Words we will never use again.

[cappy]

#####seppy kincaid bosun on the cragmoor .....blieve he was a company man for runcimans .....one of the nicest guys i ever came across loked after me on ist trip ...rang his home address a few years ago now ....and his wife stated she had lost her loveley seppi ....i was gutted at the time and lost for words he was the sort of guy you would think lived forever.........a gentleman of the sea .......very much admiredin the seafaring community regards cappy

#######did 9 month ist trip also old polish or chzec carpenter never went ashore ......gotb washed down the deck in some heavy weather in the bight.....all bruised and battered had more carpenters gear than sand on shields beach .......funny the things you remember on your ist trip we had some heavy weather and were pooping bigns ....safety lines rigged but the old lad took a proper beating .....cappy

[j.sabourn]

Sorry think I asked you once before. He was the main teacher of my life working on deck for 4 years. Him and people like him were the backbone of the MN. A fair man who believed in an honest days work and was capable of doing most things. None of us know everything but he was the closest thing I ever saw to it. Cheers JS

[cappy]

##your not the only one to admire him john never saw him lose hisb rag always dependable whatever the situation....was in the boat bringing us back after the ist night ashore in sydney after a run down from chermainus new wesminster etc ....the boat because of drunken behavior capsized about 60 ft from the gangway .....having been told about the nobbys in sydney i swam about 15 ft with one arm the other holding my nuts ....panic atthe thought of what i might lose set me off like a rocket with both arms i wasnt ist on the gangway but i only put that down to others being better swimmers......such memories......regards cappy

[Captain Kong]

If I remember rightly, an Insurance wire was a wire with an eye lowered through the Panama leads on the off side when a vessel was moored alongside.
It was there so in an emergency a tug could pull the vessel off the quay quickly.
????
Brian

[cappy]

Sorry think I asked you once before. He was the main teacher of my life working on deck for 4 years. Him and people like him were the backbone of the MN. A fair man who believed in an honest days work and was capable of doing most things. None of us know everything but he was the closest thing I ever saw to it. Cheers JS

###john is your lad still doing martial arts ....does he teach in his spare time...regards cappy

[Ivan Cloherty]

If I remember rightly, an Insurance wire was a wire with an eye lowered through the Panama leads on the off side when a vessel was moored alongside.
It was there so in an emergency a tug could pull the vessel off the quay quickly.
????
Brian

Might have been a port regulation somewhere in some ports Brian, like mooring to buoys with the anchor cable in some rivers (such as the Hooghly) but never used the compulsory fitted 'Towing Wire' (commonly known as the Insurance Wire) for that, but you were at sea a damn site longer than me so possibly would have experienced it. I think hanging the anchor off by splitting the Kentor (is that right?) shackle may have been easier than bending the insurance wire round two sets of bitts, would have been hard work bending it round one set of bitts. I wonder if those who wrote these seamanship best practice books ever tried what they wrote about, like hanging the anchor off in mid Atlantic in force 6/7 or beyond, bending a shackle (15 fathoms) of anchor chain to the insurance wire and then passing it to the towing vessel through the hawse pipe or Panama lead who then in turn attached it to his towing wire which incidentally had been passed around his poop house to even out the strain and then both vessels paid out their towing wires until the shackle of chain was midway between the two vessels, couldn't be done with today's minimum crew even if it involved all hands. Luckily never had to do it.

[John Arton]

Those wires rigged fore and aft are called emergency towing off wires and are mandatory at all tankers berths.
The eye on the end of the wire is suspended a couple of feet above the water surface by an easily breakable length of rope. The remainder of the wire is forms a large loop before being led up to the deck and secured to a suitable bollard of sufficient strength. Lengths of wire are flaked out on deck between the bollard and fairlead and as the ship rises further out of the water as it discharges then more wire is fed out to maintain the loop and the eye of the wire just above sea level.
Should an emergency occur then a tug can just grab the eye, drop it over the towing hook and start putting tension on the wire as it moves away from the ship., breaking any lashings as it goes along. There should be sufficient wire flaked out on deck to give the tug sufficient length of tow.
The emergency towing off wire was always one of the first thing that vetting and terminal inspectors checked and if it was not regularly adjusted as then ship came up (or down) when discharging then that was a black mark against you.
rgds
JA

[j.sabourn]

The year I spent on tankers was common practice and rules of the port refinery to have wires or ropes one at each end as Brian says to pull the ship away in the case of an Installation or ship fire or any other emergency. May have been nicknamed Insurance wires but totally different to the 40 mm wire about half a mile long on the average cargo vessel, JS

[j.sabourn]

#126... Was always mandatory at buoys in Japan to hang the anchor off and put the cable on the buoy. Together with a slip wire. That's what the first joining shackle at 15 feet was for and that was where the chain was broken. As regards towing before all the modern gear one has now with Sharks Jaws and pop up pins everything was manual and back breaking especially for a weedy little fellah like me. As most towing I ever did was on a bridle, the wire from the bridle had to be stoppered off on deck before connecting to ships tow line. The stoppering off of this big wire was done with what was called a Pelican Hook, a large contraption similar to a Senhouse slip weighing about a quarter of a ton and dragged across the deck by hand. The dangerous part or more dangerous was when letting the tow go especially in bad weather, when had to finally knock the pin out of the pelican hook with a 28 lb. maul and try and keep clear at the same time. Today as said sharks jaws and pop up pins gives one more control of a heavy wire moving across the deck side to side and liable to cut you in half. Also when arranging your tow the Gog Eye a very important part of the set up for control and prevention of getting the tow wire midships and pulling the ship over used to be a 50 ton bower shackle on the end of the work wire another heavy wire sometimes bigger than the tow wire in diameter, the shackle being passed over the tow wire and used to keep the tow wire down to deck level and prevent its lateral movement away from the stern area. Today most towing vessels have permanent Gog Eyes as a permanent fixture on deck and just means passing the tow wire through this 2 feet diameter circle. JS

[j.sabourn]

#125... Yes he still teaches it in his time off from his normal work. Is over in Japan either this week or next to take 3 students to the Grand master for one of the almost top degrees which he got some time ago. Been over to Japan about 3 times I think, who knows one of your ex"s may be the attraction be a bit old for him by now I suppose. He still runs his own classes in the Leeds area. May even advertise on the internet. His 3 kids 2 girls and a boy also started but think the girls have dropped out as at university and probably otherwise occupied. If they take after their Grandad will be making hay while the sun shines. Cheers John S PS the girls have gone to Newcastle Uni. funny how people all go back to their roots. JS