Page 245 - Michael Frost-Voyages to Maturity-23531.indd

off B.C.’s coast, navigation had been effected by blowing the whistle and, if one
echo returned before the other, adjusting the course so that the ship would revert
to the channel’s centre with equal whistle-response time. No deep-sea mariner
that I had ever known would have thought the exercise of navigating by whistle-
blasts viable, even possible. The two did inform me, however, that the job was
not too difficult, Canadian pilots being on the bridge most of the way north to
Prince Rupert, and US pilots in charge for the rest of each cruise. Thus, although
they had intimate acquaintance with one of the world’s most intricate coasts, they
barely needed to use that knowledge. They also indicated that the cruises were a
trifle boring; each lasted eight days (each end of the cruise occupying a day for
discharging and loading) and the ports were always the same – and that if you
like the glamour and vigour of Hong Kong, forget it!

I was then introduced to the bosun and the SIU (Seafarer’s International
Union) representative, the latter a man called ‘Tiny’ (presumably because
he wasn’t, all of him being unable to sit on just one chair). This was my first
experience in dealing with Canadian mariners, and I realised that, as mate, I had
landed in a fire-pit. As will be appreciated, although the P&O white ships had
plenty of English sailors, they were all the equivalent of petty officers and long-
time employees of the company; the bulk of the crews were, however, from South
Asia or in some cases from Hong Kong. All, however, accepted P&O discipline;
no fighting, no drinking and no drugs. I had never witnessed a serious crew
disciplinary problem in my years with P&O.

Now Captain Blackwell advised me (he had spent most of his seagoing career
with, I believe, Donaldson Line/Blue Star, a good solid worldwide exposure to
the sea and Scottish seamen) that the crewing problem was not insignificant.
Because West Star operated in Alaska during the summer, but went to East Asia
during the winter, where local crews were hired at far less cost, it was impossible
for West Line to engage quality SIU men; they just didn’t want to be working
for only six months a year, and indeed, quite reasonably so. Thus, he said, what
we generally got were men who were unable to find steady employment in the
solid B.C. shipping companies. He further told me that the Canadian authorities
required Fire Plans for all ships, regular lifeboat drills, and a Planned Maintenance
schedule. Why these were absent, he said, was because the original owners of the
ship had gone belly up, the vessel had laid on the stocks and rusted for two years,
and that it was my job to fill all of these missing requirements.
Patently, this small ‘summer job’ was to be no sinecure. I began by looking
for fire-plan materials, and found enough to know that such a plan, of which I
had seen many, was a bit of a slog, but rested upon fairly obvious principles. For
the life-boats we could have an early practice, and for the Planned Maintenance
Schedule, this was basically an administrative job prepared by Head Office. For
that reason, I spoke to the Marine Superintendent, Mr Wiggins, a sad and tired-

244