pod tanks, every valve, and every one of the heavy hydraulic docking
clamps that held the pod tanks attached to the main frames of the hull.
Most important of all they checked the gauges on each compartment which
gave the precise indication of the gas mixtures contained in the air
spaces under the m-gin deck of the crude tanks.
Golden Dawn operated on the inert system to keep the trapped fumes in an
over-rich and safe condition. The exhaust fumes of the ship's engine
were caught, passed through filters and scrubbers to remove the
corrosive sulphur elements and then, as almost pure carbon dioxide and
carbon monoxide, they were forced into the air spaces of the petroleum
tanks. The evaporating fumes of the volatile elements of the crude
mingled with the exhaust fumes to form an over-rich, oxygen-poor, and
un-explosive gas.
However, a leak through one of the hundreds of valves and connections
would allow air into the tanks, and the checks to detect this were
elaborate, ranging from an unceasing electronic monitoring of each tank
to the daily physical inspection, in which Peter now assisted.
Peter usually left the First Officer's party when it returned to the
stern quarters, he might then pass the time of day with the two-men crew
in the central pump room.
From here the tanks were monitored and controlled, loaded and offloaded,
the flow of inert gas balanced, and the crude petroleum could be pushed
through the giant centrifugal pumps and transferred from tank to tank to
make alterations to the ship's trim, during partial discharge, or when
one or more tanks were detached and taken inshore for discharge.
In the pump room was kept a display that always fascinated Peter.
It was the sample cupboard with its rows of screw-topped bottles, each
containing samples of the cargo taken during loading. As all four of
Golden Dawn's tanks had been filled at the same off-shore loading point
and all with crude from the same field, each of the bottles bore the
identical label.
EL BARRAS CRUDE
/C..
BUNKERS
HIGH CADMIUM Peter liked to take one of the bottles and hold it to the
light. Somehow he had always expected the crude oil to be treacly and
tarlike, but it was thin as human blood and when he shook the bottle, it
coated the glass and the light through it was dark red, again like
congealing blood.
Some of the crudes are black, some yellow and the Nigerians are green,
the pump foreman told him. This is the first red that I've seen. I
suppose it's the cadmium in it, Peter told him.
Guess it is/ the foreman agreed seriously; all on board had very soon
learned not to talk down to Peter Berg, he expected to be treated on
equal terms.
By this time it was mid-morning and Peter had worked up enough appetite
to visit the gallery, where he was greeted like visiting royalty. Within
days, Peter knew his way unerringly through the labyrinthine and usually
deserted passageways. It was characteristic of these great
