Drill Bits
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2008
1
122
150
Trip End
Dec 20, 2008
Nicobar,
Melaka State,
Malaysia
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Northern Malacca St N 05° 42.5' E 097° 00.8'
I could see the cloud-lined coast of Sumatra off to port as I walked this morning and by 16:00 we're just about past it into the Great Channel and Indian Ocean again. It's still pretty hot but was cloudy for some of the day so being outside was OK earlier; indoors it's pretty sticky.
We had a fairly shambolic drill this morning, delayed from the usual Saturday time due to being only just out of Singapore with new crew yesterday morning. Communications were a bit weak: captain expected us on the bridge first, for a briefing on security procedures when we get further east, but the fact that 20 of us turned up at the muster station shows his telepathic command didn't work. The actual content of the briefing was straightforward - locked doors, extra lookouts, other duties by the watch officers - but it was worth having one. I can't see how to successfully pass on info from Cdr Sparkes - tried twice but I don't think the captain's listening and of course there are company instructions and procedures he has to follow.
After that, we passengers were "dismissed" by first mate, told to come along by steward, told to await instructions by second mate, until finally I directly asked the first mate to reiterate where the others could hear. I rather think that the language problem is underestimated, especially in a noisy environment, and that in any non-routine situation a bit of initiative will be called for even if that would be anathema to the planners.
Sat outside reading for a while in the afternoon, going for a walk when it got too hot. Having sat in my cabin typing for 15 minutes, I now need to go out into the shade on the windward side. I may have to ask them to fill the pool after all!
