Many years ago when I was very much younger I sailed on a Victory ship, one of two vessels the Company had negotiated for wartime losses. One vessel was crewed by Hong Chinese and one by Indian Deck crew with a Pakistani Engine Room crew: I sailed on the former vessel with the Chinese crew and a darned good crew they were at that.
The
only problem, if it was a problem, was that the cook did not like cooking
European fair...breakfast was OK the rest was essentially Chinese...what
a problem!!. On Sundays the Officers turned to and the meal was good European
fare, with all the preparation done by the Catering staff...
One night on my second deep sea voyage on her we were in mid Indian Ocean bound Penang. I had finished my last Radio watch of the night and had gone to the Bridge to enjoy a cuppa with the 4th Officer before turning in. It was a beautiful night, brilliant stars, the occasional group of Dolphins running along and cavorting alongside and ahead.
Hot and a bit humid certainly, but a nice breeze and crystal clear air. There were three of us on the Bridge, helmsman/lookout was on the Bridge wing, auto pilot was on, and the two of us were on the walkway in front of the Bridge. Having finished our cuppa we walked back into the Bridge itself prior to me turning in...and immediately registered how cold the Bridge had become. The vessel was not air conditioned at all but the temperature was so much colder than outside. The next thing to register was a dim hazy bluish fuzzy in the back Stbd corner of the Bridge which seemed to be slowly brightening and then dimming again. We were trying to take it in when our Helmsman/lookout appeared inside the Bridge to request permission to go below to call the watch. The temperature immediately chilled even more, and with the three of us looking at it got considerably brighter and then faded away completely. And the temperature...well that returned to normal quite quickly...and so did we eventually. The watch was called and life moved on.
An entry was made in the log book regarding the event, the Old Man queried what had happened the next morning. it was a topic of conversation for a short time and then forgotten about.
Two
years later, on another Company vessel I heard of major problems with the
Chinese crew who were refusing to sign back on the vessel on which the original
incident happened. It turned out that that there had been a series of sightings
of what we had observed originally. The Chinese crew were very disturbed and
simply refused to sail on her any more. The vessel went through cleansing
ceremonies, was blessed, exorcised and all the rest. The crew still refused to
sail on the vessel saying it was haunted, and then providentially were
transferred to another Company vessel that had just been acquired. They went
back to sea, became the great crew that they had originally been and sailed on
the other vessel for a number of years before she was sold out of the Company.
An
Indian crew manned the original vessel which sailed on for another year or so
before going for scrap.
It
turned out when the original vessel had been built in the USA all those years
ago that there had been a fatality, a fall in the New York yard while she was
building.
So
all those years of sailing without problem, an isolated incident, more time and
then a number of incidents. Chinese crews can certainly be affected by
"spirits”. but why after all this time??. I know it happened...I cant
explain it...can you??.
Doug
Rogers
January
2006.