Life on an oil tanker: Pirates and hecklers
August 20th, 2009 | Life at Sea merchant ships Pirates | Posted by Andrew Scutro
Capt. Baig, of the oil tanker M.T. Dorado, said he has dealt with ship hijackers off Africa and radio hecklers at sea. //Sheila Vemmer, Navy Times
ABOARD AL BASRA OIL TERMINAL IN THE PERSIAN GULF — If there is one thing that really scares mariners these days, it’s the risk of hijackers off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden. For Capt. Baig, the Pakistani skipper of the 21-year-old Korean-built very large crude carrier M.T. Dorado, his list of responsibilities include the ship, its cargo, his crew and even protection of the marine environment. “Everything is connected to each other,” he said. His ship was tied up at ABOT filling up with oil before heading to offload it in India when he explained the modern dangers.
“Transiting Somalia is a big question now,” he said. “They have a mother ship.” If attacked, he said, “”We use the fire hose, some manuevering techniques and call coaliton forces.”
His chief officer, Sarvar Patankar, said seagoing colleagues stay up all night when passing the east coast of Africa for fear of hijacking. “My friends have been through it and they say it is really like hell.” An ominous poster in the passageway shows creepy seagoing bandits sliding onto the deck of a ship at night. It would give a child nightmares.
Mariners like Patankar and Baig contend with the same issues at sea that the U.S. Navy does, and in this area that includes the mythical radio heckler(s) known by the collective but derogatory handle, ”The Filipino Monkey.”
Baig said the verbal skirmishes last all night. “This part of the world, they still have a long way to go to be civilized. What is right is right. What is wrong is wrong.” He tells his crew to not get involved in the silly fracas. He tells them, “You are fighting on the VHF. There is no point. You don’t know who the man is.”
As captain, Baig has a four-month contract then gets to go home in Pakistan for a few months until he gets another ship. He has mixed feelings about being at sea. The pay is good. “But on the family life, everybody suffers, because our family life is disturbed. Attention from father, this we cannot give,” he said. “You don’t get everything you want, you know. You have to be lucky.”
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