Just another venture in this wild wild world with my blog, tracking down new happenings with my personal experiences!
From: mumbai, maharashtra, India
About me: Hey Guys this is Nitin Pandita, blogging my way through boredom...;-) MY Funda is... “Borrow money from a pessimist - they don't expect it back!!!”
More..
Monday, September 29, 2008,9/29/2008 10:42:00 PM
Captain John Nash was wondering on how calm this part of Indian Ocean has been since few days, but something was not right about it. He had just taken over from the Chief Officer to navigate his ship through the ‘gulf of Aden’(between Somali and Yemen), so that the CO can catch a good night’s rest for himself.
[It was 6 a.m. but the captain was awake early, he knew the CO would be exhausted after navigating the ship at night. But maybe it was his family that did not let him sleep. He had been 4 months on the ship and away from his wife and 1 yr old daughter, who had even started walking (as said by his wife on the phone). He missed the cries of his daughter and occasional laughter, which would fill his heart with unbounded joy when he made funny faces at her. He missed the touch of his wife, Just a month more to go (he reminded himself). 31 yr old Nash was by no means an experienced Master but he had the confidence, ability to lead a pack in crisis.
A sweeper on the ship had made a cardinal error by considering the captain as young and weak and he simply disobeyed his orders. The captain’s punishment had more than shock surprised the cadets, CO, and other officers. The cadets from that day onwards started looking up to him. The CO did not question the captain’s authority anymore. But Nash other than being responsible was fun-loving (which suggested that he was young). On quite days, they celebrated with crates of beer and games and of course ragging the cadets which was a part of career in Navy. They believed this (ragging) made them tough nuts, which was necessary when you are on ship away from family for long months. The cadets were sometimes made to dance to the tunes of old classic songs in Tribal Wear and to say the least photographed doing it! Every cadet had a crossing the line (equator) ceremony to perform! The ceremony would go according to the captain’s wishes. In this case Nash made one cadet a guy and other a beautiful girl, wherein the guy is trying to woo her girl. The girl has to try her best to avoid the guy! the play which used to unfold would have everybody gripping their stomachs with laughter.
He wondered what a lucrative contract he had ended up with the American Company. It never occurred to him that taking an Oil Tanker off Somalia would pay him enough to live luxuriously for an entire year! But nothing had prepared him for what was coming.]
Captain John decided to have a good look at the ship by going at the bridge, the place from where the ship could be commanded (navigation room from where a ship is conned). Everything seemed smooth. He could see vast expanse of the sea, other than few skiffs here and there. It did struck him that a skiff and so deep in the ocean! They had definitely been offloaded from a big mother ship probably a big fishing boat. He tried spotting fishing nets so as to avoid them, but could not find any. He noticed the boats getting close to his ship without much of an effort. He paused for another moment. And then he realized what was going on, at first he could not believe it. He called for high powered binoculars from a cadet. He asked the 2nd officer to wake up the Chief Officer. 2nd officer suggested, “Sir Officer Wiley must be asleep in his cabin…” Captain interjected, “tell him it’s an emergency!”
Nash did not waste any time he immediately sent off a SOS to nearby (newly formed) Somalian coast guard, but did not expect an immediate aid. He had to do something now, he wished he never had to do; he had to tell his crew members that ‘They are under a Pirate Attack!’
The skiffs were connected to each other via a long thin rope, which very much unknown to the captain his ship pulled. The ship was right at the centre of the rope pulling the two skiffs along. Thus the skiffs came close to each other as the angle of the rope started decreasing(as the ship moved further pulling the skiffs side by side, forming a triangle with the ship at its apex and the skiffs forming the two sides!). The rope was very thin and not clearly visible considering the size of the ship. The trap had been laid and the captain with his crew walked right into it! It was a work of a genius, since the region had seen its first pirate attack and unfortunately for Nash, his ship was the first one to come under fire.
The CO cried, “They have rocket launchers!” The Captain in complete disbelief had first thought that they may have small arms. It was his greatest test yet…..
To be continued..:-P
This is my first attempt with a proper story...hope it’s not bad!
[It was 6 a.m. but the captain was awake early, he knew the CO would be exhausted after navigating the ship at night. But maybe it was his family that did not let him sleep. He had been 4 months on the ship and away from his wife and 1 yr old daughter, who had even started walking (as said by his wife on the phone). He missed the cries of his daughter and occasional laughter, which would fill his heart with unbounded joy when he made funny faces at her. He missed the touch of his wife, Just a month more to go (he reminded himself). 31 yr old Nash was by no means an experienced Master but he had the confidence, ability to lead a pack in crisis.
A sweeper on the ship had made a cardinal error by considering the captain as young and weak and he simply disobeyed his orders. The captain’s punishment had more than shock surprised the cadets, CO, and other officers. The cadets from that day onwards started looking up to him. The CO did not question the captain’s authority anymore. But Nash other than being responsible was fun-loving (which suggested that he was young). On quite days, they celebrated with crates of beer and games and of course ragging the cadets which was a part of career in Navy. They believed this (ragging) made them tough nuts, which was necessary when you are on ship away from family for long months. The cadets were sometimes made to dance to the tunes of old classic songs in Tribal Wear and to say the least photographed doing it! Every cadet had a crossing the line (equator) ceremony to perform! The ceremony would go according to the captain’s wishes. In this case Nash made one cadet a guy and other a beautiful girl, wherein the guy is trying to woo her girl. The girl has to try her best to avoid the guy! the play which used to unfold would have everybody gripping their stomachs with laughter.
He wondered what a lucrative contract he had ended up with the American Company. It never occurred to him that taking an Oil Tanker off Somalia would pay him enough to live luxuriously for an entire year! But nothing had prepared him for what was coming.]
Captain John decided to have a good look at the ship by going at the bridge, the place from where the ship could be commanded (navigation room from where a ship is conned). Everything seemed smooth. He could see vast expanse of the sea, other than few skiffs here and there. It did struck him that a skiff and so deep in the ocean! They had definitely been offloaded from a big mother ship probably a big fishing boat. He tried spotting fishing nets so as to avoid them, but could not find any. He noticed the boats getting close to his ship without much of an effort. He paused for another moment. And then he realized what was going on, at first he could not believe it. He called for high powered binoculars from a cadet. He asked the 2nd officer to wake up the Chief Officer. 2nd officer suggested, “Sir Officer Wiley must be asleep in his cabin…” Captain interjected, “tell him it’s an emergency!”
Nash did not waste any time he immediately sent off a SOS to nearby (newly formed) Somalian coast guard, but did not expect an immediate aid. He had to do something now, he wished he never had to do; he had to tell his crew members that ‘They are under a Pirate Attack!’
The skiffs were connected to each other via a long thin rope, which very much unknown to the captain his ship pulled. The ship was right at the centre of the rope pulling the two skiffs along. Thus the skiffs came close to each other as the angle of the rope started decreasing(as the ship moved further pulling the skiffs side by side, forming a triangle with the ship at its apex and the skiffs forming the two sides!). The rope was very thin and not clearly visible considering the size of the ship. The trap had been laid and the captain with his crew walked right into it! It was a work of a genius, since the region had seen its first pirate attack and unfortunately for Nash, his ship was the first one to come under fire.
The CO cried, “They have rocket launchers!” The Captain in complete disbelief had first thought that they may have small arms. It was his greatest test yet…..
To be continued..:-P
This is my first attempt with a proper story...hope it’s not bad!
