Mighty Ships

[j.sabourn]

Think the lights on the piers at Shields are still there. ( Cappy would know). St. Marys Lighthouse 3 miles up the coast at Whitley Bay, has only been a bird sanctuary now for a number of years .No fog signals nothing. However the pier lights are automated I think. Maybe the government at the time did away with these lights to try and confuse the illegal immigrants. John Sabourn

[cappy]

north and south lights stillon john and foggies still blowing

[j.sabourn]

Someones going to have to come out in the fresh air then if they want to hear them. Hope the pilot cutter has a radar beacon on, otherwise no ones going to know where it is especially if its abaft the beam. Cheers John Sabourn

[leratty]

Jim, when we were cruising both in our yacht as well as when we had a hot water boat though out the Pacific our radar had an alarm we could set up to 50 nm of someone on an intersecting course. You could have three differing distances set each with a different alarm sound. We set it at 30-20-15 nm we had an additional alarm installed in the saloon & our cabin which a few times in Micronesia was worthwhile so you would have to say they did have alarms warnings? Buggered if I can understand how they go without a lookout makes one wonder about smaller vessels let alone yachts at sea.
One thing we loved was the GPS linked auto pilot we had at that time as we had to use it once, the first time in the lagoon of Lady Musgrave island when the wind got up at about 2am forcing us to head for safer water. We had had a few too that evening so were not the very best however I just reversed the entry course on the GPS entering the lagoon & motored out. Must say I was packing it as rain was pelting down, viz was maybe 1/2 nm & sea quite short & lumpy worse none of us very bright. Anyway all was well & we were soon in calmer water to drop the pick & go back to sleep.

[happy daze john in oz]

........... Big lack of compass adjusters world wide and many officials will not accept a deviation card and compass corrected by the ships master (yes it is still taught).
........................

You could well be correct. fried of mine is magnetic compass adjuster and he is flat oit at present trying to keep up with demand for his skills.

[John Arton]

Enclosed wheelhouse
COLREGS state that all times a lookout has to be maintained both visually and audibly and by any other means available (i.e. radar)
On ships with enclosed wheelhouses they are meant to be fitted with listening devices that relays any sound outside into the wheelhouse.
On the ships I sailed on with enclosed bridges we had what was basically a loud hailer that worked in reverse that picked up all outside noise and played it through a speaker in the wheelhouse. Very effective too it was picking up all sound signals made by other ships in fog, p[lus seagulls squaking, waves breaking, engine exhaust, conversations by people bronzying on the monkey island, concorde breaking the sound barrier over the Bristol Channel, planes on final approach to Schipol when off the Dutch coast, you name it picked it up. Result. Speaker inside turned off most of the time.
This or similar systems are IMO and SOLAS approved means of keeping an audible lookout on vessels with enclosed bridges.
rgds
JA

[j.sabourn]

Just supposing that the bad uns ( pirates etc. ) get that sophisticated with the likes of stealth ships, which suppose by now the yanks and probably others have in their fleets, as well as the stealth bombers. These obviously are going to give a very limited radar echo if any. Not much chance of total reliance on Radar then. Maybe the people who stand in for the BOT may bring back the visual test, if it was or has been done away with by now. May even make it compulsory to have a pair of binoculars on the Bridge, don't know if it was a compulsory item, but every deep sea ship I was on always had a brass telescope, which various people used to eye up, and had to be locked away in port in case of disappearance. Seems to me that the Engineers are more apt to be tested for colour blindness now with the various coloured cables in E.R. Spaces. Unless of course the sidelights show up on todays radars. Isnt technology a marvellous thing. Cheers John Sabourn

[robpage]

As far as I know Engineers have always been tested for colour blindness , I think it was pale straw colour = Whiskey , Dark Brown = Rum , Clear = Gin Dark Red = Cherry Brandy , Green = Creme de Menthe Pink = you are in the UCL ships Crew Pig , and that stunner is NOT a stewardess

[j.sabourn]

John, thanks for keeping us abreast with the todays legislation and future envisioned legalities. Isnt it typical for a government department to cover its own back by making easily produced laws. Keeping of a proper lookout what does that convey to the average seafarer, to me it means just that no ifs or buts. The manning of ships does not allow for this as read. The only lookout nine times out of 10 is the mate on watch. He can not keep a 6 hour total lookout on the bridge of a ship. There are other navigational duties apart from staring into a radar screen, regardless whether it has an alarm fitted or not. Some of the vessels I have been on in that case would not go to sea, see how that would grab the authorities, if a ship was delayed because the alarm did not work and a technician had to be flown in next week. The engineers are in the same boat, they do not have the staff to make complicated repairs. I was still at sea when all this demanning was envisaged and all the promises made, reminds me of politicians making statements they have no way of keeping. Shipping today what I have seen of it up to 2002 was in no way as safe and practical as it used to be. Going back to the title of this post, the master on vessel was 31 years of age and had been at sea for 10 years and the mate also. They must have been products of the new system, and by my reckoning he was 21 before he ever stepped on a ship. The best of luck to him and his mate, but it leaves a Nagging doubt in my mind of something else that is lacking, think they call it experience. However that is the modern way, not mine or others problems anymore. Best Regards John Sabourn

[John Arton]

John S
Agree totally with your last post but remember COLREGS have always stated that between sunrise and sunset the duty officer may be alone on the bridge so long as the lookout can be reached quickly to return to the bridge and that the duty officer does not undertake tasks that distract him from his primary task of keeping an efficient lookout.
ALL flag states has followed IMO guidelines and allowed owners to have Safe Manning Certificates that do not take into account in port work loads, tank cleaning, hold cleaning etc. and it is only now that IMO are discussing this and trying to change the minimum manning criteria but don't hold your breath.
rgds
JA