Another day of smooth seas. The Second Engineer has the cabin next to us and
is very friendly. His name is Alin and he is Ukrainian. He took four of us down to
the main deck and through a door into the engine room. The noise and the heat
were awful. He handed us all gloves and earmuffs. We descended four stories
to reach the bottom of the engine which had eight huge cylinders and burns
seventy tonnes of fuel oil per day. The fuel tanks hold 1800 tonnes. We were
standing fifteen meters below sea level. We watched the drive shaft pass
through three main bearings before it exits to drive the propeller directly at
about eighty RPM. Alin said the motors down there provide everything on the
ship except food: drive for the rudder, desalinated water, elecricity at varying
voltages, power for the hundreds of refrigerated containers, hydraulic and air
pressure power for tools.In the afternoon the seas got rougher and it started to rain.
SMOOTH SEAS
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