http://timstimes.net Ship stories and other stuff Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:22:32 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The reason for not writing so many posts recently has been a renewed interest in playing Irish music and the recent purchase of a mandolin which will accompany me on the waves. I will still be writing the other stuff too. Maybe even a few podcasts in the offing when ... http://timstimes.net/2008/10/09/mando/ Back in 1994 before pocket digital cameras, and when mobile phones were still a yuppie luxury I was a deck cadet and had the pleasure of "doing" a drydock on a VLCC. It's a bit like the way Americans "do" Europe size wise anyway and takes about the same length ... http://timstimes.net/2008/10/06/from-the-archives/ The port wing of my second and final flight yesterday, the aircraft was a Fokker 70. The first plane was also a Fokker, a 50 though, and it felt like being on a Honda 50. According to my schedule I had an hour between planes, which is grand if you ... http://timstimes.net/2008/09/24/home-again-home-again-jiggety-jog/ Lack of sleep, one of the disadvantages of the job. Of course we have lots of rules about hours of rest that should be are obeyed, I don't know if I get tired of the rules or just from being awake in the middle of the night, when I should ... http://timstimes.net/2008/09/20/fatigue-the-knock-on-effect/ Absalon by Hebster. Click on the photo to get to Hebsters Photo stream in Flickr From the Scandinavian Shipping Gazette I read about the Danish frigate Absalon capturing boats and pirates in the Gulf of Aden. The Absalon's helicopter spotted the boats and a navy seal detachment boarded and found equipment ... http://timstimes.net/2008/09/19/pirates-get-caught/ I made the near fatal error of replying to an Egyptian Ship Chandler's e-mail this evening. I should have just binned it, pressed the delete button and carried on with whatever else I was doing, but no. For some reason I sat down and read the e-mail offering best quality ... http://timstimes.net/2008/09/16/suez-spam-bonus/ the entry in my Discharge book from AsgardII I read on the internet that the Irish Sail Training Vessel Asgard II sunk on the 11th of September 2008, in the Bay of Biscay. I was deeply saddened to learn of this event, not only because I had done a stint as ... http://timstimes.net/2008/09/13/asgard-ii-sinks-in-the-bay-of-biscay/ The Barque Mircea, seen in the Mediterranean the other day. She was motoring as can be seen by the lack of canvas and most likely heading for her home port of Constanta, Romania. Not looking too bad for a 70 year old ship too. Built in 1938 at the famous ... http://timstimes.net/2008/09/06/mircea/ Have lost contact with the muse recently and got entangled in the Wire. All 5 series seen now, and I feel like Jimmy Mc Nulty after a wake at Kavanagh's bar. Still it's a great show. Anyway back to blogging. I heard one about a cadet who thought he was very ... http://timstimes.net/2008/09/05/be-nice-to-the-spanners/ A warning sign graphically describes what you will get if you get too close to the bars below. Now the hole in the bars was just big enough to rest the camera lens, for a long range shot of Shere Kahn and friends, I didn't see this divil coming out of ... http://timstimes.net/2008/08/07/tigers-whiskers/