For about six months, members of the Logos Hope deck department kept emerging from the steering gear room and the Stockholm tanks so covered in black dust that they were practically unrecognizable. The “deckies” have been chipping off the rust with grinders and needleguns (a tool which pounds heavy needles into surfaces, eliminating anything weaker than solid metal), and then they have painted all the surfaces to prepare the spaces for use as storage. “There were some of the smallest holes I’ve ever had to crawl into,” said Adam Gosen (Australia). “At one point, my head was against the old hull, my chin was on the deck (floor), my arm was stretched as far as it could go, and I still wasn’t as far as I needed to be.” The Stockholm tanks provide additional buoyancy for the ship, and the steering gear room houses the machinery that controls the rudders, which determine the direction the ship sails.
