At Sea - 1. AS Chapter 1

Like many young blokes, I had a tough life as a kid, as I was small for my age and of slight build, so I was always prone to bullying, but this didn’t affect my grades at all, I was near the top of my class in all subjects, as I always studied hard, even when I was also holding a part time job, since the age of 14.

My father was a merchant seaman, who held the rank of Bosun on an Australian cargo ship when he was accidentally killed during a voyage in the Coral sea, where some cargo had come loose during rough seas, and he was crushed to death on the main deck.

I was just 12 years old when he died, and Mum struggled to keep me and her with a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs. My only uncle, like his brother in law, was also a sailor, but he now owned three cray fishing boats, of which he was the skipper for one of them, and he employs skippers and crew for the other two boats.

On weekends and school holidays since the age of 14, I have been working for my uncle Jayden, starting from the bottom as an ordinary deckhand, and now I am the leading deckhand. About 25% of the money that I earn, goes to paying my upkeep at home, as well as my school fees, while the remainder goes into my saving account, to pay for my university fees.

At the age of 16, Mum transferred me to a college in the city, where the final two years of studies can be completed in just one year, and I completed the year at the top of the class. Earlier in the year I had applied to enter university the following year to study Marine Science and Nautical Science, a double degree that I felt I would be able to handle the pressures of quite easily.

Uncle Jay agreed to let me work on his fishing boats on the weekends, as long as I kept up with my studies, and completed all my assignments on time. Mum was very proud of what I had achieved, she remained in our home town of Glenbrook, while I attended college and university in Tasmania, Uncle Jay had a small cabin behind his house in St Helens on the East coast, with its own kitchenette and bathroom, which I lived in.

Three times a week Aunt Jacqueline made me eat a meal with her and Uncle Jay, to make sure I was eating properly, and Aunt Jacq also did all my laundry for me. Starting University, a year ahead of most of the students, I proved that I wasn’t too young by achieving high marks for all the subjects in the two courses, the main Bachelor of Marine Science in Oceanography is a 3-year course, while the Advanced Diploma of Applied Science in Nautical Science is a 2½ year course.

I avoided all social events, and spent most of my spare time studying at home in my little cabin, and I use the bus service as my mode of transport to and from University each day, which is a 1 hour 45-minute journey each way. For 3 days a week, I have three lectures a day and a study tutorial, the other two days - I have just two lectures, Monday in the afternoon and Friday in the morning, which suited me well with work, as we set sail in the late afternoon Friday, and return mid-morning on Mondays.

The cray boat that I sailed on with Uncle Jay, is the largest of the three he owns, formally a long line boat, Uncle Jay bought it cheaply and gave it a full refit. At 23.95 metres long, it is a good five metres longer than his other two aluminium cray boats, with a large rear deck work space, there are two diesel engines and a generator, all accessible from the main rear deck.

On the main deck mid-ship there is two store rooms, a bathroom on the portside and three store rooms and third smaller storeroom on the starboard side, with a 3-metre wide passageway through the centre, to the mid-ship open work space, that provides access between both sides of the ship, plus hatches to the two below deck freezer compartments.

On the portside there are stairs up to the main bridge, which has a large navigation desk and a small bathroom, plus and small office, and on the starboard side there is a steel door and stairs to the lower deck. Below the bridge, on the forward main deck, there is a door in the centre, with a short passageway, halfway along to the left, a door leads to a large office, while the door to the right leads to the skipper’s double cabin and bathroom, and the door straight ahead leads into a large open room, with work benches on most walls, and a central table fixed to the floor.

Below deck to the front there is a door to a full boat width lounge area, beyond that is a dining mess, the galley, scullery & pantry. Mid deck, there are 1 double cabin with private bathroom and 2 twin cabins, with a shared bathroom, located on each side of the central freezer compartments, and a small crew lounge at the end of the passageway that separates the freezers from the cabins.

The two 20,000 litre fuel tanks, are located just forward of the generator room, with two store rooms separating it from the crew lounge. In the two years that Uncle Jay has owned the new boat, I have enjoyed the work more, as I now have my own cabin with a double bed, as I had taken over as leading deckhand.

I had added some shelving units in my cabin to store novels as I liked to read, plus the DVD player, a collection of CD’s and DVD’s, and Uncle Jay had installed a small television in his skipper’s cabin and my cabin so we could watch movies during our off time on the boat.

With two other deckhands on the boat, who were far older than me, they often grumbled about taking orders from a younger deckie, but Uncle Jay soon put them in order if they didn’t take orders. Work was tough on the boat, as it meant long hours, getting cold and wet, and the seas of the Southern Ocean around Tasmania can often be very rough.

I had completed my first degree soon after my 19^th birthday in late November, after 2 years of studies, because of RPL - Recognition of Prior Learning, as I had already completed training and received my Certificate of Competency for Level 1 Coxswain, Marine Radio Operators Certificate, Senior First Aid Certificate and the 3½ years of sea experience as a deckhand, before I had finished my high school certificate.

Just days later I sat the final examination with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which was the last stage of my training. Mum travelled down to Tasmania from Glenbrook on the mainland, to attend my graduation, along with Uncle Jay and Aunt Jacq, all of them saying that they were very proud of me, and we went on a weekend cruise to celebrate that plus my birthday.

Sailing to a remote little bay on the north-east coast, where we just relaxed, caught some fish for our meals, and relaxed on the beach or explored some of the Tasmanian wilderness. It was the first time I had seen Mum happy and relaxed in a long time, and I was pleased that she was enjoying her relaxing time with family, and as we travelled back along the coast back to Launceston, Mum gave me a big yellow envelope, while we were all on the bridge.

Inside the envelope was my official Certificate of Competency as a Deck Officer from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, I was now a qualified Navigator Officer, and I was thrilled. Once back at University, after our weekend celebrations.

I settled into my final year for my other course, I only have 8 lectures a week now, instead of 12, which made life a little easier for me, with Monday morning and all-day Friday being lecture free, which allowed me to spend a little bit more time on my uncle Jay’s cray boat.

With my new qualifications, Uncle Jay gave me more responsibilities, allowing me to pilot the boat to and from the fishing zones, which allowed him more time to help the other two crew members with setting up the equipment, which is a 15-metre long narrow table that runs from the front of the rear deck through the passageway, to the front work area.

Once the cray pots are pulled up on deck, they slide along a tilting tray, which tilts down onto the central table, where it makes it way forward, so the crays can be removed from the pots and placed in the large plastic trays of sea water, and the empty cray pots are then stacked and secured to the side of the central work area, ready to be dropped back in the ocean at the next drop point.

Once the whole line of pots has been pulled up, the crays are sized and placed in crates that are lowered into the freezer compartment. During my time on the bridge, I felt relaxed and I was regularly checking all the of the main instruments, including the depth finder, the main radar, plus the gauges for the engines and generator, and the satellite guided navigation.

Uncle Jay had made sure that his main boat was all the best equipment on the deck as well as on the Bridge, he even had included a CD player so he could play some music, that was broadcasted throughout the main areas of the boat.

Returning to mainland Tasmania before lunch time on Mondays, I only had three hours to get home, shower, change and get to my afternoon lecture at university, so on this first day back at university after the family trip, I arrived at the afternoon lecture still smelling a little fishy, as I only had time to an extra fast shower, and a good dose of deodorant, and it didn’t take long before the lecturer stopped his talk.

“I presume that someone in this lecture hall didn’t have time to clean up after some fishing” he said as he looked around at the 75 students in front of him, and I blushed badly realising I was the one he was talking about, as I slowly stood up. “I do apologise to you sir and my fellow students, I am a part time deckie, on a cray boat, and we were a bit late getting into port this morning, I will exit and let you continue” I said feeling really embarrassed.

“Stay put Mr Henderson, I think we can put up with the smell for the remainder of the day, I also think the fish smell is a good training tool, because as Marine Scientists, you all will be smelling like this at some point in your career” the lecturer said and I sat back down and we continued with the class.

At the end of the lecture, some of my class mates came up to me to ask about my part time work, and I told them about my Uncle Jay’s cray boat, and that I had recently qualified as a coxswain. I mentioned that I often spend time on the bridge navigating to and from the fishing zones, as well as the main deck work, that consists of pulling up the pots, and sorting the crayfish, and that I work every weekend, from Friday morning till Monday morning.

When I arrived home that evening, I mentioned to my uncle and aunt about the interesting afternoon I had at university, and how my class mates asked me about my work on the cray boat. The rest of the week was just as usual, until I was on a lunch break on Thursday, when I received a phone call from Uncle Jay.

“Carlton, It’s Jay here, I have a special favour to ask you” Uncle Jay said to me, “Yes anything I can do, as long as its legal” I said happily. “You’re a funny man nephew, the other day you mentioned that some of your class mates were interested in the work you do on the boat, do you think they would be interested in spending a weekend working on our cray boat?

Your two shipmates have decided to call in sick for this weekend” he asked me, and a bit shocked at what Uncle Jay had just asked, I was a little uncertain what to say. “Err, I could always ask them, in this afternoon’s class” I eventually said, “That’s good, as you know we have four bunks available, and since they are not skilled in cray fishing, we may need at least four to get the work done, I will bring the snorkelling gear as well so we can have some relaxation time” Uncle Jay said to me and he ended the call.

Less than an hour later, I was in the lecture hall for my last lecture for the week, and during the class I looked around at my class mates, and wondered if any would actually accept the proposal that I was going to put to them at the end of the lecture.

“…and that is it for this week, remember to look at chapters 26 to 29 in your text books, and I would like a 3000-word assignment on what we have discussed today” the lecturer said, and that is when I put my hand up in the air. “Yes Carlton, you wish to ask me something?” the lecturer asked, and I stood up.

“Not you sir, but my class mates, if you don’t mind… Earlier this week, some of you expressed interest in my work as a cray fish deckie, I received a call from my uncle, the cray boat skipper, and he is short of crew for this weekend, and he wants to know if any of you are interested in some paid work on the boat” I said to my class mates.

“Ok those interested in chatting some more to Carlton, remain here, the rest of you are free to go” the lecturer said. Less than five minutes later, I found that there are over twenty students still in the lecture hall, which was a bit of a surprise, as I walked to the front of the lecture room. “OK, I’m a bit surprised by the number still here, let me tell you what the routine is, and we will see who is still interested” I said.