helmsman

[happy daze john in oz]

Looking at the way many drive over her in Victoria I think a few could well do with a steering ticket, maybe two .

[John Pruden]

blue funnel picked heavy weather to pass your ticket with the mate looking over your shoulder he was not the best at any time i think he belonged in nelsons day jp

[Graham Shaw]

Happy days,and seems so long ago now.

I often,with the Old Man's permission of course,would have crew members come up in my afternoon watch,deep sea for example on a trans-Indian Ocean crossing and train them to steer.At first it was the younger inexperienced deck crew ,then the catering crew,all of whom gained a steering certificate. The look of amazement on their faces was priceless as the vessel rapidly went off course by a degree or two,then the look of accomplishment after they got the feel of it (we've all been there),corrected the swing or yaw and learned how to master it was a satisfying sight. Learning how to concentrate was an important part ,and remember it's not the compass card heading moving-it's the ship ! They would all then of course do steering whilst under pilotage and berthing , and under supervision with a regular qualified AB/Helmsman standing by of course.
I Like to think I did my bit in helping shipmates gain another skill during their time at sea.

I did the same with lifeboat handling in harbours at Fire and Boat Drills,or taking the boat out off duty with anyone else who was off,for an afternoon's bronzy and kickabout on a beach with a few beers...

[j.sabourn]

I’ll bet that played havoc with your running fix the following day Graham , you weren’t one of these that actually used to plot noon on the back of an old chart were you ? Cheers JS .

[Graham Shaw]

I’ll bet that played havoc with your running fix the following day Graham , you weren’t one of these that actually used to plot noon on the back of an old chart were you ? Cheers JS .

Now,about this cartography business,why they don't call it chartography is a mystery.

Anyway that's what old charts are for John !- he says indignantly,arms akimbo,brazening it out....unconvincingly.

No,I used to barter them for peanuts- like beer or ouzo- to other ships in port,you know the ones,those with Panama,Famagusta or Piraeus on the stern,usually with unrecognizable cooking smells coming from their galley portholes , often with a greasy beturbaned cook with a ruddy great meat cleaver in his hand remonstrating with another little shipmate,possibly the chief steward.But you know me,snobbish nor xenophobic I am neither.....!

Maybe me trading old charts might have kindled my interest in shipwrecks-or indeed saved,maybe a would-be casualty from harm by giving them the only chart for an area that they had on board (yes,we've all heard such stories).

Running fixes were just for ancient mariners ,text books and examinations. We used satnavs to keep track of things! Come on,life's too short when you've got a dozen chart portfolios to correct but even now that's all electronic these days I suppose,plus a stack of CHINPACS and NEMEDRI's (I knew one 2nd Mate who used to take those onto the bridge wing and cast them to the wind,hoping one wouldn't blow into the Old Man's open porthole and instantly incriminate himself. I never heard of him again,but one always wonders about such characters and whatever became of them in life.We might have a few on here!

As time goes by I do think I'm glad I swallowed t'anchor when I did. It's so much safer now for me to just write about it.....

Xmas Garland (2).gif

[j.sabourn]

You must have been one of these frustrated navigators Graham and falsely believed all of these so
called professional navigators. There were no position lines required for a sun running fix on the back or front of a chart. All that was required was the E.p. For noon and the difference between the true latitude and the calculated latitude times the C correction , was the correction to apply to your longitude . Too late to use now as time marchs on and little robots appear on the scene. And ones fore finger must be trained and shaped to push some button and wait for instructions . Some of those Older ancient mariners than us ancient mariners all had their heads
screwed on right. Cheers JS

[Graham Shaw]

JS re Yr.#16. John, I thought you might have expanded or expounded on those strange sounding acronyms ,NEMEDRI and CHINPACS which were so familiar to we older navigators (even those of us with RSI-there we go again,Repetitive Strain Injury- of the fingertips through pressing digital buttons.(How glad I am there were no touch screens on our satnavs ,back then-how disgusting to think that the 3rd mate had had his sticky fingers on the screen knowing where he'd had them just twelve hours earlier in Lisbon-I tell you it makes me want to break open a whole pack of Screen Wipes just thinking about it.Dirty,dirty !)

No,were I being facetious (as if !) I would attempt to be humorous and say, CHINPACS were something you'd find in the Beauty section at your local Boots. NEMEDRI,similarly,but find them in the Incontinence section-Me No Dry-geddit?.
But on this site we are nothing if not informative and they refer to regular promulgations by the Admiralty to all Royal and merchant ships,detailing mines and ordnance known to them ,left over from the wars,particularly WW 2. They quite possibly let the Admiralty off the hook in case your hapless vessel was blown up into the air by a Covid shaped spherical ball with spikes on,and they could then say-"Well,you were warned in our excellent publications,and if the 2nd Mate didn't put it on the chart,then tough luck "
NEMEDRI stands for North Europe and Mediterranean Routeing Instructions.
CHINPACS,in a similar vein was for China and Pacific Seas,although I certainly wouldn't trust the Chinese to tell me anything truthfully.Their leaders don't even tell each other the truth about anything,never mind the possible existence of a stray mine or two.....
(If I can't get into my computer by this time tomorrow evening then you know I've been hacked and targeted by the Chinese authorities-so farewell to you all just in case!)

Graham

[thomas michael]

hi graham shaw #17
good evening, in the case of being kidnapped you can message us with the acronym, kilo echo, echo, papa, india, tango, sierra, sierra, or (KISS, ) together with any coordenants you may be able to put down before being blindfolded but ( Keep it short and sweet ) or kilo,echo,echo,papa, india,tango, sierra,hotel,oscar,romeo,tango alpha,november,delta sierra,whisky,echo,echo tango.
i will ;leave you to de-code Kiss,
tom

[Graham Shaw]

Thomas Michael Yr #18. ok-understood. I have no worries.Chinese water torture or even a Chinese burn is a minor irritant to a seafarer who has endured the horrors of a month's stay in Apapa/Lagos in the mid 1970's.....

[j.sabourn]

#17.. just got up and still wiping the sleepy dust out of my eyes and what do I see faint glimmerings of days gone by . So while my arthritic index finger tries to slow down from my addled brain will try and reply to your well written and authentic post. This post the helmsman covers a lot of life that went on aboard a vessel that floated around the seaports of the world steered before the advent of electronic gadgetry by a helmsman , and even Cappys seaboots although a bit smelly , being as thy stood on his mantelpiece for the past 30 years or so , ever since he found them rotting away in the garden shed decades ago, have managed to get a mention in dispatches.
As regards Nemedri and Chinpacs learned about them from an early age , and before these spoilers of the scenery in the North Sea called structures was a very dangerous place , the same as the Inland Seas of Japan .But being the dauntless people we are , we carried on regardless. I always wondered about our marvellous free press , free being the descriptive word to print what they want and charge likewise , how landmines were always in the news , but rarely the floating kinds. As regards all these former aids to navigation which have changed their job title and now called essentials to navigation , I used to find hard if in the chartroom wth a light on at 0400 hr. To use as a mirror to comb my hair and make myself presentable to relieve the second mate ,who couldn’t wait to get off the Bridge and get stuck into the remains of a case of beer with the 3rd. Engineer . He always had trouble getting back to the bridge for 0900 hrs.to get his running fix for the noon position , him being the navigator it was after all his job. However days at sea are no longer like this, more than likely he doesn’t bother getting up at all , just stays in his bunk till 12 ,then wanders up and takes his finger out , wherever he has had it , and pushes a button. The genie of the lamp then tells him all he has to know, which today isn’t much. As regards hitmen hired to get you , you can relax in the knowledge it will be much harder for them to sight you in the mask you now have to wear. Stay safe and keep it on for Xmas , Santa Claus will know you still.Have a good one . Cheers JS