UNLOADING STONE AT ASCENSION ISLAND | TUG AND BARGE OPERATION | SHIP'S vLOG 10

foreign nearly 5 000 miles from Nova Scotia with a ship full of stone we are finally arriving in Ascension Island so we just got to Ascension Island um it looks freaking beautiful we are anchored like right up on the island um yeah it's gorgeous it's really pretty uh we pretty much spent the whole day yesterday getting all the Mooring lines ready for when the barges come alongside um but yeah we're here we're finally here after months of getting our asses kicked we finally made it to the to the promised land of Ascension Island so here we go baby loading Ascension Island [Music] foreign [Music] island is a wild and unique place located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean about a thousand miles from Africa and a thousand miles from South America it's literally in the middle of nowhere pretty much a real life Pirate Island the population of only about 800 there's really not much going on here a couple military bases an airport that has a flight once every two weeks [Music] because Ascension Island is so small tiny there's really not much to it there was nowhere for our ship to tie up so we had to Anchor off the island [Music] and we're going to be discharging our Stone to barges foreign [Music] all right so this is a huge operation right now um there's seriously like a million moving parts I think we have three barges three tugs a clinker us and a bunch of people from the company all working together to try to get this Stone to that Island um we're trying to explain it the best way I can each day starts with the first tug coming over and heading to the stern we'll throw it a line and bring on the Hauser connected to the center line once the tug's all fast or get a nice lead and pull the ship in whatever Direction prevents the ship from Rolling [Music] in order for our cranes to operate we have to keep the rolling under five degrees which is easier said than done when you're floating in the middle of the ocean after the ship's pointing in the best Direction to come out and get ready to receive one of the barges all the Mooring lines are already set up from the day before so we have to do is throw some evening lines and take on the barge [Music] foreign [Music] tug will go retrieve one of the barges bring it over to the ship she'll hold the barge alongside until we have it all secure thank you [Music] the whole process doesn't take too long doing it every single day a couple times a day you get pretty good and efficient once everything's all set along Sherman will go up in the cranes and we'll start scooping foreign [Music] the guys try to be as fast as possible but at the end of the day it's just one scoop at a time [Music] and after a full day of scooping second tug will come back and pick up the barge [Music] guys just let the lines go we bring them back up to the ship being sure not to tangle them for tomorrow easy peasy the whole progression isn't that bad a couple times a day get pretty good at it seeing the Tug and Barge guys every single day become pretty good friends with them everyone I've met down here is pretty nice pretty chill all right boys pending whether or not the barge is full the tug will either drop it off at the Anchorage [Music] or they'll bring it over to the jack up and unload it to shore [Music] the third and final tug will hold a barge in place as they unload it [Music] and from there the stone will get loaded onto trucks and take it to the job site [Music] back on the ship we'll let go of the tug and call it a day see you tomorrow boys [Music] [Music] foreign every night when I go to check on the anchor and it's super quiet uh all I hear as I walk up the deck constant splashing and blow holes and there's just so much marine life that's happening all around the ship constantly it's it's nuts it's like being it's like being anchored at a Bove an aquarium or something that's really really cool I can't stress it enough the amount of marine life that was around the ship was insane all kinds of fish um sharks dolphins I've never seen anything like in all my years of sailing and at the end of my round I always made a point to go visit Jeff on the bridge we'd talk about the day how much we've done how many more days we have left probably wasn't the healthiest thing to do but it was a nice way to finish the day off foreign time the ship's been down here with the lotus stone for Ascension and the room around the ship is that the load can take anywhere from 45 days to 60 days or maybe even longer than that so as far as we knew we were going to be here for a while but there are definitely worse places to spend your time that's for sure obviously the main priority was being attentive to the load making sure the operation goes smooth but on occasion we would try to sneak in some maintenance when we could and after a couple weeks of loading we hit our first speed bump so we've been here for like almost two weeks and we haven't we loaded up three barges but they haven't unloaded the barges to shore yet so it's been a couple days of just doing nothing no cargo which is uh it's definitely affecting morale that's for sure guys are starting to count days [Music] and just when we thought all hope was lost they unloaded a barge an operation started back up [Music] starting rock and roll we did two barges the other day yesterday it was like non-stop craziness so it's starting to pick up some momentum which is good foreign [Music] foreign foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] just finished up number two sweeping her up foreign [Music] another beautiful Ascension Island sunset seriously like that every single night um we've been rocking and rolling we only have one more hatch left uh and there's like 4 000 in there so it's not even that much so hopefully like three more days and we'll be out of here if you enjoyed the video and you'd like to support the Channel please consider liking subscribing for sharing the video thanks for watching guys see you in the next one foreign [Music]

Channel: Joe Franta. Ship

Views: 269,907

Keywords: Merchant Mariner, bulk carrier, ships, working on ships, seamen, SIU, seafarers international union, cargo ships, sailors life, life at sea, able bodied watch stander, deckhand, merchant navy, united states merchant mariner, vlogs, seafarer, life of a sailor, working as a US sailor, commercial ships, ascension island, tugs, barge, tug and barge, crane ops, crane operations, unloading cargo, British territory

Id: STLYArM4Vck

Length: 16min 35sec (995 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 06 2022