Scary moments

[leratty]

John yes I reckon we can all say we wasted possibly some of our time looking forward. Is that not possibly 'the grass is always greener syndrome?' It is the same on remote mine-oil-gas sites as at sea. I almost never ever as I recall thought ah 'sh.. I wish I was else where possibly on a couple of bad ships but not bad as you & Brian experienced must say. Every one (project) once past being a junior level was a challenge often in more ways than one too, especially when I was boss cocky. Bringing the job in on time in budget, finding ways to save money, improve profit-production, keep the crew on the straight & narrow as well as happy. Like all of us I can look back with some pride on the jobs I was responsible for completing in some very odd as well as difficult places around the world. Sea time well that was more recreational for me & appreciate beyond ability to express the opportunity I had there + experiences I have. Retirement is not for us, we are keeping our hand in here along with our retained (much smaller) office in HK + must say the income allows us some additional freedom & keeps us on our toes. Enjoy retirement in W.A. a beautiful place, particularly Margaret River, oh thsoe wines Cape Mentelle superb whites golden super dry hmmmm with a BBQ's Marron or two sitting in the sun with good company. Do you ever go to the concerts at Lewuin Estate something worth doing if you can? Richard

[j.sabourn]

Richard ref. the 15 degree list which reading through some of the old posts have just noticed, I tried working out the stability of the ship at various times and got to the stage where I didnt want to know. Trying to find out what you had in the ship was nigh on impossible, as most sounding pipes were blocked solid, what fuel you had in ship, dont think the engineers even knew. She was a 3 decked ship and had at one time had reefer boxes in the upper tween decks which had just been ripped out. One cargo they hired her for was grain and I refused to do as mate as no shifting boards were going to be fitted, no bagging off on top. I reckon by my calculations she had neutral stability most of the time and the 15 degree list could be either way, and would take very little to put her over. This post should really be in scary experiences, it certainly scared me at times, and this was on top of a ship manned by a lot of imcompetents. Sorry so late in answering your 15 degree bit which I assume was a question. Cheers John Sabourn.

[leratty]

No worries John, must say grain without shifting boards would indeed be a interesting situation. I do not know if I sailed with any incompetents other than the occasional decky who was just an idiot or would not learn nor follow instructions etc, but there were a couple of deck officers who were to say the least indifferent in their abilities. One I have mentioned on Beaver boat, JC he did some truly stupid things. One the hitting of one of those very large gas light buoys en route from Toronto to Chicago half light ship & after being told we were cutting the turn to close. Man that explosion & jet of flame up the port side still lives with me. The scorch mark also next morning when we saw it something else, right up the accommodation. His cutting corners going down the St Lawrence making the pilot mad was another, what could you do if on the wheel & he gave you an instruction? First the pilot bollocked you as helmsman much to your chagrin, then realised the situation thus a heated conversation occured on wing of the bridge. Capt. not best pleased when told. I wonder what happened to him on pay off? Richard

[Keith Tindell]

I remember chief mate on the baltic trader, was a lovely guy and well respected by the deck crew, but he could not keep awake when on watch, you could see his head drop away, even when he was standing up. The lookout guy would ring the direction of a ship, and on the wheel you could see that the course was not good, and the mate was half asleep, so the trick was to have a massive coughing attack, which would bring him too, and take note of the situation, happy days KT

[vic mcclymont]

I posted a light hearted posting on this thread a few weeks ago, this one is somewhat different.

It had been a calm and peaceful day as the S A Vaal pushed her way home through the calm waters of the Atlantic at a steady 22and half knots.
The ship had a full complement of passengers and crew over 1, 100 onboard. It was 20o hours second sitting dinner was about to commence. As second electrician and one of the junior officers our place in the dining room was our pen at the starboard rear side of the dining saloon.
Order had been placed for our meal, when a slight tremor ran through the ship, rattling glasses and cutlery on the tables, no one thought anything of it, it was gone as quickly as it had come.
Seconds later the tremor increase and disappeared just as quickly, the Chief Electrician, remarked “probably the stabilisers has clipped a whale”. The vibration increased, glasses bounced on the table, the ship heeled over to starboard. The general hubbub of conversation died away, the saloon feel silent apart from the noise from the vibration.
The Chief Electrician ordered us to leave the saloon by the rear door (in normal times using this door would have landed us in trouble) one at a time and then get to our emergency stations as quickly as possible.
As we raced along the main deck we noticed that we were turning to starboard and at the same time had just overtaken a French fruit ship.
Entering the accommodation the bulkheads seemed hell bent on trying to prise themselves loose from their fixings.
Arriving in the engine room all was apparently peaceful both turbines had been stopped, we could hear the noise of the safety blowing like mad.
Meanwhile in the dining room all was quiet no one was eating, suddenly the tannoy crackled into life, Captain to the Bridge, was repeated a few times. The Captain and Staff Captain excused themselves and headed for the bridge, this was the sign for a mass exodus, all passengers deserted the room and headed up to the main Assembly Room. They had left their meals and simply ignored any orders placed.
In the open sea the French Cargo ship watching our apparent suicidal manoeuvre, waited until the last minute and swung their vessel to Port, thus avoiding a mid-sea collision. To their credit they realised that we were in trouble and offered assistance, which was declined.
Going back to the beginning the vibration was noticed by the officer on the bridge, who phoned the platform asking what the problem was, nothing was the reply. The Junior Second said that he would investigate and get back. He travelled the length of the shaft tunnel, noting has he got closer to the stern the noise was increasing, near the stern he observed that the starboard shaft was hell bent on leaving its bearings as it vibrated madly. He raced back to the platform and shut the starboard turbine down, hence the mad move to starboard.
For over an hour we manoeuvred back and forward, believing that a rope or net was tangled in the prop. It was eventually decided that we would proceed with port engine at full speed, starboard turbine set at 65 rpm, and the rudder offset to keep us in a straight line.
While everyone was at their emergency stations the passengers had flooded (pardon the pun) the Assembly Room. The band played on in the best traditions but no one really paid any attention to them and not one drink passed the passengers lips.
We (engineering staff) arrived on deck to be quizzed on what was wrong, at first they didn’t believe that everything was Ok, until one of the barmen remarked if there was a problem, do you think they would be drinking.
Well the Vaal was normally a quiet ship, bars closing early, but on this occasion passengers, were getting pissed and keeping the bars open until 4 in the morning.
On arrival in Las Palmas a diver was sent down, who reported back one of the blades was missing.
Over 21 feet of propeller blade had dropped off.
We didn’t have time to be scared as we were too busy, but in all my years I have never ever seen so many scared people (passengers) as I did that night.
I left the Vaal that trip and she sailed I believe with a four blade prop. for a few months until a new one could be made and fitted.