Missing Cooks

[len mazza]

Hi,In a recent issue of Ships Monthly there is a good article about the 158,200DWT Evely Maersk.

There are two manning levels given,No.1,Master, Ch. Off. 3 Nav.Off's. 3 Eng's. I Oiler. 3AB's 1OS.
Total 13.

The 2nd level,the one in actual use is, Master, C/O. 2/O. 3/O. 4 Cadets 4AB's. 1Elect. 1C/E. 12/E
two 3/E. 1 Moterman and 4 Repair workers.

The thing that caught my attention was there isn't a cook in sight,not even an AB. Ck. as on the off shore jobs,I think it must be a typo,yuo would need some kind of organiser to feed 21 bodies.

Len Mazza R621945.

[happy daze john in oz]

From what I have read about these ships most of the meals are ready to eat frozen micro wave oven type.
It is a 'look after yourself' style of shipping now.

[Gulliver]

Hi,In a recent issue of Ships Monthly there is a good article about the 158,200DWT Evely Maersk.

There are two manning levels given,No.1,Master, Ch. Off. 3 Nav.Off's. 3 Eng's. I Oiler. 3AB's 1OS.
Total 13.

The 2nd level,the one in actual use is, Master, C/O. 2/O. 3/O. 4 Cadets 4AB's. 1Elect. 1C/E. 12/E
two 3/E. 1 Moterman and 4 Repair workers.

The thing that caught my attention was there isn't a cook in sight,not even an AB. Ck. as on the off shore jobs,I think it must be a typo,yuo would need some kind of organiser to feed 21 bodies.

Len Mazza R621945.

Len,it’s a pity the article didn’t expand a bit more.
As regards catering, for so few a crew,it’s all self-service,-frozen meals and microwave. No cook required!
Taking the crew of 13 in the first case:
For mooring,I would say that like on many ships previously you would have a mate each forward and aft as usual who,like on many a ship I was on,chipped in with the physical operation(winch-driving,stoppering etc.), plus:the oiler and the extra engineer as well,no doubt. The mate on the bridge would do the steering,so no QM required.,but perhaps the pilot brought his own helmsman aboard as they do in some pilotage districts.
Perhaps a mooring gang came aboard in the harbour for each port?
Whatever the arrangement, it takes so much time to dock these things that the smaller crews would be able to cope with the operation.

The second level you gave (the normal current complement of 22 )is even easier ! And you wouldn’t need an extra mooring gang of course..

It’ll be interesting to read others opinions !
Gulliver
　

[len mazza]

Hi,Afew years ago I saw on Sky a programme about the operation o what now would be classed as a
medium size container ship.The Master was from the North of England,the Nav.Off's were Indian,the Cook
was Chinese.The OM. was from the 'old school',sights taken every day,Fire @Boat drill every week,plus the weekly inspection,that is where the cook was introduced into the picture,he rally was the ;chief cook @bottle washer', a real one man band.When all hands gathered for the weekly BBQ there was a reasonable muster,taking into account the storerooms and fridges to look after,the poor old cook certainly earned his
crust.

Len.

[happy daze john in oz]

Most modern day ships now have forward and aft thrusters whic makes docking a whole lot easier. Have seen cruise shisp dock with just two men at each end.

[Mike Hall]

i read that article as well.and i found the crew of 13 as follows.
master
chief mate
second mate
third mate
fourth mate/apprentice
ch eng
second eng
third eng/elec
eng hand
deck hand
deck hand
deck hand
cook.
the accomadation on board the ship can take a crew of 30.
there was also another list somewhere else,that when they are coasting they use less crew(8),as follows
master
ch mate
sec mate
ch eng
eng hand
deck hand
deck hand
cook/deck hand.

regards mike

[len mazza]

Hi Mike,
The article that I read was in the August edition of Ships Monthly,read it on two seperate occasions in
the Napier Libray and there was no mention of a cook,will re-read the next time that I visit the place.

I wonder how a handful of men like that would handle a really major fire,take to the boats and leave her
to it I expect.

Len.

[John Arton]

Years ago on one of the tie up walls going up the St. Lawrence Seaway, there was a break in the fencing that surrounded the tie up walls, some wag had painted a big arrow pointing to the break with the legend "the cook went thataway" to it,
rgds
John