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Subject: Re: Cargo Ship To: technomads@ucsd.edu From: Jim Rees <rees@umich.edu> In-Reply-To: Andrew Moreno, Thu, 18 Apr 1996 22:39:21 PDT Date: Fri, 19 Apr 1996 10:06:25 -0400 Has anyone taken a cargo ship around the world or to various ports?
Not recently, but in 1988 I crossed the Atlantic on the Almeria Lykes, a medium size "box" (container) ship. I think I've got the same book you have. In the back it lists several shipping lines that take passengers. I called them all up, and some others that weren't listed, and picked the one that was most convenient for me.
This ship had 12 passenger cabins, but only two were occupied. There were
three passengers and 26 crew on board. We ate all meals with the officers.
The food was very good. Not much to do on board. There was a small
library, which had some videotapes, and I read several books. The crossing
from Newark to Livorno, Italy, took ten days, which is fast for a cargo
ship. I was trying for Spain, and that's as close as I could get.
Along the way I got a tour of the engine room. If you've never seen a multi-megawatt mobile power plant, it's a thing of beauty. This one was oil fired steam. The oil is so viscous it doesn't flow unless heated. The boiler was a three story tall column with the fire of hell inside. The steam fed a turbine with a three foot diameter solid steel shaft. There were also three house-sized one megawatt electric power generators and a large freshwater still.
It wasn't what I would call cheap. It cost about the same as flying at that time. If you view it strictly as transportation, that's not such a good deal. I view it as ten days food and lodging while traveling at the same time, and if you look at it that way, it's a great bargain.
The Lykes Brothers were unable to give me a firm departure date, so I spent
three weeks sitting around Michigan waiting for them to call, then another 5
days sitting around Boston. If you're in a hurry, this could be a problem.
I make it a point not to be in a hurry when I travel, so this was fine for
me. I view the sitting-around time as a bonus.
For me, the experience was fantastic. There's nothing quite like slipping out of New York harbor, past the Statue of Liberty, at dusk, on your way across the Atlantic. The stars at night were incredible. The ship's wake glows in the dark, I'm told from microscopic phosphorescent living things. Passing through Gibralter, with the white roofs of Morocco on one side and Spain on the other, was another highlight. And when we arrived, there was no long line at customs, no screaming kids or hotel touts, and no jet lag. Just a bus ride in to town.
About a year after I got back from this trip (18 months in the Middle East
and Asia), I was at the Air & Space Museum and discovered that "my" ship,
which had originally been called the President McKinley, had served as the
mid-Pacific refueling stop for the first round-the-world helicopter flight.
I would recommend trans-oceanic freighter to anyone who has the proper
travel style.
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