A seafarer’s travelogue aboard a multi-purpose icebreaker
Text and pictures: Pentti Holappa
In the space adventure Star Trek, the Star-ship Enterprise boldly goes “where no man has gone before”. With the same sentence it is possible to describe, from many perspectives, the everyday work of a seafarer in the Arctic Shipping Company. The company’s multi-purpose icebreakers operate e.g. in the arctic waters in remote isolation far away from other “civilizations”.
Travelling to where the sun no longer shines at this time of the year! This time the awaited destination of the “sea adventure” was Greenland, the land of snow and ice. I packed my gear and belongings and left behind Piehinki, Raahe at about midday on the 8th of September. A seafarer’s journeys to work are already quite an adventure: first by coach to Oulu, from there by local bus to the airport and from there flights to Helsinki and onward to Copenhagen, where we stayed overnight. I awoke before the first cock crow because I had to check-in, in plenty of time. The flight to Greenland only took a few hours.” We glided into the airport of Kangerlussuaq, where we changed airplanes and flew towards the airport of Aasiaat, perhaps the most northerly located airport, i.e. situated on the edge of the world. From there we were transported by car to the harbour, where our working place, the multi-purpose icebreaker Fennica was standing awaiting her new working shift. The old crew for their part left for home. After boarding the vessel we immediately put on our working clothes and began to work.
A support ship in the middle of infinity
The multi-purpose icebreaker Fennica had been in the waters of Greenland carrying out various working tasks for already quite a while. The Fennica operates as a support vessel for the oil-drilling ship and for the oil-rig itself. The Fennica and its sister ship the Nordica had also been carrying out various tasks in the arctic waters before. The multi-purpose vessels normally operate as a houseboat and as a mother ship near the oil-rigs. Cables and pipes are for example lowered from the vessels into the sea
At the beginning the vessel had a crew of 26 people, of which five were “outsiders”. Three of them transferred, halfway through the work tour, to work in other ships. The Scottish crane driver and the local fishing supervisor remained. This time these were the visitors from “other countries”. The work which is carried out on multi-purpose icebreakers is by its nature international and knowledge of languages is needed to be able to carry out the tasks. In the middle of the sea, work and team-work must go hand-in-hand because everybody is together in the middle of nowhere. If some job demands the character of a musketeer, i.e. all for one and one for all, then it is definitely work at sea.
The moving of internal clocks
The work carried out on a multi-purpose icebreaker does not really deviate much from ordinary ship work: the first mate takes the watch on the bridge, the chief engineer takes care of the engine room and the ratings for their part work both on the deck and in the engine room. I myself work in the kitchen as a cook. My work starts at four o’clock in the morning and continues to 2 o’clock in the afternoon, after which time the cook/steward continues preparing the evening dinner. In Greenland the time is five hours behind Finnish time. At the beginning of the tour, adapting to the difference in time always takes time. However, because the length of the gig is x weeks, in time, our internal clock also moves finally to the right time.
The daily routines on the vessel are quite similar from day to day because the ”activities” of the ship must go on irrespective of where it is sailing each time. The only exception to the week’s daily routines is the always held on a Saturday “muster drill”, i.e. the fire –and life-boat practices which are regularly held on the vessel. When working in the middle of the arctic waters, the roll of the sea and the changing weather conditions always comes upon the vessel as a moment of surprise. If the wind and the sea roar and the sky becomes even darker, strong nerves and the ability to adapt are demanded from the crew.
The enchantment of wild nature
On the sea, particularly in Greenland, people are isolated from everything else. During free-time it is possible to read and watch videos, for example films. When sailing in the northern latitudes it is not always possible to see television at least not during this gig.
The spectacular arctic nature, which surrounds the vessel, is however a wild sight, which only a few people ever get to see. I always pull the camera out when an interesting sight to be photographed presents itself before my eyes. The landscape is often monotonous but in its own simple way beautiful: sea and ice-floes. The few ships that we saw were involved in the same tasks as we were.
Satellite signals
Signals to the rest of the world such as to friends and family are sent via the internet. The internet, which operates via a satellite, is a priceless piece of apparatus during a long tour. In spite of good means of communication aboard the vessel, hardly any information was received from the employer or from the trade union no matter where we were going. In particular the operations of the trade union as a supplier of information were criticized during the journey. This was because news from land was sorely awaited regarding the ongoing changes which were being carried out in the company. When no information is received rumours begin to spread fast on the vessel and they are believed to be the truth. In my opinion, regular contact to the vessel would oddly enough calm people down, especially during those times when an air of continuous uncertainty is prevailing in the company.
In my opinion, we did not receive any news about the current situation before the new crew walked towards us in Greenland when we left for our journey home on the 8th of October. In the country of snow and ice we also had the possibility to get to know the local town. The houses have long been built according to the same formula, possibly package houses. However, the small and colourful houses were jovially painted. According to what I heard the night-life was also unforgettable.
