The Marine Society & Sea Cadets

I joined the British Traderon the 2nd August 2005, in Cartagena, Spain, where the vessel was at anchor, with berthing due for the next day.

This is my first time on a LNG carrier, as my previous ships were the crude oil tanker British Hunter and the product carrier, British Endeavour. This will hopefully be my last trip as a Cadet, provided by the end of the trip I have my NVQ portfolio completed and I meet the requirements for sea time, as set out by the MCA (12 months sea time and 5 months bridge watch-keeping time as a minimum).

The vessel berthed the next day and my first cargo watch began. Although the cargo system is different to anything I had ever seen before, it was not too difficult to grasp the basics of it. With the aid of the officers onboard and the 'big green book' (the ship’s operating manuals) I soon learned what we were doing.

The tasks I was assigned during my first cargo watches were not that much different to those on any other of the ships I had previously been on. I made regular rounds of the deck, checking the manifolds, pipelines and valves along the trunk deck, moorings, gangway, scuppers and overside.

There was an awful lot to take in, but after the next port – Damietta, Egypt, things I had read about and been told regarding the cargo System fell into place.

The remainder of my time on British Trader has been spent on watches. My first watches were on the 12-4 with the second officer, Tom. We went through all the bridge systems, which were different to anything I had ever seen on previous Ships and at College. However, I managed to pick up the operation of everything pretty quickly.

As this is my last trip, my time on watches has been used to its fullest potential because it’s my last chance to ask questions and gain as much experience and knowledge as possible, ready for my officer on watch orals next year.

Occasionally, there has been a job on deck that would be beneficial for me to see. During the trip these included carrying out the pre-arrival two and one day checks, ballast tank entries to carry out inspections, entry into the duct keel to replace a valve, and 2 days with a Crew Trainer, who came onboard from Singapore to Khawr Fakkan. We refreshed our knowledge on rigging bosun’s chairs and stages and general seamanship, including learning about the cranes, which involved moving empty pallets around with the provisions crane.

The duct keel was a new experience for me. It was a long way down there, via a lot of ladders and it was an even longer trip back up out of the duct keel. I assisted in the removal of the ballast valves, mainly with passing tools between the two working areas and rigging strops and chain blocks.

All the officers onboard were kind enough to help me out with any problems I came up against with regard to my studies. They were really helpful and without their assistance, I would have struggled.

Thank you for the help!