A new calm day at sea, as I stood on the deck, I could feel fresh sea air that cuddled me. For a moment, you would get this feeling that the fresh breeze could carry you away on the warmth of the sun. It didn't take long for my half-baked meditation to be interrupted by the ship's alarm. As we all quickly mustered at our designated area, Captain Don Quixote slowly walked to us with his chin high up; he measured us from afar.
Captain Don Quixote said, "There is a problem. It seems we are leaking water in one of the double bottoms. Chief Mate, I need you to take a few men and deal with the situation."
Chief Mate quickly selected me and one able seaman who was the handiest on the ship.
We walked down to the lowest deck, where the engine department had opened a hole in the floor.
Chief Mate said, "Cadet! Take this bag of cement and follow us, but be careful not to get the cement wet."
We ventured down into a rusty cave filled with small crabs and seashells. The flashlight only illuminated a small area. It felt like the fingers of death were climbing on our backs as we moved deeper into this grave, slowly filling with dark seawater. The support beams were deformed rust, riddled with holes and missing parts, like hollow cheese on steroids. Chief Mate stopped, turned, and pointed his flashlight at my face.
Chief Mate said, "Be careful, Cadet, there are a lot of small concrete stumps laying around. Walk gently, as we don't need you to make another hole in the hull."
In that moment, I was terrified, with only a thin layer of rust separating me from the endless abyss. I was speechless, just nodding my head and squeezing the cement bag like it was a life jacket. We continued deeper, drawn by the sound of water. The area was littered with stumps, and every hair on my body seemed to want to escape from my skin. Small crabs scuttled around, looking as if they hadn't eaten in a long time. My brain wasn't helping, conjuring up horror images. The one that stuck with me was the fear of taking a wrong step and falling through the hull into the abyss below. Suddenly, Chief Mate stopped, and I bumped into him.
Chief Mate looked over his shoulder and screamed, "Cadet!!!"
The able seaman in front emerged from the shadows and said in an old grumpy voice, "The kid is scared; leave him be."
Chief Mate said to the able seaman, "Come on, put the bucket, and let's seal it."
The able seaman took a homemade wooden cork, roughly shaped like a pyramid, and pushed it into the hole with his hand. He stood up and gently pushed it again with his foot a few times. He cut off the bottom of a plastic bucket and placed it over the cork. Then he mixed special cement and poured it in. The special cement pushed out the seawater from the bucket. Finally, he placed a heavy metal plate on top.
I asked, "So that's it? This will hold?"
The able seaman replied, "Yeah. Kid, now you can officially add ship's masonry to your job skills."
Chief Mate said to the able seaman, "Check it from time to time, to make sure it holds and dries up."
We slowly walked back toward the exit. In the distance, a single cone of light appeared, resembling an elevator to salvation. While we walked, I thought to myself, 'How can this ship still be afloat? How thin must the ship's hull be? Why is this ship still manned by people whose lives are in danger?' We reached the exit, and I looked back into this tomb of rust with a hope in my mind to never see it again or set foot inside.
I was relieved of duty and ventured to my cabin, but black scenario leeches crawled around my brain: 'Will the ship crack open and sink? Will I drown in my sleep? Will it be painful? If I manage to get out, will the ship pull me to its final resting place, or will I simply freeze in the cold sea?' In all that darkness, I felt relieved, because I had a thought to myself, 'There won't be any sharks… the damn seawater is too cold.' I felt victorious with a line in my mind, 'Take that, sharks.' I chuckled as this line reminded me of an old comedy movie where a chieftain of some tribe told a bunch of women that nagged, 'Women have the right to talk, and sharks have the right to eat.'
In the next port, we docked alongside a large foreign ship with a friendly crew. Despite the cold weather, they wore rolled working overalls around their waists and T-shirts. The cold didn't seem to bother them. I stood on the ramp and saw some of our shipmates head over to talk to them. After a while, the ordinary seaman returned.
The ordinary seaman said, "We made an agreement to trade VHS tapes of movies with them, so we can exchange movies we didn't watch. Help me pack a few boxes of the old tapes."
I said, "Lead the way."
"I followed the ordinary seaman and helped him pack a lot of tapes into boxes. We carried the boxes to the entrance of their ship for the exchange. I set down the box near the ordinary seaman and noticed a foreign cadet nearby, which led to a conversation.
I asked, "I was wondering why most of you carry T-shirts. Isn't it cold for you?"
The foreign Cadet replied with a smile, "No. The older crew is full of alcohol, but some mostly wear T-shirts and pants all the time. They don't care if it's winter or summer; it makes your immunity strong. For your body, the best is having the same type of clothing. Your body will adapt to this. If you change the type of clothing all the time, the body must always adapt over and over, and you get sick. I never get sick. We never get sick."
I said, "I get it for the older ones. Alcohol probably kills everything that tries to infect them."
The foreign Cadet laughed and said, "There is nothing like alcohol. We love alcohol, and alcohol loves us."
I asked, "I heard you guys have military-grade weapons on board. Is this true?"
The foreign Cadet replied, "If anyone attacks us, like pirates, the officer distributes the rifles so we can defend. The rifles are safely secured; only a few people have access to them."
I was intrigued, so I asked, "Wow, so it's true. Did you ever use them?"
The foreign Cadet replied, "No. I heard some other ships from our fleet did. They traveled through dangerous areas on the open sea."
Chief Mate said on the portable VHF radio, "We are preparing for departure; everyone back on board."
We said our goodbyes and headed back to our ship. I said to the ordinary seamen, "The Cadet just confirmed to me that they have guns on board for protection, so the rumors are true."
The ordinary seamen said, "Well kid, I was once in an anchorage where every night one of the ships got looted. You could hear it all on the VHF. The local government would show up during the day for some inspection or whatever, until one night the looters boarded the wrong ship, and there was a gunfight. Soon after that, the shooting stopped, and someone with a foreign accent came on the VHF and said, 'There are no more pirates. We wiped them out. Now you can sleep without fear.' In the morning, there was a lot of debris floating around. No more pirates after that."
Soon, we departed for our next destination. As our duties were over, we couldn't wait to watch the new movies we traded. Almost everyone gathered, and the Cook made us some small doughnuts. By size and shape, they almost looked like brown ping pong balls.
Some of the crew said, "Let's watch a new movie."
"Comedy."
"You and your comedies, they end up as some romantic B.S."
"I think drama."
"No way, I have enough drama on the ship."
"Action or thriller."
"Yes. We could."
"I agree."
"If we all agree, Cadet, pick us some new action movie."
I nodded and looked through the tapes. I placed the first tape in the VHS player, but it got chewed up, which was strange since the player had been running without problems until now. I picked a second tape, but all we got were snow lines. The crew started to get grumpy. I picked up a third tape and said, "Well, third luck!"
The third tape played normally, and the hype was in the air around the crew as the action movie started. But as soon as the main actor started to speak, you could hear a strong plain male voice translating it into a foreign language.
One of the crew said, "What is this shit!?"
We were mostly confused and looked around with a question in our minds, 'What is happening.' The main actor in the action movie killed bad guys, and you could hear them scream or make various voices as they died, only to be followed by some plain annoying strong voice. Each death would sound like, 'Uh' or, 'Oh'. A bad guy fell from the balcony, and he screamed in agony.
The Narrator on TV said, "Oh."
The main actor threw the bad guy through the door, followed by a lot of painful voices.
The Narrator on TV said, "Uh."
After this scene of 20 kills with 'uh' and 'oh', the fitter jumped from the chair and shouted while he waved his fist toward the TV, "Those scumbags fucked us."
Soon, everyone started to argue, while the bosun Brainless mumbled something because you could see his mustache move.
Motorman shouted at the ordinary seaman, "He is the one to blame; he organized the exchange!"
The Cook turned to the 2nd Mate and said, "Who gives a shit now. What's done is done. Come on, let's go in the kitchen."
The 2nd Mate smiled and rubbed his hands as he followed the Cook to the kitchen. Shortly after, the able seaman followed them. From the kitchen serving window, I could see the Cook take out a bottle of wine and place it on the stove. The 2nd Mate's head appeared in the window. He smiled and winked at me before closing the kitchen serving window shutters.
The fitter angrily ripped the tape from the VHS and pulled it apart with his bare hands, clenching his jaw. Through gritted teeth, he spat out, "Nothing!!! Now we have nothing to watch! If I could get my hands on them!"
The fitter threw the tape in the trash and kicked the box of VHS tapes a few times. After that, he picked up the box of VHS tapes and went outside. He threw the box overboard into the sea and shouted something while he waved the middle finger.
I departed the debate to avoid being blamed for helping the ordinary seaman carry those tapes and went to sleep.