0000hrs (GMT +8 )
Position:- 0* 27.4’ N 106* 00’.1 E
Course:- 310*
Speed:- 4.4 Knots
Wind:- NNW 19 Knots (Force 5 Strong Breeze)
Sea State:- Moderate (up 8 feet waves with underlying swell, white horses prevalent)
Weather:- Occasional monsoon squalls.
Temp 79F
Distance to go:- 162 nautical miles
South China Sea
http://www.charts.noaa.gov/NGAViewer/71033.shtml
We are up near the top left hand corner of the chart, of for those of you with a more nautical bent we are in the upper North West quadrant.
The wind has stayed the same force although backed to North a little.
The sea conditions are still moderate to rough although we are now experiencing an underlying North Easterly swell which is causing us to roll a little. Only about two or three degrees each way but combined with the slamming of the waves it is enough to let you know you are at sea.
We are not quite up to the “I’ve never known a night like it” stage and it is a level of movement in a vessel that I like.
We had a one massive bump at about 1350 yesterday which was the time we crossed over the equator. It is normally associated with a bump.
So I am now back in the northern hemisphere and a few more miles closer to home.
In days gone by we would have had a “Crossing the Line” ceremony which involves initiating people who have never crossed the equator with some maniacal and horrible rite of passage.
One crew member would become King Neptune and if there were no wives on board another would become Amphitrite
Davy Jones would be in attendance and my other made up dignitaries. Basically it was an excuse to get in fancy dress, have a laugh at the expense of new crossers, and go on the lash with a big feast as well.
The ones who had never crossed the equator would be subject to the law of the court of Neptune which normally involved having old stinking food waste (several days old) big tipped over the hapless victims whilst being charged with various made up crimes such as looking a but odd or wearing unusual socks.
It often involved the shearing of a chunk of hair as well which often started at the back and went over the top resulting in there being no other option but to have to shave it all off.
After the ritual humiliation of the new crosses there would be a big feast and p!ss up. With so may vessels being now dry, the various more stringent health and safety laws, bare minimum skeleton crews and more importantly very few new people going to sea, the more excessive ceremonies have died out and I haven’t seen one for 25 years or more.
They do them on passenger boats but as you can imagine it is a tamed down p!ss poor imitation of what used to go on.
One of the craziest ones I remember was on a ship called the La Ensenada on passage from France to Durban via several West African ports.
It was fairly wild bunch of us on there and we had several new crossers on board.
One was the galley boy who was always up for a laugh but had a bit of an obsession with his rather bouffant hair do.
During the ceremony a 4 inch wide strip was shaved from his neck to the top of his head and so he was left with no option but to shave it all off. There were 6 of them who had varying chunks of hair out so they all shaved their heads and the galley boy didn’t mind too much, although he said his girlfriend in the UK loved his hair and would finish with him if he had it too short.
There was also the fact that some men can shave their heads and it looks fine, however some shave their heads and just don’t have the head shape for it and therefore look a bit freakish. He was one of those.
We were expecting to be out for another 5 months so he was happy he would have a good head of hair again by the time we got back to the UK.
The day after the shave he stayed outside in the sun to long and burnt his head, but what made it worse was that the fluid his head swelled up like an alien.
Sympathy is not a known feeling on a ship and he had the mick ripped ruthlessly from him, even more so because the swelling started to subside so the fluid seemed to sink further lower down his head almost as though he had a rubber ring under the skin getting a little bit lower each day.
A day or two later he had this band of fluid about about an inch thick at ear level around his head, and a glowing red pate that had started to peel really badly. It would be fair to say he was not looking at his best when we docked at Walvis Bay (Namibia) to load 30,00 ton of salt.
In fact he looked more like something out of a circus freak show, but he remained in good spirits and joined the many of us who were off up the road for a few beers (although there was very little in Walvis Bay at that time.)
Unfortunately for the lad he was larking about and not paying attention when going down the gangway and he slipped and broke his ankle.
He was whisked off by ambulance and was put in cast at the local hospital but he couldn’t continue to the voyage and had to be flown home.
I have never seen someone so utterly distraught about having to go home before.
Six weeks earlier he had joined the vessel for his first trip clean, and fresh and with an extravagant head of hair and he was going home looking like something out of a zombie film.
Looking on the bright side he did have a Crossing the line Certificate,
I wonder if he had it framed?
Cheers
Bentley
Cheers
Bentley
The music today is from a band called Hobo Jones and the Junkyard Dogs.
They are long time mates of mine based in Maidstone and although the sound quality doesn’t do them justice I hope you get an idea of the sheer theater of their performances and the total irreverence they adopt when choosing what songs to cover.
The first time I met the lad singer and guitarist was when they were in a band called the Spice Daves who later went on to become Ghengis Khant, before hitting on the idea of Hobo Jones.
They are regulars at Glastonbury for the last four years and firm festival favourites as well as touring constantly all over the UK.
They play and intriguing fusion of punk and skiffle and no song is too big or too sacred for them to have ago at.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anylAQ31iAk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E3GB_QGKfA&feature=related
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