Cruising

[Mo Docherty]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuVl1mME94w

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Mo.
A small reminder why I will not be cruising this year.
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

If you do not berth in the correct manner all things may happen.
P&O Australia has a very bad reputation for not being amongst the best

[Mo Docherty]

Maybe jalapeno crews

[Johnny Kieran]

I suppose it could happen to any boat that's tied up in good weather, but it turns windy all of a sudden.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Saw some serious storms while in port but was never on a ship that broke its moorings, any port where there was a possibility of trouble from the weather such ass Port Kembla the Mate doubled the moorings sending the eye of the ropes fore and aft back on board.
Des

[j.sabourn]

A lot of securing ships alongside in port was relaxed after 1966 Des . I was mate on an ore carrier and shortly after the strike was over I received a visit from the MOT and had to explain how we tied up re manpower . At that time a lot of ships had heavy rope tails on their back springs and I said I needed 3 men to handle , obviously he thought different so the rope tail went . Safety was once again the loser , also a couple of men re the manning scale . Reminds me once again of the orals one Christmas time where the examiner asked the candidate about a freshening wind at anchor , when the candidate got round to dropping the third anchor , the examiner said where are you getting these anchors from , to which the candidate replied, the same place you are getting all these winds. He didn’t pass. The only thing I could emphasise at the Cullen enquiry was lack of seamen and which he recognised and stipulated his suggested of increase of crew sizes from 9 men to 12 plus a trainee = 13 men. I don’t think any shipowner took any notice. In fact the first job after the enquiry wound up was with 8 men which I refused and went elsewhere. Cheers JS

[Johnny Kieran]

I remember being tied up somewhere (Singapore maybe) when they tested the engines. We had put out extra lines, but the lot of them snapped. Utter chaos ensued, with all hand diving for cover.
Another incident was tying up in Port Everglades. As we edged closer to the dock, a huge storm began. The guy's on the dock all ran off to shelter from the wind and rain. Several of us leaped ashore and completed the tying up. Next day ashore, we we told by locals, that it had been a hurricane, I'm not so sure.

[James Curry]

137926-a33977faedcd07e4a8221391763c17fb.jpg I am sure some on here have said Blue Funnel seemed to over do it tying up alongside, may be P&O cruises need to review their mooring procedures.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Rope construction, weight and breaking strain have all improved dramatically since us oldies days at sea, I remember the first eight strand mooring ropes coming on board with splicing instruction as no one had seen them before, never saw anyone put a long-splice in them, but they were a blessing for lightness, flaking and stowing and didn't absorb water like the sisal, manila and coir ropes, the coir mainly used on the wire backsprings, which I found much safer (but more difficult to handle) than those nylon high density pennants with metal eyes for use with the backsprings. No mooring winches for us, all drum end jobs.