Panama leads/Seaway leads

[j.sabourn]

Everyone knows the reason for panama leads as all ships seem to be fitted with such, and are often enough used outside the realms of the panama canal. However seaway leads, I cant remember whether these were fitted on most ships or not. For those who have not experienced the Montreal Seaway transit the leads are wire leads, as all moorings in the locks going up the height of the Niagara Falls, are wire and are numbered 1 2 3 and 4. Two forward and 2 aft No.1 leads forwd. No.2 aft No.3 leads forwd. and No.4 leads aft. As the speed with which the ship goes up or down as the case maybe is extremely fast these wires have to be tended continuously, ideally a ship doing this transit should have tension winches, sometimes however these even do not react fast enough if the settings on same are incorrect. Has anyone been up the Lakes after 1970 as this was the last time I was up there, if so are the regulations still the same about landing your own line handlers on the approach walls to the locks.???? Regards John Sabourn

[Tony Wilding]

as a down below crew member i know very little of these , what are panama leads, i watched the video of transit of panama canal, and wondered how the lines are made fast to the Mules, are the lines released by the Ship or the Mule, ? are the lines ships property, ? if not released at the correct time surely the Mule could be pulled off the tracks, this may be a stupid question, but allthough i have transited the canal 4 times i cant remember how it was done, the last timei went up the lakes was in the early 60,s,cant recall how it was done.

[j.sabourn]

Tony the leads are because the ship is below the level of the quay and wires or ropes lead upwards, and thus contain the wire or rope at deck level and lead hence to the winch or bitts as the case may be. Ref.the panama canal the mules had I believe quick releases so in case of an emergency could release. Regards John Sabourn.

[Captain Kong]

Here are a couple of photos of the Mules in Panama on QE2 on last world cruise 2008.
Sometimes you can see it better on the Panama Web Cam. at Mira Flores Locks.
Brian.

[John Arton]

Maiden voyage of the first C.P. forest product ships through Panama, the mule put tension on the wire, Panama lead ripped off the deck, slid down the wire and smacked the mule on its snout. Result..every transit afterwards of these ships had to post a $40,000 bond to cover any possible damage and dlay. Also 6 pilots on board.
One in command, each each bridge wing, one each side fwd plus one spare just in case one of the others fell ill. No wonder I was knacked after each transit having spent the whole time running up and down the deck with cold drinks for them all.
Cured the headache received from too much booze after a night ashore in Colon though!
rgds
JA

[happy daze john in oz]

Here are a couple of photos of the Mules in Panama on QE2 on last world cruise 2008.
Sometimes you can see it better on the Panama Web Cam. at Mira Flores Locks.
Brian.

Well if that is a mule you certainly would not want to go muffin it!

[Les Woodard]

Going from memory we would take aboard line handlers and we would man the whinchs and if it was not fast enough for them they would bitch about it but where good to watch as they pulled in the eye of the cable and at the same time coil up the heaving line behind them so once the eye was secure around the bollard all they had to do was secure the heaving line and finished with work. Do not ever recall having to use ships lines to Mules. Also everything in the locks was so contained that I could not see how it was necessary for quick release but they might have had some system set up on the Mule but I know nothing about them so can not comment. Maybe the system has changed since I went through there. No it seemed a very efficient system with only operating the whinchs as our only involvement.

[Ivan Cloherty]

[QUOTE=Les Woodard;99464[I]]Going from memory we would take aboard line handlers and we would man the whinchs and if it was not fast enough for them they would bitch about it but where good to watch as they pulled in the eye of the cable and at the same time coil up the heaving line behind them so once the eye was secure around the bollard all they had to do was secure the heaving line and finished with work. Do not ever recall having to use ships lines to Mules. Also everything in the locks was so contained that I could not see how it was necessary for quick release but they might have had some system set up on the Mule but I know nothing about them so can not comment. Maybe the system has changed since I went through there. No it seemed a very efficient system with only operating the whinchs as our only involvement.[/Q[/I]UOTE]

Have to agree there Les, as far as I recall the old mules had a huge covered reel on top of them containing the wires and we always took their wires aboard; The wires went through a clamping device at the front of the reel and the pilot told use they had magnetic brakes also, which controlled the wires when the clamp was released when the Mules were traversing the inclines when the ship was under power, as soon as the Mules were level they operated the clamps again to take control of the vessel.. I cannot recall at anytime taking "crewboys" on board as they always threw their heaving lines aboard with a canvas sand bag on the end and they always lobbed them underhand, throwing them back was a joy as they were so much better than ours. Perhaps PSNC were exempt from crew boys being regular traders, but then again we never took them aboard when I transitted with Ropners a few times in the 50/60's

[j.sabourn]

To my knowledge when the Panama Canal was under American control it was one of the few places in the world, and as far as I know the only one where the pilot took complete control of the ship as movements and such like, and a paper was signed to this effect when he boarded. Was the only place where I saw in the movement Book where PAMO was not entered. (PAMO pilots advice masters orders). I know some ports under naval control the master may be subject to certain restrictions, but not to the extent where a legal document was signed. I think as the initial post was about panama leads and seaway leads, the seaway leads bear little or no resemblance to panama leads. Cheers John Sabourn

[Tony Morcom]

Looking through some of my old photos I came across this and am wondering if it is the device to which is referred.

panama leads.jpg