During our voyage on the night shift, the weather was rough, and I was on duty on the Bridge. Suddenly, we received an emergency broadcast on the VHF radio:
"Mayday-Relay, Mayday-Relay, Mayday-Relay…
To all ships, To all ships, To all Ships…
This is port Raven, port Raven, port Raven…
Mayday sailing boat Little One Charlie Lima Echo Nine…
Position twenty-five miles from port Raven bearing one, eight, nine…
Sailing boat is sinking...
Two elderly persons on board…
To all ships in the vicinity please assist in rescue operations."
The message started to repeat over and over. I checked the radar and saw that the sailing boat was 3 miles off our starboard side. According to regulations, the Cadet couldn't be alone on the bridge or take any action without the Captain's approval, so I quickly ran as fast as I could. I jumped down the stairs to get the Captain.
I shouted, "Captain, please hurry; there is a Mayday near our position!"
Captain Don Quixote was reading some papers when he looked at me with a strange, frightened expression, as if someone had just told him, 'Give me all your money, or I'll hurt you.' His unnerving stare lasted for a minute.
I said: "Captain, it's a Mayday; we need to go!"
"He calmly stood up and put his shoes on, then followed me to the bridge. The emergency message continued to repeat on the VHF. I led Captain Don Quixote to the radar and showed him that we were near the sailing boat in distress. His eyes widened as if they were about to pop out. I felt like a dog on a chain, frustrated that Captain Don Quixote was taking his time while people were in danger. Thoughts raced through my mind: 'Those people could drown. We must act now.' My heart was pounding, and I knew I had to do something.
I asked, "Captain, will I alarm the crew?"
The Captain stared at the screen, and with a firm voice, he replied, "You will do no such thing."
I was confused by this statement and said, "Sorry, Captain. What is the correct procedure first? Do we respond to the VHF call?"
Captain Don Quixote changed his body stance like he was in the military and about to salute someone. He addressed me with a firm commanding voice, "You will do no such thing. They don't need our assistance. We stay on route!"
My mind started to get all mixed up by voices that screamed inside my brain, 'What is happening? Is he for real? This is not happening; I didn't hear him correctly.'
I said, "But Captain, what do you mean? They are right there; we are the closest ship on the radar. We have to help them."
Captain Don Quixote shouted at me, "I am the Captain of this ship, you do as I say. You are not the Captain, you are nobody. The company will not ask you why the ship is late for delivery in the next port. What will you say, because you wanted to play rescue?"
I said, "But Captain, we must assist. Every ship will see our AIS[1] signal and know that we just passed by the sailing boat without helping. Those people could drown."
Captain Don Quixote nervously rushed to the AIS unit and turned it off. On the VHF, port control was begging any vessel in the vicinity to assist, as their response time was slow and they would probably arrive too late. Something inside me broke. All I could see in my head were people on that sailing boat, crying for help, drowning all alone. I reached for the VHF to respond to the distress call. In a second, Captain Don Quixote shoved me away and turned off the VHF unit near me. Then he quickly turned and pinned my body against the chartroom wall with his arms, full of anger.
Captain Don Quixote said, "You listen to me now. You will not move, you will not speak. If you do, I will dishonorably discharge you, and you will never sail again. No one from your family will ever sail again. You are no one. Do you hear me? Do you hear me!"
I was so sad, scared, and confused that I just nodded. I didn't understand why we wouldn't help people in distress. Captain Don Quixote then unplugged the VHF headphone near me and went to the starboard side of the bridge, where the other VHF was still working. You could hear some other ships responding to the distress call and changing their course to assist. I could see on the radar that even a ship 10 miles in front of us had turned around to aid in the rescue. Captain Don Quixote was just focused on the radar. Then he changed our ship's course so we would be further from the ship in front that had turned around to assist in the rescue. He shut off our navigational lights. As time passed, the ship in front of us passed us by. Captain Don Quixote turned off his VHF. We remained in the dark and silence until the end of the watch. Near the end, he turned everything back on and walked over to me.
He said, "You will never speak of this to anyone. Nobody would even believe you because you are nothing. While I'm a Captain."
Soon, the 2nd Mate came to the bridge to take over the watch, and I just slowly dragged myself to my cabin with my head down. I felt like some part of me had just died.
From the next morning, Captain Don Quixote became more involved with the duties on the bridge. His posture with his arms crossed at the back was like someone shoved a broom up his ass. His pointy beard was a disrespect to the legendary Don Quixote.
Captain Don Quixote walked into the chartroom on the bridge and said, "Cadet, where are we now? Show me on the map."
I showed him the plotted position.
Captain Don Quixote pulled his pointy beard and said, "Hmm, for me to be sure that you know this basic stuff, show me how to plot a position."
I looked at the GPS[2] to plot and he interrupted me with his hand and said, "Show me from the beginning and tell me each step. I saw you looking at thissss…hmm."
He pointed to the GPS unit, and I said, "GPS."
Captain continued, "Hmm, yes GPS."
I said, "Ok, so first we take these numbers from GPS, then we look for them on the chart and where they cross, this is our position."
I showed him and drew a position, but Captain Don Quixote had more questions.
Captain Don Quixote placed his finger on the map near the coordinates and said, "You read these numbers here. How do you know North or South?"
I gazed at him and showed him the indication on the map. It's not like we are in a starship so we can fly all over. Our planet is big and mostly you sail on the same shipping routes, mostly charter[3] routes. Captain Don Quixote tried to draw a position and failed.
Captain Don Quixote looked at the radar and said, "I don't know who told you to watch this GPS, you could have gotten us killed. The real data is taken from the Radar."
I said, "But Captain, this is the GPS main display and on the radar is the same thing. It can have multiple devices connected to it."
Captain Don Quixote said with a firm voice, "No buts. I see you don't know anything. From now on, you will take the GPS information from the radar, that is an order."
I looked at him, my eyebrows almost touching my hairline, and said, "Yes Captain, I will take the GPS information from the radar."
Captain Don Quixote said, "Good."
Captain walked off the bridge, and soon after, the 2nd Mate came in to take over the watch. I told him how Captain Don Quixote acted very strange and asked me to show him how to draw a position, but he seemed like he didn't know what I was talking about. I also mentioned the nonsense about GPS because that was the best part.
2nd Mate said, "Yesterday he came to me and asked me to show him how to use the radar so he can make sure I know my job. I saw right away he doesn't know anything, not even the simplest things like taking a bearing[4]. I had to explain it to him a couple of times. Then I had to show him the charts, and he found a mistake in my logbook."
I asked, "A mistake?"
The 2nd Mate chuckled and replied, "When writing the date, I always used the format day.month.year. But he told me that placing a dot after the year is wrong and that I've ruined the entire logbook, etc., etc. What an idiot!"
I said, "But I hear he is the only one to finish education abroad."
2nd Mate leaned to me and said, "Look, his father was a known mariner. This guy is stupid as hell. He couldn't finish local schools and they sent him abroad where they had exams with Tic-Tac-Toe. After he came back with all these diplomas but still no brain and no knowledge, he got on board as everyone else. He knew someone from crew management."
I asked, "Is everyone here some relative or friend from crew management? Shouldn't they send the best professional workers on ships?"
2nd Mate laughed and said, "You are good kid. You are truly green. Even you came here because your father is famous, but at least you have brains like your father. There is no order or logic in this world, just money and connections. Some other boarding crew management or agents take your first salary."
My eyes opened wide, and I asked, "What do you mean, your first salary?"
2nd Mate said, "After you work for 1 month, you receive your payment from the company, the salary. Then you send all this hard-earned money to the agent who booked you this job."
I had enough for that day. The more I listened, the more disappointed I was in the life on this planet.
In the following days, as Captain Don Quixote became more involved on the bridge and learned new things, so did the Chief Engineer. The Chief Engineer, who roughly reminded me of Bud Spencer with his heavy build, had long greasy hair and was always undressed, walking around in a sleeveless shirt and short pants that looked more like underwear. Even below his hairy feet with overgrown claws, you could see some poor, molested thongs. Over time, Chief Engineer Bud started giving bridge officers some nonsensical orders that Captain Don Quixote supported. The whole ship slowly turned into a black comedy show. Chief Engineer Bud slurped his coffee mug and pointed at the ship's route on the chart.
Chief Engineer Bud asked 2nd Mate, "Tell me, 2nd, why are you not going by the map?"
2nd Mate replied, "You mean our designated course. Of course, we are."
Chief Engineer Bud made his way to the steering wheel, nodded his head, and looked at the automatic pilot, then asked, "Why are we going 30 degrees wrong?"
2nd Mate looked at me over his nose and replied, "Because of the currents, they are strong in this region, and they are pushing us off course."
Chief Engineer Bud laughed and said, "Currents, what currents? This is a ship. Did you hear this, Captain, like we are some small rowing boat."
Captain Don Quixote, all shocked, said, "Second, you are telling me you've been going off course, due to some currents."
Captain Don Quixote checked the navigational chart and the autopilot, then corrected the value. The 2nd Mate probably had his brain circuits fried by these two, who constantly created brain farts. An alarm beeped on the radar.
I pointed on the radar screen and said, "But Captain, look, the radar is showing us that we are drifting off course to the mainland."
Captain Don Quixote silenced the alarm on the radar and said, "Cadet! You don't know anything, no wonder since 2nd Mate didn't teach you anything."
2nd Mate chewed his jaw and said, "Captain, we need to correct our course to stay on course, as the Cadet said, because currents, even the wind, can affect us because we are a RO-RO ship with a big superstructure and small draught."
Captain Don Quixote and Chief Engineer Bud laughed.
Chief Engineer Bud said, "Did you hear this, Captain, currents and wind like we are some medieval wooden ship."
Captain Don Quixote tapped Chief Engineer Bud on the shoulder while he laughed, but soon Captain Don Quixote changed his facial expression to serious.
Captain Don Quixote said, "Now you both listen to me, since it seems I am the only one here who knows how to navigate. From now on, you will follow the course plotted on the chart. Did I make myself clear? And now I'm going to ask for you two to be relieved of duties. Try not to sink the ship while I'm off the bridge."
Captain Don Quixote and Chief Engineer Bud left the bridge.
I asked 2nd Mate, "Second, what do we do now?"
2nd Mate walked to the autopilot and corrected the course, the red light on the radar disappeared. With his jaw tightened, 2nd Mate replied, "Whenever the Captain is not looking or he is not on the bridge, we will have the true course from the radar set on autopilot. I need to talk to the Chief Mate later. Don't worry, we'll handle this. Go eat, it's lunchtime."
As I ventured down to the messroom, I saw the Cook who handed pancakes to the crew.
The Cook said, "No pancakes for the officers' messroom, made this specially for you guys."
Everybody cheered. The officers had a separate messroom floor above ours, and the food was delivered by the service lift. They usually had a mess boy, but now it's more like a 55-year-old mess-dude who would be more like a waiter. The Chief Mate and 3rd Engineer came down to our messroom.
The Cook said to the 3rd Engineer, "When are you going to fix this damn drawer? I've been begging you for 2 months already."
3rd Engineer spit saliva through his teeth and said, "I looked at it, and you can't fix that."
The Cook looked at me and said, "Cadet, I know your father. Can you look at my drawer?"
I replied, "Sure, I can try."
I opened the drawer and saw a loose drawer guide. I removed the drawer, removed the moving bolts from the damaged plywood, and bolted them in different holes where the plywood was undamaged.
I said, "Here, cook, it's done."
The Cook, all excited, opened and closed the drawer. The Cook looked at the 3rd Engineer and said, "What kind of engineer are you? You can't fix a simple drawer for 2 months. It took the Cadet only a few minutes!"
Everyone in the messroom laughed and teased the 3rd Engineer as he escaped embarrassed. On the TV, there was some news about space.
The Chief Mate said, "There is no space."
A lot of crew members looked at each other, some of them shrugged their shoulders and continued to eat.
I asked, "What do you mean, Chief? There is no space… then what is out there?"
The Chief Mate replied, "There is nothing, just blue nothingness. Space is just made-up propaganda, it doesn't exist."
The ordinary seaman said, "Chief Mate, you've been reading too much of those damn books every day."
The able seaman said, "Chief Mate, don't tell me that the earth is flat."
The motorman said, "Or hollow."
The Chief Mate said, "Who can say for sure if the earth is round or not, they don't know, they didn't even explore all the oceans."
Some of the crew laughed.
I said, "But all that research, what we learn in school about planets, the moon."
The Chief Mate left and waved his hand on his way out like he wasn't interested in this conversation anymore.