Life on an Oil Tanker at Sea

The
Merchant Navy

Merchant Navy

As an island nation, we depend on the sea for 95% of our trade and for our security.

A career at sea in the Merchant Navy, or the fishing industry is both challenging and rewarding, and can lead to a wide range of other careers in the maritime sector ashore.

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Letters
from those who chose
a life at Sea

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Charles Lawn
Engineer Cadet, BP Shipping

This is me ...

Charles is currently berthed on the 151,000dwt British Harrier

My name is Charles Lawn.

I am 16 years old; originally from Solihull, West Midlands but have spent most of my life in Falmouth, Cornwall.

This is my first trip at sea following a six month induction phase at South Shields college. I am a cadet from the Conway Merchant Navy Trust.

I have a retro Italian scooter that gets a few looks when the sun is shining. When not riding my scooter I play the guitar and go and see live bands.

Living by the sea I like sea-fishing and motor-boating. I got interested in joining the Merchant Navy by my Dad who is the Chief Engineer on Britain’s only prison ship and also my older brother who is an engineer cadet with P&O Cruises.

MY FIRST MONTH AT SEA ...

I joined the British Harrier just in May at Finnart Ocean terminal, an hour by train from the centre of Glasgow.

This was the first time I’d joined a ship so I had a lot of preconceptions but didn’t really know what to expect.

On first sight of the ship, the first thing that struck me was the size - it was much bigger than I’d expected.

I had joined in the middle of discharging cargo so the ship was very busy and out of its normal routine. I was given a boiler suit and shown down the engine which was much, much bigger than I had imagined: four decks high and burning 60 tonnes of fuel a day! Later that evening another cadet, Adrian, joined the ship.

A day later, after finishing cargo, we set sail for Bonny, Nigeria. This passage would take two weeks and in that time I learnt a lot about the ship and being at sea.

What amazed me was that the ship is like a small town - it is self-sufficient, there are no emergency services to call in the event of an emergency, everything is sorted out onboard. We even make our own drinking water!

We loaded a cargo in Nigeria for discharge off the coast of Spain.

The temperature in this part of the world is very high and was felt most in the engine room. Working in these temperatures became quite uncomfortable.

On the way back up the West African coast a 'simulated' barbeque was held outside the galley. It was 'simulated' because a real one would have been a fire hazard especially on an oil tanker. It was a really good afternoon with a lot of good food.

A week later we passed Gibraltar and slowed down to take on new crew. Also joining the ship here was a guy from the BP office called Sid. It was his first time onboard an oil tanker so I sort of knew what he was experiencing. The next morning we arrived and dropped anchor off Castellon, the discharge port. That night I would get my first run up the road.

Sid decided that a life at sea was not for him and left after one night on the same launch that would take myself, the other cadet and second mate ashore.

Before even getting outside of the dock gates we had trouble with the Spanish authorities who would not let us through without passports, as we had left ours onboard.

The ship’s agent at Castellon finally got us through and we explored Castellon with Sid. We had a good evening ashore, said goodbye to Sid, and decided it was wise to get back to the ship.

After discharging cargo at Castellon we headed back down to Gibraltar to take on bunkers. This also gave me another chance to put my feet on dry land for a few hours and to have a look around Gibraltar. But now nearly a week later we are on our way again back down to West Africa and I am entering my second month at sea and if it's anything like the last it will be a good one!

Charles
British Harrier

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