(from my diary)
5 December 1992
We are in the Indian Ocean. It rains at times. Rather big waves and a lot of rolling.
6 December 1992
The ship moved to lower latitudes to avoid bad rolling. Albatrosses are like small airplanes. We wrote radiograms to my mother and ex-mother-in-law, but the radio operator could not transmit them today from this area.
Going straight east. We move the clock one hour forward every other day. Zhenya stays in the cabin until dinner, then watches movies and goes to bed. I too have no desire to be outside.
7 December 1992
Today we made a lot of progress. If we keep going at the same speed then we will reach Freemantle as scheduled.
8 December 1992
Made 400 nautical miles today. The ship clock changes so often that our body clocks do not to adjust and we have to sleep during the day instead of regular nighttime.
The time on the ship is always the time zone of a current location. As we were going straight east, our time zone changed every other day. This meant that we had to get up one hour earlier. At first, we slept until lunch and were going hungry between dinner and the next day’s meal. Being on such a diet, we were losing weight fast. Then we made an effort to make it to breakfast after a few hours of night sleep and caught up on sleep after lunch.
The bad weather kept us inside. We watched videos with the crew in the mess. When we were done watching all Russian movies, we started on English ones. Some were subtitled and others were not. Those movies were captivating, even though I could only understand a few words here and there. The most memorable of them were “Curly Sue” and “The Poseidon Adventure”. Watching the latter on a ship in the middle of an ocean was a real fun.
9 December 1992
Received responses to our radiograms from my mother and ex-mother-in-law.
Despite the divorce, I maintained a good relationship with my ex-mother-in-law. She approved my decision to migrate to Australia, although she knew that she would never see her only grandchild again. When already in Australia, I wrote to her regularly and sent our photos. Two years later she died of cancer.
10 December 1992
In order to move faster, the captain navigates the ship along the 40th latitude where she can benefit from favorable currents. It became colder and impossible to be on the deck. I tried to find a corner protected from the wind and to read there, but there was no such place.
We were in the Roaring Forties, the area in the Southern Hemisphere famous for its strong westerly winds. In the Age of Sail from 16th to the mid-19th century vessels took advantage of these winds and currents and many perished. It is not a popular route anymore. Only the yachts racing around the world chose it to speed up their progress. We did not see other ships.
11 December 1992
Keep sailing along the 40th latitude. The weather stays the same. We finished watching all movies. Nothing to do in the evening.
12 December 1992
Bad day today. At breakfast, I broke a tooth. What am I going to do if I have a toothache? Maria fell on the deck and injured her leg.
I was chewing on breakfast ham (nothing hard!) when a large piece of my tooth broke off. In the afternoon Maria slipped on the wet deck at the pool and sprained her ankle. So we had 2 people in need of medical attention.
The “Academic Gorbunov” crew included a doctor. At the beginning of the trip, Maria who always looked for new social contacts went to the medical office to acquaint herself with our doctor.
A ship doctor is supposed to an expert in all medical areas. The medical office on the “Academic Gorbunov” was equipped with everything from an operating table to a dental drilling unit. Maria asked for a painkiller. The doctor told her to help herself. He did not remember where he kept it. Maria went through the medical supplies and found out that many of them were past their expiration dates. She set to work. She threw away expired medications, cleaned the shelves and arranged what was left in a logical order. Her story did not make me enthusiastic about getting help from our doctor. None of the crew went to him either. Thus, our doctor’s job was an absolute sinecure.
Luckily for Maria, she did not break the bone. Her ankle needed icing and rest. But my tooth started aching. Seeing our doctor looked totally useless. Vladimir came to my rescue with a bottle of vodka, purely for medical purposes, to be used as a disinfectant. I rinsed the tooth several times with vodka and of course swallowed it to make my medication to work better. In two days the toothache was gone. The tooth did not bother me until I settled in in Melbourne and could see a local dentist.
13 December 1992
Looked after Maria for most of the day.
Maria spent the day in bed keeping her injured ankle elevated. I brought her meals and stayed in her cabin in case she needed something. By the evening Maria felt well enough to get up.
The weather worsened. Big waves and the wind battered our ship. When going through inside passageways, I kept my hands on both walls to support myself because of the violent rocking. I went outside and did not like what I saw. The sea and the sky were of same gloomy grey color. Waves splashed over the bulwark. Ocean water formed puddles on the deck. The ship rolled on one side; all water streamed to the lowest point and got drained through scuppers until the next wave came. Waves sprinkled me too and I hid behind the deck door. I was not a sailor, but that looked to me like a storm. The Roaring Forties were showing us that they were worth their name.
I knew that we were in these waters because some cargo on board was to be delivered to Sydney by a certain date or the shipping line had to pay a hefty fine. The captain chose that faster but dangerous route to compensate for the loss of one of the ship engines. He was liable to his superiors for the timely delivery. He alone would have to answer for the late arrival. His other responsibility was the safety of everyone onboard. The captain’s choice was either to jeopardize our lives and to make it to Sydney before the deadline or to risk incurring the displeasure of the shipping line’s management and possibly a demotion. It was a difficult choice for him, but as it was customary in the Soviet times saving face was more important than human lives. He chose the former option. We were sailing through the storm no matter what.
14 December 1992
The weather conditions were much better when we woke up in the morning. We listened to the regular daily announcement of the ship’s position and found out that we were out of the Roaring Forties. The captain was not seen at breakfast. He did not show up at the other meals too.
The crew was suspiciously quiet. I asked what was going on. Vladimir told me that last night the entire crew, except for the captain and those who were on the watch, gathered in the sailors’ mess on the lower deck and voted to disobey captain’s orders. They did not want to die or deliver the precious cargo. The captain was given an ultimatum to change the ship course or to be replaced with the first mate. He refused to follow the crew’s decision about the course. The first mate took command of the ship and the captain shut himself up in his cabin. We never saw him again.
In other words, we had a mutiny onboard.
15 December 1992
We settled in so well on the ship, but our journey was coming to its end.
On the surface, our life continued as usual. Nobody mentioned the captain as if he had not existed. The first mate was running the ship skillfully and efficiently. We were getting close to Australia and could be there in 2-3 days. After over one month on the “Academic Gorbunov,” it felt like home. The crew and we became good friends. I did not want to leave the ship. Australia was uncharted territory for us. We would have to learn how to live in that different world and it was not going to be easy. Here on the ship, we had food and the roof over our heads. There in Australia, we would need to provide for ourselves. I wanted to postpone that moment. Sure, we could not stay on the “Academic Gorbunov”, but, dear God, please do not make us lose the comfort of predictability of our ship life, not now.
16 December 1992
Today it was announced that the “Academic Gorbunov” will not call into Melbourne. We are going to Sydney first and will be in Melbourne on the 26th. This means that we will celebrate Christmas on the ship. Tomorrow we should be in Freemantle. The weather remains moderately cool. I sleep during the day, read and work out.
The first mate made the decision to skip Melbourne, the destination for my son and me, and to deliver the urgent cargo to Sydney. The ship would call into Melbourne on her way back to Russia. So we were going to have at least 10 more days on the ship. I welcomed the news. Instead of being thrown into the new environment, we were given an opportunity to observe it from the sidelines for a while. We did not have to be part of it yet. Besides, an unplanned visit to Sydney sounded exciting too. I did not anticipate traveling to it from Melbourne any time soon. Money was going to be tight and vacations would not be in our budget.
Oh no! Mutiny! What a story, Natalia!
Thank you very much for this very interesting and captivating story! Mutiny on board, who would have thought that this was possible in Soviet times. Looking forward to further posts on your early days of settling in Australia, and how you managed to overcome all obstacles on your way to a new life.
The crew did not want to perish and “fired” the captain. The first year in Australia was very interesting. A lot to tell about it, but it is a different story. This blog may not be the right place for it.