He couldn't

[atferrari]

Yesterday, we started to discharge a lady, full of cargo, in cold and windy weather.

In spite of that I was happy because the operation was going much better than I expected.

In the afternoon, when I saw smoke coming out of the coaming, we learnt that there was fire on board. Three people came out from the lower hold more or less intoxicated by the smoke.

I spent two hours assisting the Master for the communication with the firemen and Coastguard until he ordered the crew to leave and go ashore.

At night I had a calm dinner with my daughter and her boyfriend.

But one thing kept hammering my mind: the fourth guy that couldn't leave in time. He didn't go back home and never will.

 

[JimB]

we started to discharge a lady

A curious phrase, I understand what you are trying to say by the context of the rest of your post.
It may make sense in Spanish, but in English it is nonsense.

What you should say is "we started to unload a ship".

Commiserations for the guy who did not make it out of the hold.

JimB

 

[tvtech]

Yesterday, we started to discharge a lady, full of cargo, in cold and windy weather.

In spite of that I was happy because the operation was going much better than I expected.

In the afternoon, when I saw smoke coming out of the coaming, we learnt that there was fire on board. Three people came out from the lower hold more or less intoxicated by the smoke.

I spent two hours assisting the Master for the communication with the firemen and Coastguard until he ordered the crew to leave and go ashore.

At night I had a calm dinner with my daughter and her boyfriend.

But one thing kept hammering my mind: the fourth guy that couldn't leave in time. He didn't go back home and never will.

Hi Agustin

Do you frequent shipspotting here: **broken link removed**

One of my favourite sites.

Cheers,
tvtech

 

[panic mode]

poor guy...

what was the cause of fire?

 

[atferrari]

My mistake

It may make sense in Spanish, but in English it is nonsense.

What you should say is "we started to unload a ship".

JimB

Hola Jim,

I did not read this thread again until today.

I employed what is common use in a group of operators from a big company (with whom I worked with for several years) where amognst others there are lot of natives in English. "Lady" there, makes senses as I used it. My mistake. Thanks for the heads up.

Regarding "discharging" and "unloading" the first is the expresion actually used in the activity by the practitioners at any level.

The second, as far as I could see in so many years here and there, it is common use for people that, I would say, are not so close to actual operations.

It is in the dictionary but as usual, real life seems to bias things a little.

 

[atferrari]

what was the cause of fire?

Investigation is still going, I believe. Too many unauthorizaed versions.

BTW, she is there, waiting to complete the discharge.

 

[JimB]

Double post.

 

[JimB]

Hola Agustin

I assume that this ship is the Brielle (I did a quick google search).

As for the wording of your original post, I guess that this is where terminology (in Spanish) used locally by the shipping industry does not translate well to everyday English.

I am not directly involved with shipping, but a number of years ago I worked at an oil terminal, where the oil was LOADED on to tankers.
It seems logical that when they arrived at their destination, they UNLOADED the oil.

You may also say that the ships tanks would be DISCHARGED at the destination port.
But to say that at our terminal the tanks were CHARGED with oil, sounds really odd.

The English language can be a bit (very?) odd sometimes, there are many words which mean the same thing but are used in different contexts.
This is probably due to the fact that English made up from bits of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, French, Latin and probably a few other languages.


For those interested in shipping, you can find which ships are where by looking here:
https://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/


JimB

 

[3v0]

It is a sad thing to face the sea then die in a ship tied up to the dock.

I understood what atferrari was saying and I have nothing to do with the shipping industry.

 

[atferrari]

I assume that this ship is the Brielle (I did a quick google search).

Yes. That is her.

As for the wording of your original post, I guess that this is where terminology (in Spanish) used locally by the shipping industry does not translate well to everyday English.

In this particular case, the company is in Europe and there are few people, if any, native in Spanish. It was a funny expression, in English, in line with the female condition assigned to ships. By the way, in Spanish (buque or barco) are males.

where the oil was LOADED on to tankers.
It seems logical that when they arrived at their destination, they UNLOADED the oil.

You may also say that the ships tanks would be DISCHARGED at the destination port.
But to say that at our terminal the tanks were CHARGED with oil, sounds really odd.

That contradicition (?) also puzzled me in the beginning.

I am not directly involved with shipping, but a number of years ago I worked at an oil terminal

What was your job there?

As a Ch. Officer in tankers I loaded in Arzew, Algeria and discharged twice at Bayonne Terminal - NJ - USA. The obsession was always the possibility of contamination.

After some time I moved to a LPG carrier and finally closed the circle coming back to project/general cargo vessels.

Nowadays I wave hands when they cast off and I come back home whistling softly.

 

[JimB]

atferrari asks:

What was your job there?

I fixed the computers, some of them anyway.

One of them, a dual PDP11 system with a Westinghouse telemetry system, gathered data from around the process and storage areas of the terminal, and one specific task of that computer was generating the tanker loading reports so that the cargo was well defined for payments and taxation etc.

The other big system was a dual Ferranti Argus 700 system with a Serck telemetry system.
That system gathered data from meters onshore at the terminal, and at offshore production platforms. It then calculated to see that the amount of oil and gas coming out of the pipelines was the same as the amounts going in. If there was a difference, that meant that there was a leak in the pipeline and somebody was about to have a very bad day!

When you were on tankers, did you ever get to Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands?
That is the terminal where I worked, 30 years ago now. Happy days.

JimB

 

[atferrari]

Once, near them only.

When you were on tankers, did you ever get to Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands?
That is the terminal where I worked, 30 years ago now. Happy days.
JimB

The closest I've been was when passing between the Shetlands and the Feroes, crossing from Narvik to the River Plate. That night, weather was horrible. Not a happy night that one.