New Beginings - 20. NB Chapter 20

Once I had finished breakfast, Seb asked for me to follow him, and we headed up the forward stairs to the Bridge, “Good morning Captain, are we almost ready?” Seb asked as we stepped onto the Bridge, “Yes Mr Wagner, we are just waiting for the passengers now” the Captain replied. “What is the weather forecast for the first few days of the trip?” I asked. “We have some good weather for the first few days, Mr Devonport. We should get to Amsterdam Island on time” the captain replied.

“Do we have any issues we need to deal with before we leave?” Seb asked, “No sir, this ship is purring like a kitten, it’s nice to be working on a new ship that has no problems” the captain replied with a smile, as I looked around the bridge area, which is quite impressive. “Thanks for your time Captain” I said as I followed Sebastian off the Bridge, “Any time, Mr Devonport” the captain replied.

Heading down to B deck, and we came to what was the owners suite, what I was surprised to see what that there was an electronic lock on the door. Seb removed a card and handed it to me, and pointed to the electronic scanner pad, and I placed the card against the pad, and a beep noise sounded, and Seb pushed the door open.

“That is your copy, only you and me have access to this area, I thought you might like to keep yourself busy, so you are now my APA – administration personal assistant” Seb said as I followed him inside, and I spent the next twenty minutes being shown around the administration centre for Wagner International Investments. “With you being fluent in Italian, it will be no problem with communicating with my lawyers, and accountants, who are based in Como, a city in far northern Italy, just 8 kilometres south-east of the Swiss border.

They already know about this decision of mine, so they won’t be surprised when you call, just remember that there is a 6 hour time difference to Perth, which shortens the further west we go during the trip” Sebastian said to me, “I think I can do that, thankyou for this, it will stop me from getting too bored” I replied, No problems, I will leave you here to get familiar with everything,

I better go and check on the twins, goodness know what mischief they are up to at the moment” Sebastian said to me and he exited the administration office, leaving me on my own, and as I looked around the office, I spotted a page sitting on the fax machine, and I picked it up, and read the document, which is in Italian, which I discovered was an authority to deal with all business matters with Wagner International Investments, and there was a place for my signature, and a place for Seb’s signature.

I found a pen and signed my name on it, and I left the document on the desk for Seb to sign later. I smiled when I realised that I had done my first official act as a APA, and on the pin-up board, I saw a list of numbers, and in English the words, Accountant Office, Accountant Fax, Lawyers Office and Lawyers Fax. I looked at the filing system, before sitting down in front of a computer and turning it on.

“Welcome Huon, please choose a password and enter it in” a message said on the screen, which made me chuckle, and once I had entered a password and hit enter, the main screen came up, with everything in English, which I was pleased with as I was not very good with written Italian. I could read Italian reasonably well, but I still need improvements in learning to read Italian better.

Sebastian returned sometime later, to announce that it was nearly lunch time, and I pointed out the document that he needed to sign, which he did. “That goes to the lawyers in Como, thanks mate” Sebastian said, and we headed out to the dining room, opposite, once I had sent the fax, and the twins were already seated, and happily eating fish and chips, which made me smile. “We have a chicken and salad platter, with fresh bread rolls” Sebastian said to me.

“All this nice food is going to make me fat, I think I need to speak to the chef, I would prefer to have a large breakfast, light lunch and light dinner, since I won’t be doing any physical work for a while” I commented. When our meals arrived, I was a little surprised to see that it wasn’t stewards delivering our meals, but chefs, and Sebastian was smiling broadly. “I thought it was time that you met our chefs” Sebastian said to me, “Oh, wow” I commented, still in shock of their appearance, and Seb introduced the Executive and Sous chefs to me.“

We heard your comments sir, and we are aware that you have just come out of hospital, so we will be adjusting the menus for you” the executive chef said to me. “Thankyou, I appreciate that” I replied with a smile, before they headed off back to the galley, which is on the lower deck, three decks down, and I began to eat my lunch. “So what is the plan for this afternoon?” I asked between mouthfuls of food, “I thought we would take the twins to check out the whale museum, over on the other side of the harbour” Seb replied.

Once we had finished lunch, we grabbed our passports for identification, to get back into the restricted zone, and we caught a taxi out to the whale museum, where we spent a good two hours exploring the area, which the twin enjoyed. Back in the city, we checked out the historical Forts region, and also the National ANZAC Centre, which is a museum that commemorates the Australian and New Zealand service men and women who fought during the first world war.in Europe.

By the time we returned to the ship just after 5pm, having stopped for an ice cream each first, the twins were tired, and they settled into the Storm lounge to watch cartoons till dinner time, and Seb and I went down tot he administration centre, so do some work. As soon as I stepped into the office, I spotted the fax that had arrived. “Buon pomeriggio Signor Devonport, benvenuto nella squadra di WII, speriamo che ti piacerebbe lavorare per il signor Wagner, il tuo numero di lavoro è 00153. Non vediamo l'ora di lavorare con te”, it said.

“I understand some of it, there are a few words I don’t understand” I said to Seb, as I handed him the fax, and after he briefly read it, he smiled and handed it back to me, “That is a welcome to the company, informing you of your employee number, and saying they look forward to working with you, just file it in your personal file in the cabinet, you will find one there for you” Seb replied.

The telephone next to me rang, I jumped in fright a little, and Seb indicated for me to answer it. “Admin, Huon Speaking” I said into the phone, “1st Officer on the bridge, Mr Davenport, just wanted to let you know the passengers have arrived, and are just finishing processing with Border Force” came a reply. “Just a moment” I said in response, and I looked at Seb.

“It’s the bridge, letting us know the passengers are just finishing processing with Border Force” I said to my cousin, “Ok, just tell them, we are on our way to main deck, and have 4 stewards meet us there” Sebastian said, “I heard that, thanks, I will get right on it, bye” the first officer said on the phone and ended the call. Seb and I using the elevator, we headed down to the main deck.

“Just watch and listen, so you get an idea of our procedures for passengers” Seb said to me as we arrived on the main deck, and headed outdoors, to where the passengers will board the ship, were we found the chief steward and three other stewards waiting for us. “I will leave you to take the lead thanks James, we will just observe, so Huon has an idea how we run things” Seb said to the chief steward.

A few minutes later, once all of the passengers had arrived, “Bonjour, Hello, welcome aboard the Southern Explorer, English is the main language spoken on this ship, although we have crew who are fluent in German, French and Italian, as we have crew from 6 different nations, and VIP guests from Switzerland and the Falkland Islands. You are currently on the main deck, which has the largest of two living areas available to you, this deck also has your passenger cabins, which will be serviced by our housekeeping crew every second day.

Down one level is the lower deck, where there is a cinema theatre, gymnasium, spa and sauna available for your use, one deck up is deck A, which has your dining room, second lounge area and you second outdoor deck area, the first being where you stand now. All doorways marked crew area or restricted area, is strictly off limits to you passengers, as per the agreement signed by your home countries research organisations, you are to obey all commands of all crew and executive on this ship.

Failure to do so, will result in you being transported off the ship by helicopter, to the nearest mainland airport, and a hefty transport bill to your home country research organisation. If out of range to the mainland, you will be confined to a secure cabin for the rest of the journey, fined, and banned for life from travelling with us ever again. Any questions?” the chief steward announced.

“Yes, who are those two young men standing there” one Australian passenger asked, pointing towards Seb and me, I looked at Seb, who just nodded to me, and I stepped forward, “We are the executive staff on this ship, any more smart questions sir?” I said loudly as I stepped up close to the passenger, and he shook his head no and began to look a little pale, as I stepped back.

“Right, up the steps, and through the door into the lounge area, you will find a central double doorway to the main central access hall, to your twin share cabins, we will be departing at 0600 tomorrow morning, dinner is in 45 minutes at 1900 hours, that is all for now” the Chief steward announced.

Once the passengers had gone indoors, with three stewards leading the way, the chief steward turned to Seb, “Anything else sir” he asked, “No, that was perfect, especially the bit where Huon told that smart guy off” Seb replied, and the chief steward chuckled at this comment, before leaving to continue his duties.

“Well done cousin, now lets get back to our executive duties” Seb said with a smile, as we headed towards the forward elevator. As we arrived on B deck, we saw that the twins were already seated in the dining room and eating dinner, and a steward appeared, “Would you like your dinner now sirs?” he asked us, “Yes we might as well, thankyou, and our usual LLB drinks to please” Seb replied, referring to the Lemon Lime Bitters.

After dinner, while the twins went back to the storm lounge to watch a movie, Seb and I returned to the Administration centre, where a telephone was ringing, and I picked it up. “Ciao, Southern Explorer, Huon parlando” I said in Italian, “Hello Huon, questo è Antony, dallo studio legale che parla” came a reply, which I was pleased to understand all of every word.

The next twenty minutes we chatted, discussing best times to talk, considering the time difference, and we agreed on 8am to noon weekdays as the best for everyone, before we went into other matters of business, and Seb just sat down at his desk and did some work, while he listened into one half of the conversation. Once the call was over, I looked over to Seb.

“Well done mate, excellent work, so now you know that we need to be in the office from 8am to noon their time, which at the moment is from noon our time, which of course will change, the further west we travel. Then it will swap around to Noon till 6pm there time once we get to Cape Town, for when we continue west to the Falklands” Seb announced to me.

“What about when the ship comes back?” I asked, “I have already set in place a timetable, from September 24th till February 25th when we are west of Cape Town, heading to the Falklands and back, we are on the afternoon work schedule their time, and from February 26th to September 23rd, when we are east of Cape Town, heading for Albany and coming back, we are on the morning work schedule their time” Seb explained.

After another half an hour in the office, we called it quits for the day, and went to the storm lounge, where both boys were fast asleep, with the movie still going. Picking up a twin each, we carried them to their cabins, put them into their pyjamas, and tucked them into bed. After a hot drink and small snack, we retired to our cabins, knowing that we would have an early start in the morning.

At 05.30, I woke up when I felt the ships engines come to life, no longer connected to the shore power to keep the generators going for power supply, and after I washed up and dressed, I headed up to the bridge. “Permission to come and observe please Captain” I said when I arrived, “Permission granted Mr Davenport, and thankyou for asking for permission” the captain replied, and I saw a stranger standing near the helm.

“That is the Southern Port Authority Pilot, helping to guide us out of the harbour” the captain explained when he saw me look at the stranger and frown, and I nodded my head in understanding, as I stood behind the charts table, well back so I was out of the way, and I watched as the captain gave the orders to release the mooring ropes, and we slowly moved away from the wharf.

“Mr Davenport, would you like to step forward and press this button marked horn, twice please” the first officer asked me, and cautiously I stepped forward and reached for the button and pressed it, letting out a huge loud horn sound, that made me jump and I stepped back from the controls, and back to the charts table. Both the captain and 1st officer chuckled, as the latter pressed the horn button once more, as we now started to move forward.

“Mr Devonport is an executive member of the ship, responsible for administration of the company that owns this ship, it is his first full cruise with us” the captain explained to the Southern Ports Authority pilot, who just smiled, “well good luck with your journey, I hope it is a pleasant and safe one for you” the pilot said to me.

Once we had passed the two large islands, marking the boundary of the outer harbour, known as King George Sound, a pilot boat that had been following us, came along side and the pilot wished us a safe journey and he headed back to Albany. “Two more toots on the horn if you please Mr Executive Officer” the captain said to me, and reluctantly I stepped forward and pressed the button twice more.

“Thankyou Captain, I will get out of your way now” I said politely, and I exited the bridge, and returning to D deck, “Was that you making all that noise?” Seb asked as he stepped out of his cabin, and I looked a little shocked at his statement, “How did you know?” I eventually asked, and Seb chuckled for a moment.

Because I asked the captain that if you appeared on the bridge, to let you make some noise when we leave” Seb replied with a big grin on his face, and we both burst out laughing. “Come on lets do an inspection of the ship to see that everything is in order” Seb said to me, and I followed him towards the crew access stairs.