Light, Shade, and Ghosts

After the horizon gazing of yesterday, I spent time today looking inward.

As part of my regular inspection routine, I usually check the aft- and forepeak areas and the pump room. Confession time…I’ve been lazy and have neglected the forepeak and pump room for a while. Bad, really, as they should be checked every week for any changes. There’s no excuse for not doing it, as it just involves opening the forward hatch cover or connecting an extension cord from the outlet in the boiler room to the string of lights in the area above the pump room to provide light.

The string of lights illuminates the tween deck level and forepeak, but not the pump room. The hatch provides general illumination on the tween deck level and down into the pump room, but the forepeak is usually pitch black and requires a flashlight to see anything.

I chose the hatch option today and got a surprise when I went below.

Normally hidden and unnoticed in the dark, the upper bow ports were lit by the sunlight that was streaming down through the hatch and was being reflected forward by the bulkhead separating the upper pump room area from the boiler room. It was a Newgrange moment!

Here is a shot of the entire area taken later on in the day for comparison:

The bow ports are back in shadow again.

More details.

Deck (needs sweeping):

I can’t remember if I’ve posted about this before, but these marks are something Brush noticed during the last survey:

So far, they’ve only been found on plates along one particular strake on the starboard side. No idea what they mean, if anything.

I figure I should mention the ghost(s). Oooooooo. Some time ago, I was talking to someone who had volunteered on board in the past and he told me of spooky things (voices, touch) he and someone else had experienced while working in this area at night.

At one point, some people scouting locations for a ghost hunter program visited the ship. Oddly enough, from what I understand, they said they picked up voices in the same area. Oooooooo.

I also heard that ice used to be kept in the forepeak during the ship’s sailing days and sometimes bodies would be stored there. Now, I’m not so sure about that. I guess a body could be kept, if it was someone really important. Otherwise, why not just a burial at sea?

I have had a couple of strange experiences, but they are things I can explain away. The ship has a very light and benign air…at least during the day. I’m a chicken when it comes to the dark, so I don’t think I’ll be spending any time here alone at night.

Leaving the pump room area, a valve handle on the boiler room side of the bulkhead:

I hadn’t noticed the black mark above the handle before. Caused by steam escaping a long time ago?

I made up a new ullage form, which I think works quite well:

Oops, I wrote down the wrong date.

Some life at Aloha Tower Marketplace!

It turns out that it was the people who had participated in the Challenge Nation urban scavenger race. Looks like fun!

Once More Into the Tanks, Dear Friends…

I took time off from “real life” to help out on board the ship for three days this past week. Representatives from JMS Naval Architects were in town to do a survey and meet with the shipyard. This survey covered the same areas (tanks, forepeak, aftpeak, pump room) as the past two done by Chris Jannini, so I felt quite comfortable with what needed to be done.

The aftpeak has remained dry since summer of last year when we pumped the water that was in it, forward into the tanks:

The numbers we put up to label the frames were still there:

Looking into port tank #3:

Water in the pump room:

Pump room looking aft toward the forward bulkhead of the first set of tanks:

I was pleased that I was able to get a decent photo of the inside (port side) of the chain locker by sticking my fancy phone into a hole:

It looks like a wooden bulkhead dividing the space, but I have no idea what the dark sheet-like stuff is.

I had a couple of small scares while down in the pump room. I was standing on a board that worked loose and dropped a few inches and then had a ladder slip a bit as I climbed up it (so much for thinking it was secure all this time).

On Thursday, we were able to give our visitors a closer look at part of the exterior of the hull thanks to Captain Ed Enos, who very kindly made arrangements for use of one of the pilot boats:

We also did a bit of recon (wink, wink):

Back at Pier 19:

L to R: Bruce McEwan (Friends of Falls of Clyde), Jack Ringelberg (JMS Naval Architects), David Forrest (JMS Naval Architects), Captain Ed Enos (Hawaii Pilots Association)

Mahalo to Herbie!

My post wouldn’t be complete without some ship spotting!

Horizon Spirit:

Mokihana without containers:

Container detail:

Not the sharpest photo, but it shows Mikioi with the Foss logo:

Pi‘ilani also bears the Foss logo now. Kind of sad. The end of an era.

Celebrity Century with a few lifeboats lowered into the water:

Back to FOC, the birds continue to leave gifts in the form of seeds. There was also some weird stuff on the deck:

Not sure what it was, but obviously the ants liked it.

It’s…Alive!

Ooo scary! Explanation to come later on in this post.

I spent Wednesday morning at the ship for a meeting related to the mooring lines. While there, I learned some disturbing news. The guy who was arrested for trespassing and stealing stuff from the ship is out of jail. So soon? What’s up with that?

Needless to say, I was really alert when I went aboard the ship this morning. I kept my eyes open for anything that seemed out of place and my phone at the ready. There was nothing out of the ordinary, as far as I could tell. A relief.

I took a few minutes to watch the arrival of Shinkai Maru:

Nice to see a woman handling the line from the ship:

I found another weed:

And more bird gifts:

Today was spent helping to prep the ship for the arrival of reps from JMS Naval Architects and taking apart a wood ramp that was built for the old gangway.

Ladders ready:

I took a look at the pump room, which I haven’t done in a while. I noticed that a piece of something had fallen from somewhere, but it was good to see that the water level was still below the top of the keelson:

Tween deck above the pump room looking aft:

Speaking of pumps…
[cue spooky music]

The pump that was dead is alive! :O

Paul stopped by give it a final check. He plugged it in and…it worked!

A friend had joked about it coming back to life…seems it is a zombie pump.

Zombie pump (left) and twin:

Thanks to Paul for putting it back together and fixing the cord. Yes, Paul is awesome.

It had been raining on and off during the course of the morning and it looked like it was going to get worse.

I was tired and not feeling 100%, so I decided to call it a day.

“We Never Shall Build Their Likes Again”

I arrived at the harbor just a few minutes too late to get good photos of MELL Stamford:

The naupaka (Scaevola sericea) by the ship looked pretty:

I did my usual tasks on board the ship, but, again, my heart wasn’t in it. The only thing that cheered me up was seeing a pair of mejiro at the same line as before.

I guess I have a lot to think about.

A monkey fist attached to one of Star of Honolulu’s lines:

Robert C. Seamans back in the harbor at Pier 9:

Since I returned home rather early, I decided to make a real push to finish the photo survey work I had to do:

Done.

Still feel rather melancholy.

I’ll sign off now with part of a poem by Cicely Fox Smith:

“These are the men that sailed and manned,
Worked her and drove her from land to land,
Most of ’em gone, as the ships are gone,
For times must change, as the old words run,
And men change with ’em, we know full well;
For worse or for better? Time will tell.
This only is certain, ships and men,
We never shall build their likes again.”

Indeed.

Working…Photo Survey of Hull

Six down, eighty-something to go! Whee!

Right Time, Right Place

One of the tasks on the list today was taking the borrowed ship lei off the ship. While I was standing on the area (starboard side) next to the bowsprit near where it enters the hull, I happened to look down. I was amazed and delighted to see a honu (green sea turtle) swimming around the bow of the ship. How awesome is that? Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera at hand, so no photo. 😦

Since I started spending time on the ship, I’ve seen some pretty cool sea creatures: large needlefish and porcupine fish, spotted eagle rays, a small whitetip reef shark, a pod of dolphins, and two humpback whales. Now a turtle. What next? Monk seal?

Two of the sounding poles I made up were installed—one in the pump room and the other in the aftpeak.

Pole attached to a stanchion just aft of the jigger mast:

The foot of the pole is resting on the keelson. There’s nearly six inches of sediment covering it at the moment.*

I didn’t get a photo of the pole in the pump room. Perhaps next time. While attaching it to the stanchion just aft of the fore mast, I got to stand on the keelson. That was quite neat. I wonder when was the last time someone got to do that? Attaching the second, shorter pole in the pump room is proving to be more difficult. I will have to work out something.

*The pole is marked in three-inch increments.

Gurgle…bloop…gloop…gurgle…

I get concerned when I hear new/different sounds coming from the ship.

I was in the pump room looking for an area to attach a pole, when I heard a strange gurgling. After carefully examining the location the sound was coming from, I found the source.

The pipe at the left side of the photo was close enough to the surface that water sloshing in and out of it when the ship rolled made the noise.

In addition to strange sounds, there are also strange sights.

I have no idea what sort of growth this is:

It looks like some bizarre alien seaweed.

Stages of my PVC pole project (for the pump room):

Outside of the ship, the world goes on.

Mahi leaving the harbor:

Crystal Symphony rat guards:

How Time Flies…

It’s hard to believe that a week has gone by since the start of the photographic hull survey. The work has been hot and tiring, but fun and quite interesting. I’ve learned quite a bit as well.

Anyway, here are some photos of what’s been happening on board the ship!

We were fortunate to have welding and riveting expert Vern Mesler stop by.

Vern and Chris Jannini looking at rivets at the stern of the ship:

Vern and his wife Nan Jackson examine the aftpeak area:

Chris was right! The lower part of the jigger mast is wood. Curious!

Numbers and letters (big mahalo to Alvin) for labeling frames and strakes:

Strainer design:

Volunteers in safety gear in lazarette:

Mossend stamp:

Robert Jamieson and volunteers dealing with a hose connected to one of the submersible pumps:

Geologic features in a ship! Ripple marks in the sediment in the aftpeak:

Dr. Lloyd Hihara from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa/Hawaii Corrosion Lab visited the ship. Chris, Dr. Hihara, and Vern looking at the hull:

Some of Robert Jamieson’s wonderful drawings of the ship:

More work on the pumping system:

Chris in the forepeak:

Hole in the collision bulkhead leading to the chain locker:

The lower set of bow ports:

I was very glad that I had the opportunity to climb down into the forepeak to have a closer look at the condition of the hull there.

Hole in the bulkhead between the pump room and port tank #1:

Chris labeling the frames and strakes in the pump room:

Finally, a couple of photos taken this morning to remind me that there is a bright world beyond the rusty hull…

I was surprised and delighted to see dolphins in the harbor! Unfortunately, the photo isn’t very good because they had gone past the ship by the time I got my camera. You can just make them out in the area between the coconut tree trunks and the building.

Perched on one of the lines on the ship, a young sparrow begging for food from its mother:

The Stuff of Nightmares…

Catching Up

Real life has been keeping me busy, so I wasn’t able to write an entry for last weekend. Time to catch up!

There was some excitement at the ship last Saturday. When I arrived in the morning, it was clear that there had been trespassers on the ship. It seems that they went aboard some time after the concert at Aloha Tower Marketplace. I called the Tower and the Harbor Police were dispatched to the ship. I spoke to the officers and filled out a report. Fortunately, no damage seemed to be done.

That pretty much disrupted my plans for the day. I decided to leave the ship earlier than I normally do and return the following day.

Sunday proved to be a better day. Since the weather has been more moderate lately, it was quite pleasant sitting on the deck in the salon and working on my chafing gear project. As you can see, it’s the same design as the previous one.

Fast forward to yesterday. I spent most of the day on the ship with the naval architect who is advising us. One thing he is working on is updating the drawings of the ship. It’s quite exciting to see what he has done so far. The new drawings will be a great tool for the organization on so many different levels. We also discussed photo documentation of the ship and have started developing a system for recording information.

We spent some time in the pump room again. I find the area really interesting. I just wish it was in better condition for exploring on my own (two people required for safety reasons).

Base of foremast:

Looking up through hatchway:

One thing that is interesting is the acoustics. Contrary to what one may think, some sounds from outside are magnified. Voices and noises from the Star of Honolulu sometimes seem as if they are coming from inside the hull of the Falls.

There was a sparrow perched on the wire rope stay (just visible as a small blip in the photo above), directly above the hatchway. Its chirps were quite loud. Before I actually saw it, I wondered where it was because it sounded like it was only few feet from where I was standing. Weird.

A break for lunch at Gordon Biersch. Two of the crew members from Hakurei Maru No. 2, which had arrived earlier in the morning, were on the pier operating radio controlled cars. (Sorry, no photo.)

On the way back from the Marketplace, we were discussing the trim of the ship when I spotted this young wedge-tailed shearwater in a drainage area on the pier near the ship:

(Sorry about the crappy cell phone pic. The good camera was on the ship.)

We picked him up, put him in a box, and took him to the Humane Society.