SEAMAN ANDJELKO

The steamship “Dubrava” sails the Aegean Sea on her regular line for Zhdanov port in Russia. The sea is calm, only a light north wind blends foam on the surface.
Anđelko is a sailor. He cleared the the crew mess on the stern superstructure. He brought the tea bowl out of the galley and set the cups on the table. Now he is sitting and waiting for the crew to gather in the salon for an afternoon break of fifteen minutes.

Sailor Niko entered the first. He walked around the salon and laughed at Andjelko.
— Is the tea hot …? He asked.

-Yeah…, answered Andjelko. — Now I got it out of the galley.
— It was cold this morning …?
— Well… said Andjelko. — You came late …
The crew entered the salon.

- What’s that there, Andjelko? Bosun said. — There on the floor…

Andjelko got up.

- You see that on the floor … Bosun pointed at a piece of paper. — You should clean the salon …

- I cleaned the floor and washed everything with the mop, said Andjelko.

- Have you forgotten that piece of paper? Bosun continued.
— Nikola threw it away, said Andjelko. — I saw when he did it …
— What’s it there? Oiler Marko added. — Dirty waist …?

Anđelko went to the other corner of the salon and picked up the waist from the floor.

-Donkey man threw it, he said. — Every day he does it …
— I did not … donkey man added. — It just happened to him …

All the sailors were in the salon. Some have been drinking tea. The rest poured it into the pots.
Andjelko was nervous.

-I did not forget the waist, he said. — You throw it every day on the floor.

- Do not cheat him anymore, engine cadet Vlaho says.

- Why do not you cadets and anprentances do not drink tea in your salon but you come here? Able body seaman Ivo said. -You’re going to torture us tomorrow when you become officers.
-That’s right,”said oiler Bozo.
Andjelko cries. He is sitting in the corner of the salon.

-Do you see what you did to him? Cadet Djuro said. — Stop it fucking!
Andjelko got up. He is standing in the middle of the salon.

-When you stop fucking me I’ll stop pissing into your tea, he said warily.

- What’re you saying? Bosun asked.
— He pissed into the tea! Fireman Nevenko added.

- Oh my God … Wipper Miljenko got to his feet. He took the tea pot and carried it on the deck. Soon he threw it into the sea.

- He pissed in the tea! Seaman Frano shouted. He threw a cup through the door on the deck.
The other sailors started throwing the cups through the door.

- I’m going to Old Man right …! Donkey man shouted. — He’ll pay the pot and all the cups …

- He’ll pay off him from the ship? Able body seaman Miro added.
Andjelko cried on the chair in the corner.

-But I did not piss, he said. — I’m just fucking you.

- I don’t believe…? Able body seaman Zlatko shouted. He threw the pot through the door on the deck.

-I’m not so my God, Anđelko said. — I swear on my mother…
Bosun went furiously toward the door.

-I’ll go right to Old Man … he said to Andjelko. — Let’s get you off the boat …
— I didn’t piss… Justice Anđelko. — So Holy of Holies …
— And why’are you fucking us? Wiper Pavo asked.

- He pissed when no one saw him? Able body seaman Vinko added. — We know that …

Soon all sailors left the salon. Andjelko remained alone. He took the broom and swept broken cups on the floor. Then he once more washed the floor with the mop.
Andjelko finished his job in the salon. He went to bosun on the deck.

- Go take a heavy hammer and hit the rust down in the well, he told him. — Ivo and everyone else are there.

-Alright, answered Andjelko. — What if I break the deck like yesterday?
-You will not … added bosun. — Watch where you hit …

Anđelko went to the store and took the hammer. Soon he came down to the well among other sailors.

- Hit there … Ivo pointed his hand. — There’s thick rust …
— Alright…

Andjelko went where Ivo told him. He picked up the hammer and began to hit the rust. A sailor is chipping the rust with an electric chipping machine. The other sailors are beattig to the ends of the plates with chipping hammers.

Soon Ivo went to see what Andjelko did.
-So you broke the deck, he told him. — We’ll flood …

- Andjelko broke through the deck …! Ivo shouted to bosun. — Come down …
Soon bosun appeared in the well.
— What happened…? He asked.
— Andjelko broke through the deck! Ivo yelled. — We’ll flood …
-Mato, go and call the chief mate, said bosun.
Andjelko cries. He took a seat in the corner in the deck . The other sailors continued chipping.
Mato ran up the steps of the well. Soon he came back with the chief mate.
“What happened …” Chief mate asked.
— Andjelko broke through the deck! said Ivo. He winked at chief mate.
— Where …? Chief mate asked.
-Here it is … Ivo bent over the sheet. He pulled in his finger in the hole.
-Here are three, four holes … he added.

Chief bent bent over the deck. He examines the holes.
-We’ll flood, Ivo said.
-These are little holes … cadet Djuro said. — The ship can not flood for this.
— How …? Bosun asked.

-Mechanic will weld this tomorrow, Djuro continued. — Like all other holes on the deck.
— Look at you cadet … bosun begins. -And tomorrow when you become officers, what you will do with us.
-We’re gonna be their brooms, Ivo added. — And shovels…
Able body seaman Ante got up. He held a chipping hammer in his hand.

- Who’ll feed me children if we sunk? He said. — I have four …
-That’s it… added Ivo. He is winking at the chief mate.

- Andjelko were pissing in our tea! Bosun said. — A little before …

Andjeiko got up.

-No… he said, weeping. — I’m just joking …
— Why…? Cief mate asked.

-They cheat me every day… he said proving. -They throw me a piece of paper and a dirty waste on the floor in the salon.
— And did you piss in the tea? Chief mate asked.
-I did not … said Angelo.
— From today I’m not gonna drink his tea anymore … bosun barking.
— I’ll cook tea …! Sailor Niko answered.

-They threw the pot into the sea! Bosun added. — Almost all the cups are broken.
— What are we going to do now? Chief mate asked. — Cook in a soup pot.
-Okay… Niko added.
— Drink from a glassy glasses, chief mate said. — Do not let Old man hear about this.
— And you Andjelko. work on the deck, he continued. Soon he went up the stairs of the well.

“He pissed to the tea …” he murmured. “He pissed into their tea.”
I first met Andjelka while I was living in aunt Kate’s house in old city of Dubrovnik. Then I studied at eight-years school. Andjelko once talked to the neighbors in the street, right in front of my window.
I listened to him while he was saying how he was sailing on a ship. He was very interesting to my neighbors.

After the first class of Nautical School, I signed on steamship “Dubrava” during the summer holidays. The ship was anchored in front of Daksa island. I got up on the ladders on the deck. They put me in a cabin on a boat deck together with Andjelko. He had been on board a little longer. Apparently he did not finish the first class at Nautical School. At “Dubrava” he was in practice so called “spitsfaer” . He talked about how he passes exams at times, or he hospits, as he would say, and almost no one could understand it.

Earlier there were often so-called funnymen on ships. One of them was the third officer Niksa from Lapad in Dubrovnik. He made jokes with Andjelko.

“Dubrava” sails the Adriatic for Black Sea. The night is calm. There are several students in the bridge, or “spitfaers” as they call us. We learn how to steer.
— Ivo … said Nikas to “spitsfaer” near me. — Come on, call Andjelko on the bridge.
— Okay … Ivo answered.

- Tell him that the Company calls him … added Niksa.
Ivo is “spitsfaer” as well as me. He is a year older than me. He finished the second class at Nautical School.

Niksa made a joke system. He will use a ship’s phone from the bridge that can be called the engine,radio station etc. Niksa went to the radio station. Anđelko will call him on the bridge phone. He will think that he is talking to a personal manager Djuro.
Soon Ivo and Andjelko appeared on the bridge.
-Andjelko … said chief mate. — They call you from “Atlantska”.

He passed the phone to him.

-Hello… said Angelo. –Who’s there…?
— Djuro … heard Andjelko. — What’s happening on the ship.
-I do not know, answered Andjelko.
— Is it true you pissed into the tea? Continued Djuro angrily.
— I’m not … Andjelko justified. — I’m just joking …
— But why…?

-They do anything to me, Andjelko continued. -They drop pieces of paper and a oiled waist on the floor of the salon.
— How …

Almost every day they pollute the salon, Andjelko continued. — That’s why I told them I pissed in tea.
— Really…
-Just to be over… Andjelko continued. — To stop it …

-Good… said Djuro. — But stop it ….

-Thanks… said Andjelko.
-I heard you broke through the deck, said Djuro. — How was that?
-They gave me a heavy hammer to break the rust, said Andjelko.
— Are the holes big? Djuro asked.

-So … said Andjelko. — Less than a centimeter …
-Good… added Djuro. — The mechanic will weld them tomorrow.
-Thank you… said Andjelko crying.
-Andjelko … added Djuro. — In the future, watch out …

Soon Andjelko left the bridge with weeping. Niksa returns to the bridge.
— How was it … he asked.

-Very good, replied chief mate.
Niksa took a break for a moment.
-Get him back to the bridge, he said. He went to the radio station.
Soon, Ivo appeared with Andjelko on the bridge.
— Who called me …? Andjelko asks.
-Your mother …” replied chief mate.
Andjelko took the phone in his hand.

- Hello … Andjelko hears his mother. — What did you do?
— Nothing …
-They told me you pissed to tea, he heard.
-I did not… answered Andjelko. — I’m just joking …
— Watch what you do … he heard his mother. — Listen to the olders …
— Okay…

- What was it on the deck? Andjelko heard. — Yeah, you broke something …
— I did not … he answered.
— I did not understand Djuro, he listened to his mother. — If you hit the hammer where you should not?
— No …
-All right, Andjelko … Ane said. — This time I’ll forgive you.
-Thank you …

He cried. Soon he gave the phone to chief mate. He went crying from the bridge.
Niksa appears on the bridge.
-You played Ane well… said Chief. — I was listening.
Every day Andjelko went to the bridge to talk to Djuro and his mother. He would come back crying.

Most sailors had girl friends in Zhdanov. Andjelko did not have shoes to go out. He worked in them. Niksa persuaded him to paint it with a black deck paint. He showed them to me. They looked good.

It happened on a steamship “Dubrava”, which carried charcoal from the Russian port Zhdanov, mostly for Ploce or Split. It was said that the coal was very suitable for the ironworks in Zenica.

Andjelko did not complete the Nautical School. He sailed as a sailor and able body seaman. Last time I met him in Rijeka. He was able body seaman on the Israeli ship. I met him on “Korzo” walk while walking with sailors from his ship. They went to the “Barba Rude” Nightclub.

Andjelko disappeared from the ship. He probably fell into the sea and drowned. Nobody just knows what happened.

His spirit lives in seafarers’ cabins who, overnight, recount the stories of able body seaman Andjelko who pissed into a tea pot to take revenge on the crew of steamship “ Dubrava” because they were constantly teasing him and plagued him with various troubles to overtake the time on board. There was plenty of stories and jokes about Andjelko but I forgot them. Even today I see him cleaning in the salon with a mop, so small, dark hair and the angry look.

Niksa sailed as Master on foreign ships. He married and created a family in Lapad.

He met an American woman at the beach in Lapad Bay. He divorced from his wife and went to New York.

Once upon a time I met him at the top of the promenade in Lapad. He was with a new wife. He said he was waiting for their American friends to go on sailing around the Adriatic sea.

I asked him how he did in New York. He praised that he had a sailboat and often sails in the bay.

I wonder if Niksa found someone like Andjelko to create jokes and tricks with him, like on a steamship “Dubrava”.

Ane and Andjelko lived in a small apartment on the road beneath the hospital. Their neighbor who read my story wrote to me. She says Andjelko is still alive.

Andjelko had met a wealthy American woman far older than him. He married her and went with her to America. After ten years, when she died, he inherited wealth. The neighbor says that he has been calling her for Easter.

Nowadays Niksa and Andjelko are in America. Funnyman on the steamboat “Dubrava” and his victim. I wonder if they know each other.

“Dubrava” had two wells, one for the bow and the other for the stern. They have been made to reduce the tonnage of the ship. The tweendeck was computed instead of main deck. The boat was designed to carry light loads such as cotton bales and the like.

Sailors often mention the steamship “Dubrava”. They say they sometimes see her in the evening when she sails on her way to Zhdanov or the other way to Adriatic sea.

I spent about twenty days on board “ Dubrava”. First I worked with the sailors in the well. We were chipping rust there. Later, the first waiter took me as an assistant. I was cleaning officers’ cabins and assisting in the salon.