Sagacity - the ship with a soul. Time for nautical tales

Not all of them, but some ships do have a soul. In my many years of roaming the seas and oceans, I once had the chance to work on such a vessel. Sagacity—that was the ship’s name. Or rather, that was her name.* A melodious name, yet somewhat misleading, as it has nothing to do with a city. In Old English, sagacity means wisdom, inquisitiveness, and also discretion. And that was the name of the ship with a soul, the one I had the privilege to work on.

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23 february 2025   |   08:08   |   Source: Gazeta Morska   |   Prepared by: Tadeusz Hatalski, kpt. ż.w.   |   Print

fot. Pixabay

I boarded Sagacity in Dordrecht, a Dutch port south of Rotterdam, up the river Meuse—actually, the Old Meuse. Over the centuries, the Meuse’s estuary, where Rotterdam is located, was completely altered and is now called Nieuwe Waterweg, or the New Waterway. The old estuary, on the other hand, has become a nature reserve, and ships no longer sail through it.

When I arrived at the port by taxi, I found out that Sagacity wasn’t moored at the quay but was anchored ‘on the buoys’**. A motorboat was already waiting, though, and within moments, I was on board. The ship had seen better days, and its design was rather old-fashioned. The stern, in particular, was peculiar—somewhat raised, reminiscent of old Spanish caravels.

Of course, not as exaggerated, but noticeable enough to be bothersome. And I wasn’t too fond of it. Moreover, despite it already being the 1990s, the ship had no gyrocompass. It was equipped only with a traditional magnetic compass, just like the ones found on old wooden sailing ships. There was only one radar, and that too was outdated. Instead of the modern screen displays, similar to those on televisions (which had already become standard on ships), it was the old type—with a conical hood over the screen, which was the only way to observe the radar.

There were plenty of other things that didn’t sit well with me. So, during the entire time we were in port, as I walked around the ship familiarizing myself with its structure and equipment, I constantly complained. Nothing seemed right to me; in fact, everything seemed wrong, impractical, and inconvenient.

Eventually, the loading was complete (we were taking bulk cement), and we set sail for Belfast. Not directly out to sea, of course, as it takes several hours to navigate from Dordrecht to the open sea via the Old Meuse, which I mentioned earlier.

At the river bend just outside Dordrecht, there’s a sharp turn. Fortunately, we managed to take it in one go, without having to reverse the engine. Soon, we were on a straight, fairly wide section of the river. Following the pilot’s suggestion, I started increasing engine power—first ‘slow ahead,’ then ‘half ahead.’ As the ship began gaining speed, suddenly, a loud noise came from the engine room, the entire vessel shook, and thick black smoke billowed from the funnel. Then, an eerie silence fell. The ship, though still moving forward by inertia and responding to the helm, had lost power.

Soon, we started slowing down and losing steerage. And the engine wouldn’t restart. Fortunately, the river was wide enough at that point to allow safe anchoring. After consulting with the pilot, we decided to drop anchor to prevent drifting ashore. Meanwhile, the engineers kept trying to restart the engine—unsuccessfully.

Eventually, there was no other choice but to call for tugboats. A repair yard was nearby, and after some time, we were towed there and moored. It turned out that one of the cylinders had seized. The repairs took several days, and once completed, we set off again.

This time, though, I knew better. I stopped complaining. On the contrary, I started praising the old Sagacity at every opportunity. And I must admit, the more I got to know her, the more I appreciated her. In practice, everything—though old-fashioned—was reliable and functional. Even the magnetic compass proved to be almost as accurate as a modern gyrocompass. And, more importantly, I came to understand that Sagacity was no ordinary ship. She had a soul. And by stopping her engine, she had let me know she didn’t appreciate my grumbling. Instead of complaining, I should have been showing appreciation.

From then on, we got along just fine. I stopped whining and started praising—because there was plenty to praise. The engine never failed again, the cargo remained intact, we arrived at ports on time, and berthing and unberthing maneuvers went smoothly.

Though, once more, Sagacity reminded me of her stubborn spirit. To this day, I’m not sure what I did wrong.

We were sailing back from Belfast to Dordrecht, in ballast***. The weather wasn’t great. By midnight, when I went to bed, the ship was already rolling heavily. Still, I fell asleep quickly. But I didn’t sleep long. Around 2 AM, I woke up.

I woke up because I wasn’t alone in my bunk. I felt something lying on my legs. I turned on the light—and saw it. It was the fridge.

I looked at the shelf where the fridge usually stood. It was empty. So, the fridge had simply ‘jumped’ from the shelf into my bunk. Luckily, it landed on my legs—because if it had been anywhere else, it could have been worse. And, fortunately, it was a small fridge, just a compact one for a few cans of Coke.

Unluckily, one of those cans was open. And almost full.

When the fridge landed on my legs, it scraped them a bit. Nothing serious, just minor abrasions. But the Coke spilled all over my bunk. Sleeping in wet, sticky sheets drenched in Coke was impossible. So, I had no choice—I had to change the bedding. Everything: duvet cover, sheet, the lot. Anyone who has ever changed a duvet cover knows it’s not easy. But doing it in a storm, with waves throwing the ship around so violently that they could tear a fridge from its mountings and toss it several meters into a bunk—that’s not just hard, it’s nearly impossible. But, as I said, sleeping in sticky sheets was out of the question. Even in that storm.

So I had no choice. I changed the bedding. It took me at least an hour. Then I had to secure the fridge—because I couldn’t just leave it in my bunk. That took some time as well. By the time I was done, the sun was already rising...

And that was the last trick Sagacity played on me. After that, we were the best of friends…

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• * In English, ships are referred to as she.
• ** ‘Buoy’ is the technical term for a mooring barrel.
• *** In ballast—a ship sailing without cargo, carrying only ballast water in its tanks.

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