The Engine Room

The following is an ‘anecdotal’ snapshot of my time at sea through the eyes of a ‘first-tripper’ as an Asst. Electrical Engineer, Cableship Officer, under the auspices of British Telecomm (Marine). This ‘aide-memoir/novellette’, came about by members of my family continually telling/cajoling me to write down the events and incidents which I was involved in or happened to me. This book is a technical but also an amusing tale of the author’s job on one of the Cableships keeping telecommunication channels open all around the world. Answering questions like “So, how do you find a broken cable at the bottom of the Atlantic”? etc. “The Engine Room” is an interesting and enlightening story of life on a working vessel as well as recording lighter adventures ashore. The reader should note that what transpired was in the days before certain legislation became as rigorous as it is in today’s working environment. The author wishes to thank his wife, primarily for putting up with my periods of absenteeism whilst raising our family very much single-handedly all those years ago……With hindsight, which is the one thing everyone has a PhD in. This book should really never have come about. Some people might regard me as being selfish to leave my wife and baby at a time when I was most needed; with the need to provide, then, now and the future beckoning, I just couldn’t ignore that aspect. The nature of the ‘job’ could be seen as ‘episodic’, what follows is the good, the bad, does that mean I’m the ugly? -John Prince