Free New Homeport Island by Robert Lyon Page A

themselves better as the ship rolled
 back to its portside, and saved themselves another ‘sailor’s
 moment’. Hudlow scrambled down the ladder and looked at
    Washam and said, “At least I can stay on my feet” then timed
 his movements with the movement of the ship hurtling himself
 forward and blurted out to the Captain, “Sir, can I help you?”
The Captain looked to his left and saw Hudlow and Washam
 standing their Washam was laughing himself to tears and
Hudlow had an anxious and eager demeanor. Artimus checked
 his pants zipper and said, “You’re not my type.” Tinnel came
 down the ladder to the PLCC level and glanced around…it was
 official, the Captain felt crowded. The expression on Artimus’s
 face was unmistakable, it was the ‘only white guy in the bar’
 look and in order to break the tension Tinnel said, “Meanwhile
 back in the bat cave.” Captain Artimus pushed his way back to
 the ladder to head out of the space; pale and in a cold sweat he
 said to Tinnel as he left, “Stay away from my cave.”  
We had secured all the gear from the flooding and I headed
 back to the aft engine room. As I descended the ladder the ship
 jutted to the portside and pitched up sharply I lunged toward the
I-beam and grabbed the foam cover meant to prevent a head
 knocker and waited for my center of gravity to become my
 center of gravity again. I continued down the ladder and made
 my way to the boiler flat just as Nueme was coming up the
 ladder from the PLCC level.
Nueme said, “Hey, been looking for one of you guys.” I
 smiled and said, “Sounds good let’s do that.” and she replied,
“Ya…right. Well I need help with this PMS check.” and she
 handed me her preventative maintenance card. It detailed the
 replacement of the Mil-spec 2190 lube oil filter on the generator.
I glanced at it and said, “Which part?” She replied, “I don’t
 know where it is and Mitch said to get you to help me. He
 stopped me from doing it the way Hudlow said to. He wanted
 me to pull the pump off.” I responded, “No, you do have to open
    the sump cover, but not pulling the pump off.” Nueme looked at
 me with disgust trying to discern whether or not I was messing
 with her and asked, “Sump cover?...Maybe I should just get
Mitch.” I said, “I’ll show you.” She continued with a blank stare
 while nodding her head and said, “Ya, I’ll check with Mitch.”
I looked at her dismayed that she apparently thought I was
 clueless, and I asked her, “Something I don’t know about this?”
She looked down at her card as dismayed as I was and took a
 step in toward me, leaned in with her face right to mine and said,
“There’s a lot you don’t know about a lot of things.” I squinted
 and leaned in and responded, “I don’t know who you’ve been
 talking to…about what I know and don’t know, but ah… I just
 do the job and you don’t want to get pulled into their games. So,
I’ll show you where that filter is.”    
She nodded and blurted out, “Under the sump cover…ya.
Okay” I said, “Let me grab some rags” we headed down to the
 generator and grabbed some tools from the tool box we kept
 there and began disconnecting the lube oil suction from the
 sump. Nueme said, “That’s like what Hudlow said to do…” I
 replied, “You have to disconnect this small pipe because the
 plate under it is the sump cover.” Nueme’s eyes widened a little
 and she said, “Oh…I thought you meant the one underneath.” I
 chuckled and said, “No not that one…I guess that’s why you
 thought I was clueless.” She let out a fake laugh and said, “You
 still clueless.”  
Hudlow came down to the generator flat and said, “Hey I
 told you I didn’t want her getting her hands dirty.” Mitch walked
 up and stood beside him and did the tough guy nod as he wiped
 his hands with a rag. I said,