Senior Surveyor Bob Cadwalader

9 August 2010

“About five years ago I did a five month job out east”, Bob Cadwalader (58) talks about his most fascinating experience. He is now working as Senior Surveyor in Egypt for Atlas DOOR. “A pipeline had been laid between Singapore and Indonesia. Jan de Nul and Boskalis were required to dump over one million tons of rock on it to protect it from the eventuality of a ship dropping an anchor and damaging it. I worked 14 hours per day on a small launch with a multibeam echo sounder surveying each load dumped by the two rock dumpers. The Singapore Straits is one of the busiest places on earth and it was pure adrenalin every day dodging the super tankers and container ships, very satisfying...”

Bob grew up in a small maritime community in Wales, but in 35 years went all over the world as seafarer and later as an offshore all-rounder and he still does. He was on a wide variety of jobs: rock dumping, pipe laying, ROVs, wind farms, hydrographic surveys. He knew Johan Stam -founder of DOOR- as he worked for Intersite one of the companies within the group that owned Cansite. What about freelancing?

“To start with I worked for different agencies but settled down to working through DOOR. Mostly I was a senior surveyor onboard vessel. Occasionally party chief but as I got older I like a steadier life and prefer to do my shift and have time for my hobbies. I prefer to be freelance. It may be illusionary as one depends on the clients for work anyway and although it often pays better money there can be lean periods. It seems that I often work back to back onboard with younger guys. Perhaps the balance is what the client is after. DOOR has always treated me well regarding finding work and their infrastructure is sound. The personnel in the office have always been friendly and helpful.”

Routine

“As to working conditions, most people would say the lack of social life, but to be quite honest I am happy enough on board ship. The smaller ships in the North Sea are not much fun in winter, when the weather is bad. On any ship I soon settle down and it’s a routine I know well. I hope to work as long as I can. I enjoy my work but also my home life. I live in a beautiful part of Britain. A little tourist resort in North Wales. The friends I grew up with are there and some of my family. My two daughters love to visit and soon there will be grandchildren to take on the beach.”

Painting

“Wherever I am, I keep myself busy. I bring my paints away with me to sea and turn out a couple of paintings each trip. I am interested in maritime history and the history of the area I live in. I have a website which includes these interests and it generates a huge amount of emails, from old schoolmates, colleagues and people inquiring about my home town or ships which their ancestors sailed on.”