Pirates of Santos


Advertisement
Brazil's flag
South America » Brazil » Pernambuco
January 5th 1998
Published: January 5th 1998
Edit Blog Post

I am writing this account nearly 10 years on from when I visited Brazil, seems a long time ago but it is still strong in my memory so I will blog it before I forget.
At his time I was serving as a deck officer on the MS Isomeria for Shell Oil international, it was my first trip on a ship and it is what I consider by turning from a boy into a man.

We sailed from Gibraltar to Brazil and subsequently crossed the equator for the first time and in the time honored tradition on sailors worldwide I had to endure the ceremony of crossing the line , which is an initiation rite for all UK sailors, which commemorates a sailor's first crossing of the equator. Originally the tradition was created as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates were capable of handling long rough times at sea. Sailors who have already crossed the equator are nicknamed (Trusty) Shellbacks, often referred to as Sons of Neptune; those who have not are nicknamed (Slimy) Pollywogs.

"King Neptune and his court" (usually including his first assistant Davy Jones and her Highness Amphitrite and often various dignitaries, who are all represented by the highest ranking seamen) officiate at the ceremony, during which the Pollywogs undergo a number of increasingly disgusting ordeals (blindfolded with hands tied behind backs then beaten with rubber pipes, thrown in sewage, kicked about a bit then shaved bald), largely for the entertainment of the Shellbacks.

We arrived in Brazil we docked in the port of Recife and discharged our cargo of LPG, myself and a few of the lads got a taxi into town and visited the sights of Santos, unfortunately I have no photos as we were told not to take them with us as we would be a target for muggers. Anyway we ended up in a back street Brazilian open fronted bar chatting to the locals about who was the better football player Ronaldo or Alan Shearer. Later we played football of the beach with the locals and I showed them how to tackle North East style.

We set off on our travels again after 3 days and headed for Santos - once again we moored our ship and discharged our cargo, myself and a few of the deck hands who were Philippines headed off to the local bar, after a heavy drinking session we headed back to the ship and I began my shift. It was at this point that Bosh our 4th officer came into the bridge with his hands in the air, and out form behind him (bearing in mind the blokes 6ft 5) pops 2 Brazilians with guns in each hand. It took a while to sink in but we were being attacked by bloody pirates!! They took Mikey and Debbie Harrison prisoner and started to take all our belongings. The port police turned up and a full-scale gun fight took place, 2 pirates were shot dead and Debbie was injured by a shot though her chest while they fought their way of the ship. I was lucky in the fact that I didn’t get taken hostage but I felt for Mikey who was only the same age as me, he got caught up a major gun fight in the bottom floor corridor, the port police shot dead a pirate over his shoulder missing Mikey by an inch, his ear drum popped and he was visibly shaken.
It’s the first time and the last time ive seen a person dead with a massive hole in his chest, I don’t think I will ever forget that. The next night we spent the night under armed guard under the fear of a retaliation attack, the ring leader nicknamed The Rat of Santos had been killed in the gun fight and he was a notorious gang leader of the city of Santos. Later the following day we departed and sailed off to Venezuela.
Probably the tallest tale I will ever tell, but its all true, if you don’t believe me google pirate attack MS Isomeria.


Advertisement



28th June 2007

mase the hero!
eeh. you could write a film of all your adventures. very exciting. unbelievable in fact. only joking.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tot: 0.259s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 11; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0572s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb