Loading of all deadweight Cargoes

[cappy]

now that really made me laugh brian....a goodn to start the day with ......when my old man died i hadnt spoke to him fosome 40 years ......he gave my brother and me a hard time i think the war had someting to do with it ......never a day without a skelp and constantly get yor hair cut but mostly ....your bloody shoes are mankyget them polished them come and see me .......my mother got out and he married another woman ......when he was dying he wanted to see me ......but he had gone when i went to see him .......his wife said i have his ashes will you scatter them in the garden .......i tested the wind as it was breezy and stood back to it .......as i scattered the ashes iwas thinking about the shoe thing .......as quick as a flash the wind swung about and his ashhes were all over my bloody shoes ......i could almost hear his voice ..shouting your bloody shoes are manky .....and could only smile to myself .....strange but true regards cappy

[happy daze john in oz]

From what I was told by one ships captain burials at see from cruise ships is no longer allowed for two reasons. Polution, nothing is allowed to be put over the side now, even the bilges have to be cleared in port. Relatives now have the right to claim bodies on return. But I doubt there would be anyone on ships now who knowhow to sew any way.

[j.sabourn]

#51..... Reminds me of when my Grandfather died in Kingston on Thames, must have been 1957 as was at time staying in Watford Junction at the Browns Gyro factory discovering how the machines worked. My father and 3 of his brothers came down for the funeral, on returning overnight from Kings Cross to Newcastle we were all in a carriage together and they were unwrapping their fathers belongings from the house clearance. Among the many items of clothing were 3 pairs of shoes and as they didnt fit my uncles but did the old man, he proudly holding these shoes in the air saying I'm not too proud to wear my fathers shoes, myself would have put in the dustbin or given to a charity shop. Knew if I had been younger would have been given them to polish, as my mother always used to clean the old mans shoes felt sorry for her having 3 more pairs to clean. JS

[gray_marian]

#51, John in the early sixties my dad and his brother took 'the ole man' my grandpa to visit his siblings in Forfar. On leaving, grandpa's younger brother gave him a crombie? coat he no longer had use for. Even though the coat was way too long, my grandpa insisted on accepting and was delighted, much to the chagrin of his sons. After they had driven a few miles from the toon, dad spotted a tramp on the country road, at which point he stopped the car, opened the boot and gave him the coat. Well dad got his ears roasted the whole back to Glasgow. My old grandpa, a countryman all his life, who never forgot his Jarrow roots. He was known to all affectionately as "Gentleman Jim"

[Colin Wood]

Yes, basically just the same but with many refinements of ship hydrostatic info on a computer. But yes, first step is to check sg of dock watewr, plus sg of each ballast tank. On the Bermuda Trader when loading phosphate in Christmas Island, Ocean Island and Nauru, we had a plastic pipe rigged over the load line with only a small hole in the bottom to smooth out any wave or ship motion. The second andf third mates would sit up to their wastes in water and call out the freebpoard so the stevedore could keep the ship upright and mate could call for cargo to comple loading.
The Japanese Surveyors had a tube which was lowered over the load line with a rod with paste on it which could be lifted up to check freeboard. In the early 1980's at Hay Point /Abbott point area we refined this to a tube lowered over the side with a narrow pipe on the bottom an a ping pong ball in the tube. This had great smoothing affect on readings and could easily be read from shore day or night. We also had a water tube across the deck for keeping the vessel upright. Just like building the great wall of china.
WE carried out experiments using a laser which scared the pants off of us with the bending of the vessel, and scared the terminal because of the time taken to carryout readings. The cost of terminal and ship time did not justify the incease in accuracy.

Hope this is of use.

[j.sabourn]

Never seen that Colin thanks. Usually finished up the mate hanging off a pilot ladder on the offshore side with a tape measure doing the freeboard survey, unless the surveyor was agile enough to do. As to taken the SG of ballast water is really taking it a long way, as hopefully all ballast was out before completion, if not was just an estimate as to weight and pumped out later at sea. Hopefully the figures were small and could be lost in the constant. ( stores and such). On a 37000 deadweight ship up the Great Lakes a fraction of a degree list meant a substantial increase in draft on the heavy side, and as the maximum draft coming out of the Welland canal was 25 feet 6 inches and the fines for exceeding this very high, and the owners wanting every ton possible out of the various grain ports up the lakes it was a pain in the ass until clear of the seaway and could finish loading in Montreal or Three Rivers or some other port, and even on the canal transit had to comply with the grain regulations, all right and not too bad on a bulk carrier, but a real pain on a general cargo ship with fitted out shifting boards and bulkheads and feeders. Was then a calculation between canals as to burnout and change of trim which could only really be adjusted by the movement of other bunkers to get back to 25 feet 6 inches maxinum each end. Didn't even carry fresh water as the lakes were that clean and could use as potable water, not so today I believe. Cheers JS

[Peter F Chard]

I was 2nd Engineer on a China Navigation cargo ship with a captain who insisted that the ship should always be trimmed a foot by the head when we sailed and he always checked the marks forward and aft before we sailed. The chief engineer however thought the best fuel figures were when we trimmed a foot by the stern so we shifted a bit of ballast after sailing to achieve these conditions. This captain was an avid reader of paperback books -- his favourites was the multitude of books about the hero, Lemmy Caution, a private detective. He was once challenged to replicate Lemmy by repeating everything Lemmy did in the book. If Lemmy had three fingers of Rye whiskey then the Captain had to have the same drink and so on. Well, he was drunk for the best part of a week, in fact he was known as Captain Caution in Head Office in HongKong, never by his real name !! They were quite surprised when they learnt his real name was Harrison !! Regards Peter in NZ.

[j.sabourn]

Wasn't the Harrison, Harrison Ford was it Peter, he"s across in Oz just now promoting the last Star Wars movie. Why did he insist in going by the head, if I remember the chiefs fuel figures out of the book would allow for a correction by the stern as to quantity, don't remember any corrections for by the head. Unless you had at the time one of these new fangled bulbous bows and he had been brainwashed. Or maybe just trying to be awkward with the usual oil and water content on some ships in those years. A lot of them should of come under the category of being too unbalanced for seagoing duties. Cheers JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

with a captain who insisted that the ship should always be trimmed a foot by the head when we sailed and he always checked the marks forward and aft before we sailed. The chief engineer however thought the best fuel figures were when we trimmed a foot by the stern so we shifted a bit of ballast after sailing to achieve these conditions. .

And there was me thinking that a ship's Master knew best how his ship handled in a seaway, as bunker consumption wasn't the only factor to take into consideration, anticipated (forecast) weather on voyage had to be allowed for, with some ships being a bitch in certain sea conditions if not ballasted to the vessel's oddities. You could have a series of sister ships all loaded to the same conditions, five would react the same to engine and helm orders, the sixth would go her own way, which is why pilots when boarding would always ask 'which way does she go captain' wanting to know if going ahead with rudder amidships did the bow cant to port or starboard, an important factor when manouvering and the captain would answer assuming that the vessel was in the ballasted condition that he had ordered, unauthorised actions can have dire consequences. I wonder if any slack ballast tanks were left in achieving one foot by the stern from one foot by the head, one of the first rules we were taught was never move ballast at sea unless it is absolutely unavoidable

[j.sabourn]

In theory when going ahead his bow should come up and would assume he was more than likely to be on an even keel. This may have been his reason. Or maybe the stability book advised it. Most deadweight cargos in tramp shipping had to be loaded to achieve an arrival maximum draft of some weird port and its restrictions, a one that had restrictions was Plymouth, forget what the maximum draft was now but wouldn't have got in if not on an even keel at the restricted draft arrival. With trampshipping nothing was ever black and white. Don't know if anyone was at San Nicholas up the River Plate between Rosario and Villa Constitucion or BA, but had to tie up to the cliffs. The only way to get off the berth was to drop a kedge to be able to pull the stern when leaving, so had to utilize the spare anchor which was luckily stowed aft, and using the Insurance wire, to heave on when pulling ship clear. Anything could have happened it could have dragged, however one always looked on the bright side for any out of the way jobs. Would never have thought of phoning the office for advice, today is different is the first thing one would do. Cheers JS