Africain Chronicles II - Entering the Med 09-03-06

Well, there is not allot to report this time around, so anyone looking for a shorter version of the African Chronicles may celebrate:) Today is Sunday 8:43pm my time, your time is 12:43pm. Every other day we advance our clocks one hour, so I am guessing we will advance 3 more times before arriving in Israel.

Today we entered the Mediterranean. I was on deck power washing the starboard aft when the boson came up to me and asked if I wanted to steer the ship. Of course I said yes. I went up after taking a quick shower (they hate dirty people up there LOL) I relieved the guy on watch and I steered us from the Atlantic into the Med. I got a good look at part of the Atlas mountain range. Actually I saw one huge mountain rising up from the surf but, that was part of the range. It was on the Morocco side. The visibility was a heavy haze even though this was in the early evening.

As we entered we could see Spain on the left and Morocco on the right but as we got further in Spain became impossible to see. So unfortunately I did not see the Rock of Gibraltar as everyone was hoping to see. I did see several dolphins again, this time in the Med. They were pretty small and at first I thought they were some type of fish I hadn't seen before but, then they started jumping high out of the water and we all knew they were dolphins. They may have been babies, or they just grow smaller in the Med. The drama in the Steward department continues. On Deck we call it... As The Stomach Turns... I will fill you in later on that though. This email will sit in the system for a while and will be read I am sure by some nosy person in the dept. So I will send that when I know the send time will be quick.

We are expected to hit Israel on the 8th. We will not get any shore time while there. The good news I suppose is that we are not going to Haifa's port. We will be more south and farther from Lebanon, I can't remember the name of the port off hand but, I am sure I couldn't spell it if I did :) We are going in fast, unloading fast and leaving fast. Actually I wish we would have a little port time, I am a little divided whether or not I can say I've been to Israel when all I see is a dock LOL. Anyway, once the Bagels are delivered its off to the Suez, Oman, Kenya and Tanzania with a refuel stop in Durban, South Africa. I hope everyone is doing well, write me if you feel like it.

Jesse

This episode of the African Chronicles Part II has been brought to you by TIDE, Tide, when it's in we can go. Tide, a brackish freshness for the whole family.

African Chronicles II - North Carolina, Wilmington/Sunny Point

LOADED - Locks, Stocks and 2 Smokin' Bagels!

Today is the 26th, Saturday. Yesterday we finally left North Carolina and began our journey eastward. Wilmington NC seemed to be a pretty neat town. Horse drawn wagons for tourists and the battle ship NC there to see. The river although very brown is flanked by very attractive terrain and is beautiful to see. The mouth of the river to the Atlantic is narrow and it was interesting to see all the people fishing on the banks and people looking from their home windows to see us enter the river. If not for the heat and humidity North Carolina would be a nice place for a home. But like the rest of the south, the weather makes it not for me.

Our first port was in Wilmington. While there we loaded 6 boats for the Kenya Navy. What ever you do, don't mess around with the navy in Kenya, well unless you got something sharp enough to deflate their boats. It took awhile to get them all to the ship, I guess when we arrived one of the boats was still on a truck in the Midwest, but by the next evening they were all there and we got them all loaded. As soon as they were loaded we departed that dock and sailed about 3 hours back the way we came to Sunny Point.

At Sunny Point we loaded our cargo for our first port. The Stewart department continued its chaos while in NC. The Chief cook this time decided to quit. That was probably a good decision on his part because the general thought was that if he did not quit he'd be fired. It got tiring after a while trying to avoid him when he would arrive on the deck. He is a black guy from the south. It has always been near impossible for me to understand what he is saying, but even tougher after he began his drinking binges, and boy does he have allot to say when he is drunk! The Stewart dept. is fully loaded now, but we will see how it all works out. The Chief Steward is an older lady named Robin, I am hoping she has an easier time of it now, she deserves a break.

The whole loading thing in NC kept all of us up for well over 24 hours and I was more than ready to take to my rack when it was over. Unfortunately as I type this I am washing my sheets because being so tired I missed a big grease spot on the back of my leg when I showered, so I woke up with black greasy sheets LOL. But I slept well :) My favorite part of the voyage is right now. I like the being underway part of sailing the best, the work is plenty but not near as much stress.

Well, now off to Israel, but probably no chance to get off the ship there. I wish we had at least one day to go out and see a little. Then off to Oman to deliver one boat for their navy. After Oman it's Kenya, which everyone is looking forward to, followed by Tanzania. I hope your all doing well and having a good time. Miss ya all and will prolly see yas sometime in October.

Jesse

Africain Chronicals II - 08-19-06 Galveston

On the morning of the 17th we left Galveston and set sail for the east coast of the US.

Galveston was a nice town; well nice as a town can be for Texas anyway. The heat and humidity just killed me most days. The dock we were loading at just made it worse. Dust from the grain going into the cargo holds was so thick at times you could not see 20 feet. So you sweat from the heat while choking on the dust, not very pleasant at all. I did get a chance to go to the bar where the margarita was invented for Peggy Lee, and ZZ Top apparently played there while they were still just a band from Houston. Unfortunately I forgot to order a Margarita.

Almost 1/2 our crew is new this time around. Our SA (Steward Assistant) quit on us when we arrived in Galveston, and today the replacement has just announced he is quitting. I have a feeling his boy friend will be happy to have him home (note: This guy actually stayed and was later fired in Kenya).

While at dock the company seemed to have made an error. They hired several workers to come aboard to do maintenance work. But they failed to hire from the union pool. These guys worked for 3 days before the Co. took any action. The Co. should have called our hall to fill any extra positions according to the contract. Now that the union has cleared things up it looks like Joy and I are the beneficiaries of the error. For every hour each of the non-union workers worked Joy and I get an 1/2 hour of overtime. It worked out that we each got over 90 hours just for the time the workers were here. Almost to bad that they didn't stay longer ;)

While in Galveston, besides loading grain for Africa we also loaded a boat on deck for Oman. It appears we will be getting 6 more boats soon for Kenya. So on this trip we will be carrying 7 boats on deck with about 60 containers besides the grain. When we leave North Carolina we will be heading to Israel, Oman, Kenya, Tanzania and refuel in South Africa and then head home.

Most people are guessing that we should be home by the end of October or early November. I was told by the Chief Engineer that there was a pool going for our return date and time. I would have gotten into it except that he said it was $100 winner takes all. LOL $100 seemed a bit steep to me especially since other guys have the advantage of charts and experience making these runs, I guess the captain is not allowed to play LOL. I choose to not loose so I am not playing that game :)

Well my lunch time is just about over so I need to run. I will write again soon, and I hope all of you are doing well. Take care. Jesse

African Chronicles - Somewhere in the Atlantic 8-01-06

Time now for another episode of the African Chronicles!!!

(Music, Fanfare> and rolling drums) Brought to you by the weird and wacky people aboard the SS Wilson.

Well, it looks like next Tuesday we will arrive in Texas to pick up our next load. It appears however we may be delayed for a time before we can leave to shore. Three days ago, despite our best efforts at searching the ship upon leaving each port, we have found two stowaways.

They claim to have boarded the ship 8 days before they were discovered, they claim to have had no food and no water and the say they were hiding in our starboard life boat. None of there claims have been valid so far as we can tell. When they were found they were laying out on the #2 hatch cover and were seen coming down from the bow (we were underway 3 days already).

This hatch is way forward of the house which carries the lifeboat. They both looked healthy, not like they have been without water for 8 days or food for that matter. We did another extensive search and found tarps in the forward rope locker that look as if made into beds. The two are now locked in a cabin, but there are suspicions that there are others aboard, but we sure can't find them. Stowaways on this vessel have been known to hide in air ducks and other places only a skinny person can fit. Unfortunately we were to far from Africa to turn around and take them back, and the company had no other ships heading near us to transfer them to. This means we have to take them home with us. It may mean that when we get back to US waters we may be detained by the Coast Guard, Homeland Security, INS and who knows who else.

Rumor has it we could spend as much as two weeks at anchor before we can even dock, but it is possible everything can be taken care of in a day. It will be interesting to see what happens. At very least we expect dogs to search the entire ship we return. We gave up searching for the others (if their here), we will let the dogs find them.

On another note: Hold cleaning is in full swing now. Joy and I have formed our own team to clean the holds. The AB's, 3 of them are the other team. Today we finished #3 and we will skip forward to #5 in the morning. Chances are the AB's will never leave the one they are working in. I tried helping them the 1st day, but when they insisted on using buckets to empty water from the Rose boxes* I gave up. I hauled up about 30 buckets of water by rope (expecting more like 5), I suggested a pump about 3 times to those idiots, but they wanted to use buckets.

Are people born that stupid or is it environment? Hummm..... Well Joy and I use pumps in our holds LOL, were kicking some ass.

What is a rose box you ask? Well, the holds have several levels to them. One stage of cleaning is a fire hose wash down from the top level working all the way to the bottom. The goal is to get all the loose cargo (wheat, sorghum, rice etc..) off of the overheads, bulkheads to the bottom of the hold.

The Rose Box is the lowest space within the hold, so the water and some cargo flow to this box. If you have enjoyed the Scent of fermenting and rotting wet wheat then you may know the irony of calling it a Rose Box. This stuff STINKS!!!! Funny though, the wheat grows in nothing. When we first loaded the wheat we had a downpour in Texas, some grain rolled with the water to the gangway area and the next day we had a lawn on the deck. Now down in the holds I was sweeping, I lifted a hatch lid that was set to the side. Under the lid all the grain sprouted, I was looking at a 20 pound patch of wheat sprouts (the sprouts stink too). So far I found wheat needs no soil and no light to grow. A little rust and water works fine. So here is another question.

How is it that Africa cannot grow this crap? Surely they can find some rust and a little water somewhere! Now your probably saying "Jesus, Jesse's got way to much time on his hands!"

LOL okay, I think it's time for Ice Cream then bed. I will write again soon. Miss ya'll

Jesse

African Chronicles - Tema, Ghana 07-27-06

5.41N 0.0W

African Chronicles cont..

Today we set sail out of Ghana. Tema was probably the best port so far. Although the people are still extremely poor they seem to have more since of pride than the people at the previous ports.

The city was cleaner the roads better and more people seemed to be happier.

Oh and the good news!!! at a local casino, I won over 1,000,000.00 Since I am a day worker, the only places open for me to visit at these ports are bars and casinos. At the Bars you are required to buy at least one of the seven (mostly good looking) women drinks when they claim you as their "customer". Even if you don't want to spend the evening with the ladies or lady your getting stuck with their tab. So the casino is a nice option, drinks are free and the working girls are bringing the drinks not drinking them. Any way it was quite a thrill to win a Million!!!

The next day, Joy, the Cadet (Travis) and I went to a great Chinese dinner (Great by the way, go figure, great Chinese in Ghana) the bill was nearly 700,000.00 LOL.... $100.00 us \ 1 million crazy bucks here.

English is spoken in Ghana which makes things easier. I think all the French speaking African nations really make things more difficult. The Damn French even managed to screw up countries in Africa LOL.

Yesterday was a long ass day, worked 9 hours of OT. Hardest part was from 6am to 11:00, not even a water break for me. We had a runner wire part on us in the middle of the night, so when morning came we had to get that fixed so cargo could continue to be unloaded, then as soon as that was almost done the port made us shift the ship to make room for another one. It was defiantly a long day.

At each port, as the the Cargo Holds are emptied we hire local guys to go in and pre-clean. We try to get them to clean all the grain out as best as possible, and to remove some of the lovely stuff left in them as mentioned in a previous email. Unfortunately that is not the end for cleaning the holds. Soon it will be an all hands job for the crew, I will be heading down with broom, vacuum and fire hose in hand to clean all 7 holds. We will need to pass inspection by the Cargo Police when we get back to the US.

Right now we are headed to Ivory Coast to meet up with a Bunker Barge to refuel. We should meet it about 10pm tonight, so I am allowed to get some rest today. As we refuel over night I will be on a rotating watch with Joy to check all our fuel vents. Got to prevent those nasty oil spills. After we refuel we head straight to Galveston, TX.

My hand is getting better. I can move all my fingers and my wrist is more flexible, but it still hurts like a &%t$%r F*^#!e* . I got some meds while in Tema at a pharmacy, but it was sort of like playing wheel of fortune picking out what would help me. All the meds are European. Seemed like German and French were the most common packaging. We could not figure out a word for vicoden or oxycodone or any combinations of pain killers. I eventually think I got something with some codeine in it LOL.... does not help the hand all that much, but at night I can fall asleep with out waking up every time I move it.

Thanks for the emails, it's nice to read something from home now and then .

Take care you all.

Jesse

African Chronicles - Cotonou, Benin 07-22-06

Well, here we sit at anchor. We have been on the hook for over 2 days now waiting to go into Benin. There are several other ships out here also waiting. It appears that the dock workers are on strike. Seems a bit odd that a country that needs food aid would have workers bold enough to strike, but I hear rumors that they have been working very long days for sometime now with no days off... I can only guess that they are concerned about safety. No one aboard knows for sure when we will get in.

Today I saw 2 ships that appeared to give up and leave. Right now the cargo for our last port is covered by the cargo for this one, so I am unsure if we can give up and go as well. My hand and wrist are getting better. I can hold stuff with my right hand now, but still painful to tie my shoes and use keys in locks, but I can hold that darn fork now LOL.... :) I think it will be back to normal very soon. I am still working hard, I have missed no time off due to my hand. Continuing to also do my overtime work, although I have been slowed down a bit, I still manage.

My right forearm is getting tired of the vertical ladders though. I have to wrap that arm around them to climb since I can not grip the rungs. I think by Monday (hopefully) I will be climbing them like I did b4 the accident.

While in Cameroon I did get a chance to get off the ship b4 we left. I headed out with Andy (Boson) and hit the casino. In Cameroon while playing 21 don't be surprised if the casino gets ya...LOL... I was playing 2 spots, boson 1. For me A,10 A,10 for boson A, 10 Dealer 10 up she does not pay us for black jack, does not offer insurance but turns over an Ace for a push on all 3 hands. We stopped playing, drank our free drinks and got out LOL.

Anyway, doing my laundry right now, and I need to head up to the library, 3 days ago I started reading Dark Tower I - The Gunslinger and I finished it tonight, I really need to find out if we got the next one on board... if not it's gonna drive me battly LOL.

It was good to hear from ya Beth... Tell John I said hello, and tell Kelly to stop eating thermometers! Off to the Library...

Jesse

2nd email>

Africa as seen from the SS Wilson by Jesse, Chapter 6.34.2 something or other...

(humm okay, not going to write the book, just an email..)

Well, as a recap, we dropped off food aid to Lome', Togo then sailed to Lobito, Angola then luckily we skipped Luanda, Angola and headed straight to Douala, Cameroon. This Tuesday we anchored outside of Cotonou, Benin (say coat-a new Ben eeen)

We were anchored there till late Thursday evening, several other ships were also anchored and waiting to get into the port. On Thursday we learned that one ship had been sitting there since the 25th of last month. Apparently they did not understand that in Africa you have to pay a bribe to get in. So we cut right in front of that ship, and caused another that was already at the dock to have to move to anchor for us. (I bet those guys were angry with us lol) Well we got our spot and it looks like we will be unloaded by early Sunday morning (9 hours from my typing this).

We finished docking around 3am and I was up again at 7:30 am....No rest for the day crew LOL Anyway, tonight I worked overtime as usual, but this time its the first port I did not go out to see. I can say with certainty that no one the likes of an Einstein, Curry, Franklin or even some one as bright as PeeWee Herman is ever going to come out of this place. Not to many bright people here.

The dock workers here are the ones that unload our cargo. They go into the holds, to work but are to lazy to come out of the holds to go urinate or defecate. They will do this in the holds, on the food, which later they themselves fill their pockets with and take home to their families. The ones that don't do this, don't mind at all that the others do, and they too will take home the food to their tables.

We hire extra labor while at each port to help clean the holds when empty and do some painting etc... The guy who arranges and organizes the group that will work for us wears a suite (well nice clothing anyway). This guy took a dump right on the bow of the ship! Joy, my working partner says "They stooopid and they Stink!" I would like to think that the availability of water is the problem for the stinking, but perhaps it is soap. I was asked by a guy today, "Please, please..(puts his hands to his face) Please, please Soap, please may I beg for soap?"

Well, that of course got me moving quickly to my cabin to get the man a nice new bar of Camay. I know people in Africa are hungry, but I think we should not be sending food that they just piss in, we should be sending them shiploads of Lava and Irish Spring. Now don't get me wrong, many of these men work pretty hard and many are very nice, its just that you want them to be nice from about 16 feet away. One guy today was working butt naked in the holds (he had clothing, he just took them off prior to working), others just wonder around in the skimpiest of underwear. Joy does not appreciate that at all LOL... What's worse is they all want to marry her (I guess Philippine women are much desired in Africa LOL) She don't desire no Africans LOL... it's pretty funny (if your not Joy).

Tomorrow we set sail for Tima, Ghana. I am told this will be a nice port and I am defiantly going out to see it. It should only take a few hours after leaving here to arrive there. Once we are unloaded there it is back to the states. I guess it has been confirmed, we will pick up bulk grain in Galveston, TX and deliver to Tanzania and Kenya. East Africa! This should be a good run, only two ports which makes the work a bit easier and we get to see the Africa the rest of the world wants to see. I am told that while in Kenya we well be able to go on Safari. Guess I got to get that Video camera as soon as I hit Galveston. :) Well, I am going to turn in for the night.

Holy crap!!! I did write a book after all.

humm sorry 'bout that.

Thinking of you all Jesse

African Chronicles - Duala, Cameroon 07-15-06

3°52′N 11°31′E

Jesse James 07-15-06

Ouchy!

Well, First day in Duala, Cameroon did not go quite as well as expected for me.

While docking I was handling the bow spring ling on the gypsyhead, a sudden surge pulled the line just as I was about add a 4th wrap on the gypsy head. The surge caused the line to pull tight towards offshore side, the wraps reversed themselves on the gypsy head pulling my arm and hand with it. I let go b4 my hand could get caught but the action seems to have sprained my right wrist and pulled something or other in my hand. So lucky me the first sight of the town I get is through an ambulance passenger seat. It is defiantly a town I would have liked visiting.

Anyway I got to the doctors office. I was a little nervous when the Doctor had me select a chicken for ritual slaughter but I soon got over that, it was the chanting that really was scary......

Just kidding, the doctor was a good guy, but only sprayed ether all over my hand then wrapped it in a bandage, no x-ray. My wrist hurts pretty badly, but hoping it will be better tomorrow or the next day. It would have been nice had the Dr. prescribed some pain killers, but no luck there. Well, since I missed the big shopping excursion for the trip, I am now holding out for the evening, I guess there is a casino in town serving free drinks LOL, that should dull the pain. ;) I am fine, just a bit of pain so nothing to worry about, just thought I'd share my African adventures :) Well take care and I'll write again soon.

Jesse

I don't think my emails are getting to everyone, but I keep sending them anyway, oh well.....

African Chronicles - Lobito, Angola

LAT: 12 20 S LON: 13 34 E

07-12-06

Still in Lobito, Angola, we may be leaving tonight. I hope we do, this port is getting old and absolutely nothing to see here. 9 days is way to much LOL. If it's on your list to see, I would cross Angola off asap! At least I would cross off Lobito :)

Take care and say... Jume lala toome akanaka shizbangboom to everyone.

Jesse

African Chronicles - Lome', Togo 06-30-06

Latitude: 6° 10', North. Longitude: 1° 21', East

Jesse James 06-30-06

Well tonight we are leaving Togo and now heading to Angola.

Humm. What to say about Lome' Togo..... Well first off, I don't recommend it as a vacation spot LOL. The people are very friendly, as a matter of fact most of them knew me from the last time I was here (I had never been in Africa in my life). Every one wanted me to have a present to take back to my friends for a very good price and several offered me their sisters. In some ways its like everywhere else, there is always someone wanting to sell you a genuine gold Rolex for $20.00.

Just as our ship docked we were inundated with people at the docks wanting work, food, or offering to take you to the town and show you around. No real taxi system to speak of so you rely on one of those guys to take you to town. My guy took a couple of us to town for a couple of drinks. (you are of course obligated to buy your driver and guide drinks and cigarettes while he is working for you) The driver left us for a while then came back with his sister... she was to be "my friend", so now it was drinks for the guide, the driver and his sister. Every one else on board who was given a friend got someones sister who helped them save some money during transactions of any kind. My friend Roberta, only told me I spent to much money after I made a deal.... it's the James luck LOL.

The poverty is something else here. The men hired to take the cargo out of the holds did not leave a bit of rice on the deck. Several got into trouble for trying to steel it (to soon) by filling their pockets to overflowing. We did not mind if they took what was spilled, but they could not do it before the cargo was unloaded, otherwise I imagine every bag of grain would have been busted open.

The workers would sweep the decks and grab what they could. On the shore side they would fill up bags with what could be scraped from the dusty ground then they would clean a small patch of ground, tear a hole in the bottom of the bag and pour the rice out at head level. The wind would push the dirt one way and the rice would fall mostly straight down. [I found this very sad and it was difficult for a few days to learn to deal with this kind of poverty]

So now off to Angola, to see what awaits there... I miss everyone and hope your all having a good time.

Jesse

Introduction

The following posts are emails sent from me while aboard the SS Wilson. Many of the entries are edited to omit personal information not concerning me.

I regret that upon returning to the U.S. all but one picture from West Africa were destroyed in an x-ray machine in Singapore. I begged them to let me carry the camera past the x-ray machine but I was not allowed to do so. Pictures of the 2nd voyage are okay and I will post a few of those once I get to them.

I hope you enjoy the read. Shortly after Christmas I will begin shipping again and I hope to add to these posts as often as possible.