Tonnage

[j.sabourn]

#2... go to the dunces corner John . , and say I’m me mums big bubbly Bairn .Bet Marian hasn’t heard that one in regard to her cheeky chops . JS

Ps your score was 1 out of 100 and the pass mark was 99 more. JS

[Frank Burroughs]

Lol, well said. I will always check my nautical knowledge with the men who were there.

Books are just the author's interpretation. I like to read them to get a notion. Blend the stories with real accounts, add a dash of my imagination will give me an adventure. If my effort pleases this forum, then a bit of fellowship happens. Better than money and insisting you are right

[happy daze john in oz]

Well John #11 you gave me a great score there, must reciprocate at some time.

AS to barrels of wine, you all got it wrong.
Most would have been broached by the shore crew before loading so none would be full.

[j.sabourn]

#13.. That was part of a Glasgow dockers apparel when loading cases of alcohol , the addition to his hook was a tin mug on his belt. The cardboard cases when landed on the steel plating of the tank top in the hold always landed with a thump . When taken off the sling to stow there was invariably a drip coming from some of the boxes ,off came the mug on the belt to catch the drips to prevent marking and causing rust to the steelwork.The dockers being very considerate people used to get rid of the contents of the mugs. On discharge as have said before if the containers were there the insurance would usually pay up, if no containers they wouldn’t as was no proof they were ever loaded. Those who got amongst it and disposed of the containers were very inconsiderate.. JS

[j.sabourn]

Believe there was some mis comprehension of some liquid measurements of years past in some post.
The following is the old measurements which I would imagine at present are still genuine.
TUN = 210 gallons
BUTT=110 gallons
PUNCHEON=72 gallons
BARREL= 36 gallons
KILDERKIN=18 gallons.
These measurements would of been used for ships water supply.
JS

Looking back to. #1. Forget tonnage as a weight when dealing with gross and net
they are measurements of cubic of different areas of the ship.
Your displacement tonnages represent weight
Your deadweight tonnage is your earning capacity
And is roughly speaking the difference between your light displacement. And your loaded displacement.
Which is your cargo fresh water fuel stores and ships constant usually an arbitrary figure of say 80 tons for stores and ships fittings. To be deducted to find your cargo tonnage on which the ship earns.
Don’t get bogged down with trying to understand too much in too short a time.

Sorry see Ivan has already gone through this already forgot .

[Ivan Cloherty]

#15, always nice to have confirmation John!

[John T Morgan]

Trying to learn how tonnage terms relate. Tonnage is a volume equal to 100 cubic feet per ton. Gross tonnage is the ship and equipment. Net tonnage is what the ship can carry. Deadweight tonnage is with the ship fueled and provisioned. I know this goes further than my novel will. But, in for a penny, in for a pound

How close am I?

You have had a lot of particularly good information so far but for the sake of your reader’s sanity I would suggest you keep it simple and throw in a bit of history such as the one I like, be it real or imaginary.
The origin of the word tonnage when applied to a ship’s size:
In days of your when the French were exporting large amounts of wine into England it was carried in barrels known as Tuns, each Tun measured 100 cubic feet so the ships were known by the number of Tuns they could carry, such as 4 Tunner, 6 Tunner etc. Tunner eventually became Tonner.
Good old King Henry the eighth decided that the rascally French would have to pay an import duty on the profits and so the duty was charged on the size of the ship. This eventually became a harbour duty measured by units of 100 cubic feet of internal cargo capacity which applied to all ships. From then onwards the confusion of Tons = 100 cu ft and Tons = weight arose for landlubbers and everyone else.
Further confusion arose with the introduction of the metric system when tons became tonnes.

[John Arton]

When loading barrels the rule of thumb is "bung up, bilge down".
Rgds
J.A.

[j.sabourn]

Tonnages Gross, net, light displacement, loaded displacement, deadweight, Suez Canal, Panama Canal,
Warships loaded displacement usually.
When the media report on a ships tonnage I strongly suspect they don’t have a clue what they are talking about and just pick one from the ships particulars , they are the blind preaching to the blind , anyone knowing different just shrugs their shoulders and puts it down to ignorance which one always expects from certain parties. JS

[happy daze john in oz]

Panama canal passage I understand full charge for total tonnage, gross.
Suez allows for net tonnage?
Some one will correct m if I am wrong, hello John S.