Sometimes Things Work Out

We don’t get to see too many Maersk ships, so I wanted to go to the harbor to have a look at Maersk Michigan.

It seemed as though the universe was conspiring against me. The camera on my fancy phone started acting strange, so that needed to be taken care of at the Apple Store at Ala Moana. It looked like I was going to miss getting photos of the ship arriving because of this. My appointment was for 1650 and the ship was scheduled for 1730. After the tech problem with the phone was solved, I quickly made my way to the harbor only to find…no ship. Eh? Wah!

While I was talking to a friend on the phone, Mikioi and Pi‘ilani along with the pilot boat headed out. A glimmer of hope!

I sat on a bollard and enjoyed the evening.

As the sun set behind the Wai‘anae range, Maersk Michigan appeared offshore (she came over from Pearl Harbor). Yay!

Ran into Rick Wilson, who stopped by to take photos as well.

Curious red streak. Crepuscular ray?

Robert C. Seamans:

Honolulu going to pick up the pilot:

Activity at the pier:

Full Day at the Harbor

I hadn’t intended to stay all day at the harbor yesterday, but things just evolved.

The morning was spent on the ship, as usual. It was a rough week at work, so I decided to take it easy. No hard work, just inspecting things and measuring ullages.

A student is working on a photography project on board the ship. It’s interesting to see the ship via her creative vision. I took her down into the pump room, which is one of my favorite areas, in terms of subject material. Every time I’m down there, I notice something new and intriguing.

Speaking of pumps… No need to pump this week, but the pumping system was (and still is) on my mind. I happened to notice a pipe sticking through the forward bulkhead of port tank #1. It was tucked away behind one of the water tanks.

I went over to have a look:

Hm, this looks promising!

We ran into a bit of a problem with running PVC pipes through the deck down into the #1 tanks as well as the pump room. Unlike the other tanks, the deck over the #1 tanks is covered with a layer of concrete because the area functioned as the ship’s boiler room.

Looking at photos taken inside the port tank #1 from last summer’s survey, we may be able to incorporate this pipe into our system. At the very least, we can use the existing hole in the bulkhead.

Below the pipe was a drainage hole (to the pump room) in the concrete waterway:

View through the hole:

Tank bulkhead is to the left and frame #100 to the right.

For reference, a photo of Chris Jannini that I posted previously:

He’s standing on the stringer just below the one visible in the previous photo.

Rat’s eye view:

Where bulkheads meet:

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Building up (again) my collection of rivet heads and other bits that fall off:

Outside the ship…

Polar Ranger towing Westward Trader:

Voyaging canoe?

Robert C. Seamans at Pier 9:

As I’ve said before, it’s always a joy to see a sailing vessel in the harbor.

The obligatory rat guard photo:

I took the opportunity to chat with one of the crew members. This led to a tour of the ship and a tour of FOC. As with the gentleman from Kaiwo Maru, it was a pleasure to meet them. They understand.

Paul happened to be on the ship doing some work on the electrical system. While we were talking, he was called back to the pilot boat. With kind permission from Captain Steve Baker, I got to go out to Kauai with them:

Zipping along the port side:

😀 Great fun!

70,000 pieces of plastic collected, documented | Local News – KITV Home

70,000 pieces of plastic collected, documented | Local News – KITV Home.

Poles Again and Sailing Vessels

First off, mahalo again to Paul and the Hawaii Pilots Association. Paul was able to bring the pilot boat over to the ship to work on the draft mark poles.

If you have been following the pole saga, you know that we lost the stern pole. It was found by the Star of Honolulu folks.

The wayward pole back at Pier 7:

It is now a spare pole, since Paul made a new one when it disappeared.

The new pole in place:

Hopefully this one stays put.

We also adjusted the pole at the bow:

Nice to see other sailing vessels in the harbor.

Robert C. Seamans arrived this morning:

Kaiwo Maru…well, her masts anyway:

Back on the ship, more experiments with numbers on the tween deck:

Beam detail:

APEC Affects Honolulu Harbor

It was a pleasant surprise to see the Robert C. Seamans at Pier 9 when I arrived at Pier 7 this morning.

Here is the ship partially hidden behind the Red Dolphin, as seen from FOC:

Too bad about the Nadezhda, though. It would have been cool to have three sailing ships in the harbor!

The chafing gear seems to be okay, which is a relief. I started working on another one for mooring lines on the starboard side of the ship.

Security was tightened in the harbor due to APEC.

A Homeland Security vehicle at Pier 8:

A US Coast Guard boat on patrol taken through one of FOC’s portholes:

In addition to starting on the chafing gear, I painted over the rust converter treated areas on the rail:

It looks kind of spotty. Maybe I should have just painted the whole thing?

The Satsumaseiun Maru was also at Pier 9. I posted a photo of one of her rat guards before. Here is one example of her chafing gear. It looks like they are using old nets:

The USCG along with the harbor police:

Work being done aloft on the Robert C. Seamans:

And fruit:

A few limes would have been pretty!

And did I mention the USCG?

Summer is Definitely Here!

The ship needs an awning. Seriously.

I was ready to get a lot of work done this weekend. However, the heat was just too much. I did varnish work on the rail and one side of one of the hatch coamings and did some minor maintenance tasks. That was all…that was enough.

Well. Enough grumbling! Time for some pictures.

Here is the Robert C. Seamans arriving this morning:

I have posted photos of her before, but this is the best one so far.

Here is a rat guard belonging to the Japanese fisheries training ship Satsumaseiun Maru:

Finally, Mamo and Chevron’s Oregon Voyager:

The Turkey Won…

Just a few volunteers showed up to work on board Falls of Clyde today, so we didn’t get a whole lot done. We checked the ballast water levels and did some other minor tasks.

The past week was a stressful one for me, workwise, so I was happy to sit quietly in the sun on the fo’c’sle head and enjoy the gentle motion of the ship as she moved with the swells.

The poop deck is a good place to watch ships entering and leaving Honolulu Harbor. The brigantine Robert C. Seamans was heading out to sea, but had to wait for the Kokua, towing the Matson barge Mauna Loa, to pass.

Two Hawaiian Tug & Barge tugs went by right before the Kokua (true to her name) helped turn the Mauna Loa around in the basin.

All the while, the poor Star of Honolulu had to wait her turn to back away from Pier 8.