"I thought to myself: “What the hell have I got myself into this time?"

A week in the working life of Jerzy Tychowski, a Polish seafarer

 

Day 1

When I arrived at a Scottish port, not far from Aberdeen, to meet the ship I had been posted to from Poland, the impression it made on me was more than depressing. I thought to myself: “What the hell have I got myself into this time?”

The hull, hatch-coamings, deck and hatch-covers were all covered with thick rust. It was so bad that thick flakes of rust were falling off under their own weight. The floor of the hold was sagging, as well as that in the forepeak. Between the afterpeak and the engine room there was a hole that had been cemented over by the crew.

Repair gangs were at work on the main engine and carrying out welding work, while the crew painted the ship. In order to paint the ship it was first necessary to knock off the rust. We carried out this work in miserable 12-hour shifts, using two pneumatic drills and a jet-washer. After five days we only managed to de-rust and paint the bows. The weather did not help us. There were strong winds and rain – autumn in Scotland.

I saw the master on my first day. Thin, long grey hair tied back in a pony-tail, glasses on a long nose and a half-litre can of beer constantly in his hand. The man lived only on his “hop soup” and would get through at least 15 cans of beer throughout the day. Twenty crates of this drink stood in the corridor next to his cabin. This was how the man who was entrusted with command of the ship and the safety of the crew presented himself.

Day 2

The master demanded that we should work in our leisure time and on Sundays. He sought to justify this by saying it was in our contracts. As to the additional pay of £30 per head for working on days off, neither he nor the owner wanted to hear of it.

Day 3

We began work at 08.00. We applied ourselves to the pneumatic hammers and jet-wash, while our master continued to drink cans of beer. When we came in for a break he was constantly shouting “f**k” at us. He threatened us with the police and insulted us. The more beer he consumed, the more “f**ks” there were. Finally, at 18.00 we rang for the police.

We realised that from this moment on, we would be at “daggers drawn”. Before calling the police, we rang one of the owners and informed him of the situation. He replied that he was immediately booking tickets for our return home.

We informed the owner that we would ring the ITF and we contacted the maritime and coastguard agency (MCA). The police arrived at 22.30. Our captain was sleeping when two uniformed officers knocked on his cabin door. During this time we (the crew, made up of four Poles) sat in the mess, happy that they would finally take him away. Two members of the crew held master’s tickets approved by the British government. We assumed that one of us would take over the position of master, particularly as this had previously been promised by the owner.

But nothing of the sort happened. A policeman informed us that our master was sober. Yes. Sober, after 17 cans of beer. We were told that the alcohol level in his body was at the upper end of the scale permitted in Britain. He could even drive a car. And we must do what the master told us because the ship was flying the British flag.

Following the departure of the police at 23.40 we left the ship, not wanting to allow ourselves to be provoked by the Old Man, who was now conducting an investigation into who had summoned the police. We made our way to the Harbour Master’s office and asked for a contact number for the ITF, but nobody was able to help us.

Day 4

We began work as usual at 08.00 but in the breaks from the hard work we had to endure pure mobbing on the part of the master and owner. Being a member of the Kolobrzeg section of the “Solidarity” trade union, I telephoned their office. Since it was a Saturday there was nobody available to take the call but the answering machine gave me an emergency telephone number.

To cut a long story short, I was able to contact the ITF’s representative in Gdynia.
I related the whole matter to him. He gave me the telephone number for the ITF’s
head office in London. We telephoned the local ITF inspector coordinator in Scotland who took over our case and gave us instructions as to what we should do.

We were told to remain on board the ship until Monday, and instructed not to sign any documents or accept any money. Should the police arrive, we were to give them the inspector’s telephone number. As from this moment, we learned, we came under the protection of the ITF.

Day 5

On Sunday at 07.30 one of the owners turned up, accompanied by the police. The police, in the form of two cars and six persons, were waiting on the quayside. The owner went from cabin to cabin calling: “Pack your things, you have a plane at 9.30, I’ve found you a cheap airline”. There was no mention at all of our money.

We informed her that in accordance with the ITF’s instructions, we were not going anywhere and would remain on board until Monday, and that as of now we were represented by the ITF. She attempted to persuade the policemen that the ship did not fall under the ITF’s jurisdiction, particularly as it flew the British flag.

This was clearly nonsense. The police contacted the ITF and in doing so, were able to confirm our version of events. They wished us luck and departed. Only now did it occur to our owner that all this could cost her a lot of money. Her final move was to hand us dismissal notices, citing the reasons as: refusal to carry out the master’s orders, refusal to work on Sundays, and endangering the vessel.

Throughout all this time the owner was putting pressure on us. She put us in telephone contact with the agency that had sent us out. She tried to break up our unity by offering higher earnings to some members of the crew. She threatened us with being “black listed”, with not being able to find work anywhere again. But we held together. Solidarity is not only the name of a trade union, but also the way people conduct themselves in difficult situations.

Day 6

At 11.30, the ITF inspector and inspectors from the MCA arrived. We four crew members were waiting for them on the quay. Despite the owner’s threats that the inspector would not be allowed on board, he calmly went up onto the deck. After holding a conversation with us, he had a full set of accusations to put to the owner.

These included lack of crew insurance and proper contracts as required for crew serving on a British ship. It was also clear the owner had given a false reason for dismissal – neither the master nor the owner were able to present any provision in support of the assertion that the crew was obliged to work on Sundays. In addition we put forward witnesses who had seen our hard work and that the master availed himself of litres of beer. These were the repair gangs and the welders who entirely supported our protest.

Our claims were for cash in hand for the time worked on board, as well as compensation and air tickets home. The total came to around £17,000.

The ITF inspector told the ship’s owner that if she did not pay us our money, the ship would be arrested, contracts for the carriage of cargo would be broken and the matter would receive considerable publicity in the media.

Day 7

At 10.00 the owner brought the money and under the supervision of the ITF, began to make payments to us. By 11.00 we were at our hotel, at the owner’s expense.

The former crew are grateful to the Kolobrzeg branch of “Solidarity”, the ITF representative in Gydnia and the ITF inspector coordinator in the UK for their assistance.