Request for help re. ratings

[j.sabourn]

As #20 two SOSs could replace 1 AB for manning purposes . JS
Today the manning scale bears no resemblance of previous years and I doubt most ships do not even keep a designated lookout , which probably falls to the OOW and the radar , who also has to keep the radio watch. Depending on the work load of the ship . As to offshore work I never saw a seaman on the wheel apart from the stand by boats where usually a seaman would volunteer to do a couple of hours to relieve the master or mate if had no automatic helmsman.JS.....

[j.sabourn]

3 on a watch was quite feasible in years gone by. Stand by man, lookout , and helmsman.the stand by man people might question , but depending on weather consditions and change of wind direction. He could spend a lot of his two hours on duty turning the cargo hold ventilators off the wind to protect the cargo, apart from other duties.His duties were a break from the normal 1 hour on stand. By 2 hours on Lookout and 1 hour on stand by again for calling watches etc. JS

[Johnny Kieran]

I always remember each watch as, wheel, lookout, and farmer. A bit different today I would imagine.

[j.sabourn]

I remember it as farmer as said , so he got a lie in for the first hour the wheelman did the first 2 hours on the wheel . He is then relieved by the lookout who had an hour on standby , Then relieved the wheelman for 2 hours who had an hour on stand by before relieving the farmer on lookout for the last hour of the watch.so the farmer was stand by lookout , lookout then standby again. My memory’s of same which I did for 4 years .Maybe different ships different ideas ? Every watch they moved up one place so every 4th watch was back to farmer and shared by the other 2 watchkeepers . Cheers JS

[Keith Tindell]

thats how i recall it, except don't recall 1st hour lay in, always waiting for the whistle to blow from bridge, trim the vents etc.

[Doc Vernon]

It was usual practice to have three AB's per watch but if a vessel was short handed it could be two AB's and an SOS.
Perhaps a mistake was made by the person who entered WW and should have been WK, OS and watch keeper.

Another good reply Louis, and quite possible i guess , however could the Person making the Entry have made an Error twice!??
Who knows hey!!
Cheers
At least we are getting there ! Thanks

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Keith.
You are right the farmer had to be up' in case the whistle sounded and the Mate, it could have been John S wanted a cuppa.
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

Ivan, yes most cargo/container ships have little to resemble a bridge with any form of wings.
But cruise ships are very different.
In the wings so much goes on when docking or sailing, from what I have observed all the action is there at those times.
However once at sea very little happens there.

[Ivan Cloherty]

But cruise ships are very different.
In the wings so much goes on when docking or sailing, from what I have observed all the action is there at those times.
.

e
From what I've seen John, most, if not all, cruise ships have enclosed wings, I was talking about open bridge wings where a navigator can feel the sea, sniff the weather, and know that there is a change (or not) coming without reading a weather forecast, an art that cannot be practised in an enclosed space, but with all the computers, stabilisers etc etc who needs a 'nose for the weather' or a 'feel for the sea'

[happy daze john in oz]

Very true Ivan, yes they are enclosed but the size is something else.

The smell of the sea is something you never lose, but then there are some who go on a cruise and get sea sick, not sure why.
I tell them to go sit under a tree for half an hour.