Guest Post: Live with intention by Stephanie Xavier

Those were the only words that seemed to cross my mind on that dark, gloomy day when PACIFIC XPRESS was on hurricane alert. I’ve always believed that no one ever truly knows what someone goes through, unless it’s them going through it and I’ve come to appreciate that in life reality is the hardest thing to understand and often the thing that takes the longest to realize... 

The vessel was bound for Puerto Quetzal and for a man who usually has much to say, my dad was awkwardly quiet that day. Something was definitely wrong. My mum and I having never experienced such a predicament didn’t know what to expect, and so we held on for dear life hoping it would end soon. Hurricane Carlotta was approximately 170N/Miles away from the ship and although in relative terms the distance between the two seemed pretty far, in actual fact the effects of it were being felt from where we were.

The wind speeds picked up, the waves kept crashing and with time the ship found it almost impossible to cut through the ocean. As each minute passed by I couldn’t help but wonder how other seafarers deal with knowing that their life is constantly at risk.
 
Divine providence has always been a very important part of our lives, in fact I guess the only reason we’ve survived for this long is simply because of it. On that frightful day, while my dad was praying he got a message saying that by eleven o’clock the wind speeds would die down and he would be able to berth the ship without any problems.

The Planets: Venus

Venus is the second planet from the Sun and is symbolized by it’s planet symbol ♀. 

Because of its brightness, Venus can be observed prominently in the sky during dawn or dusk. Most of the people know Venus as the Morning Star. But Mariners know it as the Morning & Evening star. If it appears in the morning it will not appear in the evening & vice versa. Since it is very bright and  it appears during twilight, Venus is perfect for stellar observations.

 Venus was worshiped as a Goddess in the Ancient Roman Empire and was considered the Goddess of love.

In the Bible Venus is mentioned in the Old Testament.  Venus is called the "Queen of Heaven." Jeremiah 44:17 says, "We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our fathers, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem." During the time of Manasseh they thought their prosperity was a result of their worship to the Queen of Heaven.

The fall of Lucifer, from
Paradise Lost by John Milton

In Isaiah 14 Lucifer is referred to as (Daystar), son of the morning.

Facts about Venus:

• Venus is the second planet from the Sun. Venus orbits 108,200,000 km (0.72 AU) from the Sun. Its path carries it around the Sun between Mercury and the Earth.

• Venus is the sixth largest planet. Venus has a diameter of 12,103.6 km and a mass of 4.869e24 kg, 95% of Earth's size.

• Venus has been called Earth’s sister planet.   It’s fairly close in size (95%), has a similar density and chemical composition, and has few craters, indicating a similar young    age. This led many to believe that there might even be life hidden under the thick layer of clouds. This has since been proven to be impossible 

• Earth and Venus are similar in density and chemical compositions. Both have relatively young surfaces, with Venus appearing to have been completely resurfaced 300 to 500 million years ago.

Disasters due to Captains error did not start from Costa Concordia

The Tanker "Torey Canyon" ran aground on the 18th of March, 1967.

Torrey Canyon is one of the milestones in the history of oil tanker accidents because all the things that could go wrong did go wrong.

En route from Kuwait to England, it ran aground at the Western entrance to the English Channel. The captain was held responsible for the accident because he had kept the ship on automatic steering at its top speed of nearly sixteen knots. Furthermore, the captain had been advised to change course both by his third officer and by signals from a lightship, but had refused. When he finally decided to change the steering system to manual, it was too late.

The entire cargo, approximately 136 million liters of oil, was released into the sea. English authorities decided to respond prompt and effectively and four hours after the grounding, Royal Navy ships arrived, carrying over 10,000 tons of detergents, which were sprayed on the floating oil to emulsify and disperse it.

Minimal concentrations of these detergents were acutely toxic to many marine mammals and plants and caused a prodigious growth in green weed. The seashores were sprayed with toxic detergents as well.

Efforts to border the ship turned out to be a failure, as one crew member died during the operation and the ship broke in two.

The following day, it was decided to bomb the ship in order to start fires that would consume the remaining oil. Napalm, kerosene and aviation fuel was dumped on the wreck and for two entire days, the Royal Navy rained 1,000-pound shells on it.

The operations had a devastating effect on environment. An estimated 15,000 birds died, as well as untold numbers of fish and shellfish, and hundreds of kilometers of seashore in both England and France were contaminated.

Master Navigator: Navigation Responsibility

A Master Navigator is always responsible for the navigation and safety of his ship, while a shipowner has a corresponding liability for damage arising from navigational incidents.

However, this can also make a shipowner liable for acts of an independent third party. It is important that a Master is able to exercise his discretion, on navigational matters, to ensure safety of the ship and its crew. Given the remote locations to which ships sometimes have to sail, when in unfamiliar waters, a Master and bridge team are in practice likely to defer to a pilot's perceived local expertise, with the result that in reality the ship is often under the pilot's control. Notwithstanding this heavy reliance on the pilot, in numerous jurisdictions throughout the world, the Master retains legal responsibility for navigational matters during pilot legs. The consequences of such continuing legal responsibility and therefore the Master being responsible for any error in navigation by the pilot, are two-fold. Firstly, shipowners can be left facing significant liabilities for damage resulting from navigational manoeuvres, which have gone awry.  Secondly, pilots are effectively not accountable for their actions.
 
Without such accountability, there seems to be little incentive for a pilot to strive to ensure that the ship is handled properly and to err on the side of caution, if in doubt about the ship's ability to execute a particular manoeuvre.

US Navy Rescues 10 Mariners In Gulf Of Oman

The burning dhow from which the U.S. Navy says it rescued 10 Iranians on Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman.

The US Navy has reportedly rescued 10 mariners from an Iranian-flagged dhow that was on fire in the Gulf of Oman. The US Navy guided missile destroyer saw the small boat on fire. The crew of the destroyer picked up 10 sailors on board immediately. An official informed that eight of the 10 crew were Iranians and the other two were Pakistanis.

According to a press release issued from the US Navy's 5th Fleet, the crew members "are

Credit: Alyson Hurt/NPR

being well cared for, receiving medical treatment and awaiting transport to aircraft carrier".

It was the seventh rescue incident conducted by the UN Navy involving Iranian sailors in nearly two years, a gesture to demonstrate the humanitarian value of the US naval presence in the Gulf.

Earlier. on January 10,2012, USCG vessel had saved six Iranians from sinking cargo-dhow in the North Persian Gulf. The dhows master had askedfor assistance from the USCG vessel indicating the engine room was flodding and the vessel was no longer seaworthy. The USCG vessel Monomy rescued two people from the dhow and another four a liferaft tide to the dhow's stern.

Six Iranians have been transfered to the USCG vessel and had been privided with water,blankets and halal meals which USCG ships store to provide to Muslim mariners in ditress.This is great!

Through an intepreter, the master of the Iranian vessel,Hakim Hamid-Ai has told the USCG crew,"Without your help,we were dead."

Captain John Kirby of US Navy has said ,"When you have fellow mariners in trouble,you don't stop to think about the particular political tension between nations,you do the right thing". Very well said,Sir.

No kidding - Somali pirates have official letterhead

Some Somali pirates have reportedly began formalizing their correspondence with the owners of ships they hijacked by starting with a greeting of "To Whom It May Concern" and closing with "Best regards."

All on printed PAG letterhead.

One such letter provided to a media source greeted the addressee with "Congratulations to the Company/Owner." It identified itself as the Jamal Pirate Action Group (JPAG) and coolly told the shipping company to "follow our law." The letter was stamped with - you guessed it - a skull and crossed swords with the group's initials.

It even carried a slogan in all capital letters: WITH PIRACY COVERAGE, YOU GET A DISCOUNT.

No mention of this particular pirate gang is available on the Internet sites of NATO, the EU Navfor nor the International Maritime Bureau. The IMB has refused to issue any comment.

The scurge of piracy has already cost the global shipping industry about

USD7 billion in 2011 alone and netted pirates an estimated USD160 million in ransom money.

Details Here

The Baltic Sea UFO Explained …

  by Buddhas Brother

Peter Lindberg, head of the Ocean X Team, has returned to the Baltic Sea and the site of Roswell on the Sea Floor, the Baltic Sea Anomaly. The original discovery caused quite a stir in 2011, with the objects obvious resemblance to the Millennium Falcon it tugged hard on many peoples imaginations.

Till now only low resolution images of the strange object have exist, taken during the original June 2011 expedition. That is until now.

The start of June 2012 saw the first break in the weather and opportunity to return to and explore the site. The Ocean X Team this time came prepared with higher resolution sonar and new remote controlled robotic equipment.

Lindberg has now spoken for the first time about the expedition, his findings are both interesting and surprising.

Read More

Captain's Diary: Somalia

It’s so unfortunate that some countries never see the sun rise, meaning “peace and prosperity”. They continue to remain beyond the sunset.

Somalia is a good example: It was February 1976; the ship I was sailing was carrying 10,000 metric tons of bagged cement, loaded at the ports of Wismar and Rostock. (Two ports in East Germany - prior to its unification.) The cargo was consigned for Somalia; it was aid from the UN, which would assist in building a poor nation.

It was around March 1976, four days after our ship had crossed the Suez -canal and sailed through to the Red sea we arrived at the Mogadishu anchorage. After the ship’s arrival, it was almost twenty four hours, and still there was no sign of anybody coming aboard or even communicating with us. The deafening silence made the captain very anxious, and since observing there was a boat service to and from the shore he asked Peter (the Purser) and me to go ashore, visit the ship’s agents, collect crew mail and any other documents required for the ship and most importantly to find out when they were planning to commence cargo operation. He also asked Peter to take a few cartons of cigarettes to be given to the Somalis, so as to drive them into action.

We gladly took this opportunity to go ashore, having visited the agent's office and met with the Managing Director who welcomed us but subsequently continued with his own work, indifferent to us being there. It was only after Peter had handed over a carton of cigarettes to him that he broke the silence, having ordered two cups of black tea for us he was ready to discuss matters pertaining to the cargo on our ship.

In the meantime, I collected the mail that had arrived for us; there was quite a lot of it and was very welcome because this was the only mode available for communicating with our families back home. On returning to the Managing Director’s office he advised us that it would take a few days before our cargo operations commenced as there were only few barges; other ships which had arrived earlier were discharging cargo too. Having decided to expedite the cargo operation I mentioned that I would tell the Captain to 'look after' him. He was delighted and ordered some more tea! Thereafter he promised that he would definitely do something. With the good news and the crew mail, Peter and I returned to the ship.

The Captain was anxiously waiting for our return. On boarding the ship we got a rousing welcome more so because we were bringing in the mail that was much looked forward to by all. The Captain was very happy to hear that our mission had been successful. As promised by the M.D, a barge was towed alongside the ship around 9.00 a.m. in the morning and discharging of the cargo began, surprising us at the unexpected turn of events.

The cargo, which had been carefully loaded in East Germany, was now being handled in a careless manner causing a lot of damage. Somalia being one of the poorest nations receives huge amounts of aid, however it seemed that the aid received did not reach the intended destinations, but huge amounts of it was destroyed to suit the whims and fancies of a few in authority.

Two days after the commencement of cargo operations, the Managing Director sent word requesting the Captain to meet him; Peter and I went ashore with the Captain.

On meeting us he inquired about the cargo operation and impertinently mentioned that he was helping us with great difficulty. For this he wanted us to give him cash in US dollars, Scotch whisky and cigarettes. After agreeing to make the payment requested Captain further agreed to send the other items he had asked for.

On leaving the office Captain very disgustingly said,” I am sickened about the whole thing, you know I do not take bribes, nor do I offer them. But, under these circumstances I was forced into this unethical dealing.”



He requested Peter to handle this matter on his behalf; Peter agreed.

Peter and I returned ashore on the following morning, with the cash and other items. It was Peter who met alone with the Managing Director, who on receiving the goods, assured that the discharging of cargo for Mogadishu would be completed within seven days.

Knowing very well he could not take the Managing Directors assurance for granted; Peter attempted to pay the cash in installments but failed sadly. On this occasion, we both spent the night-out ashore, trying to make the best of an otherwise boring and sometimes depressing sea life.

Having observed the way things were handled at the MD’s office, the lethargic attitude and furthermore the way the stevedores handled the cargo, with most of it being dropped into the water, made us sad for the future of the country and its people. We were surprised further when we got to know that the cargo dropped into the sea was intentional, done just to show resistance to the MD’s order to discharge the cargo within the said time frame. It was such a sad sight to see humanitarian aid, meant for building the country being misused

During our stay in the port, I observed that the stevedores who were working continuously on 24 hour shifts were almost starved, the only food they ate was boiled corn and some thing made of flour. On meeting with the Ship’s Chief Steward I advised him to collect the left over food after the ship’s crew had eaten, and give it to them. When the food was handed out, they came in groups; hands covered with cement, they just grabbed their share. It was indeed a pathetic sight!

From the total of 10,000 metric tons of bagged cement only 5,000 metric tons were discharged in Mogadishu, the balance was to be unloaded at Kisimayoo, another port in Somalia.

It was March 11th 1976 when our ship arrived in Kisimayoo. Handling the ship’s operation was a Company representative. We observed right away that it was a one man show with Mr. Ali being the Pilot, the Harbor Master, the Port Manager and all, in one. He berthed our ship around 12 noon. Soon after which he joined us for lunch, prior to his lunch he had few cans of beer. During lunch he discreetly told us about the powers vested in him and how important a person he could be to us, during our stay here.

The only difference between Mogadishu and here was that the, ship was now alongside a wharf; otherwise everything else was just the same. Every morning after breakfast, Mr. Ali would yell at almost every local who came his way; this seemed habitual as nobody actually took notice of him.

It seemed that Mr. Ali had been bribed to prepare and sign documents for the receipt of 5,000 metric tons of bagged cement but whereas in actual the ship sailed away still having onboard at-least 2,000 MT of cargo which was jettisoned during the voyage back.

The bottom line is that 10,000 MT of bagged cement was destined for Somalia. However The Managing Director of the shipping agency in Mogadishu was bribed to accept less and the country lost more than 1,000 MT of cement. Similarly, Mr. Ali at Kisimayoo accepted a bribe and let the ship sail away with almost 2,000 MT of cement still onboard.

Though the cement was for the benefit of thousands of the Somali people, the whole exercise was reduced by almost half, just for the benefit of two unscrupulous persons!

With similar dishonest acts by the people in authority it is not strange that the country experiences civil unrest, anarchy, piracy and much more.

When will the Somali people see the sun-rise?

Asia's Undersea Archeology

by Richard Gould

Diver with bowl Overseas trading of fine porcelain and other objects began in China during the Song Dynasty.

Seaborne commerce on a large scale in Asia dates to the Song Dynasty of China (A.D. 960-1270). The Mongols in the succeeding Yuan Dynasty (ca. 1271-1368) went on to build even more ships on a grand scale, and during his stay at the imperial court from 1275 to 1292, Marco Polo described four-masted, seagoing merchant ships with watertight bulkheads and crews of up to 300. Early in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), an expansion of seaborne trade took place with the construction of an immense treasure fleet—reported to consist of 317 ships when it was assembled in Nanjing in 1405—that made trading cruises throughout the Indian Ocean and the China seas

 Although shipwreck archeology is relatively new in Asia, important finds are pointing the way toward the broader use of archeological evidence relative to the documentary history of this era of Chinese maritime expansion.