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Mar. 22nd, 2020 09:05 pmBoston had the first 5 deaths from the virus
the local hospital is still clearing out space and hoping
the new from NYC is dire
I don't know how to think about it, or report on it.
I went walking around the neighborhood yesterday - Alice pointed out you can tell households by how close they walk, and friends visiting are farther apart - and the family next door was visiting with their kids and grand kids - six feet apart. The visitors leaning on their car in the street, the household on the steps, talking, catching up.
very little is actually happening here,it still feels like we are holding out breath,
the hatches are battened
I worked for a couple months on a freighter in the West Indies. It was 1978/79, big cruise ships were not so much of a thing as people chartering and sailing in the area, there were fewer billionaires... I digress. We were easily the smallest slowest cargo carrying thing I saw until we reached Trinidad. At 200' and carrying 500 tons, painted bright red, little Louise Joan was more adorable and jaunty than anything else. It was entirely crewed by expat and escapist Americans, myself included. At full complement, we had three deck crew, two mates, one skipper, and a steward (cook, cleaner, you know - mom). Just before Christmas almost everyone left, and there were 4 of us, two mates, skipper and me as Steward. I was 18. I was dumb. It was a lot.
Anyhow, we had to open and close the hatches to get stuff on and off the ship. Three big hatches, basically open, reinforced holes in the deck, down the center of the ship, had to be opened for off-loading, closed if it rained, reopened, re-closed in the evening, repeat until the hold was clear, repeat some more until the hold was full. We carried bulk cargo - stuff that got loaded via conveyor belt and dropped into the hold. The hatches were covered with 2x8" planks, their length equal to the width of the hatch, with big steel staples at each end for handles. It took one person on each end to lay all the planks side by side to cover the hole, and then a tarp was pulled over the top to keep water out, and then the battens were placed over the top to keep the tarps from catching air and tearing and becoming less waterproof. The battens were long, flexible bits of metal that got hooked down along the sides. We were always stubbing our toes on the hold-downs.
So when I say the hatches are battened, I am thinking of these specific hatches, with the heavy planks and the tarp dragged over the top and tied around the skirts so it wouldn't billow and these long flexible things attached over the top, and getting ready to go to sea, where on bad days the water would foam over the bow and along the decks, and the hatch covers kept the water out of the cargo, and that is what kept us afloat.
hatches. battened.
hold on tight
the local hospital is still clearing out space and hoping
the new from NYC is dire
I don't know how to think about it, or report on it.
I went walking around the neighborhood yesterday - Alice pointed out you can tell households by how close they walk, and friends visiting are farther apart - and the family next door was visiting with their kids and grand kids - six feet apart. The visitors leaning on their car in the street, the household on the steps, talking, catching up.
very little is actually happening here,it still feels like we are holding out breath,
the hatches are battened
I worked for a couple months on a freighter in the West Indies. It was 1978/79, big cruise ships were not so much of a thing as people chartering and sailing in the area, there were fewer billionaires... I digress. We were easily the smallest slowest cargo carrying thing I saw until we reached Trinidad. At 200' and carrying 500 tons, painted bright red, little Louise Joan was more adorable and jaunty than anything else. It was entirely crewed by expat and escapist Americans, myself included. At full complement, we had three deck crew, two mates, one skipper, and a steward (cook, cleaner, you know - mom). Just before Christmas almost everyone left, and there were 4 of us, two mates, skipper and me as Steward. I was 18. I was dumb. It was a lot.
Anyhow, we had to open and close the hatches to get stuff on and off the ship. Three big hatches, basically open, reinforced holes in the deck, down the center of the ship, had to be opened for off-loading, closed if it rained, reopened, re-closed in the evening, repeat until the hold was clear, repeat some more until the hold was full. We carried bulk cargo - stuff that got loaded via conveyor belt and dropped into the hold. The hatches were covered with 2x8" planks, their length equal to the width of the hatch, with big steel staples at each end for handles. It took one person on each end to lay all the planks side by side to cover the hole, and then a tarp was pulled over the top to keep water out, and then the battens were placed over the top to keep the tarps from catching air and tearing and becoming less waterproof. The battens were long, flexible bits of metal that got hooked down along the sides. We were always stubbing our toes on the hold-downs.
So when I say the hatches are battened, I am thinking of these specific hatches, with the heavy planks and the tarp dragged over the top and tied around the skirts so it wouldn't billow and these long flexible things attached over the top, and getting ready to go to sea, where on bad days the water would foam over the bow and along the decks, and the hatch covers kept the water out of the cargo, and that is what kept us afloat.
hatches. battened.
hold on tight