Today we are sailing south of Nova Scotia and on towards Boston were we are aiming for a 04.00 pilot station. That is very early but Boston harbor and its approaches are not very deep in certain spots and thus the Rotterdam has to be there before low water to get in on time.  We did not see much until about midday as we had Restricted Visibility.  Very Restricted. Normal practice for this area where as soon as the weather gets a bit warmer, it heats up the air, air over cold water, and bingo a dense white wall starts to form and can last for days. Only when the ship gets further south, where the water is a bit warmer, or we touch the Gulf Stream then it normally clears. In my whole career I think I have never seen the coast of Nova Scotia with my own eyes. Only the contours on the Radar Screen.  As is required by law, the captain then has to sound the ships whistle, once every two minutes to alert other ships to our presence. Radars are very good and can pick up nearly everything but the danger is always in the NEARLY everything. So we honk the horn and offer our apologies to the guests in the suites right under the Radar Mast and or the Funnel.

Having a suite with a balcony high up on the ship with a great view, is wonderful until you get into foggy areas. Then you find out exactly when the captain is working. Thus when I am now rotating over the ships, I do not mind to have an inside cabin or an outside cabin as long as it is tucked away on the lower decks far from where my colleague lets the whole world know that he is hard at work. But that is part of cruising. You have to take the rough with the smooth, the honking of the horn with spectacular scenery which you will get once the veil has lifted.

I was going to explain a bit more about the Safety training which is now compulsory every five years to comply with the international safety regulations. As is always the case, the law sets a minimum standard which gives you the required certificate. Then it is up to the company’s to over and beyond to ensure that the training of the ship’s crew is up to the company standards as well. So when we went on this last training, which is called BST or Basic Safety Training it was just to comply with the regulations and to be re-certified. Proper use of extinguishers, proper use of hoses, maneuvering with lifeboats, swimming and survival in the water.

Survival at Sea. If you are thrown in the water, then you try to get in a group and stay together for easier recognition. This is called a huddle.

Then attached to this were two days of advanced firefighting and that is when the fun came in. Advanced means you have to plan, supervise and control two teams who go into a real fire and have them extinguish it fast, safe and by following the correct procedures.  Two teams of four firefighters, two on the bridge as Command and Control and one who acts as the first response medic for first aid in case the teams find a casualty.

A container simulates a cabin fire very well. And entering has to be done in a very careful way.

On the ships we can only simulate fires and then it is hard to keep focus and you have to a certain extent imagination to visualize what would be going on during a real fire. We use stage smoke and special effects on the ship but it is still a simulation. But now it is real. Black smoke, Heat, unfamiliar layout of the area you are being send into, it all sets the adrenaline going and you can spray water all over the place without having to be afraid that the Hotel Director starts to cry over his wet carpets.  What is the use of this for us as Captains? First of all, to refresh our techniques again and secondly having instructors present who can critique us and give hints of where we can do better. You are never too old to learn something new, or too high in rank that you do not do anything wrong.  It all helps to make the ships safer and that is always the top focus for all of us.

And this you can not do on a ship. Making a real big fire and then extinguish it.

Tomorrow we are in Boston and it is going to be a warm and sunny day 83oF / 28oC. With not much wind so I would not be amazed if the Captain starts telling everybody again that he is working.

All photos courtesy of Falck Firefighting in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

After a leave of 8 weeks of which I lost 2 to trainings, I faced the real world again and joined the ms Rotterdam, flagship of the company, for a three week period which will end in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. From there I will join the ms Koningsdam for the next three weeks. I am on the Rotterdam for a regular visit under what the company calls the On Board Team Support Program which is basically being on board and help out where needed. Be it with extra training, or with organizing some large drills or as is in this case help the ship prepare with an internal audit coming up.

But for those of you who wonder, what does a captain do when on leave? The answer is he goes on training courses. And I was not the only one, see the photo below.  I have blogged in the past about the various regulations under which the ships operations are governed. There is Solas (Safe ships) there is Marpol (No oil over board) there is SCTW (Standards for Training and Certification of Watch keepers) and there is MLC 2006 (Standards for crew)

Four Captains on Training Course. From Left to Right: Emiel de Vries, Master ms Koningsdam, Chris Norman Master on loan to P&O Australia, Albert Schoonderbeek Travelling Master, Hans Mateboer, Master ms Rotterdam. None of us looks very spiffy but wearing a three piece suit to a firefighting course is not recommended at any time.

SCTW has been with us for a long time already (1978 was the year to be exact) and based on experience gained through the last 20 years, an amendment came out in 2010 after a conference in Manila.  As all these rules and amendments have to be absorbed into National Flag State legislation, there are always a number of grace years before the latest rules kick in.  01 Jan. 2017 is the deadline for a large number of new rules under the Manila Amendments to take effect.  The most important ones, at least for captains, is that a number of grandfather clauses (Read experience is enough) will no longer be valid.  As we were firefighting on the ship every week, it was not found necessary until this time that we had this re-certified. Now we have to have a piece of paper which says, that we really can do what we were doing all along.

Thus all officers have to get their licenses recertified by 01 Jan. 2017. If not done, then you are not allowed to sail until the certificate has been renewed.  This deadline left the company and everybody else in a bit of a conundrum. There has to be recertification every 5 years, so everybody tries to go for training as close to the deadline as possible to make the 5 years after 2017 last as long as possible. (I will now last until summer 2021 and might be retired by then) The training facilities around the world can of course not cope with everybody showing up at the last minute and hence some have to go earlier. Thus all the officers whose certificates are expiring or who had Grandfather clauses under which their old certificates remained valid use a period during their leaves in 2016 to get re-certified.

For most captains this meant two things. Getting their Medical Care license (a sort of very extensive First Aid training) renewed and then their SCTW Basic safety training re-certified.  (Messing around with hoses, extinguishers and lifeboats). The last part was Advanced Firefighting and that was for all of us the most interesting part.  Medical Care is a 5 day course which consists out of basic First Aid, having the skill to give injections and know how to set IV drips; and interview patients to come to a correct diagnosis. Not really necessary for somebody who sails on a cruise ship but the law is the law and its makes not exception for Holland America Officers. For learning to make diagnoses, they do not use real patients but they use LOTUS people. These are amateur actors who simulate a disease, or a wound (with some very lifelike special effects) and who then answer your questions and queries. Once an assessment has been made, you have to figure out the correct medication or the right bandage and plan the correct follow up plan. (As at sea it is not so easy to call an ambulance)

Tomorrow a bit more about the firefighting.

The good ship ms Rotterdam under the command of Capt. Marco Carsjens,  is on the last two days of the first left of a loop North Atlantic Cruise Which started in Rotterdam and ends on the 20^th. of July in Boston. There we get new guests on board (but we also have a number who do the whole round trip) and then the ship sails back to Rotterdam, arrival 06 Aug. Tomorrow is a sea day to cover the 342 miles between Halifax and Boston.

Then the Great Day arrived, the dedication of the ms Koningsdam. Yours truly under the able supervision of his lord and master arrived yesterday on the Koningsdam to be present for the dedication of the newest ship of the Holland America Line fleet. The ship arrived yesterday afternoon at 14.00 hrs.  in Rotterdam.

The Koningsdam at sea. Photos of her arrival can be found on the main page of the Hollandamericablog.

Due to its length, she swung around in the Waalhaven about a mile downstream and then went astern to the dock.  The days that the ships could easily swing off the WilhelminaKade are long gone as anything over 700 feet is a challenge. It would be a challenge some captains would not mind to take on but it would be a squeeze for a ship of just under a 1000 feet. Thus the longer ships swing on arrival or on departure and then have to go astern to the berth or from the berth. We had the chance to watch the Koningsdam while standing on the stern of the ss Rotterdam docked just south of the Cruise terminal. 

The dedication of the ms Koningsdam was all concentrated on this morning with first poring of a glass of Holland America Champagne over the ships bell followed by the real dedication in the show lounge. Although the World Stage can take 600 guests it was not big enough to have all the invitees there, all the guests, and a fair number of crew as well. Luckily the Lido deck of the Koningsdam is two stories high so you can have a lot of people in there. What was not live to see for the various groups could be followed on screens and that worked very well. The whole operation was meticulously organized and flawlessly executed.

Queen Maxima arrives in the Lido. partly obscured by the Captain. which is correct as a gentleman always walk at the left side of a Lady.

Her Majesty Queen Maxima of the Netherlands arrived at 10.30 and first went to the Lido Deck for the Bell & Champagne part of the dedication.

Queen Maxima, about to pour the champagne over the ships bell.

This is not the first time we have done this on a HAL ship. The Statendam of 1957 was christened/dedicated in the same way by then time Crown Princess Beatrix. The mother of the current King. This was done as the Statendam V was built in a dry dock and thus a traditional launching was not possible.  Not a bad reason to keep this link with the past, as it flowed over into the current day. Not only for the bell but also for the old Statendam name.

A link with the past. Crown Princess poring champagne on the bell of the Statendam IV.

Orlando Ashford our president announced during his speech in the World Stage that the new name of the sister ship of the Koningsdam would be the Nieuw Statendam. The idea and logic behind this was to continue a traditional company name while at the same time indicating the future of the cruise business.

Holland America Lines president Mr. Orlando Ashford announcing the name of the sistership.

Hence Nieuw Statendam.  I do like this, as the name can be pronounced by everybody without having to deal with a Dutch tongue twister and still give a modern twist to it.

While in the Lido the Queen was also asked to sign the “Wall of Fame” which should eventually have the signatures of everybody who was on board today. As a result there were long lines later in the day which lasted until late in the afternoon. The panels will eventually be placed in the ship and remain there. Again a link back to the past as the same was done when the Nieuw Amsterdam (IV) came into service in 2010.

A short movie about the port of Rotterdam which also included a shot of the ss Rotterdam V.

From the Lido the Queen was escorted to the World stage for the official ceremony. For reasons unknown to me, I had about the best seat in the house and an almost straight view onto the centre stage hence I can now put my own photos on line. A small orchestra played an intro while on the back screen a short movie played about the city of Rotterdam. This was followed by the National anthems of the Netherlands and the USA in a classical orchestration.

44 crew with their nations flag coming down the stairs.

With the limited space available not too many crew could be present but this was solved by having 44 crew marching in (and out) each with the national flag depicting his or her own nationality. Currently we have 44 nationalities on board although of some of them there is only one representative on board and thus that one person “was volunteered” to represent his or her country. But…………. Who would even think about refusing even if the rehearsing went on until the deep of last night. The final two flags were from the Netherlands and the USA both carried by a Lady crewmember.

Mr. Stein Kruse with a few words of welcome to the Queen and all others present.

Then speeches of course by Stein Kruse, Orlando Ashford and Captain Emiel de Vries. As Stein is now the big man of the whole Holland American Line group his direct role with Holland America is less and thus the main speech was given by Orlando Ashford as President of Holland America. He impressed everybody greatly by giving a great and fluently flowing speech without having any notes whatsoever.

Captain Emiel de Vries with his appreciation for the day.

Captain Emiel de Vries expressed his appreciation of having everybody present and having the honor to be on the ship from building to Rotterdam and now up to Norway and following. This was followed by a Dutch harpist who provided an intermezzo. She was some years ago the winner of a contest in the Netherlands and showed that a combination of being a good singer and a good harpist is a very viable possibility.

Her Majesty the Queen about to pull the cord which releases the champagne bottle outside the ship.

Then came the highlight with the official dedication/christening. As the Queen was in the lounge, the issue of releasing the bottle was solved by pulling a rope in the lounge which gave a signal to a release mechanism outside and then the bottle smashed in accordance with the requirements exactly at the right moment against the hull and broke. This could then be seen again on the big screen in the show lounge and also in the rest of the ship and even on the dockside

The Four Main Players of the day: Queen Maxima of the Netherlands. CEO Stein Kruse, President Orlando Ashford and Captain Emiel de Vries.

By 11.30 the official ceremony was over and Queen Maxima left the ship shortly after being given a farewell on the ships whistle.  All on board where offered champagne and were left to carry on enjoying the day on board or ashore.

Tonight the ship will sail at 20.00 hrs. stop briefly at Hook of Holland to watch the fireworks and then continue to Amsterdam where we will dock tomorrow morning. For those of you, who would like to see the whole ceremony, please go to the HAL website.

My apologies for the blue colors in the photos, it has something to do with the lighting of the stage.

Today we have a relaxing sea day, sailing almost straight south towards Kiel and the “Kieler Bucht” as the Germans call it, the curve in the land in which Kiel is located. Just south is the entrance to the Kieler Canal which is also an interesting area. (See my old blogs in the archives) It is still chilly out here and that makes for clear skies and very good visibility. At 07.00 when I was on the bridge, I could see the mainland of Sweden on the Starboard side and the island of Gotland on the port side. This is the island with as its capital Visby which I referred to after we left Warnemunde.  Gotland or Gotaland is part of a province on the mainland which is also called Gotland or Gotaland. That can make it confusing but this also happens in other places well such Washington State and Washing DC. Which gets a lot of Europeans in a good muddle.

Kiel cruise terminals on a sunny day which we expect as well and close to downtown.

By the time we reach Kiel we will have made a full circle of the Baltic Sea. We will cross our entry course (Warnemunde to Tallinn) in the very early hours of tomorrow morning. After calling at Kiel the ship will retrace its steps and call at Gothenburg and  Helsingborg before heading back to Copenhagen.  We will have then sailed through an area full of history and our 12 day cruise was really too short to do it justice. If you could pump out part of the Baltic and clean the mud away, you would walk through a complete museum of artifacts and left overs from more than 2000 years of habitation and trade. The largest deposit of artifacts come from the 2^nd world war. Russian scientists made a count in 2005 and found over 5000 wrecks and war relics on the bottom. The worst one is the Wilhelm Gustloff. This was a German cruise ship which was used in the last stages of the war to return to Germany with as many refugees as possible, running away from the advancing Russians. No exact count is known but the numbers vary from 6000 to close to 9000 casualties.  I have a small article about it on my blog under the header “of days gone by”. The First Mass market cruise ship”. I keep it to a number of 6600 casualties as most WWII experts seem to agree on that but there might have been many more.

The last few days I have been out and about for measuring and inspecting “Workplace Safety” on board. This is the safe working of the crew when serving guests, when carrying out maintenance and repairs and when doing drills. This can be as simple as: how to hold a fire hose.  Ever opened a garden hose and saw it starting to play around as the nozzle was left open? A garden hose does not do any harm and is not very dangerous. A 2 inch fire hose with a 10 pound nozzle on the end and 9 bars of water pressure can create havoc and thus it is important for the crew to be trained, drilled and retrained in the basics of hose handling.  And anything else as well.

This is not on the ship…. I have been given to understand that this was some sort of creative thinking by workers in the East of Europe.

Another item is working above head level. This causes quite a few accidents in the industry as grabbing a stool, turning over a trash can or standing on a box is much faster and easier than first collecting the correct ladder. The crew needs to understand as well, when you can use a small ladder (never stand on the top step), when to use a large ladder, and when working over 2 meters above the deck a safety harness has to be worn. Officers and Supervisors train the crew and themselves and there are trainers who train the trainers. Then there is me to see if it is all been done, measure effectiveness and provide advice to the captain of where more focus is needed.

All Ladders are tested and then marked with the color of the year, such as blue in this case. When not in use they are tied to the bulkhead so they cannot fall over when the ships moves and thus not cause accidents.

We even have a yearly ladder testing program, so we can weed out the old and the broken ones. With roughly 200 ladders on board in various sizes and shapes not an unnecessary routine. As we have over 800 very inventive humans on board of which roughly 600 will have to reach for something which is higher than they are, it is an area where constant focus is needed.  So the program is train, observe & correct, verify, retrain and audit. All to ensure we will not have any crew accidents. The crew of the Zuiderdam does quite well with the accident count and that is good for all of us, not for the least the medical department as it remains quiet then in the medical Centre.

I am nearing the end of my short stay on board as tomorrow we are in Kiel and at 08.30 the agent will pick me up and get me to Hamburg airport. From there it is back to England and back to scaffolding and roof top maintenance…………. And there is also My Lord & Master with a honey do list which gets bigger and bigger ………. and so little time.   My blog might pop up again in a few days because if everything goes well, I will be for a few days on the Koningsdam for a quick review here and there to verify what I did there in the last two months was good and to see the christening at the same time. After that I have to attend a 4 day medical course followed by a 4 day fire fighting course to keep my Master license valid and then I should have a sort of vacation………… I hope.  What happens afterwards will depend on the needs of the Koningsdam and other ships so I will announce my schedule in due course.

Well there was some good news today, the good ship Zuiderdam could dock after all. Somehow the cruise ship dock at down town was available and there we went. We did so with a delay, a not unusual delay, as there was a ferry in the way. The downtown dock Stadsgarten is next to two Ferry terminals for the Viking Line. And yes they have a departure at 08.00, or around that time, depending on the fact if loading is finished, and then they have preference. Ferries are like train services, their customers expect a regular schedule. Thus with 30 minutes delay we docked as near as is possible to down town. For good walkers it meant a 20 minute walk, a very scenic walk, along the harbor and for the non-walkers a 5 minute taxi ride or using the local bus. The captain made the delay up to everybody by also staying 30 minutes longer and thus shore time remained the same.

This is a photo of the Eelctronic chart. Hopefully you can read the name “Take a Chance on Me” docked with another boat the Emilie under our bow.

What is also possible here is to take the local hop on hop off bus which stops very close to the ship. I do not khow many of my readers are currently on board, as I have been plugging these busses considerably through the years, but the Big Red Bus was very popular today; the local tourists might have had a hard time trying to get on as the Zuiderdam Guests were out in force. Another option unique to this dock is the sightseeing boat which docks right under the nose of the Zuiderdam. They are identical in size and layout as those in Amsterdam and that makes sense as Stockholm has the same sort of infrastructure as Amsterdam with canals and low bridges.  The boats have names derived from the songs of Sweden’s’ most popular export article: ABBA. And thus we could see “Take a Chance on me” docking under the bow and the “Dancing Queen” sailing by on the way to downtown. I wonder what sort of reaction the skipper gets when he makes a security call for a safe passage and announces “Take a Chance on Me”.  I supposed the whole port is used to it but I would be tempted to come back with a ………… not so serious answer.

The sail into Stockholm is a long one and a very scenic one. If you need to be motivated to get out of Bed early, then this is a good motivation. A lot of guests had followed the Cruise Directors advice and they were out in force. So much that I had a hard time finding a table for my breakfast at 06.30 this morning. This evening we do the reverse route and the weather is perfect today for some very good and extensive sightseeing. The great thing about Stockholm is, you sail inbound from East to West and outbound from West to East. Thus you always have the sun behind you. Shining perfectly over the sights ashore and avoiding all the glare which can otherwise spoil your photos.

One of the Ferries going through one of the narrow passages.

Because some of the passages are quite narrow (more of those nasty bumps in the way, nearly identical as yesterday in Helsinki, the whole area is covered by radar and by a Vessel Traffic System. This VTS advises the local traffic and ensures the ships are observing the local maximum speeds. A few points in the route are one way only and then the pilots arrange for the right meeting points. Again we have on occasion a ferry which gets in the way and if so, then we have to wait, as that ferry is on a “railroad schedule”.   The most prominent company is Viking Line with their red hulled boats and today we passed several of them. I wonder if the Ferry captains still enjoy the spectacular scenery as much as we do or if they got used to it in the same way I got used to Ketchikan after seeing it 200+ times (and mostly in the rain).

This is my artist impression and thus not very good. But it roughly indicates the difference between going North and going South.

To get in and out of Stockholm there are two major routes. South and North. South is shorter and North is easier. The south has a 90 degree turn shortly after the pilot station. As a result they have put a length restriction on the ships which are allowed to make this turn. With the older HAL ships we always used the south route, now with the larger ships we are stuck with the north route which adds a considerable amount of time to the next journey going south to Kiel. The north route takes you quite far north and once in open water you have to sail the whole stretch back again, until you come by the south exit.

Tomorrow we have a sea day, giving everybody the chance to relax and take a deep breath before we end up in Kiel which we use as a gate-way for Hamburg. Although there is nothing wrong to stay in a Kiel as well. Plenty of things to do. The weather is holding and if it does so for a few more days then we will have had a magnificent spring cruise in the Baltic.

We picked up the pilot at the bright and early time of 06.00 in order to make it to the dock by 07.30. Helsinki is hiding behind a lot of reefs and rocks and it takes about 90 minutes to sail through the channel and then swing at the dock before going alongside.

Lots of nasty bumps. Varying from small to quite large.

The reefs are not really reefs as in Coral Reefs but as in rock pinnacles which are sticking out to just above the water. Sometimes barely visible, sometimes in the form of smaller or larger islands. In between the water is deep and thus you can sail safely past them. But on occasion that passage is quite close to very close.

The Hole for down town Helsinki. It looks quite wide but it is not and there is a turn in the final approach.

If you go to downtown Helsinki, you have to go through “the hole” which is a very narrow passage between two very large rocks/islands protruding out from the water. They form a natural gate to the city and thus it has fortresses on the top to keep the nasty neighbors out from long time ago. Going through the hole is not for the faint hearted, if you have never done it before and the larger the ship is (not just wider) the “more interesting” it gets. The length of the ship also plays a role as you have to change course close to lining up. So the longer the ship is, the more difficult it is to get the sail through course right.

Overview of Helsinki. The cruise ships docks are on the far side of the container terminal. Down town is in the far upper left.

As a result they keep down town for the smaller ships. I docked there with the Prinsendam and the Veendam but the Zuiderdam is so much bigger again that it was a better idea to go to the new port on the west side. Most captains do not mind this location at all as it is so much easier to dock here. As I said The Hole for down town is not for the faint hearted. Also the piers here are better and newer but it is considerably further out from town. But as the invention of shuttle busses has also reached Helsinki it is not too much of an issue.

We had a bright sunny day again but a very chilly one. There was a cold wind blowing from the North West, from the Bothnic area and it felt as if this wind had been funneling over the ice of the last season as it had a very icy smell. Beautiful day to go ashore but wearing two pairs of socks while doing so.

In the meantime I kept the crew focused with a major drill experience. The whole ship has been catching up on drill experience as not much practical was possible with all the sea days during the crossing. Today all the efforts culminated in a combined drill with a lot of aspects touched upon at the same time. All 800 crew had to run around to support the big effort with their (small) part. The safety operation of a cruise ship is the same as an analogue watch. Hundreds or little parts ticking away with the only purpose in making the two hands on the dial go round and round.

The ships Medical Officer assessing the casualty under the collapsed bulkhead before an effort is made to raise it. A fireman is providing light with his helmet torch.

Today the complete three alarm cycle (Fire, Assembly, and Abandoning ship) had all the elements to make everybody very happy. We had a fire in a large space in the crew area and we had a collapsed bulkhead in the same area pinning down a (dummy) crewmember. This meant that after the fire was out, the Damage Control Team had to come out and jack-up the bulkhead before this casualty could be retrieved……………. and then we had to get everybody safely off the ship. To make the latter interesting we had six cadets in the ship who were simulating: confused guest, guest refusing to leave the cabin, wandering child, Guest slipped in the crow’s nest, and two crew fallen down the stairs. The whole sequence took from 09.30 to 11.00 hrs. while each evolution was carefully documented for further review and lessons learned. Anybody who has even remotely been involved with ships will understand that doing a combined Fire, Damage control, triage, assembly and abandoning ship drill is a major challenge to undertake. I presented the challenge and the Zuiderdam crew rose to the challenge and did very well. The fire was extinguished; the casualty safely retrieved after the collapsed bulkhead was jacked up, medical treated four casualties very quickly and had them dispatched correctly to the correct lifeboats. Which went down in the water as required. My compliments for a well done job.

We will sail at 17.00 hrs. tonight for a quick crossing of the Gulf of Bothnia and then a long, but very scenic sail into Stockholm for an 08.00 arrival. We will have to anchor as the port is full. Which is extra work for the crew but the guests are tendered directly into Stockholm center and that is quite handy. We are expecting more nice weather and if the wind dies down from blowing over all the ice cubes further north, then we should have a very nice spring day.

We are here during a Russian Holiday; of the 9^th of May, День Победы Den Pobedy, which translates in to English as Victory or Liberation Day.  As there were gun salutes, fireworks (and it was nice weather) downtown St. Petersburg was heaving and the crew who could went ashore and had a great time. Some only came back very late in the night or early in the morning.

In the port it was very quiet. Whatever you say about Russia, they are good at security and The Marine Façade Cruise terminals are devoid of anything which does not belong. Apart from the Russian military using the beach nearby for a pre lining up for the parade, we did not notice much on the ships of what took place in downtown. This holiday is by far the most important one for the country as Russia still remembers the 2^nd world war very vividly; as they were most likely the country that suffered the most as far as human sacrifices are concerned. So with even WWII so far in the past, it is still a very big thing.

I promised to explain why St. Petersburg pilots speak Dutch, sort off. It has all to do with Czar Peter the Great. He wanted to turn Russia into an international power and for that you needed a fleet in the 16^th. and 17^th. Century. Thus he himself went to Holland to study ship building and carpentry. Dutch was also the world language at that time and thus all he learned with his group of people was learned in Dutch. All these nautical terms he took back to St. Petersburg and the terminology was eventually absorbed into the Russian Language.  Through the decades some words got a Russian twist but in general a lot is still recognizable. If you talk to the skipper or captain of a Russian sailing ship you will find out that all the names of the ropes and sails have a Dutch origin.

Thus also the origin of the St. Petersburg Pilots. As mentioned yesterday we had to sail through a long and narrow channel to get to the city. It was already long and narrow (and very shallow) in the days of Czar Peter. Thus the need for good pilots was clear. Also here the Dutch got involved and the history lingers.  The local pilot is called a Lootsenman, Loots (nowadays spelled as Loods) is the Dutch name for a pilot. The pilot man or Lootsenman is the old version.  Also the Dutch nautical sailing terms came to St. Petersburg.  Starboard which is nowadays Stuurboord in Dutch, was Starrebord in those days and here it still is. Port which is Bakboord in Dutch lives on here as Bakkebord in the local pilot’s language. And so on and so on. If a Russian pilot speaks slowly in his VHF, then you can quite well follow the conversation as long as it is nautical. I never knew this, until I came to St.Petersburg as captain of the old Noordam in 2001 and the pilot introduced himself as the “lootsenman”.

Today the pilots were a little bit busier than yesterday as instead of only one other ship in the port there were two. The Marco Polo had left and was replaced this morning by the Aida Mar and a Costa ship. That still leaves room for three more ships and thus the cruise port did not look full at all. This will change in the coming weeks when the cruise season goes into full swing. Some cruise ships are still on their “migration” cruises on the way over from North America or coming up from down under.

The fuel tanker Gazpromnef East. It has one of the modern enclosed lifeboats at the stern which are launched onto the water instead of lowered.

While we were docked yesterday we refueled the ship by means of a bunker barge. While in North America they use mainly Barges, in Europe the preference is a small ship. Sometimes large river boats as in Holland but sometimes sea going coasters which can be quite big. We had alongside one of the biggest bunker ships I have seen thus far. Listening to the beautiful name of Gazpromnef East, it brought sufficient fuel to last us for our next round trip. It had a capacity of much more than we needed and what we could ever hold in our tanks. The ship arrived at 10 am in the morning and departed again at 8 pm. in the evening. Which is quite a long stay but our experience is for Russian bunker boats not to have the pump capacity of what is standard on American barges. And if you can only pump just over 100 tons an hour, while we are used to the American standard of over 400 tons, then you get a prolonged stay. But as we had an overnight stay, who cares…………………..

Lots of Tanks and pipes with in the middle a manifold which guides the bunker hose into the ship.

We will sail tonight at 18.00 hrs. and should have a sunny sail by the navy base of Kronstadt about 15 miles away from the city. Here we also have the flood barrier which was built not too long ago and which protects St. Petersburg from flooding during the winter storms.

Tomorrow we are in Helsinki and we should keep the same weather as we have today. Very nice weather, sunny and not too warm.

St. Petersburg means is a very early arrival to facilitate the full day tours. Such an early arrival is possible because the sun rises quite early in this area making it easy to sail through the narrow approach channels. This early morning saw little wind and little wind is a blessing because the channel is really narrow. Marked out and dredged in the days when ships were no wider than 15 meters / 45 feet and that left ample space for opposing ships to safely pass by. Now the cruise ships are 32 meters wide or even wider and thus the channel is suddenly very narrow. When big ships are coming in, the port authority establishes one way traffic and thus only opposing traffic can continue which can sail outside the buoyed route. For a large ship those buoys which marks both side of the channel are very close together and get even closer when the wind blows.

The more the wind is on the beam and the stronger that wind blows, the more the ship will drift in the channel (Courtesy diagram www.captainjonathan.com)

If the wind is on the beam, it pushes the ship over and to stay then in the middle of the channel a ship has to steer against the wind. Steer a drift course. The slower the ship goes, the wider the drift angle becomes and the more sideways the ship goes through this channel. The “path wide” as we call it becomes wider. And with our floating apartment buildings, we can catch a lot of wind. The faster we travel the less wide the path width is, as the increased speed force and the wind force combine into a final direction which will become closer to the course line in the center of the channel, the faster the speed is. Logic would thus be to race through the channel at maximum speed. But that is not possible as the depth of the water is too shallow. There is squat. = The sinking in of the ship which increases with the speed. (Just look at a speed boat. The bow comes out, the stern goes in because the propeller digs into the water and that is called squat. An extreme form of squat but the principle is the same for large ships)

Squat: the sinking in of a ship by the stern due to speed. (Diagram courtesy www.globalspec.com)

When the ship sinks in, it increases the draft considerably; an extra 40% during full speed is not un-common and if the water is very shallow then you bump the ground. Even when this does not happen, it reduces the space between the sea bottom and the keel so much that it gets harder for the sea water to flow away. This increases resistance, which slows down the ship. Thus even if we were allowed to go full speed in the St. Petersburg channel which only has a depth of 35 feet, with a 23 feet draft and a bit of squat there would not be much left and the ships speed would reduce drastically. As the engines would still try to churn out the maximum- Sea – speed power asked for, this power would force the ship against this reduction of water flow. The flow is reduced, the propellers push, and the result is that the force has to go somewhere else and does it by letting the ship shake. And that shaking can be considerable. Every captain knows that if his ship starts to vibrate and there is nothing wrong with the engine and he is in shallower water, then it must be squad and he will reduce speed until the shaking stops. We call that “Honeymoon Speed and After…………………

The Marine Facade which can handle 7 cruise ships. We are docked in the far corner where the blue ship is (Photo courtesy www.portnews.ru

The Zuiderdam had to be early this morning to be in time for the one way convoy and to be able to travel with a sedate speed of 10 knots for 2 hours through the channels. Plural as in channels, as there are more than one. When coming closer to the city, a large cruise ship makes a turn to the North to go to the new cruise terminal called the Marine Façade. This has been purposely built and has 7 cruise terminals. Very small ships, up to 16,000 tons or 500 feet can go up the channel further in and dock at the Lieutenant Schmidt embankment, quite deep in the city.

We were today in port with the ms Marco Polo of CMV cruises. Built in 1968 as a Russian North Atlantic Liner it must now be one of the oldest cruise ships still in service. Cruise and Maritime Voyages is an English company which operates Three Star cruises for the British Market. The ship is manned by Ukrainian Officers so I would not have minded to have been on the bridge there this morning to see the interchange between a Russian Pilot and a Ukrainian Captain, given that the two countries are having issues with each other at the moment.

We are staying here over night for a 2^nd day tomorrow. Then a little story about why St. Petersburg pilots speak Dutch. (Sort of)

We approached Tallinn this morning with a Gulf of Finland that was completely flat and with the sun shining brightly. That always scares us as it gives a good chance for –very low hanging clouds- but it is still too chilly.  So we had a grand approach and an even grander day.

Approaching Tallinn with a ball in the air.

Tallinn has a nice sky line with walls and turrets which can be seen from quite far away as the city is sitting on a sort of hill. To the west are the leftovers from the Russian days with several grim looking buildings and an area which is now part of the navy museum. There is another mercantile museum in one of the old towers in the town. Very worthwhile visiting and it has a great bookshop.

The Tallinn Balloon.

Since about five years ago the city has two long cruise piers located outside the old harbor. Here we used to dock at that time but there are only three berths available and only for not too big a cruise ship. The rest of the docks are given over to the Ferries which sail with great frequency to Finland.  Estonia, although on the other side of the Gulf of Finland is much more related to the Finnish culture than to the Russian one which surrounds the country on three sides. For the Finnish people it is considered a short holiday if they hop to and from Estonia and at the same time they can pick up some duty free; as prices for alcohol are very high in Finland. To ensure ferry captains and cruise ship captains do not scream at each other all the time, and to get the mega liners in, there are now two big docks.

That is what can get a ships captain really excited. Long pier, good fenders, plenty of bollards to put the ropes on and friendly linesmen. Thank you Tallinn.

When we approached the dock we saw something we had not seen before. The Tallinn Balloon. First we thought it was a blimp hanging over the city but then we found out it was for sightseeing as it went up and down every five minutes. Under it hangs a Gondola and it must give an amazing view of the old city and the port when being up in the air. Some of the crew was going to try to visit it this afternoon, so hopefully I can get a photo. I was not able to get off the ship as I was creating mayhem today with organizing and assessing an un-expected Emergency Response Drill. (Read = complicated fire drill) We have to do these on a regular basis to avoid the crew getting into too much of a routine and un-expected means it might be real and that will get the adrenaline going. It is then up to the captain to have the crew running but at the same time not upset/scare the guests by making the scenario too realistic. But that can be managed by announcements and a good explanation.

Another challenge we face is when we do these drills in port. Crew is also entitled to time off and that means we do not always have everybody on board and that includes not having complete fire teams. For that we have a procedure which is called “In port manning”. The crew has to take turns in staying on board. For the officers this is 50%, so we always have two fire teams available and every key position can be manned. Not only for Deck and Engine, but also for Hotel. If the Hotel Director goes ashore, the Culinary Operations manager has to stay on board.  For other hotel crew it goes in percentages and these are based on what functions we need. Thus we always have enough crew onboard to lower all the lifeboats which are at the water side and we have enough Stairway Guides to direct people in the staircases. Either to the lifeboats, or ashore, or back to the cabin; whatever the emergency might call for.  Our crew is not always happy with that, especially if you lose out on a nice port like today, but such is life. You do not have to be a sailor but if you want to be one, then you have to embrace the safety part of your job as well.

We stayed from 10am to 5pm in Tallinn which is really too short but the choice is either two days Tallinn or two days St. Petersburg and I am not going to say what is better.

Sailing to St. Petersburg is also an interesting affair as the city is located behind a very shallow river delta. Hence we have to sail quite a distance through a Canal before we can come to the dock. We will be docking at the new cruise terminal area as only the very small cruise ships can go up the embankment and into the city.

We are expecting another beautiful and sunny day with temperatures around 68oF. / 20oF which is very good weather for sightseeing. Although for St. Petersburg I prefer a bit more cloudiness to take the glare away.

Warnemunde is a port where we stay a little bit longer to make the tour to Berlin possible. At the same time it gives the Cruise Director the chance to get local entertainment on board. THis means a local Brass band, which we call in Holland an Oompa – Oompa Band, due to the constant underlying sound of the Bass-Tuba. Thus we had a group of about 8 gentlemen sitting in the Lido playing local dance and drinking music (with the emphasis on the last part) and with one gentleman singing the local tunes. Guests were encouraged to buy the local beer and that suggestion was followed up upon quite enthusiastically. A few gentlemen remembered their army days in Germany (And made their wives wonder what they had been getting up to, while being there in the army…………….) This Band probably had to drive home as their personal beer consumption was quite slow.

The local music band. The Gentleman standing in the back was the singer.

I once had a band on board the Prinsendam for the sailing through the Kieler Canal and they managed one glass of beer for every tune they played. I am sure they did not drive home, unless it was by coach. 

Sometimes I have to laugh about what the company dreams up for show displays and what we do to generate the focus and interest of the guests and thus we could see the Bar stewards walking around with Foam hats styled as Glasses of Beer. There are moments in life when I am quite happy to have decided to become a navigator…….

If you want to sell a lot of beer, put on a silly hat and the rest goes by itself.

Navigating came later when the Zuiderdam departed from Warnemunde. Heading East to Tallin means crossing most of the Baltic Sea and that is done as much as possible in a straight line. However Mother Nature seldom makes a sea’s square or oblong, or does not put an island in or reefs in it, or anything else which requires the attention of a navigator. Thus the Baltic is quite a complicated area. On our cruise we (try to) stay on the South side when going East until we reach St. Petersburg, which is also the end of the Baltic. From there we stay on the North side while heading west while visiting Helsinki and Stockholm. Then we come south again to go to Kiel and by the time we have done that we have also made a full circle of the Baltic Sea.

The Zuiderdam route through the Baltic and into the Gulf of Finland

The real problem with the Baltic Sea is it is very shallow along the coast line and thus you have to go fairly high up towards the center of the Sea and to make it interesting there are a few islands right in the middle. Also what we call the Baltic really consists of three parts, the Baltic Sea itself, the Gulf of Finland (the area between Tallinn and St. Petersburg) and the Gulf of Bothnia, which is the area which separates Sweden from Finland. It is only in the Gulf of Finland where we really can stay on the South or on the North side.

The first island of interest after leaving the German coast behind is the Island of Bornholm. It is fairly close to the Scandinavian coast and a place of interest to the seafarer in the old days. If the weather was too bad to continue sailing, ships would seek shelter or refuge behind the island, the side depending on where the wind was coming from. In nautical language “laying behind Bornholm” became a general saying to indicate that a ship was waiting better weather in a safe area.  Even in the modern age, smaller ships still do so, as it is much safer than to charge against the heavy waves which a storm in the Baltic can generate. Today we had beautiful weather and thus we were keeping as much to a straight line as possible and sailed between Bornholm and the Swedish coast.

The next island is Gotland with as main town the port of Visby. Here the Baltic Sea is getting much wider as the mainland with Latvia and Lithuania veers away from the Scandinavian Peninsula. Visby is also a well-known tourist destination and many cruise ships call there. The small ships can dock but the large ones have to anchor as the main docks are for the local ferries. However they are now in the process of constructing a large dock and that will make it possible for the larger ships to come alongside and not having to rely on tender service. This island we can keep on our port side and from there we follow the south coast and head for Tallinn.

We expect to be docked there at 10.00 hrs. We will be together with one smaller ship, the cruise ship Minerva which is known to offer really in-depth cultural cruises. They say of that ship that the library is larger than the show lounge. Weather: another sunny day with temperatures around 68oF or 20oC.