After passing the First Mates’ Exam,
I wanted to change the company. And, I started to look for jobs with foreign
companies. Unfortunately, at that time jobs at sea were very hard to find.
It was around this time I saw an advertisement
on a weekend Newspaper calling applications for Second Officers and Third
Engineers with a superior certificate of competency. I did not waste time on this
and, I applied. I was called for an interview in Colombo. The person who
interviewed me was a Captain, and he was a British National. The interview went through, and I got the job.
Three weeks later, myself and a Third
Engineer, flew from Colombo to Bremerhaven to join the vessel "Atlantic
Universal”. The wages were good, and I started to collect money to go for the Master’s
Exam.
My father had been to Australia on Scholarship, and had very good
things to say about the country. Therefore,
for the Master’s exam, my first choice was Australia.
After an initial, unpleasant and unsettled
situation on board “Atlantic Universal” ;the change of command lead to a peaceful and happy life on board. I got along very well with the new Captain. It was plain and
pleasant sailing. Thank God for that!
I gained a lot of experience in my
work because the vessel was a reefer ship that carried refrigerated cargoes, and was
on worldwide trading. The longest voyage during the time I was on board was from
the port of San Antonio, Chile to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It was approximately 10,300
Nautical miles.
m.v. "ATLANTIC UNIVERSAL"
transiting the Suez Canal.
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