and dust had many hues so there was still a hostile sort of beauty in
them. The dust was heavy and did not blow, yet it was as fine as powder as
feet trod upon it. As I looked around this place it occurred to me, this is
the place that survival guy on TV needs to come. I would love to see how he
finds shelter in this land. Short of killing whales, seals or bears, I
think survival here would be impossible in the wild.

No animals did I see either, except for a few birds, gulls and ducks which
lived off the sea. There seemed to be no living animals on the land other
than people. I was told in the past six moths, two polar bears roamed into
the base. When this happens, the base is locked down until the bears are
destroyed. Apparently there is no practical way to save the bears from that
fate.

The weather in Thule was fantastic. When the air was still, you could
almost get away with wearing shorts and a Tee shirt, but if the wind picked
up, cold weather gear was necessary.

We are sailing south now; soon we will be reunited with night time and the
darkness we remember.

The Fog and the Smoke

2009-07-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

On our way here to Thule Greenland the M/V American Tern ran in to fog. The
fog lasted about 2 and one half days. The constant sounding of the fog horn
and the presence of the captain on the bridge made for very long days.

I suppose some people feel a bit claustrophobic in the fog, not being able
to see past the faint shadow of the bow does give you this closed in
feeling. On the other hand some feel rather comfortable being wrapped in
this blanket of fog. I was annoyed.

On February 20th of this year I quit smoking tobacco. Somewhere along the
journey I seem to have developed an allergy of some kind to tobacco smoke.
When I am around the smoke I instantly get a sinus headache and I feel
rather sea sick and nauseous. It is my luck that our captain is an
inconsiderate chain smoker. He lights up on the bridge but refuses to open
a door just a crack.

Hear we are, dodging ice bergs in the fog and I am out on the bridge wings
all bundled up trying to avoid the smoke. I don't want to say anything
directly to the captain; I have already heard that he would not take my
complaint kindly even if delivered in the most positive of ways. So
instead, each time he lights up, I begin donning my cold weather gear then I
step outside and close the door behind me. I will stay out there and when I
finally get cold I would look through the window and wait until I see him
put out a cigarette. At that point I will re-enter and take off my cold
weather gear. The last time I came back into the bridge, he walked right up
to me, asked me how I like the weather, I responded that it wasn't as bad as
I expected the arctic to be, then he smiled and lit another smoke while
standing right next to me. I immediately went back outside.

It is not easy to complain about smokers. I smoked for nearly 25 years and
ex-smokers are often the worst. I really do not want to be one of those
guys; but now I am seeing the other side... It really is a pain.

Well, anyway

After a couple days the fog finally broke. The ice was much easier to spot
and maneuver around. We arrived in Thule (say: tooly) on the evening of the
19th. We were called to all hands for docking around 10:30 pm, and after
the slowest non-pilot docking in history we were tied up by 5:30 am. We
were delayed by another ship that was leaving the dock, and by the captain
who couldn't have possibly made the ship move slower without turning back
time.

Midnight here is no different than noon, except that the sun has moved to
another spot in the sky. It is odd not having darkness, time is all screwed
up. As the ship was inching its way to the dock, the 1st Assistant Engineer
came out to the stern, he said "Don't worry guys, I am almost positive we
will get to the dock before night fall!"

Arctic Circle 66 degrees and 33 minutes

2009-07-17T04:17:00.000-07:00

We officially crossed into the artic circle at 07:29 Ship time (03:29
pacific) on Friday 07-17-09

The coast line of Greenland is on our left and looks very rugged.

We are still looking at Sunday arrival in Thule.

Jesse

Correction

2009-07-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

19:56 Ship time 07-16-09

Okay... Bergi Bits are the sizes of houses and Growlers are the size of
automobiles. I have also seen very small ice chunks which untill otherwise
told I will refer to as Growly Bits... :)

Just got my first view of the South coast of Greenland. It looks very
mountainous and rugged.

Ice bergs, bergi bits and growlers

2009-07-16T04:41:00.000-07:00

Thursday 07-16-2009 08:30 ship time (+ 3 zulu)

Today around 06:00 I got to see my first real life Ice Berg. It was
impressive but rather far away. We saw several more by the end of my watch.
I was given a brief lesson on terminology. The large ones are Ice Bergs.
Smaller ones about the size of Volkswagens are called Bergi Bits, and the
ones that slip under the surface now and then are called Growlers (I guess
they make a sound as they bob up and down).

We have another day of sailing before we cross into the Arctic Circle. By
Sunday we should be docked in Thule.

Last night we received word that after this load is complete we will head
back to Norfolk, VA and wait at a lay birth for two weeks (probably the
exact same dock as before) then we will load somewhere on the east coast and
head to the Middle East. No exact destination has been given, but most
think it will be Kuwait. I am really getting tired of sailing through the
Suez Canal and the pirate waters of the Gulf of Aden but I guess the luck
just keeps coming; another trip is one its way.

It is getting colder now, but still above freezing and we expect it will
stay that way.

I hope everyone is doing well.

Keep in touch and let me know how you are doing.

Jesse

PS The ONLY way to communicate to me is by email:
crew06@ter.aplmaritime.com

I have no interconnecting tubes to the internets technologies.

OH, I almost forgot.... I will be vague in the future about the trip to the
Middle East. For detailed info you will need to email me direct and me to
you... Don't need no pirates reading the ole blog and getting ideas ya
know... :)

Eat at Joe's - Because the food here really sucks most of the time :-(

Weather

2009-07-12T16:00:00.000-07:00

19:55 07-12-09 +3 zulu (4 hours ahead of Pacific Time)

Well for 2 days now we have been rolling in high seas, rain and low
visibility. After 4 hours standing at the wheel trying to maintain a course
while at the same time attempting to remain standing you begin to feel very
fatiuged...

In addition we are now keeping an eye out for ice... So far no ice, but we
will certainly be getting our fill within a few days. We should be in port
on Saturday or Sunday depending of course on weather and speed.

I hope everyone is doing well.

Kim Nies - Happy Belated Birthday!!!! I hope you had a great time.

Remember, if you read this on Facebook and want to reply to me, you must
email me. I cannot view any internet.

Jesse

Pictures of Panama Canal

2009-06-30T21:57:00.000-07:00

I just got my computer back from the repair guy about 12 hours ago. I can now do a little work with pictures and the internet while in port here in Virginia.

I have posted pics of the entrance into the Panama Canal here...

http://picasaweb.google.com/Argo.knot/MVAmericanTern?feat=directlink

The GPS is about 2 miles off. I will have to fix that manually later.

Book Review

2009-06-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

We just entered a storm off the coast of North Corolina... Exciting :)
06-26-09 20:28

Since the 3rd of the month I have read 5 novels and thought I would share my
thoughts on them.

The first:

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
An Indian history of the American west
By
Dee Brown

I have known about this novel for some time. The copyright date is 1970, so
after 39 years I finally read a book that should be required reading in
every high school. I have to thank Stephanie for suggesting I read her
copy.

For non-fiction history, the story flowed well. I enjoyed this book very
much.

***** 5 stars

The Kite Runner
By
Khaled Hosseini

This book was also suggested to me by Stephanie. I loved it. A fictional
story of a boy from Afghanistan; this tale is absorbing.

***** 5 Stars

Spin
By
Robert Charles Wilson

-Rocky Mountain news says "The Best Science Fiction novel so far this year."
Well, I am hoping this book was published in early February. Because if
this was the best 2005 had to offer then I won't bother reading anything
else from that year.

The novel was okay, I certainly have read worse, but the author loved to use
all forms of the word "obviously". I think he used it at least 452 times;
averaging once per page.

** 2 Stars

Deception Point
By
Dan Brown

From the author of the Da Vinci Code, this book was a fast read. If you
like Clive Cussler novels then you will most likely enjoy this book. There
are some twists and turns, but unfortunately the formula gives away the "who
done it" part rather early in the story (for me at least).

I also had a hard time suspending my reality enough to fully get into the
story.

*** 3 Stars

The Worst Hard Time
The Untold Story of Those Who Survived
The Great American Dust Bowl
By
Timothy Egan

This was a captivating history. While researching my family tree I learned
I had several relatives living in Kansas at the time the dust bowl began, so
this book had a little more interest for me than it normally would have. It
was challenging at first to get into the rhythm of the writing, but soon I
found the cadence and the novel began to flow at last.

This is a great lesson on how destructive mankind can be when he fails to
acknowledge how important and delicate our ecosystems are.

**** 4 Stars

Norfolk, VA

2009-06-26T05:20:00.000-07:00

06-26-09 08:20

We are looking at arrival on schedule in Norfolk tomorrow the 27th.

I had cell service for about an hour yesterday as we past Miami. My phone
died while talking to Stephanie. It was good to talk to her though.

The weather has been hot and dry but the seas have been calm.

Any help out there?

2009-06-22T17:58:00.000-07:00

I am trying to think of the name of the Character played by Jerry VanDyke on
the TV show Coach.

The 3rd Mate on this vessel reminds me of a cross between him and Douber on
the same show... It is really fun watching him think sometimes.

He is a very nice guy though, so I don't mean to be un-kind.

anyway, let me know if you have the answer. I'd look it up if I had
internet access.

Jesse

crew06@ter.aplmaritime.com

Last lock

2009-06-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

Sun 06-21-09 21:39

I have been up and going since 03:20, I am getting a bit tired. We are
currently being lowered in the last lock down to sea level.

In a few minutes I will be off of Stand By duties and I will be able to
sleep untill 03:20, almost a full 5 hours.

I think I will skip overtime work tomorrow :)

The Panama Canal is beautiful in many areas, I am glad I got to steer
through most of it.

Any way, I may write more about it later, but this screen is getting blurry
and I am afraid it is about to attack.

Take care everyone.
Jesse

Panama Canal

2009-06-20T18:14:00.000-07:00

Saturday 6-20-09
20:12

Well in the morning on Sunday we will begin our way through the Canal. I
will be on the wheel first for 4 hours, then I will stand by for 2 hours. I
get a six hour break then stand by again for 2 hours then on the wheel for
4.

That is the plan, but we should be through before I need to take that second
standby shift. But we may have to anchor 1/2 way through. We shall see.

The last few nights have been excellent lighting watching weather. The
srikes are so close that the thunder is instant. Some of them have really
rattled the ship. I love a good storm. The seas have been calm though so
no worries there.

Well, untill next time.

Write if you feel like it :)
Jesse

Hot!

2009-06-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 06-16-2009

We are currently in waters that are around 95 degrees F. This is causing
our engines to overheat and we have been forced to slow to about 13.5 knots
from 15.5 that we were doing two days ago.

Unfortunatly the engineers have also diverted the cooling system from
cooling the house to cooling the engine. It is very uncomfortable right
now... but hopefuly the change in speed is not enough to change our arrival
date at the Panama Canal.

If all goes to plan I got a sexy chick ready to party with me in VA. I just
need to get there by the 28th :)

The heat is also affecting my computer. I am forced to type now on the crew
computer so I cannot type at my leisure and always have someone waiting
behind me to get on. My laptop has a bad fan and will not stayed powered
on, which is probably a good thing. I will have it looked at when we arrive
back east.

I hope everyone is doing well back home. If the heat lowers enough and my
computer will stay on, I will write more about the crew and the ship.

Take care and don't forget to send me any interesting news...

Jesse

Golden Gate

2009-06-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

06-11-09 Thursday

We are off and sailing. It has actually been a very long day/night for me
so this report is short. It is time for me to go to bed.

I steered a ship for the 4th time under the Golden Gate bridge, it just keep
getting easier and easier. If you were watching our ship was the red and
black one that went under at 5pm.

Well, time to find a glass of water and hit the sack.

I will take the time to write something more interesting soon.

Take care

Jesse

Raccons and MP's

2009-06-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

M/V American Tern

June 9th, 2009

We are still at the dock unloading containers. Armed soldiers are still
aboard the vessel and patrolling the dock and the Coast Guard is protecting
our port side. Yesterday one of the gantry cranes broke down and slowed our
progress a bit. It seems to be running okay today.

There is a rumor that we will get under way in the morning. I have not seen
the sailing board yet, but if true we should know sometime during my watch.
Speaking of watches, I am working the 4 to 8 watch. In port I stand gangway
watch from 4pm to midnight. At sea I will stand watch on the bridge from 4
to 8 am and pm. This ship limits the amount of overtime I am allowed to
work. I get no overtime while in port, which is actually fine most of the
time, I prefer to go visit new places rather than paint the ship. At sea we
are limited to only 3 hours overtime each day; one hour less than I am used
to.

I have made contact with two raccoons who entertain me at night on the
gangway. They are quite nimble. One has a habit of climbing up the lines
on the stern to see if any garbage is on the deck. He quickly scampers back
down the line if anyone goes back there. Both of them seem to have no
problem being with in arms length of me. I guess they are quite used to
people being around. The other one likes to walk up the gangway and try to
get aboard, but since he has no ID and since he is wearing a mask, I never
grant him permission to board the ship. Apparently the AB on watch after me
did not know about the raccoons and looked down one night to see a raccoon
looking up at him from about 2 feet away, he confessed to screaming like a
little girl. He was a bit surprised LOL.

So far the crew seems to be pretty good and I suspect this will be a good
trip. I am looking forward to sailing the Panama Canal. It will be my
first time through.

Oh, the mailing address I gave last update has changed. Not that anyone
needs it, but here is a correction.

Inchape Shipping Service
Attn: Jesse S James
M/V American Tern
130 Granby Street, Suite 100
Norfolk, VA 23510

The email seems to be working, thanks for the messages and keep them coming,
it is always nice to hear from ya'll.

Jesse

crew06@ter.aplmaritime.com

P.S. Please do not send attachments.

Most of you already know, I do not have access to the internet. Also email
is expensive on a ship so no attachments are allowed to be sent or recieved
without an okay from the captain.

2009-06-08T12:15:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick email to let you know how to contact me. I arrived on
the M/V American Tern on Tuesday the 2nd of June.

We should be getting underway this Tuesday or Wednesday heading empty to
Norfolk Virginia for some repairs and cargo. We should be there for at
least two to three weeks. Then off to the arctic.

If sent soon enough I can actually get regular mail if it is sent to the
address below.

Jesse S James
c/o MASTER
M/V American Tern
FPO AE 09564-7233

As long as nothing is sent a few weeks before my last port I should receive
all mail.

But of course email is the way to communicate so write me at
crew06@ter.aplmaritime.com this email address is private and belongs only
to me. No one other than the captain should be able to read any
correspondence through this email address, not counting the government of
course :)

Last night I received this email address, otherwise I would have written
something sooner.

Jesse

2009-05-11T17:36:00.000-07:00

from Rob

2009-04-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

Hey there Jesse:
Damn crazy bowl people. Actually it's a type of asian surfing. They
drop the folks off in the bowl in front of a big ship, then when the
ship passes and the wake comes, surf's up baby. It's a not a game
for the faint of heart because if your bowl gets capsized, very
common, just try floating a bowl in the sink and you'll know what I
mean, those waters are shark infested. The world record is held by
Thakt Bi Twave, he rode a wake nearly 3500 miles from the coast of
Vietnam to just west of the Cape of good Hope but a spring storm
knocked him off the wave and capsized him. Fortunately he was
rescued by a flock of migrating Emperor penguins on their way to
breed in Antarctica. Of course once there he promptly froze to
death. His body was later found by a team of archeologist from
Poland who started a heated debate in the archeology world claiming
that the people of S.E. Asia had actually migrated originally from
Antarctica during the Mezobowl period. This of course was later
disproved but his name will live on forever in the annals of
Vietnamese Bowl surfing. Crazy bowl people.

Cheers, Rob

Rob Pendell

Thank you Rob, that was great. I learn so much more with my friends around
:)

Oh and later after I sent the original bowl people story, I seen several
with modern strobe lights. Much easier to see at night.

Well I will be home on Tuesday see yall then.

Jesse

Kentucky Fried Pilipino Chicken and Crazy Bowl People

2009-04-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

Kentucky Fried Pilipino Chicken and Crazy Bowl People

Well, first a little business. While ashore I had a chance to see how the
blog entries looked. Not so good I guess. I apologize for that, it looks
like words are running together and the format is all messed up. I write
these in Word on my laptop then copy/paste them into the ships email which
then sends them to the bolgger. I guess things are getting formatted
several times, but right now there is little I can do about it other than to
say I hope the entries are not to irritating to deal with.

Also if anyone is interested, email communication with the union is going
well. We will all leave the ship before the company, ship and union come to
agreements, but I have a feeling every single unlicensed person aboard this
ship will be getting back pay in the mail for one reason or another. There
were that many complaints of contract violations.

Last business note – I am again working OT. I only took two days off, but
figured I punished them enough LOL…

Okay… on with it already.

So I only had about 6 hours to enjoy Subic Bay, from 8:30 am to about 10am I
spent my time trying to just get out of the container terminal. Eventually
I managed to get a taxi to take me into town. It turns out Subic Bay is
pretty much just the bay and not a city unto its self. I guess I should
have known that before hand. But the bay is surrounded by what is called
the free zone. All the docks, duty free shopping, yacht clubs and the nicer
hotels are in the free zone.

My driver Ed took me into Olongapo, the first town outside of the Free Zone.
This is a very busy place and traffic was crazy but they do drive on the
right side of the road -sometimes. My first stop was an internet café. The
internet in the Philippines leaves a lot to be desired, at least at the
street level shops in Olongapo. I was knocked off line about every 2
minutes. I eventually walked several blocks to find another internet café,
this one was run by gamers, who clearly were engaged heavily in destroying
the Minions of Alticor the Damned or something and I was quite the bother to
them, but they did get me set up after a while. Unfortunate though that
when I was done, I tried paying them during a very voracious battle. I
think I was due some change back, but I thought better of asking for it, I
just high tailed it out of there.

Having had the chance to chat with my sweetheart back home, I decided I was
hungry. So for the first time in my travels I decided to eat Kentucky Fried
Chicken. The ships food this trip has been terrible and the water worse,
so I figured I would just play it safe and go American.

I was greeted at KFC by a door man. At first I thought he was just leaving
and held the door open for me, but turns out, operating the easily hinged
swinging device was his job at KFC. I would soon learn he had another job.
I studied the menu for a while and decided I would get the 2 piece meal.
That was the largest meal other than ordering a bucket.

I took my tray to a table and began to eat, I apparently ordered the extra
spicy and crispy chicken with out even knowing it, that was just good
fortune. There was a little side of gravy on my tray and a biscuit all
wrapped up in that KFC picnic blanket pattern paper. I un-wrapped my
biscuit only to find out it was a ball of rice. Only an idiot from
Vancouver, WA would think he would get a rice free meal in the Philippines.
I was just about to take a bite of a chicken leg, when suddenly a dirty and
mostly toothless man appeared over my head.

This man was obviously mentally challenged and spoke in vowels. Well, to be
fair there were several W and M sounds as well. I am sure he was asking for
a hand out, but he surprised me just being over me all of a sudden. I
noticed a very large pool of saliva in the corner of his mouth, and it was
dangerously close to spilling out. I didn't know if I should hand him a
couple pesos real fast, or to protect my chicken from an almost certain
tidal wave of gushing saliva. Tilt his head just a little bit more and my
chicken was a goner. I decided I should take a look around real fast to see
how the locals were reacting to this situation. Judging from their looks,
or perhaps it was my selfish hunger, I decided to protect the chicken.

Just as I was about to hunch over my food, leaving the back of my shoulder
to take the sloppy bullet should it fire, the Door Man showed up and ushered
the guy out of the restaurant. So I ate and looked at the people around me.
It would appear, they too would have protected the chicken.

As I left the KFC I ran into Tidal Saliva Sam and offered him 20 pesos. The
rest of the day was very uneventful, eventually I got Ed the driver to pick
me up, I bought him a soda and I downed two beers, and then went back to the
ship. We sailed a few hours later.

It is about 26 hours now since we sailed from Subic Bay. We are about 300
miles from Viet Nam which is currently the closest land. We are headed to
Singapore where Monday we will all fly home.

I got off watch just a few minutes ago, but I saw some crazy bowl people out
there on the sea just a little while ago. Okay, you're asking "What are
bowl people?" Okay everyone but Tim is asking that question.

So I spot a vessel on the horizon crossing our bow from port to starboard.
After a while it is clear that it had slowed to a near stop in our path. I
steer 6 degrees to the left to avoid hitting what we now know is a dow (okay
I have no idea how to spell dow). Any way this was a fairly large wooden
vessel all pieced together with branches to make a rooftop. It looked like
10 people could live on it comfortably, but I suspect it was the permanent
home of at least 20 some people.

They were dropping off giant bowls, each containing one person. They
dropped off about 4 of these bowls and then just sailed away from them. The
people in the bowls just drifted on the sea with no discernable way to steer
these things as far as I could see. The Mate told me he had seen a National
Geographic on these people. These people get dropped off to fish and with
luck they are found again and picked up.

It did not take long for me to loose sight of the men in the bowls even
though they were fairly close. The bowls themselves were very hard to see.

After sundown we began to see many of them. They had sticks that appeared
to be smoldering and glowed in the dark. This has to be how they are found
and picked up. Even though they had the lit sticks, their light was very
dim. Several that we spotted could have been run over by our ship had they
been directly ahead of us. Some were way to close by they time we could see
them.

Any way I thought this was interesting. I would write a little more about
them, but it is late, time for bed and my fingers are having a hard time
typing now LOL…

Take care and good nite all.

Jesse

Arrival - Subic Bay Philippines

2009-04-01T05:30:00.000-07:00

Arrival - Subic Bay Philippines

We arrived and anchored in Subic Bay today, Wednesday April Fools day.

This morning after eating my breakfast I checked my email to find a short
note from Mr. George Tricker, Vice President of Contracts for SIU. He let
me know that he received my email and has contacted the company to
investigate my claims. (No personal emails were recieved today however,
very odd)

Shortly after that I learned that the Bosun is now in contact with the union
for the first time in about 4 months and apparently the office is in contact
with the Captain.

I have no idea how things will pan out, whether the Union will see things as
the Bosun, crew and I do, or if the union will back the company and the
captain. At this point I don't care so much, I am just happy that contact
with the union has been accomplished. I suppose every now and then, one of
my little email tirades seems to warrant action.

I replied back to Mr. Tricker and apologized for the informal language and
use of profanity and explained that adding his address was an after thought
after I already wrote the email. My original intent was to vent to friends
and family, but then I thought if I hid his address among others in the
email that perhaps it would not be deleted. I thanked him for such a quick
reply.

Anyway, here we are in Subic Bay. We anchored since they were not ready for
us at the dock. A few minutes ago most of the crew caught a launch to
shore. They sure looked like they were ready for a good time. Since my
watches conflict with the launch schedule I will just go ashore after we
dock. I could go tonight, but I would have to pay for my own personal
launch and I don't want to do that.

I hear we should be heading to the dock around 6 am local time. This will
be perfect, my watch will be over at 8am and I can enjoy Subic in the day
light. It is possible that the ship will sail tomorrow night. We will see
how fast the unloading goes. It is about a 3 ½ day sail from here to the
ship yard. If we get in there right away I could be home by Tuesday or
possibly Monday, but I am not really counting on that just yet. A surprise
backload could always rear its ugly head. Some of the crew may just loose
their minds if that happens.

Well I am having happier days and daily dealings with the crew are great.
The other day the slop chest was opened up (the ships store) and all the
bottled water sold out right away. I was disappointed because I did not get
any. For a few days now, our water was not good to drink. I was happy when
everyday since then a crew member would just out of the blue offer me a cold
bottle of water. At least 4 guys offered them to me with out my ever
asking, they represented each department to boot. This ship does truly have
a wonderful and thoughtful unlicensed crew. One could not ask for better
shipmates.

I hope everyone is doing well, especially my darling' with the knee, and mom
and dad recovering from bronchitis. J

Jesse

Discontent on the Dis-Advantage

2009-03-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

So the ship is on its way to the Philippines. We visited all 3 ports in
Japan and at last picked up all our military cargo. But things are not
going so well aboard the M/V Advantage. Since I have come aboard I have
been inundated with stories from the crew about things the officers have
been doing which is at best perceived as dishonest by the crew and at worst
the Captain refusing to comply with our union contract.

Up until yesterday I was just a sounding board for many of the crew.
Yesterday I became as angry as the rest of them.

Some quick background here: A few days ago we docked at a military base,
prior to docking the Captain submitted crew information to NCIS so that the
crew may get cleared to go ashore. Most of the crew was cleared, but there
were about 3 people that for one reason on another were not cleared. In
addition to those 3 the Captain did not submit my information or the other
new AB's information to NCIS. He told me that there was not enough time
from the date I was hired back onto the ship to get my information
submitted. (Later he will change this story) This did not bother me to much
at the time.

Our union contract states that persons restricted to ship shall be paid
every hour they are on board and not on the clock. So as I watched most of
the crew come and go as they pleased, enjoying the sights, tastes and sounds
of Japan, I stayed on board and ate the ships food, and drank the still
tainted water from my last trip and I was secure in the fact that at very
least I will be compensated for this by the Restricted to Ship clause in our
contract.

Now fast forward about one week. The time sheets were turned in, and I am
on the bridge wing standing look out duties, my watch partner is the Chief
Mate. Out comes the Captain and says he wants to ask me a question about
why I felt I deserved to be paid as Restricted to Ship… My reply was that
"I was restricted to the ship"

Captain: who restricted you to the ship?

Me: I don't know, but I was not allowed down the gangway.

Captain: I didn't restrict you to the ship so you cannot get this pay.

Me: It does not matter who restricted me, I was unable to leave during my
time off.

Now the Captain asked me to defend the union contract and explain why the
company should pay me when the military is to blame for my restriction. I
told him that he had time to submit my information and that was no excuse.
He came back suggesting what if I missed my flight and I wasn't even aboard
the ship? (I think to myself, so fucking what? So you fill out a piece of
paper that was not any good, what logic is this man trying to convey to me?)
So now he is telling me that he could have submitted my information to NCIS
but since I was not on board at the time he didn't. This was a new story to
me. Now he has two differing stories as to why my name and information was
not submitted to NCIS…At this point I realize he lied to me about the
premise of this whole conversation and he lied at least once about the
reason my info was not submitted. He is now counseling me on how fairness
to the company is so important and how contracts with the government cannot
be negotiated. In my head I am dumbfounded; I cannot believe this
conversation is actually taking place. All he had to do was redline the
entries on my time sheet and I could contest it later with the union. I
tried to edge my way out the door, I was done with this conversation, but he
kept talking, and every now and then the Mate would utter agreement with the
captain. Now I felt like a team of the two most powerful men on the ship
were against me.

I stated that I would take it up with the union then and walked out the door
back to my watch standing duties. It was then that I believed whole
heartedly what the Bosun had been telling me. The Captain or the Mate has
been deleting all the email communications to the union hall. Several
emails have been placed in the computer system by the bosun asking for
clarification on contractual issues. We can pull up a history of every
email sent, except those addressed to the union.

In the end this all started over $120 worth of time, that I really was not
all that passionate about. Honestly, I most likely would never have fought
to get this paid to me. But now, with out provocation I have a Captain
willing to lie to my face, to hide communications, and to steal openly. I
will fight to get this money, and from now on I will not volunteer to work
overtime since I have no reason to believe that I will not be screwed out of
earned money.

The new rumor is that ship yard is moved back again and there may be more
back loads. No one but the Captain and the Mate knows for sure, as usual
they are to busy sewing discontent to be honest with their shipmates.

This is not typical; I have never seen anything like this on a ship before.
I still cannot wrap my head around it. Less than two weeks into this voyage
and I am ready to come home. Fucking unbelievable!

Jesse

PS Still to date the Bosun has been unable to get a fax or email to or from
Union Representitives. I am sending a copy of this to union reps as well.

Iwakuni, Japan

2009-03-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the ship was still at anchor. I was informed that since I joined
the boat late, my paperwork was not submitted in time for clearance on the
Marine Corps Base. This base in Iwakuni is where the ship would be docked.
This means I would be restricted to the ship once docked.

While anchored we have launches that will take us to shore, by-passing the
base. Yesterday we had only one launch in the evening. I was grateful to
Travis who agreed to take 2 hours of my watch so I could go ashore. This
was easy for him, since he was already working. All he had to do was hold
my radio.

I took the 6 pm launch with about ½ the crew, 10 men. Some headed to the
base, others started out quickly to the bars. I went first with one group
to a bar, which was the only place I knew I could exchange my Dollars for
Yen.

I really did not feel like drinking all night, so after a couple beers I
struck out on my own in hopes of finding some soup. I was in search of Miso
(forgive my spelling; I have no idea how to spell Japanese words). There
are many bars and restaurants here that are Japanese only, no foreigners
allowed. This made it difficult to find soup. Also, most all the
businesses seem to put weird squiggly lines all over their signs…

After walking for about an hour, ducking my head into several establishments
and either finding I was not welcome or no soup is served I chanced upon a
place that had English writing out side that said, "Americans Welcome". Of
course I went in.

I was the only customer, and service was excellent, but no soup. So I
ordered fried Goyza and a beer. The music was 50's surfer instrumentals.
The food was good and I used plenty of hot mustard which comes in a plastic
screw top squeeze tube.

After eating I tried to find some of the crew. I peeked into a window of a
bar, saw it was empty and started down the street, but before I made it two
steps out comes a good looking Pilipino gal. "Why you look in then go
away?!" "Come in have a drink, we won't hurt you!" So of course I went in.
Once again, I find I am the only customer, the drinks were reasonably priced
and I found my self being entertained by a couple girls. (Caveat Emptor-
Honey, they wanted me (mostly my cash), but I said, NO!!! My sweetheart
would not approve! And they understood) Anyway, after tiring of their
conversation and terrible karaoke I left, promising if I find any of my
crew, that I would tell them they should come to their bar.

After a few blocks I peeked into another bar, again run by Pilipino girls
and there was the entire shore party. We all drank fairly heavy and the
manager or owner of the bar was a Japanese woman that went by the name Sky,
who insisted I match her shot for shot of tequila. Well, this was not my
plan, but the bosun was paying so I took up the challenge. I am not sure,
but I think I won.

Once I was sufficiently drunk, but not stupid drunk I needed to use the
toilet. This took a while since I have not used this type of squatting
toilet before. Luckily my aim was good, but I realized a little late that I
probably should have been facing the opposite way since the toilet paper
roll was directly behind me. Very hard to maintain a squatting position and
reach for something behind you after several beers and tequila shots.

As it turned out we all made it back to the launch boat just in time. I had
to help the bosun a little. He kept trying to put his backpack on backwards
and upside down. But we all made it back to the ship with no problems.
Three hours later I had to be up for watch, 5 hours later we lifted anchor
and docked the ship at the Marine Base.

Tomorrow we will load the cargo here, and then sail out to the next Japanese
port. That will have happened most likely by the time this is posted.

Missing Stephanie

2009-03-22T14:48:00.001-07:00

It appears that email is a non-priority on this ship. I have an out going
email sitting in the computer that has languished there for almost 24 hours.
I am guessing the captain only uploads and downloads email once a day. I am
a little disappointed about this, I want to hear badly from Stephanie, she
should have by now had surgery on her knee and I want to know how she faired
and how she is feeling. I miss her already.

I am beginning to wonder how I can continue this kind of work. I thought
being away from home would be hard on Stephanie, but truth be told, it may
very well be tougher on me. I don't like being this far away from her at
all. At home when we are not together at very least I can speak to her on
the phone.

It looks for now that I will not see much of Japan on this voyage. The
launch schedule is incompatible with my work schedule, so I will not make it
to shore until we dock. When we do dock the cargo we are loading is pretty
easy and may get loaded fairly quickly, so I am unsure if I will have much
time to go ashore even then. This is probably a good thing though. I have
been on vacation for a long time, and I should probably avoid spending my
money right away. But I do hope to go have some of that great spicy noodle
soup I had the last time I was here. I wish I could remember what they
called it, but I will find it.

The crew is pretty good; so far the entire deck crew seems to be congenial
and decent workers. Once we are underway again, rumor has it that Sunday's
is poker night. I can't wait to get their money :-)

Well it is 5:40 am on Monday here right now. It should be about 1:30 pm on
Monday back at home. I will go add this entry to the email system right
away. I think the captain does the email thing right before breakfast.

I hope everyone at home is doing well. I have no way of knowing if these
entries I am sending are getting posted to the blog, or if facebook is
pulling them. Let me know if any of you readers are getting these. Oh and

sorry if you are reading them LOL… I know it can't be easy ;)

Jesse

The Advantage

2009-03-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

The launch sped away from the dock behind the ally, and raced over the black
water of the bay towards the ship. After a few minutes the lights of the
anchored ship came into view. We came around the stern and up the starboard
side of the Advantage to the accommodation ladder. A figure came into view
and lowered the ladder, winches screeching and metal creaking until the
ladder was lowered about a foot above the deck of the launch. That is when I
realized the ladder was being run by OS Jason.

Jason signed on to the ship the same day I originally did, back on August
7th 2008. He has been onboard over 7 months now and looking at 8. Jason came
down the ladder, greeted me and hauled my suitcase up for me. It was a very
steep climb so with his help all I had to carry was my back pack and
computer. Clearly the ship was empty and awaiting cargo.

I was greeted warmly by most of the crew right away and I was very happy to
see Andy Jones my Bosun from my old OS days aboard the Wilson. Even the crew
I did not know seemed to be happy I was there. I guess I have an okay
reputation with in the company. But more likely everyone was just happy to
have replacement AB's on the ship. It turns out one of the AB's was sent
home ill having contracted what most likely was a sexual disease from one or
more partners while in Thailand. Another AB was fired when he apparently
threatened the remaining AB with violence. The ship had been working with
only one Able Seaman for some time now.

The current crew should have been home in March, but the company had managed
to delay the required shipyard date more than once. Each time the crew had
informed family and friends they were headed home, the company found another
backload to keep them on board. A few other crew members had left, finding
reasons to be discharged which may or may not be honest.

I was delighted to learn I was to get my old room back, which is the largest
and Andy insured I would get the 4 to 8 shift. I have never worked that
shift but it is the most desired aboard any ship for AB's. This allows me to
work overtime immediately after my morning shift and get a little rest
before the next shift. I get to eat my breakfast and dinner on the clock and
sleeping is much easier. Many call it the money shift because it is so much
easier to work the OT with out losing lots of sleep. Hurray Bosun Andy!!!!

After a couple hours visiting I was able to settle in to my cabin and get a
little rest. By now I have been awake and traveling for over 26 hours. My
first shift was to begin in less than 4 hours. So I tried to get a little
sleep, I awoke for my first shift which was just anchor watch, a very easy
duty and then after breakfast began my first day of OT.

By 8 O'clock pm on Saturday I was finally able to get about 7 hours of well
needed sleep.

Travel

2009-03-21T04:52:00.000-07:00

Stephanie and I were awakened at 4:30 am to the sound of my alarm clock.
Knowing this was our last morning together for a while we held each other
till the last minute. I quickly showered and dressed, threw my luggage in
Stephanie's truck and eating the last of the bananas we headed off to the
airport.

Portland International Airport was a very busy place that morning. I got in
line for the Alaska counter, but was behind an entire high school marching
band. I was a little worried I'd arrived too late. By the time I got to the
security check point I was even more worried. The line was very long.
Fortunately as I waited, the TSA opened all the screening lanes and the line
began to move. I arrived at my gate just in time and boarded the plane. I
was headed to San Francisco to make a connecting flight to Narita in Tokyo.

Once in San Fran, I had nearly a three hour layover. I found some breakfast
and tried to get on the internet to kill some time. I paid about $6.00 to
use the airports internet connection thru T-mobile, but of course as luck
would have it, my computer overheated and all I was able to do was update my
facebook status. By the time my comp cooled enough, I just didn't feel like
setting it up again; my laptop is a power hungry monster so running it on
batteries is really never an option.

Eventually it was time to board my United Airlines flight to Tokyo. As luck
would have it, the flight was nearly full, so getting that extra leg room
was not going to happen. On this flight everyone had a little monitor in
front of them inset to the seatbacks. My luck was not so good. I got the
only seat that had a broken television. There was about 5 movies passengers
could choose from, I didn't get any choice at all, just a black screen in
front of me for around 11 hours. The stewardess offered me a free drink for
the inconvenience, but I thought free drinks for the whole flight would have
been nicer. I managed to read 'Searching for the Sound' by Phil Lesh, cover
to cover on that flight. I had been trying to get that book read ever since
Phil autographed it for me. Well at last it is read and I enjoyed it very
much. Any one who loves the Grateful Dead should read it.

My ass was never so happy as to arrive in Tokyo, that was a long time
sitting and my butt was happy as a clam to stand and walk around for a
while. As I headed to customs I was met by a woman holding a sign with my
name on it. She was an agent there to assist me through customs and get me
on the next flight to Hiroshima. I waited with her, while she found the
other AB that was also arriving on the same flight. Travis was the other AB,
I recognized him as a passenger on my flight, but of course I had no way of
knowing he was the other person heading to the ship with me. The Japanese
woman that met us expedited our way though customs and helped us obtain our
tickets for our next flight.

She was very helpful especially considering how good my Japanese is.

After a couple more hours, Travis and I were on an ANA flight to Hiroshima.
We did not know if the ship was even in Japan yet; as far as we knew we
could be heading to a hotel to wait for the ship. We landed in Hiroshima
about an hour and forty five minutes later and we were met by another agent.
This man loaded our bags in his car and drove us for what seemed like an
hour. By now the time was difficult to keep track of. Both Travis and I had
been awake and traveling for over 24 hours. I was in the front seat doing
the whiplash thing with my head. I would doze, and then snap my head up over
and over again. Eventually we arrive at a dock and the driver takes our bags
out and directs us towards a small ally way. We head down and there waiting
for us is a small boat ready to take us to the Advantage.

Contacting me

2009-03-18T13:32:00.000-07:00

If you want to send an email to me, send it to: admin.advantage@sealiftinc.amosconnect.com

My name must be in the subject line or your message may get lost or delivered to the wrong person. I will not arrive at the ship for another 2 days, so please wait until Saturday or Sunday before emailing me.

I do enjoy hearing from home. Please send no attachments, this email is sent via satellite to reach the ship and the company is charged by the bit. I will have to pay, and could loose my right to use email if I receive attachments.

I look forward to hearing from you and I hope to be home in less than 6 weeks. I will try to keep this blog posted via email. Sorry, I won't be able to add pictures until I return or unless I find Internet access on shore.

Jesse

Got a Job

2009-03-17T13:29:00.001-07:00

Well at long last I will be headed to work again real soon. On Thursday I will catch a flight to Japan to meet up with the M/V Advantage. My flight is scheduled to take me from Portland to San Fransisco to Tokyo to Hiroshima.

From what I understand we will hit one or two Japanese ports after I arrive on the ship, then we will head to Subic Bay in the Philippines then of to Singapore. I think we will hit one port in Singapore then head to the ship yard in that country. Once the ship goes into ship yard I will fly back home.

This will be my shortest voyage yet, only 4-6 weeks. This is good however since I purchased concert tickets to a show that is on May 16th. I just may get to use those tickets after all :-)

Finding a job

2009-02-17T15:46:00.000-08:00

I get my work through the Seafarers International Union (SIU). Today I went to Tacoma which is where my local hiring hall is located. Today only one job was posted on the board for an AB (Able Seaman) and that job was a reclaim, meaning that it was being held for a guy who had it last before his vacation. Unfortunately that guy showed up, so no one could really bid against him.

There is also an All Ports List. These are the jobs that could not be filled by any local halls, so they go out to all the halls in the SIU. Only 2 of those jobs were available. I took the list to the counter and tried to get one of those jobs. The agent made the calls only to learn that both had been filled.

Today there had to have been at least 50 people waiting for work and most of the AB's that I know have seniority over me. There was zero chance of getting assigned a ship today. I will give it a couple days, perhaps I will go up again on Monday and see if there are fewer people competing against me.

The Next Voyage

2009-02-16T17:10:00.000-08:00

I am still home and packing my bag. I am ready to get back to work now. In the morning I will head up to Tacoma and wait in the Union Hall. With any luck I will get a ship right away and will not have to get a hotel room.

I have not yet sailed on a true container ship or a true tanker. Perhaps I will end up on one of those types of ships. Personally I would choose a tanker, the pay should be better and it would most likely keep me a little closer to home this time. We will see what happens.

I will update this blog via email. Unfortunately I will not be able to upload pictures until I arrive at a computer with internet access. As some of you know, while I may have email aboard a ship, access to the internet is highly unlikely. When possible I will add photos.

Jesse