Ahoy There!!
by Published on 30th August 2023 06:37 PM
Ahoy there!
I am indeed fortunate that at the age of 74, I am still gainfully employed in the marine industry, working as a Port State Control Officer with Transport Canada Marine Safety (all-same MCA) in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
When I look back on my 33 years as a PSCO, I am proud that the safety standards of merchant ships has dramatically improved, due to our power to over-ride Flag and Class, and order remediation of both ships, and crew training. These days we rarely find a ship which fails to comply with acceptable SOLAS, STCW, ISM etc standards. In my early days as a PSCO, we frequently had to deal with ships originally from former Communist nations, but now with poor-quality Flags, and they were GHASTLY! One, the “Konsomolets Kirghizi” departed Halifax with a cargo of (free) Canadian flour for Cuba, with an Angle of Loll! We did not become aware of that until two days later, when the USCG helos recued the crew before KK rolled over and sank!
We detained the ghastly Cuban “Rilos” for multiple serious Deficiencies. We departed the ship, only to be called back by the Agent when a crew member was stabbed to death by a shipmate!
If you look at www.shipspotting.com and look up “Essco Spirit”, you will see my photos of that ghastly ship, which had been built in Romania in 1977, abandoned by the Romanians in Antwerp in 2000, and then bought by a Greek businessman who sailed it to Quebec City, where it was loaded with grain for Pireus. It then put into Halifax, for bunkers. The Bunker Barge Master called me to the anchorage, as two crew of the “Essco Spirit” had jumped onto the bunker barge, and got on their knees before him, begging him for help as “We very ‘fraid of this ship!”.
When we boarded Essco Spirit, the Mate, who was “ first trip as Mate”, told me , in a whisper, “#2 Hold, she leak bad! I must pump 10 times, 12 times every day!”. So I called in the local diving company, whose inspection revealed three x 4” diameter holes which had been recently cut in the bottom, with wooden plugs in them, which had not been hammered in, but which stayed in place only by buoyancy.
When I showed the Superintendent (whom I think was also the Owner, but he would not admit it!) the diver’s video, he slid his hand into his jacket pocket, and pulled out an envelope! It was as thick as a “Reader’s Digest” magazine, and I would love to know how much was in it! I told him to put it away, or I would call the RCMP.
The Mate told me that on arrival in Halifax, two Greek divers boarded, and went under the hull, but they would not tell him what they were doing! I told him that they were intending to send him and his shipmates to their deaths, so that the Owner could claim the Insurance!
The Superintendent went AWOL, the Charterer had to stump up the money to have the cargo discharged in Halifax.
When the ship was empty, we got Halifax Shipyard to estimate the cost of dry-docking and repairs. Their Estimator, (an old Glaswegian) finished his survey and told me “We’ll nae tak her; when we pump the dock oot, she will collapse!"
With the holes in the hull patched, we allowed “Essco Spirit” to procede to Havana, where she spent several months, before proceding to India for scrap.
Ready, aye ready!
Alan Knight R852482
