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26th July 2021, 06:10 AM
#11
Re: Gordon T Bell
On the Binacle was Macenzies Balls.
Why were they his and not those of some one else.
Happy daze John in Oz.
Life is too short to blend in.
John Strange R737787
World Traveller
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26th July 2021, 10:36 AM
#12
Re: Gordon T Bell
Originally Posted by
happy daze john in oz
On the Binacle was Mackenzies Balls.
Why were they his and not those of some one else.
John,who the heck was Mackenzie? I've always known them as Lord Kelvin's Balls.In the US they are also called Navigator's Balls,and believe me sometimes you just had to have them at times !
I know you have a compass adjuster friend,so maybe he has been spinning you,well....a load of balls!The picture shows one of the aforementioned balls -painted green,so presumably on the starboard side of said compass. It's quite a big bas***d,isn't it? It could well be called an Adolf Hitler Ball,because (allegedly)-
#" Hitler has only got one ball
Goering has two-but very small
Himmler has something sim'lar,
and Goebbels has no balls at all #" !
BOOM.gif
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26th July 2021, 10:53 AM
#13
Re: Gordon T Bell
They must have been specials brought in to correct coefficient F when it comes in next year with the climate change . The flinders bar may also have to be extended for at least another fathom so can also be utilised to fly the F flag which Des reckons means I’m effed . JS
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27th July 2021, 12:53 AM
#14
Re: Gordon T Bell
With apologies, a whoofter would have had a lovely time on the wheel of that ship, would have kept her happy for the watch.
Des
R510868
Lest We Forget
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27th July 2021, 06:01 AM
#15
Re: Gordon T Bell
On one cruise ship, now gone to the Alang heaven there was a complete compass gimbal in one of the bars.
But the balls were around the wrong way if the compass was being used as it should.
I pointed it out to a junior officer who told me they no longer use a compass like that.
I know that but not sure if he knew the balls were round the wrong way.
Happy daze John in Oz.
Life is too short to blend in.
John Strange R737787
World Traveller
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27th July 2021, 09:45 AM
#16
Re: Gordon T Bell
#18. The gimbals john are just to keep the compass card horizontal when ship is rolling the balls are outside the binnacle and are soft iron correctors. Other magnets which visitors dont see are inside the binnacle. The gimbals without the compass would not mean anything to anyone. Think you must be saying the whole unit compass with attached gimbals was on display . The gimbals would have been useful if adapted to fit your glass standing on the bar to keep its contents from slopping over the edge of the glass. Cheers don’t spill any. JS
PS In a previous post I mentioned co- efficient F which was put there for a joke as doesn’t exist. Graham didn’t take the bait and now has me worried that maybe there is one and the jokes on me. What I remember the flinders bar was to correct Co-effiicient D and Lord Kelvins Balls for Co-efficient C . All the magnets. Inside the binnacle were for other co-efficients . Your gimbals were there were to cut down the effects of pitching as well as rolling. JS .
Last edited by j.sabourn; 27th July 2021 at 10:50 AM.
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27th July 2021, 11:21 AM
#17
Re: Gordon T Bell
#13 Just seen Des ...hope you put the chocolate box over the ships side discharge , dont want it going over all the Quay , and rotting people’s shoes do we . Cheers JS
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27th July 2021, 10:12 PM
#18
Re: Gordon T Bell
Originally Posted by
j.sabourn
#13 Just seen Des ...hope you put the chocolate box over the ships side discharge , dont want it going over all the Quay , and rotting people’s shoes do we . Cheers JS
JS #19 No,Graham didn't take the bait,and he wondered what the hell you were on about.You and your bloody coefficients ! In my day we only learnt A to E,but without being disrespectful to an Ancient Mariner,John(!) ,I wondered if F was an obsolete coefficient that you used to know.In fact I was sorely tempted to e-mail Happy Daze' and ask him to ask his compass adjuster friend in Melbourne for his take on coefficiient F,and did it at one time ever exist...
Now,to more important things,am I right in thinking that the 'chocolate box' just mentioned is a more delicate term to what we more uncouth mariners called (and I use the past tense,because I'm sure they don't use them these days), a 'sh*t chute cover' ?
Off to my bunk now with my damp copy of Sea Breezes,which this month features an article about 100 quaint,amusing,but totally useless nautical terms every sailor should know....Galligaskins is a good one,though rather impractical I would think for working on deck
Next month there will be an article on Practical Compass Adjusting,with special focus on Flinders Bars,Lord Kelvin's Balls,and the elusive F coefficient. i can't wait .
Graham
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28th July 2021, 12:53 AM
#19
Re: Gordon T Bell
#21. Thanks Graham I am now a bit wiser myself re the F flag and coefficient there is always a way to find out from others in a devious way so as not to show ones own lack of memory. As regards the chocolate box could not remember it’s correct name . as today there are no discharges into the harbour and all goes into a septic or sludge tank , many will not know what I am talking about . It’s a good job this is in writing and not by voice as probably no one would know what I was tarking aboot. Whenever I went home on leave it was very hard to talk propa as every second word was a cuss word so I was always very silent in any company ashore, my wife used to say it just showed lack of vocabulary when one used naughty words. Probably why I was so keen on the younger generation being told to sit there and only speak when spoken to . Anyhow thanks for the enlightenment about the lack of F in coefficient.. Ta la JS..
PS I wonder if today one would be fined if caught peeing over the rail into the harbour . If so Des May owe the harbour authority’s a lot of money ? Those lifeguards on Bondi Beach must have a helluva job trying to enforce the law. JS
Last edited by j.sabourn; 28th July 2021 at 01:16 AM.
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28th July 2021, 03:38 AM
#20
Re: Gordon T Bell
Further to #22. Do the coefficients not remind you of that song,.... A you”re Adorable, B your so Beautiful, C your a cutiful of Charm, D your delightful , and E your Exciting and F your a Feather in my arms. Already Ivan is up dancing !!. So coefficient F if it ever arrives will be known as the feather correction. Cheers JS
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