Ice navigation and stuff

In the nineties, I have been sailing in ice a lot, mainly in the Baltic on small chemical tankers. But the most challenging voyage was definitely the St Lawrence River in February.

I think the year was 1996. We had orders to go up to Quebec, discharge, clean and reload within one week. I did tell the operators that sending this non ice class ship up the river at that time was a risk, which they were more than happy to take.

So up we go, take the pilot, get a lots of kudos because we actually still had a clear foredeck (the previous ship, a huge bulk carrier, had to have tugs standing by while they tried to melt enough of their foredeck ice cube to pass a couple of lines).

We discharged, cleaned and reloaded. Unfortunately in the meantime, the wind shifted to the East and the river mouth started filling up with pack ice. We had a one time chance to get ice breaker help. The rest of the trip down the St Lawrence gulf was done by communicating with the pilots of larger ships, and hitching a ride in their wakes.

There have been many fun parts in the three contracts I made on the Corse. First one was a collision in Suez, I was chief mate then. The second one was sulphuric acid leaks in Brazil. The last one, as captain after this ice adventure, was a fire in a pump room during discharging in Venezuela. The only time you do wear your captain's uniform in the modern times is when you have to go to the harbour master's office and explain why you had a fire in a pump room, and hope to be able to carry on with your trade.