Now on here, first on day in Honolulu the Chief Engineer saw one of the oilers reading a newspaper on watch, so he went and told him that there was no reading on watch, the oiler then got in the C/E’s face yelling about discrimination, the first engineer went over and told the oiler to back down, the oiler then got in the first’s face.
This ended up in the oldman’s office, it was decided not to fire the oiler, but instead give him a letter of warning.
The oiler came to me, I told him that a letter of warning was really no big deal, the Oldman would keep it in his desk and if nothing else happened then it would be deep-sixed when he paid-off.
The oiler insisted on writing a rebuttal, I told him that was his right, but that he would need to use temperate language and refrain from personal attacks.
After a day he showed me the letter he wrote, he had not taken my advice, he started by claiming the Chief Engineer was a racist, and incompetent, and was actively trying to be unsafe so as to cause one or more of the crew members to get hurt, he went on to say this was likely caused by the Chief Engineer” being raised in a dysfunctional household and was probably abused by his mother” (yes he really wrote that!)
The letter went on to explain the oilers alleged “idyllic childhood, and his superior way of dealing with life.”
It went downhill from there.
I strongly advised against submitting this letter, even going so far as to offer to write a proper letter for him, I was rebuffed.
Later in the oldman’s office, where the letter had not been well received, there was another meeting, it did not go well.
The oiler told the captain that “this is just like a dictatorship;” the Oldman looked a bit confused and said tentatively “well I am the captain.”
The oiler started yelling that he was the best crewmember on the ship, and the most even tempered, he was shouting this and waving his arms, he stood up and yelled, he then picked up the antique sextant that had been handed down to the Oldman from his great-great- grandfather and threw it against the bulk head, this did not please the Oldman.
The oiler was told he was being fired, if he behaved himself he could continue to work and therefore stay on payroll until the next port, if he didn’t behave himself, he would be confined to his stateroom and charged passage.
A day out of O-Town the oiler approached me, he had written himself a letter he wanted eth entire crew to sign, it started out “We the crew of the S.S. Lihue feel especially blessed to have sailed with******(the oilers name) we fell that ***** high knowledge of marine engineering along with his unique skill set are the what has kept the Lihue running safely.”
There were other items about his calm demeanor, and humility.
I declined to sign, as did the rest of the crew, including the captain.
He now says he going to file suit against the company.
To be continued…
Did they have a plank and rope on board?