With the Holiday Season upon us and the expected slow-down of commercial activities in shipping, without implying that deal flow and transaction count had been awfully robust prior to that, the Captain has opted to reflect and during this slow period and reminisce of the times of the past, of maritime tradition, of the age of the tall ships, when many of today's business practices and certain colloquial terms are anchored at.
2011 has been a tough year in shipping when most of the time freight rates were barely enough to cover operating expenses. In such markets, ship owners had to 'sail close to the wind' (a term meaning that sails are positioned in such as way as to catch the wind in order to cause the vessel to sail against the wind) making the best of a difficult situation by taking a course of action closest to the prime (market) forces. In present market conditions, there has not been 'enough room to swing a cat' (meaning close quarters without enough space for the nine-tail-cat to be swung as punishment), and vessel operating expenses had already to be kept lean as now there is no much room to take corrective action after-the-fact of the weak market. When freight rates have been so low as at present, even chewing a little of extra fat, let’s say $1,000 per diem, can make a big difference between a competitive owner able to cover the variable cost and one who does not. Not covering daily expenses can result in an as stinky situation as one with bilge water (in sailing ships, liquids could sip through the wooden frame of the ship, such as sea water, oil, blood, urine, feces, pitch, etc creating an obnoxious and noxious concoction). This is neither the time for one to get caught ‘over a barrel’ (the barrel was used in punishment or as a life saving device to resuscitate the poor soul pulled unconscious from the sea) nor to ‘learn the ropes’ (the ropes hosting and controlling in an elaborate fashion the sails of commercial vessels and primarily warships); nor a time of ‘sucking the monkey’ (surreptitiously siphoning rum out of caskets for personal use) neither time to indulge before the ‘sun was above the yard arm’ (sailors were kept in constant consumption of alcoholic beverages, and usually offices would not drink before the sun was shining above the yard arm, about ten o’clock in the morning in the northern hemisphere). It’s a time for one to be ‘shipshape and Bristol fashion’ (Bristol is inland on the River Avon, notorious before the floating harbor construction in 1809 for high tides, so all equipment had to be orderly stowed at all times in ships in order to minimize damage with unpredictable tides) and realistically tied ‘to the bitter end’ (cables were tied to wooden posts or ‘bitts’ on the deck). Now definitely it’s the time for innovative solutions and being ‘copper bottomed’ (copper sheathing was used to protect wooden hulls, but the corrosive damage was not fully minimized until the discovery of galvanic compatibility and the replacement of iron bolts in the hull with copper alloy ones).
When we ‘ring out the old, ring in the new’ (sixteen bells to indicate the change of year), the Captain wishes that the New Year 2012 may bring a ‘square meal’ (square were the wooden food trays for easy storage, but also a connotation to fair deal of rationings) to all those involved in shipping, that the vessel of shipping gets off her ‘beam ends’ in 2012 (or ‘ship’s knees’ the transverse wooden frame abeam that touch the water when the vessel is heavily inclined and in jeopardy of capsizing), and that the New Year brings Calm Seas and Fair Winds to all in shipping!
© Basil M Karatzas, 2011. No parts of this blog can be reproduced in any way by any means under any circumstances without the prior written approval of the owner of the blog. Copyright strictly enforced.
This blog is only intended for entertainment and discussion purposes; no responsibility can be assumed for taking or failing to take any action upon information contained in any part of this blog.
Should you desire to discuss the content of the blog or obtain commercial advise or opinion, please feel free to contact us at info@bmkaratzas.com.
