fog a near miss

[William Gardner]

rember this one in deep fog in the medi on ellermans radar crapp 58 on the wheel skipper on bridge horn goinge for fun all we could hear was other horns going ship went slow ahead skipper was going right across bridge and back out of the mist a ship came down the starboard side could have touched it skipper lent over wing of bridge and said good morning to the skipper on the other ship that close they could have shook hands near miss that one in the baltic remember a fog bank we wear in sunshine a wall of fog could hear all the horns of the ships in it like a big ball of mist on the water ship went right roundit funny stuff fog at sea

[j.sabourn]

William a few of us have previously said Fog used to be and still is as far as I am concerned about the biggest hazard at sea. In 1958 as regards shipping Radar was still in its infancy, and the set on board your ship was probably what was called head up, which meant all targets were relative to your ships head, and to know their course and speed had to be plotted. There were quite a few what was jokingly referred to as Radar Assisted collissions. If you have a lot of targets it was nigh on impossible to plot them all on paper. Most masters that I sailed with in 1958 would only rarely agree to have the radar on, you were lucky to be with one who would. When True Motion came in the radar was considered more reliable, but it still took a lot of years for people to accept it. Nowadays it will stop a ship sailing if not working properly. Has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. Myself I would rather be in a force 10 than in a peasouper in the English Channel say. Cheers John S

[Lou Barron]

Yes fog is one of the danger things at sea .During the war when in convoy it was not only U Boats ,Raiders and planes that the seamen had to but up with ,We use to trail a fog buoy out from the stern when we did run into fog .I have seen some near misses

[happy daze john in oz]

Fog at sea is indeed a killer many times, but so can fog ashore be. London 1959 one of the last London fogs, guy walking down the street did not see the pub cellar flap open, straight in and broke his neck.

[j.sabourn]

#4 Would certainly have restricted him getting a pint down it then. JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

William a few of us have previously said Fog used to be and still is as far as I am concerned about the biggest hazard at sea. In 1958 as regards shipping Radar was still in its infancy, and the set on board your ship was probably what was called head up, which meant all targets were relative to your ships head, and to know their course and speed had to be plotted. Cheers John S

John as you say in the 50's radar was mis-used mainly because it was misunderstood, mainly because it was installed on a ship and Masters/navigators told to get on with it and had no real conception of what the targets were doing in actuality because very few if any had been on a radar course. I sailed on ships where I, as a lowly third mate was the only one who had a radar ticket and the others were misusing it as far as the targets real course was concerned, but which 3/m has the termerity to say to the Mate or Captain she (the other vessel) is not heading that way but cutting across the bow because the fellows on the other bridge were in the same situation as far as radar knowledge was concerned. That is of course as a lowly third mate you were 'allowed' to look into the radar, mostly been told 'stay on the wing and let me know if you hear anything'. God help you if you turned on the radar without the Old Man's permission, as it was bluddy noisy and would wake him from his slumbers. Joined a ship in drydock in Immingham which just had a True Motion Radar (TM) fitted whilst there-in, I had the TM certificate drying in my pocket and thought great, however the Master would not let us use it in TM had to be used only in Relative Motion (Head Up), the company had never thought to send him on a four day course to Grimsby, just down the road or across to Hull on the ferry whilst the vessel was a couple of weeks in dock, so thousands of pounds became junk in reality. Mind you went he went below to catch up on paperwork I switched it to TM and what a joy to use, as in those days it was novel to see your ship travelling along the Channel, rather than just a round screen where-in the land moved and you didn't. Many radar assisted collisions happened and numerous near misses because old fashioned Supts/Owners never had the foresight to give their navigators an extra weeks leave and send them on a relatively cheap radar course; one big company spending thousands of pounds installing radars and even more ripping them out because one of their vessels was adjudged to blame in a radar assisted collision, it took a long time to change the mentality of 'I never had it at sea and managed, you don't need it'

[Captain Kong]

The famous Radar Assiosted Collision was the Stockholm/Andria Doria collision off the Nantucket Shoals on July26* 1956. I was on the Franconia and we followed the Stockholm out of New York about six hours later. In really thick thick fog.
The example was always quoted in the Radar school and College.
Each ship altered coures to starboard. and when the echos appeared to be abft the beams they both altered courses to port and resumed courses and bang. 51 dead.

[j.sabourn]

#6. Ivan Im probably like you did a Radar ticket in 1957, just before joining my first ship as 3rd. mate. My watches on bridge were on the wing and only came inside wheelhouse to put a fix on the Chart, and to check the compasses. This was one of the poorer masters I sailed with. He finished up in later life down the West Coast of Africa trying to drive a supply boat which he couldnt do, I heard this from a reliable source, and didnt cut the mustard so to speak and was unemployable in the finish. Looking back on those days I cant even recollect seeing a washing machine on board until I joined Dalglieshes in 1964. How do you think the modern day mariner would cope without these modern aids. As said in previous posts if you get one who looks out of air conditioned wheelhouse window, one should grab him. Those alien ones I have sailed with the less said the better. Caught one selling the gear out of the medicine locker in Singapore, couldnt understand why he got the sack. My favourite song beleive Eartha Kitt sang but may be wrong was "Those were the Days my Friend, I thought they"d never end" so forth and so forth. Radar, However it makes the job a lot easier at times, but as said have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous, it is still an aid to navigation, a lot of people forget that. Cheers JS

[robpage]

RE JS post #8 The first washing machine I ever saw on board a ship , was a Doxford one , a small wire was attached to the top piston yoke , over a couple of pulleys down to the floor plates , and into a cut down 45 gallon oil drum , half full with water and soogie powder , the wire had a lump of old piston attached and you lifted it up , put the boiler suite in , and had it pounded at 90 RPM for twenty minutes , the steam drains keeping the water boiling , Soogie out and drained to the bilge , fresh water in for twenty minutes , and you had sparking white boiler suits , leave them too long , you had a dish rag ,, No spin Cycle , but half a watch next to the exhaust dried them off a treat

[vic mcclymont]

Wasn't uncle Albert from Fools and Horses?