Imperial measurements.

[James Curry]

Not everything is big in America. US gallon 16.7% less than the imperial gallon.
I know most here are not fond of the French but they are not daft.
Buy an internal door in France , it comes with a door frame that fits the door.
Also another good idea in France, if you live in a normal house detached / semi even a apartment/flat no need for a window cleaner. Windows open in to the room not out.

[Richard Keith Roberts]

I was half way through my studies for my seconds ticket when we had to adopt the SI system and there was a lot of resentment about the change. After a short time using it I found that it made more sense as there were numbers that had to be remembered like 5280 feet equals 1 mile, 1 horse power was 550 foot pounds per seconds, then knots, fathoms etc, etc.
Here in Australia the metric system is totally adopted, although we still have five foot eight and five foot 11 people.
The USA is the only country in the world that has not adopted metric system and there has been accidents by using the two systems.

[Gordon Sherrard]

Never could remember how many schooners made a pint.

[John C Bell]

I well remember studying for Masters at Sir John Cass where the brilliant Captain J Klinkert taught us magnetism. To me it was all 'Greek' until as my exam date approached I expressed my concern that I 'just don't get it'. Don't worry he said we still have a few more lectures to go and then at the end of the course it all fell into place. Part of our studies included Saturdays on the Thames aboard the mv Sir John Cass where we could practice 'swinging the ship'. Subsequently at my 'Orals' I spent a really enjoyable time with the examiner, in the basement of the BOT building in Dock Street, adjusting the deviascope and discussing compass matters and magnetism - Thankfully I passed. The syllabus had only recently converted to SI units and I was so glad as those indices were so much easier and practical to work with than their imperial equivalents.
On the currency front I experienced the changeover here in the UK and in Australia. Not a problem but he big difference was all prices were rounded up!

[j.sabourn]

Your lucky John I had 10 minutes on the deviascope at South Shields it was always crowds around it mainly foreign students. I got the deviascope at 1600 hrs in the orals , luckily the examiner left the room and I did it the tentative method , when he came back he asked a few questions on the various corrections and I bulldozed my way through it. I heard later a couple of candidates before me was a time served Compass Adjustor and he failed him.
Good job it was near to going home time at 1600 hrs. Cheers JS.

[Kevin Murphy]

Three little anecdotes of metriperial experience.
Many years ago as cadet in New york harbour going round with the cargo surveyor ullaging the tanks, we had a flat bottomed plumb bob rather than tapered which you swing for a ripple, so we used to dunk it in the oil and subtract from the tape reading at the ullage port.
Ullage tape was at 4 foot 1 inch, plumb bob was 2 inches in the oil, Surveyor " ok 4 feet 1 inch, well thats 3 feet 13 inches, minus 2 inches = 3 feet 11 inches", I felt quite smug as a 17 year old cadet, that taking 2 inches off 4'1" was 3'11" and a simple job.

On a ship that had just spent 6 weeks in a japanese yard in about 1981, the engineers were discussing a problem, they had measured up and made some new sections of pipe & flange and the pipes when taken to be placed, were found to be too short.
The reason being, that measuring the pipe in the workshop using the new 3 foot steel rule, no one had noticed, it was a Japanes metric foot ruler, 10 inches to the foot. So it was only 30" long, not 36"

When I first started on rigs as MWS, I was struggling with checking the stability, the weights used on American design rigs were KIPS, I was searching for an explanation, swallow my pride and ask the barge engineer what a kip was, the barge engineer explained that a KIP = 1,000 lbs, all weights on the rig were in KIPS.this resolved the issue of not knowing which tonnes/tons/long/short etc we were using, not a bad idea. Modern rigs appear to be going metric.
Kev.

[j.sabourn]

#43. If you pour your schooners into a jug will give a better idea of how many pints in a jug. I could never figure out what an Ozzie pint was , is easier just to order a jug and think of it as a max of two pints or thereabouts. An Ozzie pint always appears to me that one is being shortchanged . As to the term glass seems about the size of a short. To save drinking time used to be better if more than two in the company to order a jug with mt glasses and first to get into it got the next round as his glass was empty first. JS

[Tony Taylor]

#43. If you pour your schooners into a jug will give a better idea of how many pints in a jug. I could never figure out what an Ozzie pint was , is easier just to order a jug and think of it as a max of two pints or thereabouts. An Ozzie pint always appears to me that one is being shortchanged . As to the term glass seems about the size of a short. To save drinking time used to be better if more than two in the company to order a jug with mt glasses and first to get into it got the next round as his glass was empty first. JS

My first encounter with beer and glass sizes in Aus was in Fremantle in 1970. About four of us were dropped at a bar recommended by a guy on the jetty at Kwinana, so we rolled up to the bar and requested four beers and were served four small glasses at which we all stared and almost said in unison, whats that? I think he said midi or perhaps schooner? cant recall exactly but they were very small and took about two swallows to empty, so we asked if he had anything bigger to which he replied, a jug, so we said ok we will have a jug. We were duly presented with a single jug and the barman stood waiting for payment we said wheres the rest? what do mean he says, thats a jug, yes, but we wanted one each.
We were having a great time until the JRO spewed all over the dance floor, which got us all turfed out.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

I was in the building Industry when metrics came in, there was enogh spare bits of wood to keep a city in firewood.
Des

[j.sabourn]

#48 wasn’t the P & O pub was it Tony.? The Guild used to have its Union Meetings in the back room there . JS