A day as a Galley Rat

Today I was chosen to be a Galley rat who is a person that has to work in the Galley (The kitchen on board) for the time you are on guard.

The day started at 11 am when the round man woke us up for breakfast which was at 11:20 and then we went on guard an hour after wake up. We stood at the pound for some minutes, the captain came and said some things about the day and after that me and the other Galley rat Viktor went to the Galley to work there.

At the time we arrived at the Galley, lunch was still served to the two other guards. We had to put glasses, forks, knives and some other stuff on the tables and when our classmates came, we had to bring them food. When people finished eating their food we had to do the dishes and repeat the same progress for the next people.

After Lunch was over the chiefs went away for some hours break, that left me and Viktor alone to do all the cleaning in the kitchen after Lunch, this took about an hour.

Next, we started to prepare a Swedish “fika” which took place at 3 pm. First came the people from our guard which was calm and worked out well but 20 minutes later the two other guards came at the same time which made it a bit stressful, partly because there where so many people but mostly because there where not enough sit places for everyone. But after all, we managed to get everything done well and clean everything up again before our guard ended at 4 pm.

Since we have the 12-4 guard we also have a guard time at 0-4 pm. At that guard, me and Viktor where also Galley rats but because it was night, the chiefs where not around, so we had to prepare a “Fika” for our guard by our self's.

For that “Fika” we had to bake Scones which was quite allot of trouble. First we had to get a 25kg flour sack from downstairs but on the way up we bumped into a fire extinguisher and a small hole in the sack was created, it was now a fact that the flour did not have many hours left to live. After a lot of work we actually managed to carry the bag up to the Galley and place it where it was suppose to be.

Next thing we needed for the Scones was Baking powder but it was nowhere to be found. After a lot of searching we decided to go out on deck and ask our classmates if they knew where it could be found and someone explained that it was in a white bag in the Galley. Thanks to that advice we also manage to get the second ingredient. Luckily we found everything else easily without any more problems but we where already running late on time. We quickly mixed everything together for the dough and started to form the Scones. Suddenly we felt a big wave that hit Gunilla, this led to that many things went flying, including a mug filled with flour that fell over Viktor, who is allergic to gluten. We had no time to care about this, so we kept on forming the dough.

When almost all of the scones where formed we realized that we only made 12 and we where 18 people in our guard, so we got on to reforming them to smaller ones. After some more minutes all the scones where formed but our guard would come to “fika” shortly and the scones needed more time then that in the oven so we quickly cut some bread for them to eat while they where waiting.

Five minutes after they came in to eat, the scones where done and they where all good and tasty.

At the very end, everything worked out well!

- Maximilian Esst, Starboard Watch