Then the engine refused to shut off, right after we’d pumped in 300 gallons of expensive diesel fuel. I’ve owned all manner of equipment that wouldn’t start but not stopping is a new one. We have to lift up the floorboards, lower ourselves into the engine compartment (which is almost as warm as my cabin) and pull “just the right wire” to shut it down. The Captain’s poured through all of his manuals and utilized the entire officially sanctioned Maritime vocabulary to no avail.
I then initiated myself as First Executive Officer when we found a leak in the water pressure pump. Following the Captain's precise instructions, I lowered myself into the hold. After thirty minutes, I had it leaking at four times the rate as before. The Captain didn’t comment but I think my year-end bonus may be in jeopardy.
The latest kick was when we started up the generator to cool off the salon (a 100 ton AC unit wouldn’t cool off my cabin). We switched on satellite radio and settled back with a cold beer when the oil pressure had a seizure and the generator quit. This is NOT good. Like the Energizer bunny, we live off battery power that the generator supplies. Our lights, gauges and most important of all, our refrigeration relies on it. It’s what keeps our beer cold. Plus due to a slight miscommunication at Bravo Supermercado, the frig is stuffed with chicken; fried, raw, rotisserie-style, marinated and grilled. (We’re both sprouting feathers but we ain’t going hungry.) We’re barely underway and storm clouds are already gathering. It must be the times.
