sea fog

[Keith Tindell]

Its ben a beautiful day here, until about 18oohrs when the sea fog came in, you can hear various vessels blowing out in the bay. Always reminds me of my days at sea, walking up and down the deck banging the gong. thats probably another one of the things that no longer happens. There is something very nostalgic listening to it all Regards KT

[Captain Kong]

I used to wet my knickers on the Blue Star boats homeward bound up the Channel at 18 knots in thick fog, They carried No Radars in the early 50s, and me on the focsle just wondering if there was something ahead that was going to hit me first.
Brian

[Gulliver]

I used to wet my knickers on the Blue Star boats homeward bound up the Channel at 18 knots in thick fog, They carried No Radars in the early 50s, and me on the focsle just wondering if there was something ahead that was going to hit me first.
Brian

Must have been a horrible feeling.Even with radar,especially an older or 'dodgy' one, in thick fog ,especially in places like off SW Africa where the relative warm air meets the cold Benguela current you had a feeling of rushing blindly into the unknown,where 14 knots felt far too fast(as indeed it would be,according to the Rules ,-moderate speed and all that.) Yes,I reckon that having a ship looming out of the fog, and not having seen it on the radar,would have given me an instant heart attack...yet we did this for several days continuously at times en route from West to South Africa. or vice versa..I close my eyes and can feel the tension now...for four hours watch I would keep my eyes glued to that radar... radar.gifjust in case.;all the time willing the fog to disperse.....Shudder.

Gulliver

[Ivan Cloherty]

Ah fog down the Channel and west coast of Africa, no radar, just a standard compass, dicky D/F and a 100 fathom lead line, even at 9 knots full speed we slowed down!! and the bloody steam whistle going every two minutes, doubt there would have been enough steam for the whistle if we had gone full speed!!, after peering into the white for all hours even that whistle outside your cabin didn't stop you sleeping.

[John Arton]

Remember coming down from Rotterdam to Antwerp some years ago and having to anchor off Flushing in the sea anchorage varea as the river was closed. As soon as we were brought up a bloody great salvage tug loomed out of the fog and its mate jumped on board waving Lloyds Open form saying we were in danger and the tug would assist us. As we had a pilot on board and were safely anchored in a designated area thought this was a bit strange. Our Dutch pilot started arguing with the tug's mate and it got quite heated. Eventually the tug's mate went back to the tug and it disappeared off into the fog. The pilot explained that the tug was working a scam trying to fool innocent and unknowing captains into accepting the tug as it would escort them up the schelde in fog, even though there was no movement going on and it was compulsory pilotage.
Eventually the fog lifted a bit and we proceeded up to Antwerp. Nightmare passage glued to the Radar as Antwerp was chucking everything they could out of the dock system to make room for incoming traffic, the port having been closed for a few days due to fog and the fog kept coming down thicker at times, usually at the trickiest parts of the river. Going along a t 8-10 knots and having dam great bulkers/car boats etc coming past you metres away going in the opposite direction was not good for the heart and underwear.
Dover Straits and the Channel in fog is not too bad these days, its the river passages that are worst as to my mind there is a lot of pressure put on pilots and master to proceed in dense fog as many river passages these days have radar controlled VTS so the thinking seems to be that with ship borne radar and shore radar passage at almost full speed in fog is o.k. in these areas.
rgds
JA

[cappy]

up the west coast of the states about 5 or 6 days of blowing in a real pea souper one old hand had lifejacket on even down below .....guess he had someother experience ....my 1st trip and ifound getting my head down difficult.....but then for a lad going to los a and frisco and on to oz wouldn't have called the king me uncle but had just had a schoolmates ship sunk in the Baltic and us at schoolsinging the sailors hymn3 or4 monthsearlier it was a bit scary but very exciting happy days

[Keith Tindell]

i always had great faith in the skippers i sailed with (didn`t like some of the ba****ds, ), and in fog we always seem to be on slow, good lookouts etc, but maybe this was all down to my innocence!!, whilst on the wheel it always seemed calm and controlled, maybe if i knew more of the situation i would have been more nervous!!. It is only since being on this site that i learned of concrete boxes to stop leaks down below etc, glad in a way i was unaware KT

[cappy]

re post no 2 brian bet not many old men would admit to wearing knickers and even more so wetting them ....but been seamen we learn to understand these things.....ps wot colour were they you naughty captain

[alf corbyn]

I was in dock in Philadelphia in the fifties and it was a real peasouper. two American tankers, both doing about 18 knots, had a head on collision and caught on fire in the Delaware river with the loss of many lives.

[robpage]

12/30/53 Collision involving tankers ATLANTIC DEALER and ATLANTIC ENGINEER, Delaware River, 30 December 1953, with loss of life.

Could that be it Alf ?