FREIGHTERS

All things about the ocean fascinate me but freighters hold a special place in my heart. When cruising off shore in southern California almost all freighter traffic you see is either headed for or from the Port of Los Angeles. Being one of the busiest ports in the world there are ships that arrive and depart all day and night, 12 months a year.

For the sake of this blog I use the term freighter generically to include all manner of cargo carrying ships. They can be oil tankers, grain haulers, container ships or banana boats. To me they are all beautiful.

If we are going off shore in search of fish we usually leave in the middle of the night. What times depends on where you want to be at day light. You are always on the lookout for freighter traffic but particularly as you approach the “steamer lane”, a zone the freighters are supposed to stay in as they steam into and out of Los Angeles harbor. You first pick them up on your radar which tells you where they are and gives you an idea of the direction they are traveling. Then you watch for their lights where you know they are supposed to be. Like all marine vessels they have a red light on the port (left) side, a green light on the starboard (right) side and a white light on the mast and stern.

You first see their lights as they come over the horizon. Through your binoculars you distinguish red or green to tell which direction they are going. You try to estimate their speed to make damn sure you are clear of their path. They are a lot bigger than you are. From a distance they look like any other boat. As they approach you see the lights are way above the water line. As the huge, steel giant passes in front of you, the distance between lights tips off its size. In a full moon you can see an outline of the ship but most dark nights your imagination must draw a picture. I always love it when we pass just astern of them as they go by. Looking up at this behemoth as it passes you brace for the wake and the waves created by this mass moving through the water. Seemingly moments later the lights disappear into the night.

In daylight these freighters first appear as a dot on the horizon. I must confess if we are trolling for fish I steer our boat to intercept its path. I want to be as close as possible when it passes. As it gets closer it begins to take shape. A container ship is stacked high with up to several thousand containers. Tankers have very little superstructure. Freighters have booms for loading and unloading cargo. Each one has its own look.

As it heads our way the bow wave comes into view. The bulbous bow of the more modern ships is designed to allow the vessel to slip through the water effortlessly. It creates a wall of pushed water that is a sight to see. Because of their size they appear to be moving slowly. Wrong. Their speed exceeds all but the swiftest of the fishing boats. Most have the names of their shipping line painted in large letter on the side of the hull, a floating bill board of some the world’s great shipping companies.

If you are close enough you may see a single individual on the flying bridge but you almost never see a soul. It is as if they are ghost ships, remotely controlled by someone in a foreign port. It can be rather spooky. As they go by you see the flag of the country where the boat is registered flying from the stern railing and the name of the vessel and its home port, always some romantic place such as Amsterdam, Singapore or Hong Kong. My imagination runs wild.

If they are empty or have a light load the water line is well above the water and the propeller is often slightly exposed. Churning slowly it is inconceivable that the chunk, chunk of the propeller is driving this beast through the water. Crossing the wake you witness the enormous turbulence created by what just passed. Often, miles astern the water is still churning.

I think of many things. What are they carrying? Since a large part of the world depends on inputs and exports to and from other countries it is a good bet there are tv’s, clothing, cars, dolls, engine parts, fertilizer, petroleum and bananas heading to God knows where. What nationality are the crews? What is it like where they come from? What have they seen as they traverse the globe? Did they encounter pirates off the horn of African? I’ll bet they passed through some brutal weather with monstrous seas to get here. There is a story to be told by each of them.