Having just enjoyed a wonderful bank holiday weekend here in Jersey, we awoke to a rather different sky. Gone was the sunshine, blue skies and blue seas and in came a grey cloudy dawn which has stayed all day. It didn’t put off our volunteers who were helping with the open ship but it did mean the sweaters were back out and the heating back on! We have enjoyed three open days here in St Helier, Jersey and it’s been good to meet lots of locals, holiday makers and old acquaintances. Many thanks to the Jersey JST branch and other volunteers who have been giving people tours of the Lord Nelson, selling some ships souvenirs and generally helping us through a busy few days.
True to form, we had a ‘happy half’ as we closed our doors – giving us a chance to spruce the ship up once again and then the new crew of LN 718 began to make their way up the gangway. Captain Barbara invited our new crew to make themselves comfortable in the lower mess and introduced the permanent crew members, namely: Steve the Mate, Jon the 2nd Mate, Dave the Bosun; Marco the Chief Engineer with Mr Chipp’s the 2nd engineer; Dave the Cook - ably assisted by Claire; Rachel the Medical Purser and the Bosun’s mates Sarah (also known as Vera) and Matt.
Once the introductions were complete, Steve the mate began the safety briefings followed by the first evacuation drill. Having found their muster stations, Jon the 2nd mate then ran round taking their photos. Once everyone had been photo’d and had checked their life jackets, we started the ‘hands aloft’ into their rigging harnesses and then up the ratlines and the futtocks and out onto the yards! What a busy start! But at least this means we can be off the berth early tomorrow with the training already well begun.
Once everyone was safely back down from the rigging, we set about having a well earned cuppa and dinner of cold meats, cheeses, salad and all manner of different accompaniments – wonderful!
Rachel
LN MP