ships wheel

[j.sabourn]

#19... Brian did you ever see these 6 fold wire purchases supposed to be relieving tackles to fasten to the quadrant. May have been a wartime innovation. If cappy was ever in the steering flat on the Avonmoor he would have seen as they took up a bit of space and were lashed to the bulkheads. They reckon you could steer a ship roughly by usind a mooring rope the bight paid out over the stern and both ends taken to the mooring winch over and under turns on alternate sides.Wouldnt like to try it though. Have steered 120 miles on an azimuth bow thruster though. JS

[cappy]

just trying to confirm john the old avonmoor a proper rust bucket.....did she have also a jury steering wheel just forrard of the after accomodation.....seems to ring a bell to me .....but must say she was an easy vessel to steer in most weather .....she must have just been made of a bad load of steel ie the rust factor .......as you know she was sold to the chinese after we brought her back to shields ......there was certainly no money spent on her for a long time .....she was the only ship which i knew that had little bugs in jars of pickles swimming in the vinegar.....i didnt believe wot i saw ....for years no one believed me then rob came out with it as a fact .....the jars must have been years old ......you could pickle a man but you couldnt pickle them little beasties........now that was a proper old time trampship .......ist time i saw st elmos covering the masts and rigging ,,,,it was spooky......but a great life experience........yesterday i bought the sols....8 cases......cost me only64 quid.......normal price for 8 .....112 quid.......steroids or not i am now sampling.......a good bargain that one regards cappy

[John Arton]

J.S.
The bosuns manual used to have a whole section on rigging emergency steering arrangements. These included rigging block and tackles in the steering flat, using hatch boards and mooring ropes to rig an emergency tiller over the stern etc.
After the AMOCO CADIZ disaster it became mandatory to have two separate steering motors and also to have an emergency steering system in the steering gear room where the electro hydraulic driven steering could be operated manually with at least one motor being connected to the emergency power system.
On ships with hydraulic ram steering systems there is always a means of locking the rudder physically amidships, usually by means of a large locking pin or by isolating valves on the hydraulic system {in both rotary vane or ram steering systems}. This is not an emergency steering system but instead it is to prevent the rudder from flapping around when the ship has lost all power or is under tow.
Only had to do this once when we lost the controllable pitch propeller control in horrendous weather up by the Texel in the North Sea. We were getting tossed all over doing 40 degree rolls whilst the engineers struggled to fit the locking bolts into the CPP unit hydraulic piston ram. Although we had full electrical power the Beckar rudder was suffering such a hammering that I was worried that the whole steering system was going to destroyed. As we had no engine power and was been blown backwards towards the Dutch Coast by the weather it was pointless attempting to steer so I told the mate to go down to the steering gear and use the hydraulic shut off valves to lock the rudder and prevent its movements overcoming the hydraulics and buggering up the system. Although he had conducted a number of emergency steering drills where the ship was steered from the steering gear room by manually operating the electro-hydraulic steering solenoids, he still had no idea that the hydraulic shut off valves in the system were there to prevent the rudder from flapping around uncontrollably and damaging the whole system.
rgds
JA

[j.sabourn]

These 6 fold purchases were not for emergency steering, at least saw no ways of rigging for such, so must have been as you say a means of securing the rudder in a midships position. Looked as though they had been there since the ship was built which was 43/44 era. It was the old fashioned steam Quadrant and the telemotor system. Cappy believe the emergency wheel you mention was on top of the housing just above the Bosuns and Carpenters cabins along with the fresh water header tank which had to be pumped up by hand if remember correctly. Think also the seamens accommodation was on the same deck as the tiller flat so you would of gone to bed hearing it clanking away in your dreams. Is on here somewhere she was the second ship into Singapore after hostilitys ended, so there must have been at least one other that was dispensable. As other posts if you asked any of the mates what they were for, you never hardly got an answer, maybe they didn't know either. If remember also her call sign was GRDF a lot of useless information stored in head which wont eff off and make room for something useful. Cheers have a few of your beers and maybe it will all come back and give you nightmares having to do all that chipping and bringing her back up to scratch. Cheers John S

[cappy]

a few years ago before i retired i had a boat on the ouse ......used to go with mates at the weekend early friday with a few cases of ale and a chunk of beef pre cooked and a bag of potatoes to boil up with butter on ...yum yum.....we would fish drink beer then go into york for a beer at night .......tying up to a trees one day we were just sitting in the sun drinking beer when along came a kidabout 12 or 13 .....dont ty up there mister he said ......why would that be i said .....give us ten bob said ...eff off little twat said i ......then i got to thinkingwhat it could be.....the river wasnt tidal we were above the locks......any way off into york for a few beers ....when we come back the boat is aground on a sand bank ......of course the night before it had rained heavily ....so we arrived the water was high ......as the flood went hence the sand bank....and us high and dry ......well we will sort it in the morn as we had a good load of beer aboard ......about 7 the next morning iwas awoken by the boy shouting are you there out onto deck i came and him with a mate saying you bloody old skinflint i told .....me feeling bthe effects of vthe night before made a grab at him but the little bugger was off like a linty.......imust say i sure felt like a pratt of the ist orde r

[j.sabourn]

#25... fastest place Cappy for promotion was a hired cruiser on the Norfolk Broads, every time you tied up and there were spectators, they used to call you Captain, must have done wonders for somes egos. Whenever happened to me used to say she"s busy tying up the after end. Even took the dog with us, was ideal for the kids they couldn't get ashore to spend money, ideal for me as used to tie up to the pubs. Cheers John S

[j.sabourn]

#20... John re. the legal requirement ships bell. No doubt the unnecessary bit about the ships name is because they realize that the ship will more than likely change its name a half dozen times in its life. Was also very useful for christenings I believe, suppose a gong is also still compulsory to comply with the rule of the road, unless they have changed that also by now. A gong was always useful for the saloon or messroom steward if he lost his own. The black Ball(s) will also still be compulsory, as is the Aldis lamp now useful for shining on the black balls at night, for those countries recently joining the maritime nations as a member and struggling to catch up with the regulations. Your stories and memories of passengers are very interesting and entertaining, my only short memories of such were of older women who I would now consider delectable but at time thought they were too old for me, how our values change. Cappy would no doubt have thought they were beautiful at any time in his life. When I was over in UK last year was taken down to Hull where they were renovating an old Icelandic trawler for the museum there, there were these two old blokes in their 70"s I should imagine chipping away with hand hammers on what appeared a mammoth job, they must have been real ship enthusiasts. One of them could of been cappy if I hadn't known better. Regards and all the best for Christmas and keep out of the bad company especially in Cappys area of the town. JS

[happy daze john in oz]

In 1954 on the Tilapa, skin boat, I carved, `I love Elsie` on the wheel,
Elsie lived near the Flat Iron off Stanhope Street in Liverpool, She is still alive and well, an 80 year old widow now.
Brian

But the wheel is now long gone! And on the modern ships it would be hard to carve on a joy stick, painful as well maybe?

[j.sabourn]

#9... Looks a bit better than the old steering oar hanging on the bulkhead Brian. JS

[Shaun Gander]

The company I am with now has wheels on the smaller vessels - but they're locked out and only for use as back up. 'Joysticks' are the preference. Still some passengers get to pose with the wheel for photos.

The bigger vessels are all jet drives so not a wheel in sight

SDG