Captain John P. De Silva: Back to Sea with a Different Company

I signed of my last ship in Mumbai around the 30^th of June that year. Few weeks after I arrived home, I sent a message to my company indicating I was ready to re-join. There was no response to my message, therefore, I sent another one. There was no response to that, either. Then, I thought to myself, how could they re-employ me because, I have not acted in the interest of the company.

As the writing was on the wall, without waiting any longer, I started to look for jobs with various other companies in Singapore and Hong Kong, but I did not get a proper response from any of them. It was very frustrating to stay at home. Seeing my plight, my father too, tried with some of the people who operated shipping agencies in Colombo to help me get a job. During that time, unfortunately the supply of Merchant Shipping Officers were higher than the demand. So, I really had to wait for a breakthrough!

I lived with my parents, therefore, I had a place to live and I was well taken care of. My social life, however was severely hampered due to the ongoing financial situation. It was around this time, my brother who worked overseas, came home on vacation. He usually came during Christmas but, may be for my luck, came earlier. What he told me was that, many of the expatriate staff has requested for leave during Christmas and, he volunteered to take his vacation early and hold fort during the festive season.

During the three weeks my brother was at home, along with some friends we went on a few trips. I was really happy that I had something to do instead of only looking for jobs and calling shipping companies in that region. During our trips we visited Kandy, Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, Dambulla, etc.,

Finally, my father came to my rescue; following the news he had received that there was ship in the port of Colombo who was urgently looking for a second officer. He had contacted a Director of that Shipping Company, and following this I was called for an interview. It was the 1st of December that year. I was interviewed by a Captain who was the Director of the Company. He was a very Senior Master Mariner and a well-respected person in the Sri Lankan shipping sphere. After a long but informal interview, he recommended me for the job. A day after meeting with him I was signed-on as the Second Officer on board the ship "San George." I was paid a reasonable wage. I was happy to be back at work after nearly six months. This ship was on a regular run between Colombo, Kuwait and Bombay. "San George" was owned by a Greek Company and was chartered by a Sri Lankan Shipping Company. On board, except the Captain and the Chief Engineer, all the other Officers and ratings were Sri Lankans.