Ingrid Lescudier, mechanical love

Audio 02:35

By: Marina Mielczarek

This summer RFI is offering you a series of meetings with personalities from the world of transport. An engineer by training, Ingrid Lescudier is a graduate of the École nationale supérieure maritime. At 26, she is one of the few mechanical officers in the merchant navy. Portrait of a lover of tools and mechanics.

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A ship vibrates, it rocks, it makes noise, it lives what! The passenger transport she gave, she loved… Everything, except the cranky, those who were never happy with air conditioning that was too hot and then not now too cold. Let's be frank, the undecided clientele has a beard. Where Officer Ingrid Lescudier is in his place is in the engine room, to check that everything is working and to get rid of in the event of a breakdown.

At 14, a family friend takes her on a ship, that day she felt the click

Father lawyer, mother former consultant, nothing except the sail which she still practices the summer, and the proximity of the beaches of Marseille, predisposed her for the merchant navy. Nothing or rather, a little something… At 14, a friend of his parents piloted the port proposal: spend a day on a ship. That visit, Officer Lescudier still talks about it with tremolos in his voice; she felt it, nothing would ever be the same. 

“ Each time I return from my mission, I have a list of what I have to do at home . "

Finally, when you think about it, there is something else that could have put in the way: the furniture to be assembled, the sinks to be unblocked, the electricity to be installed. It's very simple, the parents of little Ingrid have always known her at home with tools in her hand. Today, each time she returns from Nordic or African missions (2 to 3 month operations to supply oil platforms) she has a list of what needs to be repaired in the house.

Covid 19: a week waiting for a plane in Namibia to return to France

The confinement of last spring, she spent it with her family with her brother, sister and parents. It was a pleasure, the family is united and like her, generous. It is true that we feel in her this almost visceral need to help, to be useful, even ... To become essential to the good progress of things. The goods it transports on the high seas are large calibers (cables, cement, drilling equipment for oil platforms) for its usual navigation areas: Angola, Namibia where last June, it spent seven days in a Windhoek hotel waiting for the plane back to France. But this young woman who loves thunderstorms and storms at sea does not complain. Some other sailors had to travel to South Africa to catch the plane that brought them back to their country.

Temperature checks at each stopover, but the fear of the virus among some colleagues

Ingrid Lescudier talks about this injustice surrounding the treatment of certain sailors who remained on board confined and forced in waters around the world. She regrets the difference in treatment between goods which have passed customs at 80%, while the crews remained stranded on board. Today, while the pandemic is spreading more and more on the American continent and resurfacing in some regions of Asia, some crew members do not even dare to go ashore during stopovers.

At sea, breakdowns often happen suddenly. And there are not always spare parts

There is one striking detail that does not disappoint. When she talks about her missions on the high seas, this young engineer speaks little of the horizon, the landscape or the lights. His head and his words are populated with pistons, grids, night patrols, propulsion engines. One can easily bet that she has some sort of MRI (Medical Imaging) of the vessel constantly on her mind. Short break this Sunday afternoon, before resuming service from 7 p.m. to midnight. She calls us from her room… No, sorry… From her cabin on a ship!

" In the morning I usually get up around 7.15 am, " she explains, lowering the sound of the walkie-talkie. I have breakfast in the officers' mess. Eating in your cabin is prohibited because of the insects that could be attracted to the crumbs. At 8 o'clock, I go down to the engine room to check the engine temperatures and oil and water levels. I also check the pressures of the boilers and all the air conditioning and ventilation devices. A round that I also do in the evening. The rest of the time, we have the screens that keep us informed. What I prefer ? Emergency calls, you have to adapt very quickly to the breakdown, pay attention to fires and then know which part to change or order to receive it on board. In these cases, what pleases me is that we are all united, each one goes from his know-how and his experience. "

A tough guy who is moved by the tiger to be transported to Corsica

Hands in grease and both ears on the lookout. When she left the Ecole Nationale Supérieure Maritime, she knew how to spot a failure just by noise. And what does she like the least? The smell of oil when the marine oiler removes the grease trap grids (it seems the smell is foul and inimitable!)

Ingrid Lescudier is so active that she has trouble having to stay seated. His evening shifts from 7 p.m. to midnight require him to control surveillance screens and answer internet messaging. Concentration tasks, but the immobility of which gives it a little trouble! But to love or not, that is not the question. Ingrid Lescudier is a tough guy (she claims it) and perfectly aware that a commitment to the careers of the sea involves sacrifices. Long before freight for offshore platforms, it handled passenger and vehicle crossings between the mainland and Corsica. One day on board, it was rumored that a tiger, and by any tiger since it was the animal hero of the American comedy Very bad trip , was part of the convoy. Someone very rich had rented it for a house party. On the boat, the cage had been stored on the floor of the cars and trucks. All moved, Ingrid Lescudier ran down the floors to go to the garage, to greet the star.

A beer, a baguette and a good cheese

And apart from working, what do you do during your breaks, Officer Lescudier? Since the internet often does not work well, she sleeps! And anyway, we already told you, apart from the sail she practices in summer, she has no real passions. The movie theater ? Music, books…? No ! No need to insist, her work fills her, period! His job brings him into contact with all the nationalities of the world. In addition, this 24-hour vigilance, it rinses so much that when you return to earth, you only dream of your bed and rest. That's good, that's what awaits him in two weeks, at the end of August, in Marseille.

Naps interspersed with what she is starting to sorely miss:  " I think I'm like all expatriates, " she said , "I dream of a good baguette with a good cheese and since here it's dry sailing, not of alcohol on board, I dream of a small beer and a glass of red wine. "

In five years, given the promotion scales, Ingrid Lescudier could become a commander. But no, the mechanics hold her so much that she will be chief mechanic, if that isn't love ...

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