Paul Ray - Cargo Engineer; BP Shipping
19 January 2007
Christmas on the British Trader
When anyone mentions Christmas to me it conjures up thoughts of snow on the ground, cold dark mornings and early evenings. Well, not for Christmas 2006.....this one was a little different!!!
I knew that I was going for Christmas this year, but didn't know where. Fortunately for me, the British Trader had been trading around the Caribbean, so immediately those thoughts of snowy cold mornings and early evenings were replaced with images of shorts, flip flops and sunglasses.
My girlfriend and a Third Officer were joining on 16th December, and together they thought it would be nice to bring us some small Christmas presents, though I still believe it was to feed their shopping addiction!
The arrived on board, and without telling anyone what they had planned, the presents were wrapped up ready for Christmas day.
As the chimney (the ship's funnel) leads down into two boilers, each the height of a three storey home, both with red-hot furnaces and roaring fires, the girls decided it would be best if they delivered the presents themselves in order to prevent injury to Santa or his reindeer!!
As Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without having a tree and decorations, we all arranged to meet in the bar to put the tree up and hang the decorations to make the bar feel festive. Once completed, the bar was immaculately decorated and indeed looked very festive.
Next on the list for the preparations was the food! Everybody is allowed (in fact it is tradition) to overeat at Christmas, and the Captain made this possible by making sure all the luxury Christmas food items were ordered in time for Christmas day.
We had been delivering a cargo to America in the week prior to Christmas, but we returned back to Trinidad on the morning of Christmas Eve, where we waited until after Christmas before loading our next cargo.
We all met at the bar that evening and the atmosphere was good as everyone talked of Christmas's past and people swapped stories of Christmas traditions that take place in the various parts of the world that they live.
It was agreed that on Christmas Day we would all meet at Noon in the Captians Cabin before going for Christmas dinner. No one expected to have gifts waiting for us when we arrived.
The girls had neatly wrapped the gifts into black sacks and put them in the Captain's cabin before we all arrived, and once everyone was there and finished wishing each other well, we then noticed the two sacks.
The girls then began to dish out the gifts. It was pot luck as to who got what, but we each ended up with some sweets and a gift.
Everyone tore off the wrapping paper from their gifts as if they were five years old again. Once the initial excitement had passed it was time to go for dinner.
The Chief cook and galley staff did a wonderful job of preparing Christmas dinner, which consisted of a choice of soups, then a choice of any or all the starters available (Prawn Cocktail, Lobster Thermidor and Salmon and Steak). Then came the main course of Roast Turkey or Ham (or as most had.....both) with a choice of roast or mashed potato, brussel sprouts, carrots, peas, broccoli and cauliflower.
If you were able to manage, there was Christmas Pudding after, but there were only a few takers. As I think the old fable says.....No room at the Inn!