CAPE DOMINGO

For the past two weeks I’ve been working with the Navy aboard the Cape Domingo. In addition to being a licensed Mate in the Merchant Marine, I also serve as Strategic Sealift Officer in the Navy Reserves. This is a special program in the Navy that capitalizes on the expertise of Merchant Mariners. We can be called in to do an array of things such as ship scheduling, loading cargo, facilitating shipyard building projects, and of course, sailing ships. For this particular project I was called in to conduct safety inspections for the Cape Domingo. The Cape Domingo is a MARAD ship that is part of the Ready Reserve Fleet. While not as old as the Curtiss, she’s still up there being built in 1973. Essentially, I got paid to be a Third Mate. For the two weeks I fixed the Fire Stations, checked fire extinguishers, and made sure that everything was in working order. Most notably I figured out how to update the ECDIS for the MARAD Fleet in Charleston and was sent from ship to ship at the pier to update them all. An ECDIS is an electronic chart system. Similar to how your GPS on your phone helps you navigate from your house to your destination, an ECDIS is the real time Chart system that electronically tracks a ship as it sails to its next portcall.

The coolest thing we did while I was aboard was fleet wide training of the Line Throwing Device. Each rocket can shoot well over 300meters and can connect to a nearby ship if needed. In fact, that is exactly what these Line Throwing Devices are for. If nothing else, it makes for a cool afternoon.