Indian Ocean Invasion - 16. IOI Chapter 16

The final three weeks of my job were very hectic, the new administrator, is a former diplomat, so well trained and experienced for the position, arriving three weeks before my departure date, and so just 4 days after arriving, I took her on the community visits to each main area of the Chagos Archipelago, and attending the community meetings.

When the day finally arrived for me to leave, having spent the last week staying in one of the hotels, so as to allow the new Administrator to settle into the official residence, I had arranged for most of my luggage and belongings to be shipped back to Australia, and with just a medium size suitcase and a backpack, which included my laptop computer, I caught the flight out to Columbo, Sri Lanka, then a flight to Singapore, where I spent a few days relaxing, before flying to Madrid, Spain.

After a few days of looking around the capital, I caught a train to Barcelona, where I spent three days looking around the coastal city. From there I caught a flight to Marseille, France, where I spent two days, before catching a train to Nice, where I decided to spend a week, before thinking of the next place to relax.

Since I had earnt a good amount over the past six months, and had nowhere to spend it, I had decided to book into a 4- star hotel, to give myself some luxury for a while. After two days of looking around Nice, I was starting to get a little bored with being on my own most of the time, and over the past few nights, I had been working on updating my resume, with the idea of looking for some work on a charter boat for six weeks.

While enjoying lunch in the hotel café, with wonderful views of the beach, on a neighbouring table, a gentleman with an American accent was talking on his mobile and it was difficult not to listen in. After a few minutes, I learnt that he was the captain of a charter super yacht, and that he was trying to organise new crew, after one crew member had fallen ill, and another two had been sacked for misbehaviour.

When the captain had finished his call, and was finishing his coffee, I decided to take the chance to ask him if I may apply for a job on the yacht he is skipper of. “Excuse me sir, I could not help but hear, that you are having crew issues now. My name is Lewis Shaw, from Australia, I have some recent experience as bosun of a 35-metre long, Sunreef Motor Yacht on the Indian Ocean, with a crew of 6 for a period of six weeks.

Would I be permitted to apply for a position on your charter yacht, even if it is a low deckhand position, I don’t mind” I asked the Gentleman, who looked at me up and down, and frowned, “If you are wondering why I don’t have much of a tan, it is because I have been working indoors a lot lately, working in Public Relations in the Chagos Archipelago” I explained.

“I see, and what other qualifications do you have?” the Captain asked me, “Well sir, I have completed the Stow95 - Basic Safety Training, I have my Eng1 - Medical Fitness Certificate, PWC - Personal Water Craft Certificate, PDSD - Designated Ship Security Duties, Senior First Aid Certificate and PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor Certificate, and I am fluent in Japanese and Malay, not that it is of much use in this region” I explained, trying to avoid mentioning, my career in the Navy.

“Well you certainly have all of the required qualifications, present your resume to me in half an hour, in the bar lounge of this hotel, and I will look at it and let you know my decision then, are you able to start right away?” the captain said, “yes sir, I have been on holidays, but I am getting a little too bored with that, so I thought this would be a great chance to do something while in the region” I answered.

Less than thirty minutes later, I entered the bar lounge, with my bags packed, and ready to grab if I get the job, and two minutes later, the Captain entered the lounge, and seeing me he walked over to where I was seated. “Is that alcohol you are drinking?” the Captain asked me, “No sir, it is just juice, I rarely drink, and never when on duty or driving” I responded, as I handed over my resume, and photocopies of my qualification certificates.

“I see you are a qualified paramedic?” the Captain said when he saw that qualification, “Yes Sir, I am in the Australian Naval reserves, and it was a course that I wanted to do” I replied, stretching the truth a little.

“But you haven’t stated your Navy training?” the Captain asked. “No sir, just what I need to work on charter yachts, the Navy is just standard training” I replied.

“Well, I think you would be perfect, but as long as you are happy to start from the bottom, we will see how you go after that, report to the Yacht “Huon”, it’s a 77 metre – expedition yacht, on Berth 6 of Quai des Docks at 1700 this evening.

We have a charter beginning at 1100 hours tomorrow morning, and my name is Owen Yates, from Canada by the way” the Captain said, “Yes sir, and thank you” I replied smiling.

Back in my room, I recovered my laptop from my backpack, and began an internet search on the yacht. 77 metres or 254 feet long, guest accommodation is 1 master suite, 2 VIP suites, 4 Double Cabins, and 4 Twin Cabins, although it is over 40 years old, it has had a refit just one year ago.

The information states that there is accommodation for 24 Crew, and the yacht has a deck jacuzzi, two 12 m fishing boats, cinema, sauna and gym, baby grand piano, elevator and lots of water toys. With such a large yacht, and plenty of crew, I was guessing that I would be kept very busy. After a shower and change of clothes, I checked out of the hotel and caught a taxi to the docks, even though I was two hours early.

The taxi dropped me off right near the yacht, and I stared at it for a few moments in amazement, it was huge, with five decks, and I suddenly realised that someone was watching me from the upper deck. “Can I help you” the young man with an English accent asked me. “Yes, I am a new deckhand reporting in, although I am a fair bit early” I replied.

“A man with an Aussie accent, that is a nice change, come aboard, and I will show you to your cabin” the young man replied, and he disappeared out of sight, reappearing a few minutes later the main deck, just as I stepped onboard. “Hi, my name is Charlie, from Thornwell, Wales, just across the river Wye from England” the young man said as he held out his hand which I shook.

“My name is Lewis Shaw, and yes I am from Australia, with just a small amount of Yacht charter experience” I responded, “I am 3rd Deckie, and I guess you are 4th Deckie, so you will be sharing a cabin with me. I was 2nd Deckie last season, but I was demoted because I got a bit stupid on our night off between charters, lucky I didn’t get fired like two others did” Charlie said to me, as he lead me past the pool, through the main saloon, through a wide hallway to the main lobby, then through a door, and another hallway, around a corner, and through a door that had Crew Only on it, then down some spiral stairs.

“This is one set of 2 staff only stairs to the lower deck, this one is the main set, the lower deck is entirely crew only area, except in the aft there is a guest area, with sauna, jacuzzi and massage room.

On this deck, we have the Chief and 2nd Engineer’s cabins, and one spare crew cabin, which is right against the engine room. Forward of that as you see we have the crew lounge and dining area, plus a large crew locker room, for extra storage, and at the very front a main storage room.

Let’s go up these stairs back up to the main deck, this forward section, which has no access to the rest of this deck, has four crew cabins, those being all the stewards and galley crew, except the Sous Chef, she is married to the 2nd Engineer, so they share a deck below.

Next is the boat deck, which has 4 more crew cabins, including our own. The 1st Officer and Bosun have separate cabins, while us 4 Deckie’s share two cabins, ours is the forward portside cabin” Charlie said, and I walked forward and opened the cabin door. “Wow, it is a lot roomier than I expected” I commented as I stepped inside. “That is the thing with older boats, they tend to have a lot more space” Charlie added, as I placed my luggage on the spare bed, and stuck my head into the bathroom, which was a good size also.

“Right, lets finish the tour, through these double doors, we enter the twilight zone… just kidding, this is guests’ areas, on this deck, we have 4 double guest cabins, and two twin guest cabins, the main stairs for the guests, storage space mostly along this hallway, and in the arse, I mean aft section, we have sundeck lounge with baby grand piano included, and an Sun deck” Charlie said, while I was chuckling at his earlier comment.

Those stairs in the corner lead up to the Helipad deck, which isn’t used as such, and so it is an extra sundeck, and can only be reached from these stairs, if we do need to bring in a helicopter for an emergency, we need to stow away all the furniture up there, and lower the side safety barriers” Charlie said, as he headed back the way we came.

This next deck up, is the Owner’s deck, which has a master suite and two twin cabins, but it is also the only way up to the Bridge deck, which is our last stop, where there is the main bridge, the Captain’s cabin and office and communications room, we will see if we can have a little peep into the Bridge” Charlie said, as we finally reached the top deck.

Through a door into a short hallway, we stopped at the next door, which read “Bridge, Authorised Person’s only”, and Charlie knocked and waited.

“Enter” came a command from inside, and Charlie opened the door a little bit, “3rd and 4th Deckie’s on a Yacht’s tour sir” Charlie said. “Come in Charlie” came the command, and we entered, where a man with 3 strips on his shoulders stood. “1st Officer James Hutchins, and who are you?” the man said to me as he approached and held out his hand, “I am 4th Deckie Lewis Shaw, sir” I replied and shook his hand.

“Nice to meet you Lewis, welcome to the team, I will chat to you soon, thanks for giving the tour Charlie” the 1st Officer said, “No problems sir, sorry for the interruption” Charlie said as he turned to head back out, and I followed him out. “Impressive bridge” I commented, as we headed back down the main stairs, till we reached the main deck again.

“Phew, lots of stairs, I’m bound to get lost” I commented, when we finally arrived on the main deck. “Right ahead of where we went down the hallway and down the stairs, there is more guest accommodation, with two VIP suites, and two twin cabins, with the crew cabins forward of that.

Other rooms that we passed on this deck are the 12-seater Media cinema, the gymnasium, the main saloon and formal dining area, and a small dining room to the side, which can be used as a conference room, and that is the end of the tour” Charlie announced.

“I’m going to go and unpack, then I will have another look around” I said to Charlie, “sure mate, some of the crew are onboard, so just introduce yourself as 4th Deckie, and when you’re ready come to the crew mess to pick up your uniforms and radio” Charlie said smiling, and I headed up the stairs to the next level, and through the guest area to the crew space.

Once I had unpacked my luggage, I decided to go and retrieve my uniform and radio first, then have a look around, once my uniform is stowed away. As I stepped out of my cabin, I bumped into a person unexpectantly, and stumbled back into my cabin. “Sorry mate didn’t mean to bump into you” came a familiar voice, but how was that possible. “Peter Is that you?” I said allowed but more to myself than to the person I bumped into.

“Well I be, what a small word we have here, hello Lewis” Peter said has he held out his hand and he pulled me into a hug. “What are you doing here, and is Melinda with you?” I asked returning the hug, then standing back, still in half shock.

“Yes, we ended up storing our yacht in Fremantle, and we decided to go on a well-deserved holiday, till we started getting bored, and we decided to give being a crew member on a larger charter yacht a try, and here we are” Peter explained. “Wow, this is amazing, so what position do you have on the yacht, obviously not captain or first officer” I asked.

“No, we decided on as less responsibility as possible, I am the 2ndEngineer, and Melinda is Sous chef” Peter replied, and I laughed, “same with me, but starting at the very bottom as 4th Deckie, so you are the married couple that Charlie mentioned to me” I responded, “Yes, that is us” Peter replied

“So, what is the set up here, do you know much?” I asked. “Well, not really, we have only been here for about three hours, the Galley hand – Cristina, and the Head Chef are both Italian, which is going to be interesting, and apart from the Captain, that is all we have met so far, oh, and Charlie the 3rd Deckie” Peter said to me.

“Yes, I have met the Captain and Charlie gave me the tour of the yacht, but I think I will get lost in places for a day or two, it’s so huge” I responded. “Ah Lewis, you have met the 2nd Engineer” Charlie said as he appeared from the forward stairs. “Actually, we are old friends” I responded, and Peter nodded his head in agreement.

“The Captain wants all crew in the main saloon right away” Charlie said to us, and we all headed down the hallway and down the main stairs to the main deck, where all the remainder crew were gathered. “Good now that we have everyone onboard, a little earlier than planned, let’s get started” the Captain said, as I scanned the room, to see all the new people.

“We have 6 new crew members, in order of rank, they are 2nd Engineer - Peter who is from New Zealand, Bosun – Toby, from the USA, Sous Chef - Melinda, from New Zealand, and wife of Peter, Lead Deckhand – Henry from the UK, Galley Hand – Cristina from Italy, and 4th Deckie – Lewis from Australia” the Captain said making the introductions, and he paused before continuing.