Thrusting forawrd

[robpage]

Certainly in the ferry business British Rail seemed to buy what the scandinavians was scrapping and then after many years of service tell it to the Greeks

[happy daze john in oz]

Thanks to all who offered info regarding the 'Thrusters'.

I had no idea, nor did the tug guy I was with the other night, that they had been around so long.
Just goes to show there is so much a lot of us do not know about ships and shipping.

[Ivan Cloherty]

When I saw the title I thought it may have been about instructions from Maria in the Skandy Bar in Valpo!

[j.sabourn]

#12... John in the shipping world there is no such person who knows it all. You could spend 3 lifetimes at it and still be learning. What gets up my nose is occasionally when some young spunk trumpet is quoted as being an expert in his field, all I can say it must be a small front lawn. Seagoing people are still learning until the day you walk away from it. Anyone who has been on every type of ship I would raise my hat to. We all have pieces of the Jig saw and that's it. I have never been on a passenger liner as a crew member or passenger apart from going on the ferry to Norway, or Larne/Belfast, or Aberdeen to Shetland. So know nothing about such, but there are plenty on here who have that knowledge, I was only a year on tankers so many know more than me about the same. I was and am basically a tramp ship person as is where I learned my basics. We learn by doing the job oneself, and you can do that either easily or hard, it usually turns out you learn the hard way. Cheers JWS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi John.
Never was on a ship with thruster's unless they were seamen.
On the NZ coast the Colliers never used tugs, mainly fore and aft back springs as Lewis pointed out, that is except down the West coast where we left out the stern insurance wire, let the currant take her bow around then as she straightened up all run like hell down aft to help get the spring in clear of the prop and away we would go.
Cheers Des

[thomas michael]

In some ports where tug use is compulsory, if the vessel has bow thruster fitted they allow you to reduce the number of tugs used or even dispense with them all together. Even if you do not have a bow thruster fitted I would guess that many modern ships captains these days have two excellent mooring aids fitted forward, they are called anchors and can be used Very effectively as a dredge to hold the bow off the berth whilst approaching at a steep angle and low speed, once the bow is within heaving line distance, rudder and engine can be used to swing the stern in. Leave the anchor out after berthing and use it to haul the bow off when leaving, works on any size of vessel.
Rgds.
J.A.

hi john arton
now these are square rigger tricks, that we on sailing boats are using at most times when out cruising, its called (kedging ) for as you know ships and boats don't have brakes but they do have anchors and tricks like,that is what made the square rigger sailing ships crew excellent seaman
tom

[Bill Morrison]

I was a strictly a down below man, so vessel manoeuvres not in my field. Many years ago I remember watching vessels in the enclosed docks turning from the quayside using their mooring ropes which the harbour boatmen carried to a large buoy anchored in the middle of the dock and made fast. The vessel then used the windlass or capstan to turn to face the dock entrance. I have a postcard in my collection showing one for the buoys.

[j.sabourn]

Hi Bill that looks like Aberdeen harbour on the other side to Waterloo Quay and Seaforth buildings. If is have crossed that stretch of water sideways many times on the Victor, the Commander ,Viscount Sovereign and others, the buoy must have been there years before my time, and today would be a hazard to navigation. Don’t know if Aberdeen is same today, but always used to wonder how in and out had to take a pilot, but once in could shift ship around the harbour ad lib with permission from port control channel 12 vhf. When shifting had to be on best behaviour as knew they were watching from the office windows in Seaforth. Cheers JWS.

[j.sabourn]

#12 .. John in 1989 I steamed 120 miles back into Aberdeen on the Think it was the Johnshaven on the azimuth bowthruster. The mate managed to get the mooring line from an SBM caught in our after thruster or main propulsion unit. We had been servicing the buoy. My right wrist was like an 8 inch mooring rope when got back in at 4 knots as had to manually steer by using the thruster control directional lever for a long number of hours. There was no damage to the after thruster as a diver went down and cleared and had stopped it soon enough to avoid damage to same. As said in previous posts the three ships Sandhaven, Johnshaven and Burnhaven were 3 ideal ships to work on for the work involved. This was a discussion on the non existent safety on paper. I should have mentioned in that post if Safety was that important at that time, how could the department issue a certificate for a vessel to accomodate 250 survivors, with 1 toilet, insufficient fresh water storage, and other numerous short comings. Never mind make sure everyone has the right type of safety shoes, and she”ll be right Mate. Cheers JWS.

[happy daze john in oz]

That is what makes this site so special.
We have members from all departments, all with special skills and experiences, but all are willing to share them.
I have learned so much about the deck department, maybe more than when I was at see, being mainly on liners there is not a lot to learn about deck.
So to all who have given info on this subject I thank you.


Bill, mainly down below you say!
That can counjor up so many imaginative situations LOL