Pirate Press - Pouring KaoHsiung 20 Jul edition

Finally managed to arrive into KaoHsiung in one piece yesterday afternoon. It is never really comforting to see a 330m ship flexing like a piece of ruler inthe rough seas off Taiwan.

Typhoon Haitang have left Taiwan at a standstill for a day and many shipsdelayed and obviously many clients anxious for their cargoes. The ship willbe definitely be late for Hong Kong and Shekou, if anything of this schedule goes by.

My Taiwanese supper yesterday was washed away by the torrential rain. Not inthe literal sense but the pouring rains left a wet blanket over my appetite.The stevedore's offer to ferry me out on his mini-scooter had to be turned down.

It was nice of him to offer me the ride out, but to make him scoot me thereand back in the pouring rain for my stomach, seems rather unjustified.

Just to think after 11 long days (it did seemed terribly long this timethough... probably due to the bad weather outside prior arrival to Taiwan) Iwas warming up to a nice warm meal ashore and the rains just had to washeverything off... Tsk tsk... seems like the heavens do not think too highly of my late night supper.

Eventually I ended up munching on Amos cookies and more dry rations in my cabin for my supper. So much for my Taiwanese treats.

As at press time, Typhoon Haitang have been degraded to TS (tropical storm)and have made its way into the Fujian province. Tracking her have beenstressful. There was a point of time when it made a round-about turn.... anda possiblity of it making its way towards us. No doubt the ship is big andrelatively new, still the forces of nature are not to be written off easily.

Time for my siesta. So much for now.

This is your Pirate Press editior, signing off for now.

Pirate Press - Foggy Kurils, Foggy Hokkaido 15 Jul edition

15 Jul 2005

The cold/cool climate over these two areas coupled with the retarding oftime have subconsciously led this editor to two situations:

- perpetually hungry, (I appear to be hungry and start snacking almost immediately after meals on most occasions)

- sudden onset of drowsiness at scheduled timings of the day. (If anyone recalls how Garfield reacts when he gets nap attack... well, that is about what happens to me)

I can imagine why bears go into hibernation. At this moment, I too feel like hibernating ... but of course, after a decent good meal *yawns*

---
As this is the first time I have ever done this route on a ship, the geography of the area do attract and take up a lot of my attention.First there was the Aleutian Islands, off Alaska. Then the ship waltzed through the Sea of Okhotsk. Presently amidst this foggy and forever foggy area off the disputed Kurils Islands and Hokkaido, it does seem to enliven the routine run of this vessel.

You may have seen the movie Constantine... now see for yourself CapeConstantine (located in Alaska). Look for the accompanying picture that follows after this print.

Over the years of poring over charts, I have come across many interestedplaces with much more interesting names.

I recall of a mountain down in the vicinity of Melbourne, Australia named asMount Singapore. My initial reaction is "Huh? Singapore here??"Indeed, the navigators and explorers of the past sure have a knack forallocating names to places.

---
My hours daily and nightly are spent peering over the radars these days.There is nothing really I can really see with this fog; the fore part of the ship (a distance of 270m) being perpetually engulfed by the fog. The BBC shortwave is still covering the recent bomb blast incident and SG shortwave can be picked up with plenty of static noise in the latter part ofthe evening, almost close to midnight local time here. So much for sidelined entertainment.

Around in the "neighbourhood"... not exactly around... there is a typhoon Hai Tang hanging off in the Pacific; its path have been extensively covered by the meteorological agency in Japan.

The agency is one of the best around and their reports and predictions are second to none in this Asia Pacific theatre

The vessel would not feel the full force of the typhoon itself. Going into the typhoon on a ship is contemplating suicide; no sane sailor would want to do it if he have any other choice.

If you cannot imagine how a ship goes through a typhoon, a short glimpse can be seen in the movie "The Perfect Storm" albeit slightly exaggerated in the movies.

So much for this edition. This is your Pirate Editor signing off.

Pirate Press - A note from the editor 13 Jul

As the ship steadily made her way up to the Aleutians Islands and crossedthe International Date Line and into the waters of frigid Russian waters,the persistent fog that was aplenty before when crossing towards sunny California, remained the same.

Apart from free sessions of whale-and-dolphins-watching off the coast ofCalifornia, there is really nothing interesting these days. Thus the editor had been deliberating on what to write on these days.

The existing blog, after some consideration, would still keep its name buthowever the contents would be revamped slightly. What will remain would becopies of Pirate Press posted up accumulated over the voyage period of 42 days.

Four months on this run; three more to knock down before I can see that bigbreak ahead of me. Already aches and pains are surfacing these days...probably from the lack of good rest and the adjustment of clocks to various time zones daily can mess up a rather-synchronised body clock.

Till next issue, this is your editior reporting from the Sea of Okhotsk inthe Russian neighbourhood.

Pirate Press - "About a Seaman" edition

Seaman

Between the innocence of infancy
and the recklessness of adultery comes that
unique specimen of humanity known as a Seaman.

Seaman can be found in Bars; in Arguments; in Bed;
in Debt and intoxicated.

They are tall, short, fat, thin, dark, fair
but never Normal.

They hate ships' food, chief engineers, writing letters,
sailing onSaturdays and dry ships.

They like receiving mail, pay off day, nudepin-ups,
sympathy, complaining and beer.

A seaman's secret ambition is to change places
with the owner for one trip,to own a brewery and to be loved by everyone in the world.

A seaman is a Sir Galahad in a Japanese brothel,
a psychologist with"Readers' Digest" on the table,
Don Quixote with a discharge book,
the saviour of mankind with his back teeth awash,
Valentino with a fiver in his pocket
and democracy personified in a Red Chinese prison cell.

A seaman is a provider in war and a parasite in peace.
No one is subject toso much abuse, wrongly accused,
so often misunderstood by so many as a seaman.

He has the patience of Job,
the honesty of a fool
and the heaven sent ability to laugh at himself.

When he returns home from a long voyage
no one else but a Seaman
can create such an atmosphere
and laughing as he walks through the door
with the magic words on his lips :

Have you got the Ale in there ?

---

This was found when I went through the backup copy of my files on my computer.
It was taken off my ship many many years ago and re-reading itmade me laugh once again.
Of course, not all written about the seaman is true...
but I would see myself among what was written :)

Have a good read!

Syn