A Real " Chinese Fire Drill " !

Greetings From New Orleans ,
Its some times funny how one incident will jog the old and dusty mental memory banks and bring back other related incidents and all the not so glorious circumstances that accompanied these notorious events !
This particular incident must have occurred at lest ten to fifteen years ago and now I can look back at it with a smile but of course at the time there was just not a whole lot to smile about !
At the time of this incident , I was on a north bound loaded Chinese bulker in the middle of the night , of course , and was approaching the Ama Anchorage . My good friend Fred Carmichael was on board with me and witnessed this whole event first hand and we still have a good laugh over it now ! I had just returned form making a " Head Call " ( returning from the bath room ) when I noticed that something was just NOT right ! When your on any vessel for that matter , you become in tuned with not only the sound of the ship's engines but the ship's vibration as well ! So , I put my flash light on the ship's revolution indicator and noticed that the engine was turning just about 10 rpm's less than it was before I made the " Head Call " ! I asked the Mate on watch at the time if there was a problem and in his broken and limited English he replied , " Oh, Mr. Pilot , No Problem " ! Well , from my experience , when I hear the term , " No Problem " , especially on a Chinese vessel I immediately knew that YES there IS a problem and YES it has just not yet manifested itself , YET ! During the course of the this particular trip I had discovered that this particular Mate that was on watch was the only man on the entire ship that could even speak limited and broken English !
Well , sure enough within minutes the sound of the ship's engine changed dramatically and and the vibration form the ship's engine fell as well ! I immediately once again looked at the ship's Engine Indicator and sure enough now the engine had lost another 10 rpm's ! Fortunately , I was north bound and headed UP and into the current and approaching the Ama Anchorage ! So , I told the Mate to stand-by the ship's anchors as I had determined in my mind that there was going to me a major issue at hand . No sooner than I had given the order to Stand By the anchors the sound and vibration of the ship's engine STOPPED altogether ! The good news was that I was north or up bound and in the vicinity of the Ama Anchorage but the bad news was that without a functioning engine I could NOT order an Astern Bell to slow and stop the ship ! So , I got on the radio , put my both my position and situation on the air and called for tugs .
So , with no engine and no tugs at the time the ship drifted and passed the Ama Anchorage and was slowly approaching St. Rose Point when there was such a loud explosion that it could have woke the dead ! The blast from the explosion was so loud and forceful that I first thought that the side of the ship had been blown out and that we would all sink at this very spot ! I was told by the Mate with the broken and limited English that not only there was a no working engine but there had been an explosion in the ship's Engine Room as well ! Well , I told him , No Kidding but for one reason or another he failed to find any humor in my remarks !
So , there we are , middle of the night , middle of the river , no engine , an on board explosion , and only one man that could speak both Chinese and English ! Well , just when you think that it could not have gotten any worst , up comes and through the door black and billowing SMOKE ! Yes , now we not only have no engine but due to the explosion we now have an on board fire !!
At this point , I literally grabbed this Chinese , Mate , and told him to tell the Captain to release both the ship's anchors and to sound the general alarm and to muster the entire crew to get out on deck ! Fortunately he did and every one went out on deck , just as the ship's lights ALL went out ! What had now happened , just before the engineers evacuated from the Engine Room , they released the Engine Room's fire extinguishers and guess what ?? Not only did the extinguisher system blow out the fire but it also blew out the diesel generators and extinguished ALL the lights and other electronics as well !
So , there we are , middle of the night , no engine , no lights , no communication system to speak of other than my hand held radio , a totally " Dead Ship " , and an entire crew of Chinese nationals that could not speak a lick of English except for this one Mate that I held on to and refused to let go !
I am not so sure if it is human nature or just my warped sense of humor but at this point and time I just could not stop from laughing at this situation I was now in ! What I thought at the time , was D_M , this is a real Chinese Fire Drill , in every sense ! It was so comical at the time ! Here I am on the bridge of this Chinese ship , no engine , no communications , no lights , river traffic flying around me , the ship's crew is all out on deck and massive amounts of smoke billowing out of the Pilot House and I have a death grip on this little Chinese Mate that could not have weighed more than 100 lbs. wet !
What was also funny to me at least , was to watch these Chinese crew members actually running at a full gait , bumping into one another , falling down , getting up and then running again at a full gait again and then colliding with other crew members and repeating the whole chain of events over and over ! I guess you just had to be there to fully appreciate all this and to find any bit of humor at the time !
Fortunately , two tug boats had arrived and I placed one tug on each side of the bow to keep the ship straight with the current and with both anchors down we were able to maintain our position in the river until real help could arrive !
Fortunately , there was a happy ending to this story ; there was no loss of life , there was no major fire and what fire there was had been contained to the Engine Room and we all survived to live another day !
Just one of many stories that I have experienced while working on the river and where else could some one actually get paid to experience these same events ! Who was it that coined the expression , " Its Not A Job , Its An Adventure " ??
Smooth Sailing !
Ted Davisson
NOBRA 70