Been there done that, and it will probably happen again. That's when I buy engine building books and stock up on Chevy High Performance magazines and read up on as much crap as I can. Then I come home and try to put that new knowledge to use.
On a ship, if there's one thing worse than a terrible crew, it's a terrible steward department (the cooks). That will demoralize any crew!

Because everybody knows that icebergs are routinely seen in the Tropics!


We did see/"feel" the tsunami from the Chile earthquake and the Okinawa earthquake which I doubt ya'll even heard about. Tsumani's at sea are miniature but still recognizable if you know what to look for. They start to build as the water becomes more shallow.

I don't drink nearly as much as these guys did, as a matter of fact I only drank when I went ashore and didn't have watch within 8 hours of my last drink. There's too much riding on my shoulders to risk it. There's countless stories that I know of that has made it clear that certain positions aboard a ship need to stay sober. These other guys can get away with it, however I can usually have fun without drinking anyways.

A miserable but worthy 4 years at a military academy, and a painful 6 years as a scrub in a union. Not sure if you ran into any Kings Pointers while you were in the Navy but there's a few of us officers running around the armed forces. Most people don't know but there's 5 Military academies...
- Annapolis
- West Point
- Air Force Academy
- Coast Guard Academy
and the
- United States Merchant Marine Academy (aka Kings Point)

Go to any of those schools and you get a full commission in the Armed Forces, except Kings Point has a couple of aces up their sleeves that the other academies don't. But most active-military Kings Pointers are fly-boys. My best friends from school are all fighter pilots now.

 

Now that I'm a full book member in my Union I get to pick my jobs. My last ship was with American President Lines running the far east Trade routes...



And the one before that was with Central Gulf running the Middle East Trade routes...





I change it up when I get bored with a certain part of the world. Each company usually specializes in a certain market, the funnest jobs are MSC/Military ships cuz of the places they go and the cargo they carry. You should see some of the stuff we bring out of the middle east...

That book is called "Looking for a Ship" by John McPhee. That story is more or less exactly what I do for a living and the ship he rode on was crewed by some of my union brothers. Thing about that book that I didn't get was that it just stopped abruptly, like there was no ending to it!
There's a couple other books I could recommend if you like that kinda stuff, I'm a big nautical buff (obviously).

Pick up a copy of a book called Three star fix by Joseph Jablonski,
http://www.amazon.com/Three-Star-Fix.../dp/0972234926
It was written by a former captain of mine and pretty much exemplifies what myself and most Navigation officers went through during our cadet/midshipmen years.
As a matter of fact these two kids here...

On the left with the baseball hat


And this one...


were the cadets on the ship. A Sailor's moral compass requires us to take them ashore in port and get them fucked up and into all kinda of trouble and mischief. And we did these two proud too!!
They have ***** stories and jail time to prove it!!

I remember reading once that your a professional Diver, I dove on this ship in Egypt a few years back that if you ever get a chance to go out to that part of the world you should really make this dive...

http://www.touregypt.net/vdc/Salemexp.htm

Most of the diving I do is recreational and not very often do I get to dive on ships of this magnitude and tragedy, I dove this wreck about a week before taking my first job as navigator, it FREAKED me out!!

 

Looks like a lot of fun AND you get paid, and well I might add... bastard!!! hahahahahaha....

Good to have you back buddy, will see you soon... look forward to yelling at a laker game soon as they are stinking it up lately.

 

Yeah, that's the book I was talking about. Read it on the way from Kwajalein, Marshall Islands to Panama. (and back)

Actually, I'm not a Professional Diver, but did enough dives ( I quit keeping logs at about 1500) while living in the Marshalls to qualify as one. I actually had my Z Card for awhile, and went on a few trips while working in the Marine Dept there. The biggest one was from Kwaj to Panama on one of the tugs to pick up 2 1600 class Army LCU's. A 3 month drama! Went on a couple trips on our big LCU to Kosrae, and Tarawa in the Gilberts. Never been on any REAL big ships, but some of my buds were thinking of going with MSC. Don't know if they ever did. Anyhoo......................welcome back, and get back to the truck build!!!

 

That is ******* awesome dude.



In for the strip club pics!

 

looks awesome, welcome back

 

Welcome back!

 

Thanks guys!! Glad to be back!
I bought a LSX TD when I was out at sea and I plan on Building a 12.5:1 CR 4xx engine for my slow *** truck.
Should be fun once I get the specs worked out! Hope you guys enjoyed the pics!!



****...time to get the **** out of this bar... The bar hags are showing interest... That's my cue!! Lol

 

Welcome back!

 

Welcome back buddy, good to hear from ya again.