WINTER 2007.qxd

6
The adventures and challenges at sea!
Mr. Ahamed Mohideen
Congratulations are in order for Mr. Mohideen. He entered our writing competition with this story
and has won $500.00 USD. Well done Ahamed and we look forward to receiving your next story.
I
Ahamed Rizwan Mohideen,
currently sailing onboard the
MT “NORDMILLENNIUM”
as deck cadet have spent two
years of sea service as cadet right here
at "NORD". I am thankful to
Reederei "NORD" for giving me this
immense opportunity to comprehend
the adventures and challenges at sea.
Initially I was afraid of
working with a multi national crew.
But within the first month of being
onboard I didn't feel any different
because the personnel onboard
accepted me as one of them. In my
two years of cadetship I have not
worked with a fellow Sri Lankan.
But I have always felt at home owing
to the sociable and friendly atmosphere generated
among the crew members.
My onboard training has not only given
me immense knowledge but also effected a very
evident change of my work related attitude. I
perceived that everyone performs his required
duties and in addition any other duties if required
to do so. Simply the job has to be done irrelevant
of who does it. I recognised that here on tankers
the vessel is constantly facing vetting inspections
periodically carried out by various oil majors.
Since we are on a strained schedule to maintain
and present a seaworthy vessel I have witnessed
chief officers undertaking certain minor
maintenance tasks so as to complete the
requirements before arrival at port. I was
surprised to even see masters, who while making
weekly rounds on deck, on identifying a shortfall,
rectify it themselves instead of "passing the ball."
I consider myself quite fortunate for being
able to witness this kind of commitment. This
exemplary professionalism I believe is what drives
cadets like myself to strive for a standard that is far
greater than the one which we initially set for
ourselves. Each officer I see is engaged in
diligently or I even dare say religiously performing
their daily tasks. The senior officers, despite
themselves being quite busy, are always around to
NORD NEWS Winter 2007
Left to right: C/O Tret’Yak, Capt. Obukhov,
Cadet Mohideen and Capt. Singh
be consulted and assist the younger officers and
even cadets.
I mostly worked for two years with third
officers so as to obtain a first hand job experience
of a third mate's job. I was engaged in the testing
and maintenance of the lifesaving and the
firefighting appliances onboard. We are
constantly engaged in preparing the vessel's safety
equipment to meet the required standards. The
chief officer and the second officer are also around
to advise the third officer if they observe a
shortfall. As a cadet expecting to be promoted
this kind of camaraderie among officers is very
reassuring.
I also observed that many regulations and
standards affecting the maritime industry are
changing quite frequently. As officers, we have to
be up to date with the latest amendments being
made to the regulations set forth by SOLAS and
MARPOL. So the officers make effective use of
the ship's technical library to update their
knowledge on the amendments to the
international regulations.
On approaching an anchorage I was given
opportunities to have a chance at steering the
vessel by hand as per the master's helm orders. At
these times the master would on many occasions
explain to me the reason behind the helm orders