Ship heading back towards East

The ship called at the ports of Mersin and Antalya, in Turkey. We all had a peaceful stay in both ports. Thereafter, the ship proceeded to the Adriatic Sea and called at the ports of Ravenna and Venice in Italy. All of us on board look forward to go back to Italian ports where we always had a lot of fun. Since it was summer; it was great.  The cargo loaded at these ports were for Dubai, Bahrain and Kuwait in the Persian Gulf.

The only notable happening between the last port in Italy and the first port in the Persian Gulf was that, the ship’s chief officer had to rush home to attend to an urgent domestic need. He was signed off at Port Said but did not have relief due to a very short time. Therefore, we sailed from there to the Persian Gulf without a chief officer. Under the Captain’s direct supervision, the third officer and I maintained the sea watches – six hours on and six hours off. We were paid an additional allowance called the 'short hand wages' for the extra work done.               

Once the ship was in Persian Gulf, we spent a total of about seven weeks in all ports. The reason being the ship had to wait at anchor, out harbor, and wait for berth because severe congestion existed in all those ports at that time.

The captain on board had with him a whole load of fishing gear. During the ship’s stay at outer anchorage in Bahrain, the Captain was fishing using his lines. I was on the bridge and the steward came and told me, the Captain wanted to see me urgently. I rushed to where he was fishing, and what I saw was a terrible sight. The Captain had got a fishing hook embedded in to his right palm. I immediately called the agent, and what he had to say was shocking! He was unable to arrange a boat to come out to the anchorage as it was a Friday, and advised me to bring the Captain ashore in the ship’s life boat.  We had a good set of crew, therefore, we could lower one lifeboat, which was fitted with the motor, and transported the captain to a designated location in the port.

The agent was there to meet us, and after attending very quickly to immigration formalities, the Captain was rushed to the emergency at a private hospital. I, too went with the 
Captain. Once in the hospital, it did not take long for the doctors to perform a minor surgery and clear the fishing hook from the Captain’s palm. However, he was not allowed to leave the hospital for at least four hours. The agent took me to a hotel, and gave me a good lunch. I appreciated that very much. Thereafter, I took the captain back to the ship. Considering the whole situation, it was quite a learning experience for all of us.    

                                               Photos of the old port in Bahrain