101 not out, and gran’s still going strong!
IMAGES of the rapidly growing Indian Covid crisis – weeping relatives, shrouded bodies, makeshift funeral pyres and huge crowds – make most unpleasant TV viewing, and many will change channels when such footage appears on the screen. But spare a thought for Indian seafarers whose homeland supplies thousands of crewmembers to shipping companies across the globe, second in number to the Philippines.
With its roots in British merchant naval traditions, maritime training in India is good, generally producing well-trained officers. I have come across many Indian officers, including those aboard the then-largest ore carrier, Berge Stahl when, several years ago, I was invited to a snack aboard that impressive 343m vessel when she called at Saldanha Bay. I lost no time in dashing up the west coast road to visit the ship.
At the time, she had deviated from her usual route (Brazil to Rotterdam) to make a one-off voyage from Brazil, by-passing the Cape with an ore cargo for China where she underwent her 20-year drydocking and survey. She then headed in ballast to Dampier, West Australia, to load a part-cargo of ore, before calling at Saldanha to top up with high-grade South African iron ore for the final leg of her voyage to Rotterdam.
Boarding the ship, I was greeted by exceptionally hospitable, friendly and cricket-mad Indians in jubilant spirits after their team’s annihilation of the Proteas in Johannesburg a few days earlier. On that large vessel, the Indian seafarers had celebrated with their own cricket match – with adapted rules – amid the hatchcovers on the vast foredeck of the ship as she passed the southern coast.
I recall that her tall, imposing master hailed from Pune (once known as Poona) in western India. He had a distinguished sea-going career – at that stage spanning 31 years – including nine years in command of the slightly smaller Bergeland that had taken stores off Green Point shortly before my trip to Saldanha.
Berge Stahl’s engineers had reason to be proud of the massive engine room and her seven-cylinder 28 000bhp Burmeister & Wain main engine that drove her along at a service speed of 12.5 knots when fully laden. “Wipe your feet,” joked one of the friendly souls, mindful of the exceptionally clean state of the engine room, “before you enter!”
That memorable visit occurred shortly before Christmas that year. To my surprise, given that most of the crewmembers were Hindus, I learnt that a traditional seven-course candlelight Christmas meal with all the trappings awaited the 24 officers and ratings aboard the massive ship. On entering the dining saloon for the snack, I was struck immediately by a large, well-decorated Christmas tree.
A good crowd, I thought as I left the ship to take the long road home.
A visit to a tanker in the Tanker Basin a few days later was also interesting. Like Berge Stahl, she carried an Indian crew, and like their compatriots, the tankermen were also ardent cricket fans. My visit took place before the second day’s play began in another South Africa-India Test match. I tactfully mentioned to the amiable master his team were not faring too well, a comment he took in his stride, but cautioned India had a good team. Fortunately, I did not return to the ship following South Africa’s disastrous second innings collapse!
The last I heard of Berge Stahl was that she was laid up at anchor in Malaysia. If she has evaded the acetylene torches of the scrapyards, she will be 35 years old, a remarkably long lifespan for an ore carrier whose steelwork in the holds suffers significant wear and tear from the ore cargoes.
But what of those friendly gents I had met on both ships? Are they or their families among the hundreds of thousands dead from the Covid plague? Or, if they are at sea, are they trapped aboard their ships, unable to go on leave, simply because they are from India?
Some might be at home waiting to join their next ship, but unable to leave India, meaning that those whom they would have replaced aboard the ship will have to remain indefinitely. That is a recipe for fatigue among those forced to stay aboard their ships long beyond the expiry of their contracts.
Directly or indirectly, fatigue can lead to accidents with even major consequences for the ship, her cargo – and the crew. Some suggest the grounding of a bulker at Mauritius last year may have been the indirect result of fatigue. Similarly, a television guest – and a seasoned salt – wondered whether the reason for the containership Ever Given grounding in the Suez Canal in March could be traced to fatigue among some key personnel aboard.
But what if fatigued crewmembers, weary of a seemingly endless and involuntary extension to their tour of duty, decide beaching their ship is their only way of getting home to country X? brian@capeports.co.za
Ingpen is a freelance journalist and the author of eight maritime books
CAPE Town granny Mina September recently celebrated her 101st birthday after winning her battle against Covid-19 last year.
From Bellville, September was born on a farm in 1920 and says her secret to life is a passage from the Bible: “Honour your father and your mother so you may have a long life.”
She is still as fit as a fiddle.She contracted Covid-19 after five people in the household tested positive.
Living for more than a century, September understands nothing about technology and spent her life as a housewife making clothes.
“I never smoked or drank in my life. Instead, I always attended church. I was an only daughter to my father, who also only passed away at the age of 107.
“I have nine children, seven boys and two girls, from which I have 27 grandchildren, 49 greatgrandchildren and 24 great-greatgrandchildren,” September said.
In 1955 September married her darling husband, Esau September. They were married until his death in 1996. September describes herself as always treating people with the world’s kindness.
She also survived the Spanish flu that devastated the world from February 1918 to April 1920. “I overcame it, and I had Covid-19 and overcame it,” she said.
Her message to today’s youth is “to look after their parents”.
Last Friday her family marked September’s milestone with a small celebration in Atlantis.