Misc data and adventures of a Tayopa treasure hunter

[Real of Tayopa]

Back, thanks Mikel.

 

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[Simon1]

Nice to see you post Senor Don Jose ! How is your health today ? Hit 150 pounds yet ?

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

#/80{>~

 

[Oroblanco]

Back, thanks Mikel.

Me too - so lets get the show rolling!

Keep 'em coming amigos y amigas!

 

[doc-d]

Señor Don Jose.......how are things with you?

 

[Culinary Caveman]

It's good to see so many of you still using the site.

 

[South Sea mariner]

Hola Amigo

How is the famous Don Jose these days. I heard your story from some one in Valparaiso the other day. A man from mining company.

Mal

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

Hey folks, Glad you dropped in.

The legendary Don Jose de Real Tayopa, has been reading more and posting a little less, lately.

Perhaps you can draw a response from him, With a post from your latest escapes.

Surely you have done something recently that you can share , that won’t end up in a room with a big metal door [emoji376].

#/;0{>~

 

[Culinary Caveman]

Hola Don Jose y Amigos,
It's been a while since I've checked in and as I posted earlier it's good to see so many of you still here. I'm still in Wyoming and working way too much to be out poking around. Not to mention that it's cold, really cold up here already. I truly miss the heat of Texas and that of Sonora as well. It's this nostalgia and longing that has brought me back here to read the stories y'all tropical tramps and desert rats post. I look forward to chipping in when I can.

 

[South Sea mariner]

Hola Amigo

Forgive me I have been lurking around as of late. I have not so much a treasure story I leave that for you guys are the experts. I am a glorified clerical assistant in charge of tramp steamer. My apologies in advance if the following bores you. You know this might sound silly Have you every wondered about other jobs what they would be like? Say for me farmer. miner I have no idea?

Yet this year Much to my wife disdain I am growing a big beard to celebrate 40 years at sea. Looking back where are all those people now? And changes in technology. So I can give an insight into small charter shipping companies. We watched the trade disappear many companies over the years and mergers taking away hundred year old shipping companies.

I am on short break. My wife is not used to me being at home. Like all wife's she is keen to find jobs for me. Yet if I gave her a list of jobs I would be sleeping in the dog house :-) You takes break when you can get it. Because Even thou my families two ships are charter vessels "tramp steamers."Not much happening at present. A charter can happen on moments notice. I can be rather sporadic and frustrating at times. Most of voyages south America coast to Asia or pacific islands, Australia or news Zealand. Although now and again I get charter to San Diego or San Francisco.

There is a law Chile that prevents local shipping be taken over by foreign companies. So an opportunity has come about for shipping contract to south of Chile. There are many towns and islands not connected to roads in the strait of Magellan. We was hoping to win a bulk cargo shipping contract shipping from the north concentrate to a processing plant in the south. By the look of it I think that is in limbo at present. But this other contract in South of Chile looks promising. However the two ships we have a general purpose bulk material carrier and a container ship. tied up with charter work with a much bigger company acting as broker. We get their over flow. So if we win we the contact we have commission a new third ship. Most likely in our case newer second hand one. Due to cost. Yet the company has been looking at a new build below. It is an inter island combi bulk in holds containers on top and day passenger accommodation. For short haul work among island archipelagos. Because of its smaller size able with smaller draft reach more small ports. Supplying day passengers, containers and bulk material holds.





The ship is brand new just been commissioned for a Philippine shipping company that went into receivership. Shipbuilder in short with ship that intended sale has fallen through. However as you imagine making a purchase as big as this can make or break a small company if the ship does not perform to modern standards and expectations to the role she is assigned. So we have go to expense of having our own independent survey to make sure she meets international stands and Chilean requirements.

My older brother a retired sea captain who is in the role CEO these days will fly out with me to look at this vessel.If we win this contract and this vessel is suitable and of course timing is right. We might have third ship. The last time we had 3 ships was in 1948 when 3 had 3 passenger steamers between 1920 and WW2. They used to service between news York Panama canal down the south south American coast to Valparaiso. The ships was requisitioned as troop ships. By the time we got them back passenger ship trade was dead as air travel became vogue. So we became just cargo carrier tramp steamers 70 years ago. So for us some thing old new again.

So not doubt just like all of you reading this in whatever is or was your occupation there has been many changes over the years as needs and demands change. The same is for the shipping industry. My family company started of with one man after the liberation of Chile in 1818 with small schooner handling cargo up and down the south american coast to merging with a company in 1838 and merging again in 1868 as steamships took over from the sailing brig of the day. D emerged in 1948, in 2008 down to one ship and now possibly investing in a third ship in 2018. Ironic is it not the most significant events of my families company was in a year ending in 8?

Anyway I hope the yarn sparks in put in other people experiences in whatever occupation they do or have done. I am interested in learning about the changes in their industry and impacts?

Mal

 

[South Sea mariner]

Hola caveman

We are going into summer in my part of world. Its cold in your part of the world already? You must going to have a very cold winter? Even so I have been told is Wyoming high up on mountain plateaus?

Mal

 

[Culinary Caveman]

Yes we are pretty high in altitude. The town I live in is over 7,200 feet. It was -5 degrees Fahrenheit this morning. Even Jose's sock coffee would have been welcome this morning.

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?
What you guys do, that may seem mundane or old hat.. but to us, it is a challenge to open our minds and learn what else is out there, and how you deal with challenges every day.
I enjoyed the read, all of them.
For me, I was an EMT, and a toy maker, and one of the best pen 🖊 and pencil [emoji422]️ makers in the country!, a tool technician and tool delivery man.

Things that be interesting to me, may bore others to the point that they stop listening. But there is so much more in Heaven and Earth than all of us combined, could ever dream up.

Never let go of who we are, nor forget the paths that brought us together.

I’ll probably reread these past few pages just to make sure that I can place my mind on traveling out to go out to sea, or live where the air is so thin that you can only make fire [emoji91] with knowledge passed down from one generation to the next.

Here’s to every one that has sparked a single light along the shore, or makes the decision to turn over just one more stone.

#/;0{>~

 

[South Sea mariner]

Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?
What you guys do, that may seem mundane or old hat.. but to us, it is a challenge to open our minds and learn what else is out there, and how you deal with challenges every day.
I enjoyed the read, all of them.
For me, I was an EMT, and a toy maker, and one of the best pen �� and pencil [emoji422]️ makers in the country!, a tool technician and tool delivery man.

Things that be interesting to me, may bore others to the point that they stop listening. But there is so much more in Heaven and Earth than all of us combined, could ever dream up.

Never let go of who we are, nor forget the paths that brought us together.

I’ll probably reread these past few pages just to make sure that I can place my mind on traveling out to go out to sea, or live where the air is so thin that you can only make fire [emoji91] with knowledge passed down from one generation to the next.

Here’s to every one that has sparked a single light along the shore, or makes the decision to turn over just one more stone.

#/;0{>~

Hola Amigo PROSPECTORMIKEL

EMT I am not familiar with the term? is that engineering maintenance technician? This might sound silly but how the hell they get lead or graphite inside a round wooden pencil? I have no idea of processes involved. So it is true many people have many occupations and knowledge with various machine processes that amaze me. To me these things are not mundane as it makes the peoples occupations interesting because the more I talk to people about their occupations or past work experiences the more you learn so much.

It is so easy to think some occupations are easy until you attempt it yourself Fascinating!

When I was lad I was terrible at school as I was expected to following the family business following my older brothers foot steps I went to sea. My dad was a sea captain, his father and grandfather and great grandfather. A long line of seafarers. So it was you could say a forgone conclusion.

There was one hard family rule when I first started I did every crap job imaginable. There was no privilege given being from the family that actually owned the ship. At the time I worked as stoker on coal fired cargo ship about 60 years maybe more a real old a real rust bucket.We used to joke back then we was on the hail Mary line :-). Last of its type in early 1980's she was steam turbine powered by coal on set run between Argentina and Chile before she was scrapped.

Later worked as grease monkey in the engine room, lagger, rigger general seaman on a series of ships. A lot of jobs became obsolete as newer ships came on line. Crew sizes shrank . Took me a hell of a lot longer in rising up the ranks and stints in maritime college to finally to become captain. The privilege was not handed to me on a plate. It was hard worked for.

But the interest in ships was there even as teen in 1976 dad as captain of ship hauling tons of frozen fish. It was an old WW2 "liberty ship" a fuel oiled steam turbine. ship built in the early 1940s massed produced was not expected to survive one voyage but in fact bought as surplus in 1948 after ww2 when my family switched back to cargo trade. She had been turned in a reefer, refrigerated cargo ship. She broke down off Panama. Thousands of tons fish in the hot tropical heat started Rotting in the hold. The insurer did want to board the ship. There is no describing the smell and there was no escaping it. It was a voyage of hell.

But it never dampened my appetite to become a mariner.

So you see everyone has a story amigos?

It is interesting to see what others had in lives work experiences.

Mal

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

Hola amigo Mal.

EMT is Emergency Medical Technician. We are the guys that save the paramedics’. Buuts!!

I was the third one in our county, and the nine hundred twenty first in the state of Arkansas. Kept the number active,off and on, for over a quarter of a century, before I retired it.

Now, about those pencils [emoji422]️. They are not the type that I made, but I do know how they are made...

They make them in groups of bottoms and tops with the lead placed between them. Gluing them together like a long sandwich, about ten pencils wide and eight feet long.
Then they cut them to length and separate them from one another.
Then tumble sand and paint and crimp an eraser on one end.

The entire process never stops moving and start to finish only takes a few seconds per pencil [emoji422]️.

It is impressive to watch.
I saw it on Discovery Channel.

The the pens and pencils that I made were hand made on a lathe from very expensive hardwoods from all over the world.

I made desk sets, single one of a kind, or pen and pencil pocket sets.
All pretty pricey. For those that wanted something that stood out, I made fountain pens that sold for several hundred bucks.

My favorites were calligraphy pens. Long, elegant and form fitted for easy working, for folks who loved to write.

In my spare time, I would design new wooden toys and teach others how to make them.

Looking back, those were my favorite jobs.

All land locked.
I am content with my feet on dry land.

Last time I was in any sea broke my desire to go back. I swim like I am made of pure gold.

I can understand how young men are called to a life at sea. I’m just not one of them.

Mikel
#/;0{>~

 

[Simon1]

Mal, good luck with your plans and I hope they work out the way you plan them. We are sure they will as you always seem to have a plan B and plan C on stand by.

 

[South Sea mariner]

Mal, good luck with your plans and I hope they work out the way you plan them. We are sure they will as you always seem to have a plan B and plan C on stand by.

Hola Simon amigo

Yes you are correct. You can add d through to z :-)

Planning in advance is part of the job. When you are responsible for some thing 6 stories high and the length of 2+ football fields. Weighing many thousands of tons which takes several kilometers to stop. There is little margin of error. You have to have plans and alternative ones. We have contract for a voyage for copper concentrate on the 26th November. From Chile passing through Panama, Caribbean. North Atlantic into Baltic to the port of Hamburg. We do not normally go outside the Pacific these days. But the request was from good customer. However we had a lift in shipping rates per ton. Plus world fuel prices are in downward cycle.

Passing through Panama costs me between 150 -400 thousand dollars depending on size and tonnage, But it saves 8000 km in fuel. Port fees in Hamburg 140 thousand, then we have fuel costs, insurance for the voyage. We have brokerage fees. Pilot-age fees, Crew wages and supply costs. So each part of the voyage needs to be planed. Fueling and refueling issues need to be addressed and return voyage with cargo. So all this has to be costed into voyage and make a profit per tonnage. Its continued struggle against economies of scale.

14000 ships pass through Panama per year. However once your in roads awaiting transit through the canal you must
Have your papers, insurances and fiances in order. So there is staff in shipping office the processing. A profit margin from a voyage can be wiped out sailing from the other side of world with empty ship.

So amigo that is why we have to plans so much.Then the actual voyage we have factor in prevailing weather conditions, tides currents into the voyage. I am lucky I have good crew ready to take over while my ship arrives in Valparaiso to take over from Asia. We have German sea captain works for us. Who is more knowledgeable of European ports. For me my experience is mostly the Pacific. Extra knowledge on Atlantic shipping lanes that are very crowded so I have to be re-accredited with any new procedures in that part of world.

So you see its not just turn up with ship unannounced with no prior knowledge of what your sailing into. You can say its team effort.

With that mindset I suspect the ones that really succeeds looking for treasure are ones that are very focused on the facts and planning accordingly to benefit from such discovery.

If I was to plan a treasure hunting project I would what has been ingrained into me because of my profession want to make sure I had plan for various scenarios. Although I admit treasure hunting will never be a perfect science. But lowering the risk factors in your favor must give you a better chance at success.

Mal

 

[South Sea mariner]

Hola ProspectorMickel Amigo

Thank you for your insight. I learn some thing new every day. I imagine what you make would be of very high quality much better than any mass produced stuff. You must have a real talent for such things.

Mal

 

[Mackaydon]

Mal,
You bring back memories. About 20 years ago I took my R/V Explorer (Roatan) to Ecuador via the Panama Canal. Planning, I agree, can make or break a voyage. Thankfully, we had a good agent who received a little extra 'help' that gave us a priority position in the canal transit. The memory was in getting into a lock with and just aft of a cargo ship; and while secured in the lock she decided to maneuver. My hundred-footer became the little 'rubber ducky' tossed around in a maelstrom. After frantic calls to the 'lock master' and several encounters with the sides of the lock, the cargo ship calmed down and we, eventually, survived the experience. That was the roughest seas we encountered during the entire project.
Don.....

 

[South Sea mariner]

Mal,
You bring back memories. About 20 years ago I took my R/V Explorer (Roatan) to Ecuador via the Panama Canal. Planning, I agree, can make or break a voyage. Thankfully, we had a good agent who received a little extra 'help' that gave us a priority position in the canal transit. The memory was in getting into a lock with and just aft of a cargo ship; and while secured in the lock she decided to maneuver. My hundred-footer became the little 'rubber ducky' tossed around in a maelstrom. After frantic calls to the 'lock master' and several encounters with the sides of the lock, the cargo ship calmed down and we, eventually, survived the experience. That was the roughest seas we encountered during the entire project.
Don.....

Hola Mackaydon

They do their best to squeeze ships through. Although it seems your placement was bit of over sight putting a smaller vessel behind a larger vessel with no thusters.

It must of been an older cargo ship not having Bow and stern thrusters. His maneuver was using the main propeller with rudder moving hard right and left. The wash would of be horrible in confinement of the lock. Your lucky you did not have serious damage.

For those who do not about bow and stern Thrusters they are small propelled built into hull on the bow and sides of stern. To describe it well like a car with power steering against on that has not. For those which have not they are placed next to the ships berth by tugs. two tugs in unison working with wharf dock workers. Some times depending on wind and tide its the same for ships with thrusters.

Its been a long time for me since the last time I have transited through the Canal.Prices have quadrupled to pay for widening of canal to fit larger ships. Ships from Asia to Europe us Suez cannal a lot wider and no locks. Most marine traffic from Asia to the US is through the west coast ports through the 3 main deepwater ports San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. all three are connected to extensive rail network that is actually cheaper to use than shipping through Panama canal to the ports on the east coast of the states.

I just got confirmation of the voyage and transit times allocated for the voyage. I will be leaving the ship at Hamburg flying out to meet my brother in the Philippines to look at this ship then back to Santiago Chile onto Valparaiso. Looking like I will miss Christmas this year as I will be in transit.

Curse of being a mariner I am afraid. But have had good run. Several years ago I missed several Christmas at sea. One year I took my wife and kids on voyage to Australia. We docked at darling harbour on the last day of the year. The city was pumping to see an awesome fireworks display off Sydney harbour. We watched from the deck of our ship.

Mal