News
An Ode to the Humble Dishwasher
Henry Wasserman, C Watch, Brandeis University
Ship’s Log
Present Location
12° 02.528x’ N x 61° 45.780’ W
Ship’s Heading, Speed and Sail Plan
At anchor, Grenada Harbor
Weather
Cloudy with a gentle breeze
Howdy folks!
For those who don’t me, my name is Henry and I have never sailed before. Any previous experience I’ve had with sailboats or ships in general was very much limited to my neighbor’s pool, trying to sink their toy boats. Needless to say, I was (and still am) a bit clueless about what was going on around me some (most) of the time. Of course, I’m learning a ton every day, and can now confidently point out a line or three and turn over a watch like nobody’s business. But imagine those first few days where I knew absolutely nothing about everything. Well, not everything. There was/is one job in particular that I felt pretty confident doing right off the bat: dishwashing.
Can you guess the bird?
While perhaps not the most glamorous, grinding away on an ever-growing pile of plates, silverware, pots, pans, cups, mugs, bowls, plastic wrappers (seriously), and other cooking materials was the one thing I was familiar with and a daily chore where I could actually say “I’ve got this.” Truthfully, dishwashing is much more than just a daily chore—it takes place after every meal, adding up to at least three times a day. Water is limited on board, so we have two massive sinks, one filled with initially boiling hot and soapy water and the other dyed blue from Quant-Tabs ™ for rinsing.
It’s a two person job just to start and that number quickly grows as hands are needed to transport dishes from the drying rack to their home in the hutch. Throw in a few more to scrub galley surfaces and the floors, and you’ve got the world’s most cramped and clean party. In all seriousness, dishwashing (and galley cleanup in general) is an important cog needed to keep the finely-tuned machine that is the Cramer running. In case you haven’t picked up on it yet, what I’m getting at is a big thank you to my parents for making me do the dishes growing up. Definitely an important life-skill. I think that’s about all for today—oh yeah, we wash plastic so that bugs and other surprises don’t pop up in our clean trash (food scraps goes elsewhere)—so I’m going to call it here and get some fresh air on deck before bed.
Wishing you all the best,
Henry W., Brandeis University
PS: Big hello to the family back home! I’ve tried to send you guys a postcard but post offices have proven difficult to find. Still gonna keep at it though. 143.