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"Knud Mærsk" along side in Copenhagen, Denmark November 1996, when the ship was brand new. I visited it with my Dad and twin brother, and purely by coincidence this was the ship I sailed with five years later. |
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From the same day in November 1996, standing on the bridge that would later become my place of work. My twin brother is standing behind me, as we have a look at the radar equipment. |
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This picture was taken before I joined the ship, when Knud Mærsk was crossing the Pacific Ocean. During this passage, cold waters are often reached, and combined with a storm, this is how the ship could end up looking.
Noone are allowed on deck in these conditions. |
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The Suez Canal, going south. I was lucky to experience the Suez Passage two times during my time on "Knud Mærsk". Passing the Canal, ships are lined up in convoys, in then you steam along this man-made canal through Egypt. It looks funny sailing through a dessert this way. |
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The Suez Canal again, looking towards the bow of the ship. Temperatures here easily reach 45 degrees Celsius in the summer. |
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Berthing in Salalah in Oman, Jan took this picture looking towards the bow. Note the other ship in front of us, also operated by Maersk Sealand. |
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"Knud Mærsk" alongside in Salalah. I took the resque boat for a spin along with 1st Officer Carl and 3rd engineer Jan. Jan then jumped onto the bulb of the ship, and we sailed a short distance away and took this picture (note Jan standing on the bulbous bow just above the water line). |
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Another picture of the ship taken from the resque boat. The ship aft of "Knud Mærsk" is another Maersk Sealand ship "Munkebo Mærsk", which my big brother Jess later sailed with. So there were three Maersk Sealand ships at the same pier! |
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Jan took this picture of me and the 1st Officer Carl (right) when we were testing the resque boat. The ship in the background is the one in front of "Knud Mærsk". |
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The entrance to the Port of Hong Kong. There was an unbelievable number of ships and fishing boats, making the call very tricky. Most of the other ships, however, stayed out of the main passage way, allowing us just enough space to manouver safely. |
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Time for main engine repairs while berthed at Hong Kong. Looking into the crank case of this 12 cylindered MAN B&W 12K90MC (55000 kW), we see the piston rod in the upper part of the picture and the cross head in the bottom. 2nd engineer Tordur is preparing for the piston pull, completely wrapped up in rags since everything inside the engine is covered in oil (note the drops underneath the horisontally placed metal plates). |
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Having successfully pulled the piston out of the cylinder, 1st engineer Ole (blue boiler suit) aids it as it's being hoisted to a special dispenser for cleaning and visual inspection. A spare piston is just visible to the right in the picture above the engine. |
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Walking the streets of Shanghai with a bunch of other crew members. We had more than a day in Shanghai, so we found the time to check out the great city. We had to watch ourselves, though, having quite a thrilling adventure at the local seaman's club, where they tried to rip us of all our money.
A local tour gide (left) showed us around in Shanghai. To her right is my fellow cadet Simon and then me. Further right, with his back towards the camera, is the steward Joel, also a good friend of mine.
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Shanghai is a beautiful city. There are loads of neon lights everywhere, making the city very charming and interesting. Despite the millions of people living there, Shanghai is a very clean city. The streets are constantly being kept clean by a speciel cleaning squad. |
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Cruising over the Indian Ocean, there is nothing like a good grill party. The grill was a split oil barrel. Everyone participated, exept the officer on watch. I'm sitting at the far away table along with young ships assistant Henrik (to my right), Indian Cadets Verma and Sheel (against the wall), a thai painter (right) and 2nd Officer Miki (far left). |
