New Homeport Island (7 page)

leads so they reach down here. I need the grounding clamp and
 the stick clamp, some sticks and gloves…and don’t let me forget
 the goggles or mask; flash blindness sucks.”
Rich called out to me, “How about just a soft patch until
 the HT’s get down here.” I said, “If they get down here before
 we pull into port I’ll ask.” Elper looked over at Rich with a
 reassured look and said, “He’s right…where the fuck are they?”
He turned to me and said, “I’ll get you the gear.”  
As Elper started to ascend the ladder he stopped and took a
 step back, Senior chief Rickly came down the ladder enraged
 and yelled at me from across the space, “You fix it yet!!?” Elper
 tried to calm him and said, “I’m getting him the gear.” Just then
Captain Artimus came down the ladder at a slightly faster pace
 than the senior chief did and asked Elper, “Where’s your senior
 chief?” Elper pointed at Rickley and said, “He’s right there, sir”
As senior chief Rickly turned Captain Artimus blindsided him
 with a right hook and tackled him. As they exchanged blows the
Captain yelled, “I ain’t playin’!” Elper shrugged and shook his
 head and looked to me and said, “Maybe you should just go…” I
 replied, “I’ve seen this shit before, just get me the gear dude.”
Elper nodded and said mostly just to himself, “You’ve seen this
 shit before…you’ve seen this shit before…I’ll just get you the
 gear then.” Elper made his way up the ladder and I fetched a
 mop. I through down some rags to wall up the continuing water
 flow and did what I could to make sure no splashes or sloshing
 got into the switch board. Captain Artimus and Senior Chief
Rickly ended their ‘tussle’ and retreated behind the HVAC to
 discuss the situation in privacy.
Down the ladder came HT1 Hefter he was guiding his work
 shop in bringing down the arc welder for the machine shop. He
 asked me, “You gonna weld it or do you want me to do it?” I

replied, “I’ll do it.” Hefter laughed and said, “Ya right… where
 is it?” En3 Hadsey coughed from behind Hefter and said, “It’s
 the pipe with all the water coming out of it.” I stepped aside and
 pointed to it. Hefter was at the bottom of the ladder which enters
 the space at about the centerline between where I was and he
 was there was the opening in the deck for number four
 generator, hand rails edge the opening, he steadied himself at the
 handrail and asked, “How am I supposed to get this over there
 and how do you plan to stop the water for the welding?” I said,
“I was waiting for the leads from the welder mounted in the P-
 way and we have to weld it with the water still flowing, the
 valve is already closed.” Hefter said, “Wielding against water
 pressure…okay, I guess you can do it.” He tossed the leads over
 and the gloves, he asked where the wielding mask was since
Elper had just retrieved it from the shop. I continued to set up
 for the wielding as I asked, “When did Elper pick it up? You got
 here before he did?” Hefter replied, “About five minutes ago;
 but I told him his chief would have to get him some sticks…I
 didn’t know what the hell he was doing…I’m not sure I know
 what the hell you’re doing.”  
A few moments later after calling for Elper over the 2JV he
 came down the ladder mask in hand and said he’d been looking
 for some ‘sticks’ but no one knew what he meant and he didn’t
 know what else to call them. Hefter and I both replied, “Rods?”
 simultaneously. Elper wiped his forehead while shaking his head
 and said slowly and forcefully, “Help me … Help you...Help
 me!”
Over the 2JV’s amplifier rang out the words, “Forward
 engine room; High Vibes number two alpha G.T.M.” The
Captain and Rickly poked their heads out from around the
HVAC and looked over at Hefter and called out, “What’d they

say?” Hefter shrugged his shoulders and replied, “I just work
 here. Lyon what’d they say?” I replied, “high vibes two Alpha
G.T.M.” The captain walked over to the 2JV mic and senior
 chief Rickly stepped back behind the HVAC again. Artimus
 waited for a response as did the central watches which called out
 again, “Forward engine room, central…High vibes two alpha
G.T.M.” A moment passed and the 2JV cracked, “Forward
Aye.” The captain called out to me and Rich still dealing with
 the flooding and said, “Fix this!” I responded, “Yes sir.” and
Rich did a double take and also said, “Yes sir.” The Captain
 headed up and out of the space pausing on the ladder for the
 upward pitch to cease and the downward pitch to begin. I
 snickered, “Some days, it’s all uphill.”  
In the forward engine room GSM3 Tinnel and GSM2 Gillis
 stood at the local propulsion console watching the edge wise
 meter needles dance. Gsm3 Cardel was checking out the lube oil
 storage and conditioning assembly glancing through the ‘bulls-
 eye’ sight glass looking to see if the level was dropping. Gsm3
Washam and Kresney, were climbing over the main reduction
 gear casing wiping up oil to look busy. Central again called the
 forward engine room, “Forward, Central…status of G.T.M. two
 alpha?” Gillis replied by keying the 2JV mic, “Central, Forward
 high vibes G.T.M. two alpha.” Orbly snatched the 2JV mic from
Mr.Lees and keyed it, “Forward, Central!” Orbly’s voice
 crackled and rattled in frustration, “…investigate and report!”
In Aux1 the wielding had begun, “just a quick emergency
 wield”, I said. Elper smiled a sarcastic smile and said, “And, that
 is why you’re here Lyon…I mean this wielding thing too, but
 listen to those dumb asses on the 2JV.” I coughed out a forced
 laugh and said, “Ya, I’m trying to block it out. I’ll take one thing
 at a time today.”

GSM1 Hudlow’s voice came over the 2JV amp, “Lyon, are
 you in forward engine room?” Gruble responded, “No, he’s
 wielding the cracked pipe in AUX 1.” Hudlow responded, “I’m
 hoping you said ‘cracked pipe’ and not ‘crack pipe’…why is
Lyon wielding?” Gruble called out to me, “what do you want me
 to say?” I replied, “Tell him I’m handling it” Gruble keyed the
 mic, “He’s handling it” Hudlow responded, “what about forward
 engine room?” Gruble replied, “He’s already handling the
 flooding, do you do anything Hudlow?” Lees’ voice came over
 the 2JV saying, “The captain is in the forward engine room.”  
GSM1 Hudlow, in the log room, was reviewing man hour
 reports from years before that were found under the electrical
 division officers desk, he turned and looked at his division
 officer Ens. Dohann and said, “The captains up there…you
 better get up there, sir.” Ens. Dohann was reviewing the
 preventative maintenance schedule completion reports and
 contrasting them against personal training records. Dohann
 looked up slightly from his task and froze in contemplation of
 how to respond to Hudlow’s comment. Hudlow shrugged his
 shoulders and went back to browsing through old paper work
 and said as though he were talking to the coffee stains on the
 pages,”…Well, they said the captains up there.” Dohann
 coughed and cleared his throat, shook his head and went back to
 doing his job.
Hudlow picked up the 2JV mic and keyed it, “Forward,
 where’s the captain?” Tinnel voice came across the amplifier,
“He’s up here.” Hudlow looked over at Dohann and said, “Ya,
 he’s up there…so…” Dohann set down his paper work and
 adjusted his position in his chair like a talk show host settling in
 and said, “Ah…GSM1, I want you to go up there as quickly as
 you can, and ask the captain… personally…if he needs your

help.” Hudlow looked as though he just lapsed out of a day
 dream and responded, “I…ah, okay.”
In Aux1 I had completed the weld and reopened the valve.
The forward engine room called over the 2JV, “Hudlow, why
 were you looking for the captain?” I said to Rich, “When it rains
 it pours.” Clarkson’s voice called out over the 1MC,
“Commanding officer, contact the bridge.” Then over the 2JV
Lees voice called out, “Forward, central high vibes shutdown on
G.T.M. two alpha; investigate and report. Stand by monitor start
G.T.M. two bravo.”
Over the 2JV Gillis replied with an enraged voice, “The
 captain is down here!” to which Orbly nearly instantly called out
 from central on the 2JV, “Report it to central jack ass!” The
Captain stood with Gillis in front of the local control console
 and with a chuckle he gestured behind him to the 2JV amplifier
 with his thumb and said, “Ya, report it to Central too.”
There was a whirling howl, a screaming of demons in
 hell…the ship was smacking the break water slamming the bow
 and listing ten to fifteen degrees at a four/four time, absolutely
 rock and roll. The screaming gas turbine reached an
 unsustainable pitch and rather than give way it instead increased
 its pitch. Gillis’s shoulders were up around his ears and his eyes
 wide, the captain looked at him startled and said, “Isn’t that a
 normal start?” Gillis replied with a cagey demeanor, “Ya…yes,
 sir.”  
The Captain took a step forward toward the console with
 his sea-legs a little delayed and gestured at the consoles
 indicators and said, “What is it you’re supposed to be watching
 here?” Gillis was locked up in performance anxiety, he couldn’t
 utter a word and the engines howl has always struck he as the
 worst moment of his life. This was pointed out by several of his

shipmates and his reply was always, “you know how the say the
 most dangerous part of the flight is the takeoff and
 landing…that’s the takeoff.”
Before he could answer the Captains question the ship
 pitched in against a swell and green water came across the bow
 listing to starboard throwing Gillis into the Captain’s arms.
Gillis uttered, “I’m gonna piss myself.” the captain pushed away
 from him but they were bound together by their own weight on
 the tilting deck and their mutual desire to not be thrown down to
 the generator flat landing on their faces. Washam was
 descending the ladder down to the PLCC level and was thrown
 to his knees; he picked himself up and saw the embrace between
 the Captain and Gillis. Washam said, “Well that hurt my knees
 like hell…but, it turns out it was totally worth it.” and with a
 huge ‘cat and canary grin’ glanced up the ladder for any other
 witnesses that might make it down in time.  Gillis looked back
 and saw Washam’s grin and instantly blushed, and upon
 realizing he was blushing he looked at the captain apologetically
 and tried to pull his way up the slanting deck. Gillis told the
Captain in an embarrassed whisper, “It’ll pitch the other way in
 a second.” and turned around to prevent seeing that look on the
Captains face. As the Captain realized Gillis was turning around
 he considered throwing himself down to the generator level, but
 that level has diamond deck plates instead of a continuous metal
 deck and he decide against it and with a high pitched squeal he
 uttered, “I’ll never pay you alimony.”
GSM3 Washam collapsed in uncontrollable laughter as the
 ship did as Gillis predicted, it proved that it does go both ways.
Gillis and Artimus braced themselves better as the ship rolled
 back to its portside, and saved themselves another ‘sailor’s
 moment’. Hudlow scrambled down the ladder and looked at

Washam and said, “At least I can stay on my feet” then timed
 his movements with the movement of the ship hurtling himself
 forward and blurted out to the Captain, “Sir, can I help you?”
The Captain looked to his left and saw Hudlow and Washam
 standing their Washam was laughing himself to tears and
Hudlow had an anxious and eager demeanor. Artimus checked
 his pants zipper and said, “You’re not my type.” Tinnel came
 down the ladder to the PLCC level and glanced around…it was
 official, the Captain felt crowded. The expression on Artimus’s
 face was unmistakable, it was the ‘only white guy in the bar’
 look and in order to break the tension Tinnel said, “Meanwhile
 back in the bat cave.” Captain Artimus pushed his way back to
 the ladder to head out of the space; pale and in a cold sweat he
 said to Tinnel as he left, “Stay away from my cave.”  
We had secured all the gear from the flooding and I headed
 back to the aft engine room. As I descended the ladder the ship
 jutted to the portside and pitched up sharply I lunged toward the
I-beam and grabbed the foam cover meant to prevent a head
 knocker and waited for my center of gravity to become my
 center of gravity again. I continued down the ladder and made
 my way to the boiler flat just as Nueme was coming up the
 ladder from the PLCC level.
Nueme said, “Hey, been looking for one of you guys.” I
 smiled and said, “Sounds good let’s do that.” and she replied,
“Ya…right. Well I need help with this PMS check.” and she
 handed me her preventative maintenance card. It detailed the
 replacement of the Mil-spec 2190 lube oil filter on the generator.
I glanced at it and said, “Which part?” She replied, “I don’t
 know where it is and Mitch said to get you to help me. He
 stopped me from doing it the way Hudlow said to. He wanted
 me to pull the pump off.” I responded, “No, you do have to open

the sump cover, but not pulling the pump off.” Nueme looked at
 me with disgust trying to discern whether or not I was messing
 with her and asked, “Sump cover?...Maybe I should just get
Mitch.” I said, “I’ll show you.” She continued with a blank stare
 while nodding her head and said, “Ya, I’ll check with Mitch.”
I looked at her dismayed that she apparently thought I was
 clueless, and I asked her, “Something I don’t know about this?”
She looked down at her card as dismayed as I was and took a
 step in toward me, leaned in with her face right to mine and said,
“There’s a lot you don’t know about a lot of things.” I squinted
 and leaned in and responded, “I don’t know who you’ve been
 talking to…about what I know and don’t know, but ah… I just
 do the job and you don’t want to get pulled into their games. So,
I’ll show you where that filter is.”    
She nodded and blurted out, “Under the sump cover…ya.
Okay” I said, “Let me grab some rags” we headed down to the
 generator and grabbed some tools from the tool box we kept
 there and began disconnecting the lube oil suction from the
 sump. Nueme said, “That’s like what Hudlow said to do…” I
 replied, “You have to disconnect this small pipe because the
 plate under it is the sump cover.” Nueme’s eyes widened a little
 and she said, “Oh…I thought you meant the one underneath.” I
 chuckled and said, “No not that one…I guess that’s why you
 thought I was clueless.” She let out a fake laugh and said, “You
 still clueless.”  
Hudlow came down to the generator flat and said, “Hey I
 told you I didn’t want her getting her hands dirty.” Mitch walked
 up and stood beside him and did the tough guy nod as he wiped
 his hands with a rag. I said, “Because she’s a girl?” and he
 replied, “Because she can’t get any blacker look at her hands
 now!” he said with a laugh. I retorted, “You fucking racist.”