DAY THAT STARTED AT 0330

Andy and I are feeling much better today, which is pretty great. The morning watch was pretty quiet, and comprised of myself, the chief mate (John Morehouse) and Ziggy the sailor. The chief mate is basically training me to take over his job. This morning I read our coordinates off the GPS and plotted them on a paper chart. This gets done once an hour. I was also introduced to most of the bridge equipment- radar, gyro, and the Keurig coffee maker. Mostly, lots of screens full of data monitoring different parts of the ship. These things include engine RPM and cylinder lining temperature, which have to be kept around a certain value. The main engine RPM was slightly too low, so the chief mate had me increase it by 0.5. This involves the use of a touch screen and is not actually as exciting as it should be, much like controlling the bow thruster.

When lube oil is distributed in the cylinder liners, it enters in the right side of the cylinder. To make sure the lube oil reaches the other side of the cylinder as well, you have to induce a port list. If the temperature gets too high, the list has to be increased. (This whole thing seems really weird to me. The engine is too hot, tilt the boat.)

During the watch we also had to record weather conditions (fog and rain). Sometime today we will be changing our course to avoid a storm that would have intercepted us right before we got to Honolulu.

After the watch and breakfast, my job was to help the chief mate with paperwork that has to be done every time the ship leaves port. We compared the list of containers we should have and their locations with the containers we actually have. So, we went down on deck to look around. It’s really weird being on the container deck because it’s just a flat surface, no railings or anything. Also, there was a lot of the ship’s whistle today, and it is LOUD out there. Anyway, there was only one container out of place, so we went back to the office and I filled out the report. The chief mate says that he has never had a cadet who gets paperwork done so fast. This is Webb efficiency at work, people.

Some notes from this job because I know my mom is extremely curious about what’s in these containers. The answer is: animal feed, shingles, drywall, potatoes, steel, fruits or vegetables, and other stuff including explosives. Also yes the ship has a bell. Hi mom!

So now the plan is actually that I am done for the day after lunch and that tomorrow I will be on the same watch again. I do not know if this will actually happen because the chief engineer wants to get me and Andy working on a project together later. So, we will see.