All About the M/V Legend

There is an awful lot of information to remember and even more numbers and facts. I will try to keep them all straight and give you a good report about this amazing ship and its job.

The LEGEND and her near sister, LEGACY were built in Alabama by Rodriguez Boatbuilders in 2006 and 2002 respectively. Rodriguez is known as a no-nonsense shipbuilder with an eye toward practicality and thrift. These are steel ships, just under 500 gross tons. They are called ro-ro’s, for roll on and roll off cargo through the bow door that folds down onto the freight pier when docked. LEGEND is 180 ft. long, 38 ft. wide and draws about 6 feet of water at a half load. They are specifically sized to get into the inter-island ports that they service. She can carry 13 40ft. containers and has a half-hold beneath the forward decks for dry cargo. There are 3 Caterpillar 3412 V-12 diesel engines and 2 60kw generators in the machinery room, which I was into within the first hour of being onboard. Mr. Andrews was the relief engineer for this trip and he showed me just how everything works, and some amazing numbers. Every week, the ship uses between 3,000 and 3,500 gallons of diesel fuel. The oils are changed at 500 hour intervals, which he said was about once every 2 months of running time. These big CATS displace 27 litres each. Each litre is 60 cubic inches for you car people. That is 1620 cubic inches, EACH. They are in a real mild state of tune and I estimate them to rate a little less than 1,000 h.p. each. They run along at 1,200 r.p.m.s going about 11 knots.

There are 2 semi-permanent 20ft. reefer units on deck for perishables, plus they will carry consignment reefers also. I was amazed to see a whole bin of aluminum 30lb. propane tanks. These are fuel for all of the forklifts that move the pallet freight about. There is even a dedicated forklift in the hold to stack up the pallets there also. All of the deck cargo is subject to the weather, and everything gets a thorough drenching. There are cars and trucks and machinery aboard. All of the containers are cross chained down and adjusted during the voyage. The ship does rock and I don’t know how all of this stuff stays put. I even found ONE SMALL BIN for the mail, apparently most of the mail goes by air now.

We were welcomed up in the bridge anytime.
Captain Miller and First Mate McKinney answered any questions I could dream up and let me sit in the captain’s chair. No one actually steered the boat. It was always on a GPS interfaced autopilot, and there was no conventional wheel anyway, since it was steered by joystick. There was a bowthruster, but with the triple screws and the flat bottom, LEGEND was easy to pivot around and get into the freight piers with ease. Upon sighting our final destination of Green Turtle Cay, I asked to go up on the bow-bridge, which is a catwalk/observatory across the main deck, about 30 feet up. What a vantage point! I was out of everybody’s way and could see EVERYTHING. I watched them prepare to dock and watched the docking and unloading procedure.

The crew was multi-national and very tolerant and helpful. Although this was a working voyage on a working ship, everyone was polite and made sure we were as comfortable as we could be.

The LEGEND has a passenger area designed to accommodate 12 people, with its own head. There is no dedicated place to sleep, so you just have to bed down in the vinyl recliners and drone to sleep.
It seemed like the air conditioning was stuck on wide open, so it was freezing besides. I guess if there were a lot of passengers, this might be a good thing.

All the machinery is pretty noisy. I would catnap for a while and then go down on the main deck to walk amongst the cargo and watch the dark ocean go by. It was like a ghost ship at night, just a faint red glow from the bridge and no sign of anyone. The deck cargo was subject to a lot of spray and the decks were always wet. There was bulk lumber and building materials too.

The mate said that business was in a severe downturn due to the U.S economy and the ship was losing a lot of money on this voyage. The owners pay out of pocket when times are bad just to keep the schedule. Judging by the fuel they use and the crew they have, these expenses are a constant drain. I don’t know how they do it. Freight prices are extremely competitive and consignments are scarce. The Dean family that owns these ships has been in the business for generations and they always seem to make it work out. Ernest Dean, the founder, passed on this summer, well into his nineties. He was proud of the fact that he ‘never lost a man’. Lets hope these boats continue to haul the Bahamas into the 21st. century. It certainly is quite an evolution to see these 2 modern, application specific, ships in real life action situations. It was an experience I won’t soon forget. These ships never sleep. I wonder where they are right now…………..