Ship Spotting

One thing I love to do is spotting ships, boats and other means of aquatic conveyance . Just like a birdwatcher with a zoom lens focused on a nest of eagle chicks I've whiled away many a watch staring at some of the worlds largest man made structures. While you could fill pages arguing over the aesthetic merits of modern ship structure versus traditional I find a beauty in the utilitarianism of today's seagoing vessels.

Working on some of the arguably ugliest car carriers around may have played a role in my appreciation for ships with attributes other than raked stacks, a cutter bow and curvaceous fantails but still, if the industry interests you than you might enjoy the following pictures.

The entirety of my last job at sea was spent either on the hook in Singapore's sprawling anchorage or maintaining position in the Singapore Strait to repair sub sea fiber optic cables. This meant ample time with little more to do than watch concerning traffic and snap photographs of some of the more interesting vessels that passed us by. The above photograph is a typical sunrise over Indonesia and one of the worlds most crowded anchorages.

This boat would circle us every evening as curious Singaporeans looked on from their tacky dinner cruise experience. A steel hull with fake cannon ports and a dirty exhaust stained transom, this motorized replica of a Junk never inspired me to buy a ticket.
A deck cargo of rough cut lumber makes this Russian stick ship look a little tender. Chained athwartships the lumber could very likely be coming from Russia's Kamchatka peninsula. I would see at least four of these vessels pass by in a week.
Another Russian vessel, this naval ship was circling Singapore while Vladimir Putin was visiting last October. Those long barrels on her deck were designed to fire missiles at the American ship pictured below.
A floating helicopter base this U.S. Naval vessel was part of a large fleet that called on Singapore late in 2009.
Another American naval vessel, this Lewis & Clark T-AKE Class vessel is the newest installment in the Navy's underway replenishment Combat Logistics Force. A classmate and good friend serves as a cargo mate on board this very ship and was just returning from an eight month humanitarian and goodwill mission to the South Pacific.
This Q-Max LNG tanker passes by in the morning hours on a dedicated run from the loading port in Qatar (Hence the Q in Q-Max) and a discharge port in LNG hungry South Korea. The newest design in liquefied natural gas transportation, the Q-Max class vessels were built in anticipation of a boom in LNG consumption to carry 266,000 cubic meters each, enough gas to power 70,000 homes in the U.S. for a year. Yet as the economy has slowed and demand for imported natural gas fallen word on the street has it that some of these 7 brand new ships are being laid up as soon as they're launched.
Compared to the membrane tanks used in the Q-Max LNG carrier these spherical tanks are representative of the old technology in LNG transportation, though when I say old I mean since 1964 when the first LNG tanker, Methane Princess was launched.
Another modern LNG carrier this one sporting the distinctive Maersk paint job can be scene with fire hoses trailing a mist astern, obviously an anti-piracy precaution.
The dinner cruise sets out from Marina South Pier with the skyline of Singapore behind. The three towers to the right are currently under construction to become Asia's most spectacular entertainment destination, Marina Bay Sands. The tops of the three buildings are to be joined by a ship like structure complete with rooftop gardens. While it would be free for you or I to have a go at the roulette tables here in a year's time it will cost each Singaporean $100 to enter.
A FPSO or Floating Production Storage and Offloading unit is passed by in Johor on our way to Sembawang cable depot. This converted tanker will be moored offshore in an oil field to receive, refine and store oil.
This pipe laying vessel, one of the largest in the world, is also seen in a Malaysian shipyard. Ships like this will be necessary to install the sub sea pipelines to link oil wells, FPSOs and all the other components in the booming offshore oil and gas industry.
A heavy lift vessel loaded with four towering container cranes passes precariously by. Surely welded to her deck weather routing couldn't be more crucial for any other vessel. We saw a lot of east bound cargo cranes.
A "bum boat" comes alongside to deliver stores. These strangely shaped motor boats were busily plying the near shore waters of Singapore to deliver food and spares to the thousands of ships at anchor. A design that probably goes back a thousands years in these waters must prove seaworthy despite the ingress of water at the bow and simple welded pipe tiller at the stern.
A capesize bulk ore carrier passes by in ballast westbound. With a cargo capacity of at least 175,000 dead weight tonnes this ship is too large for the Panama canal and the Suez canal when loaded. She must therefore transit around the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn when passing from one ocean to another.
This zoom of her house shows just how massive each component is from the stack to bridge wings to the rudder. Capesize bulkers range from 150,000 DWT to 400,000 DWT.
This dredge can be seen bound for sea to dump spoils dredged from the bottom of Singapore's constantly evolving harbors. This dredge, owned by a Dutch company, the undoubted leader in dredging technology, was operating non stop passing by us at least twice a day on her way out and then back in to Singapore.

One of my favorite ship pictures is of this cattle ship. After inspection with binoculars it was obvious that she was void of all livestock and most likely destined for a ship yard in Malaysia for some maintenance and new deck paint. I couldn't imagine how many head of cow or sheep she is capable of carrying nor the stench with a following wind but really, how many people have even contemplated such a vessel much less seen one? Her crew must be size able as well to feed and clean so many pens though I imagine it is mostly an automated operation.

A new FPSO that appeared more like a city as we passed her close abeam while coming into anchor early one morning. The mass of piping looked like any other oil refinery in Texas City except it all is designed to operate offshore. I wonder how a ship like this is navigated to it's destination with absolutely no visibility from the still existent bridge.
Singapore's navy had a large presence throughout the duration of my hitch. What were the worst pirate waters in the world are now mostly tame within the Singapore and Malacca Straits due to a joint anti-piracy effort between Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
Big is all I can think here. I snapped this picture on my way ashore after paying off. The western half of Singapore's southern shore sports the largest container terminal in the world. These absolutely massive gantry cranes service the worlds largest container ships.

Dīpāvali

There are three things I really like to do when traveling. One is to eat the local food. The second is immersing myself in hectic throngs of people jostling for goods only available to them in open air markets. The third is to find where the locals worship whatever deity it is that gets worshiped in that part of the world. Last week I had the rare chance to do all three of these things in a single night ashore.

I had made plans to meet a classmate in town for a few catch up drinks. We hadn’t seen one another since my senior year at maritime and admitted that we had hardly known each other then. Since we were both strangers in a strange land it seemed like a great idea to have someone to meet up with. Furthermore I was craving polite company in hopes of avoiding the debauchery that would surely follow my shipmates off of the launch.

My friend, an ABS surveyor living in Singapore, suggested Indian food so after a few pints to melt the ice we headed to little India for Nan and curry. I should first premise that my expectations for food in Singapore were pretty low after my first experience with the local fare here five years ago. That entailed two dishes, a curry and a prawn soup, both too spicy to eat much less smell because of a rancid odor as if the ingredients had spoiled from the tropical climate inside a shipping container a few weeks prior.

Our destination, the “Banana Leaf”, was situated on the outskirts of little India and packed with as many Indian families as British expatriates. Being more familiar with the menu I left the ordering up to my friend who felt confident that her choices would not disappoint. Once the order was in to the kitchen a team of servers placed two green banana leaves in front of us onto which were ladled mounds of rice. Next came steaming piles of bread to serve as eating utensils followed by courses of spinach, chicken and mutton prepared in curry and masala sauces. One of the unique aspects of Singapore is that it is such a mesh of Asian cultures that eating India here, even though you're not in Mumbai, almost counts as local food.

After dinner it was time for some sight seeing in a crowded market place. Seeing that it was the height of Dīpāvali, the Indian New Year festival a crowd was not too far off. Dīpāvali translated means “row of lamps” and In Hinduism, Sikhism, and Jainism the event is celebrated for five days in between October and November depending on the lunar calendar. By lighting small oil filled lamps observers signify the triumph of good over evil within oneself. New clothes are worn, little sweet cakes are purchased from vendors on the streets and homes are decorated with bright jangly ornaments covered in small mirrors.

We found a street lighted with decorations and delved into the heart of the holiday market. Hundreds of families were making their way into and out of the tent city as we pressed past tables piled high with bright silk textiles, toys, pastries and fruits. Above our heads were thousands of long paper and plastic decorations adorned in lights and mirrors. I thought we had walked a mile when our claustrophobia caught up with us. Nudging elbows and pressing hands were a reminder that personal space for people who come from a country of 1.2 billion is very different from westerners accustomed to wide aisles at the supermarket and a disdain for physical intimacy with strangers.

Ducking out of the market past a table of Hindu shrines we meandered up the street and found the entrance to a temple lined by the shoes and sandals of the faithful. Removing our own footwear we quietly walked into the doorway trying not to appear overly curious at the scene before us.

Inside the open air sanctum a dozen deities were housed in individual shrines. Holy men in sarongs with painted faces were blessing devotees. Offerings of food prepared in the kitchen out back were being placed at the feet of elephant headed multi-limbed figurines. Some worshipers were lying prone on the stone floor kissing what I assumed to be the sarcophagus of a holy person underfoot. Another deity was drawing a chanting crowd of parents and children who appeared to be blessing the kids on the eve of the new year.

I don’t know exactly what it is about holy grounds but there is always a sense of solace every time I encounter one ashore. A Lutheran cathedral in Germany, the house of a mannequin god in Guatemala, a Buddhist shrine in the hills of South Korea all provide the same sense of inner quiet that is hard to find here at work and at home. The heavy incense filled air and flickering candles lend to the serenity which gathers the concerns, hopes and prayers of the faithful. I always try to stick around in these places just long enough to stop feeling like an outsider looking into a cultural fishbowl and more like a participant in the spiritual story written on the pages of life. Even I need that from time to time.

After returning to the pile of shoes, none of which seemed to be at risk of walking way on us, we made our way out of Little India and into the night scene of Singapore. By the time we finished our rounds the crew had gathered at the marina waiting for the launches back to the ship. I left my friend at the cab and joined the Filipino crew who had spent their third night celebrating every birthday which had taken place or would take place within a four week time span. We all nimbly jumped from the concrete quay onto the bobbing launch and watched the reflection of Singapore's buildings shimmer in the inky water ready for another three or four weeks on the job. It was a good night to be ashore.