Poetic license

[happy daze john in oz]

Began watching a new series on Netflix the other night.
A drama about a number of murders on a ship.
The ship looked plausable and the action is set in the mid 50's

One senior officer is explaining to a number of passengers about the ship.

"She is 315 meters long, as long as the Eifel Tower, can steam at 32 knots and is powered by four turbo electric motors"

I asked my self, did such ships exist then?
Very doubtful.

Then the scene of sailing and the stokers shoveling coal into the boilers.

Poetic license is one thing but this was a bit too much.

But to those who know no better it may all appear to be correct.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Don't be such a cynic John, of course it's true, it's in the movie

P.S. How many stokers did you count?

[Captain Kong]

When I was a coal burning fireman, or stoker, on watch on my own, we could get up to 10 knots , so Ten Stokers down there could get up to 100 knots, easy.
Brian

[Richard Quartermaine]

The SS&A 1913 model SS Raranga's Log Line generally recorded eight knots on the voyage Sydney-London. Richard

[John Arton]

Coming down from the gulf on a loaded vlcc, as 3rd mate, on my morning watch we averaged 27 knots for the watch but that was running down the 100 fathom line with the Agulhas current behind use, passed a union castle liner coming out of Durban who loftly informed me he was working up to "harbour speed"(whatever that meant) and would keep clear of us. Two hours later he was a speck in the distance aster of us.
All me had was a bleddy huge B&W engine thumping away down below burning 74 tons of heavy fuel oil per hour. Captain was an ex Empress boat man who when he hourly wandered up to the bridge to check on our progress and I told him we were doing 27 knots, harrumphed and said "faster than the Empress, sonny". Smashing fellow, 2 bottles of gin and a 100 senior service a day man, right tartar when I sailed with him on the Empress but a great seaman who as a cadet had survived being torpedoed in ww 2.
Rgds
J.A.

[Dennis McGuckin]

Began watching a new series on Netflix the other night.
A drama about a number of murders on a ship.
The ship looked plausable and the action is set in the mid 50's

One senior officer is explaining to a number of passengers about the ship.

"She is 315 meters long, as long as the Eifel Tower, can steam at 32 knots and is powered by four turbo electric motors"

I asked my self, did such ships exist then?
Very doubtful.

Then the scene of sailing and the stokers shoveling coal into the boilers.

Poetic license is one thing but this was a bit too much.

But to those who know no better it may all appear to be correct.

Hi John,
Started watching that same show.
Had thoughts along the same lines.
Turned it off.