The author RECENTLY read an article regarding INS Viraat going to Alang, a graveyard for decommissioned ships. He reminisced of the time when he was an engineer with India’s pioneer shipping company, Scindia Steam Navigation, in Bombay, writes the author in his article published in The Tribune.
The story of a ship
The company came into being in 1919 and ruled the seas in cargo trade. It had a fleet of over 60 ships. As a ship aged and became economically unviable, it was either sold to a new company that repaired and ran the ship or it was declared unseaworthy, when it became a liability, instead of an asset.
If a ship was declared unseaworthy, Alang was its final resting place. For any officer and crew who worked on board that ship, it was a heart-wrenching moment as all that was left was the memory of a ship whose name was etched in their mind, of the wonderful, varied experiences they had on board which enhanced careers, the moments she rose and crashed with each wave, how many ports the ship had called on, and of so many untold tales. It may have been the death of the ship, but the ship lived on in the memories of all who served on her. A ship-breaker will never understand the soul and story behind each ship.
For the ship-breaker, she was just a piece of metal — to be torn apart and her parts resold to the highest bidder. Though merchant navy ships can’t be compared with INS Viraat, and whose sailors, too, must be remembering their service on her, but for the crew serving on cargo and passenger ships, attachment with their livelihood providers can’t be underestimated.
Leaving an ‘indelible imprint’
After serving for long in the merchant navy, he explored the options of a shore job. Coincidentally, while travelling on a train, a co-passenger got interested in his experience as chief engineer on board a merchant ship. He was the owner of a ship-breaking company and came straight to the point and made a lucrative job offer at Alang. For a while, the author was tempted, but there was a gnawing at the back of his mind which stirred his conscience into declining the proposal. After all, it was the ships that provided him with a job, livelihood, sights of the world, and places visited, sometime with his family on board. His conscience would not permit him to tear it apart.
How could he think of a service in which he have to supervise the very breaking up of a ship that had provided him with resources for a good living? He was trained to repair and run her, even with all her age-related problems.
Just like the sea waves, life too has its crests and troughs, and so all things must come to an end, as is the law of nature. But for those whose lives have revolved around it, it leaves an indelible imprint, to be cherished forever.
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Source: The Tribune
