working to get more sea time for his Master's Licence to skipper commercial ships.

In June of this year, Mr. King set sail on the container ship Green Wave for the Pacific Rim. This is the first of two reports on the voyage.

At last the phone call came. "The ship will be in Seattle in three days.'' It was time to go back to work as Chief mate on the Green Wave . There is never enough time to tidy up all the loose ends before leaving the Island for three months, but at some point if you don't get in the car you won't make it to the plane in time.

It was a long flight to the west coast with a late night arrival at SeaTac Airport outside of Seattle. Renting a car and finding a hotel to get a few hours sleep before going to the union hall the next morning is never any fun at this hour.

The mandatory pre-employment physical took longer than usual the following morning, so by the time I got to the ferry that would take me across Puget Sound, the Bremerton traffic was backed up for an hour.

It was the beginning of a four-day weekend and the ferry was crowded for the scenic trip through the pine studded islands this area is known for. I had never been here before, but as the ferry docks at the Bremerton Naval Shipyard it dawns on me that getting the rental car (and my bags) to the ship may not be easy. In the distance, Green Wave is nearly lost in the clutter, dwarfed by yard cranes, an aircraft carrier and the masts of many Navy ships.

Right away I run into Dan Hosey, the man I'm to relieve, just returning from the travel agent. He seems pretty glad to see me and points out the "cop shop'' where I spend the next hour convincing some of the Navy's finest that they should let me in the yard without my name being on the ever-present list.

We compromise when I park my car and accept a ride to the ship with a promise not to go into town that night ... no problem.

Since this is my third trip on Green Wave , it is a little easier adapting to the surroundings. I've sailed with Capt. Phillips before and also both Chief Engineers. Phyllis King will be relieved by Jim Lodge, who I had gone to Antarctica with during the winter. Since we're all on board for the night, dinner plans are made for the evening -- so I lied to the gate guards.

Next, we get down to several hours of "what is broken, what got fixed, what won't get fixed and what kind of crew are you sticking me with?'' Since Jim and I are glad to be back and Phyllis and Dan are delighted to be getting off, the conversations are non-stop and continue through dinner ashore until the restaurant closes and they chase us all out.

So much for the change of command. Capt. Phillips will take the ship down the coast to Oakland where his relief will be waiting and the new regime will be complete.

This scenario takes place about every three months. Jim, myself and Capt.

Stalkus usually sail together while Phyllis, Dan and Capt. Phillips handle the other shift. It is an amiable arrangement and a few phone calls between all of us keeps it running smoothly most of the time.

This summer Capt. Bruce Elfast is joining as skipper from our sister ship the Green Ridge . He is to give us a little insight on their approach to some of the same problems that have plagued the two ships, while Capt. Stalkus takes the Green Ridge up into the ice run in Greenland.

The only other change in this port will be a new Second Mate, Janet Walsh. She came on at the last minute with the usual bags and several crates that included a rocking horse. She was hoping to get the rocker back to the east coast, but it looks like it will have a lot of miles to travel before landing.

We are heading for Korea after the load in Oakland.

There are a few more regulars that I have sailed with before. Sherman Herndan is staying on board as the officers' messman and steward utility. This trip will mark the 28th year that Sherman has been going to sea and dispensing advice on affairs of the heart to those without his worldly experience. He also has the rare gift of knowing when to be quiet. After a week he will also be able to tell what it is you will want off the menu on any day before you have even seen the "choices''. Once you learn to interpret Sherman's subtle hints about what is good on any particular meal, it is usually a mistake to stray too far afield.

Art Spohn, my helmsman from the South Pole trip, returned when we got to Oakland. Capt. Phillips describes him as someone sent down by central casting for the next Old Spice commercial. He has signed on as an Able Bodied Seaman for the 4-8 quartermaster's position, but tells me he wants to shift to the 8-12 because he hates to get up at 3.30 in the morning... I can understand that.

Art also happens to be one of the best seaman I have ever had the pleasure to stand watch with. When he offers to sell me one of his knives (and keep it sharp for the voyage) I negotiate the price down $10 and then slip in $5 in new Zealand currency for payment. This is considered grossly unfair, but since I had received that $5 from him as payment for a bet the previous trip there will be no appeal. From now on all our bets will specify American dollars only.

In Oakland, Voyage 51 will end with the crew payoff. Any crew members leaving will be replaced in a ceremony we call the "prisoner exchange.'' Some crew we will be delighted to lose in the hopes their replacements will at least be no worse. Sometimes you get lucky and the new guy turns out to be a "keeper,'' sometimes the replacement lasts only a few days before he quits or gets fired and you roll the dice with the union hall to get someone else down for consideration. Fortunately for me, I have ten days of cargo operations in which to weed out the malcontents before we go offshore and are stuck with them.

When we leave there will be new First, Second and Third engineers, a new chief cook and another crew messman, three new able bodied (AB) seamen, and a replacement for the second mate who had just got on in Bremerton to compliment the elder third mate we signed on only after he passed two physicals. Also, a new captain and two cadets from Kings Point who arrived at the last minute to entertain the chief engineer and myself.

Capt. Stalkus once remarked to me that the real challenge out here wasn't in doing a good job with competent personnel, but in doing a consistent one with whatever talent (or lack of) that fate sent to you for the trip. It is a course in personnel management that only gets offered in the real world at sea.

Note: By the time the voyage reached the halfway mark in the Far East the chief cook flew home from Korea for a family matter, the chief electrician got himself fired in the Philippines, the second engineer proved to be terminally seasick, the third engineer perpetually tired, the third mate meant well but almost always got everything wrong and one of the ABs turned out to be useless for just about any task assigned -- a fairly normal trip by my experience.

ALL ABOARD -- A 40-foot container is loaded aboard the Green Wave as she prepares for her Pacific voyage at the Bremerton shipyards in Washington state earlier this summer.