We were to go change crew in Cameroon, since the vessel wants to work in Nigeria, they had to change most of the crew to Local crew, as a result of the local content...
We traveled to Lagos for the journey, we were lodged in Ajah, we stayed in hotel for four days, some joined on the second day, others on the fourth day.
On the 4th day we received our ticket to board Asky airline, to Douala, class y, boarding time 14:15, with crew members in different seat no's in the airplane.
We left the hotel by 11 am because of Lagos traffic, we got to the airport from Ajah by 12: 00pm, we were checked and given access to wait for the boarding time .
At 14:00 hours, we were checked again, we boarded the flight to Douala, ✈️by 15:15pm.
We were in Douala international airport, the immigration officers check our passports, our yellow cards, stamped our passports, the agent was waiting for our arrival.
Most of us tried calling our folks in Nigeria, that we have arrived safely, since they have MTN network, to our surprise we were being charged, #40 per minute and the person you were calling in Nigeria also charged the same amount for receiving the call.
We were advised by the agent to stop making calls, if not they would emptied the airtime.
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We were taken to the office of commissaire de Police Principal, he checked our travel documents and stamped our passports, from his office we were taken to Douala seaport.
At the seaport we entered the vessel, we were taken to the bridge to introduce our selves to the Captain, and the officers on the bridge.
There are 14 crew members on board the vessel which is made up of; The Captain a Russian, Chief mate a Nigerian, Chief engineer Ukrainian, the Second engineer Nigerian, Electrical technical officer (Eto) Ukrainian, Second officer Cameroon, Third engineer Nigerian,Bosun Nigerian , three Abel seamen Nigerians, two oilers Nigeria and Cook Nigeria.
Immediately, we did crew change we relieved the other foreign crew and we took control of the vessel, started keeping duty immediately, 6 hours of work and 6 hours or rest unless on emergency, all hand must be on Deck with assigned emergency duty.
The vessel being an international vessel, the previous crew were Russians and Philippines , the food in the store were all foreign foods, we had to start eating the food because, other crew received supply (foreign food) before we came on board, the next supply is after one month.
"When the needed is not available, the available becomes the needed".
We had to make do with the food on board, we were served Philippines rice, with chicken that evening.
The Nigerians on board could not eat the rice , most of us resulted to drinking tea, or eating indomie.
The cook will spend time and resources to cook, most of the food will be thrown over board, because the crew are not eating it.
After some days, we started sailing to Nigeria, that evening the captain have instructed the chief mate and second mate, "to chart our course, plot the waypoints on the radar". To ascertain the nautical miles and the speed (knots) to use.
The chief engineer, checked the quantity of diesel that will take us to Nigeria, we set sail by 17:00 hours the Port and starboard engines were cranked it stemmed for some minutes.
The deck was secured by the Bosun and Abel seaman on duty.
The journey is to take about 180 nautical miles (nm) on a speed of (8-10) knots. An officer will steer, log in the position every 2 hours, check the chart to know the exact position of the vessel while at sea.
Two Abel seamen, were on watch, one at the forward one on the aft of the bridge, most of the crew members may feel sea sick.
"Sea sickness is caused as a result of the current rocking the vessel causing it to be unstable," the crew member will be throwing up, his eyes turning him, more especially if that is his first time at sea.
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His legs will not be stable, the person will be laying down, anything he eats will be thrown up. His stomach turning him for days.
Until after somedays, which depends on the individuals system, the body will be used the environment.
If crew member get worst, that captain and crew can not handle on board with the medications, the person will dropped at the nearest Port, to be airlifted to base, depending on the location.
We spent several days at sea, with some crew members seasick, because they have not eaten much food for the past days.
The sea was rough, we sailed all through the day and all through the night, the engines were running for the number of days, weeks or months the vessel will be at sea.
Most of the crew members became, weak perhaps, as a result of the sea sickness, they were still keeping there duties of six hours rotation.
The journey was to be a two days journey, but we spent several days at sea because the vessel has not been cleared by port authority, and given the clearance to enter Nigerian waters.
After several days, we finally, entered onne, yet we're still eating the food on board, until after some months, we received Nigeria food
The sailor man will suffer all these, and many more, yet he will be paid peanuts, the agent who is paid agent fee, by the owner of the vessel, will cut the sailor men salary into two, and make him to sign a contract that the agent will not honor.
Sailor men, work while the vessel is underway, on deck, They may be instructed by the officer on duty to carry or maintain there duties, or engage in one activities or the other.
These sailor men will be owed salary for months, they can be at sea working for 4-5 months what they have received is just one month salary, which came as a result of down tools, they have had several meetings with the captain to persuade the agent or the owners to pay them there salary
