Gyro Compass trouble

[robpage]

Dunnage , you pick the good bits and make a coffee table for the cabin

[William Gardner]

hi des the ships we steared the wake wass like a dogs leg the ships now perfect line computers times past mate

[j.sabourn]

Ref Hand steering.... I would have to go back to 1978 when last saw a proper helmsman on the wheel. Even the few sojourns I did back deep sea after this, had mainly Cape Verde crews or some other nationality, although good enough seamen had little knowledge of what was probably to them a big ship. All the offshore ships I was on apart from the stand by boats, where I used to leave an AB on watch to steer if necessary on location. All steering was done by the skipper or mate on watch, this included going into and out of port, even on some of them not fitted with automatic steering or even a gyro compass the same applied. The skipper and the mate did 6 on and 6 off and may take up to 2 days to get to location you still did the steering, never looked at the wake, as used to walk away from the wheel for minutes at a time to stretch the legs. However fishing boats have different steering idiocrvcies than ships that most are used to on here, unless Ivan has done time on the wheel of a trawler, which incidentally I always found to be good sea ships. Could even lie across the wind without too much discomfort and always rose with a sea, if they didn't you were in trouble. I may have erred here a bit as sometimes on a couple of days passage one of the ABs would come up and let you off for an hour or so. However it was an accepted fact that who was on watch did the steering if necessary. JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

#33 Yes John, spent many an hour at the wheel of a trawler, my first trawler was built in 1914 and had rod and chain steering, the wheel was taller than me (I was only 13, but the wheel was stiller taller than most men on board) and you had to stand to one side as the wheel was against the aft bulkhead, steering on that trawler built up some muscles, magnetic compass only (no luxury of a gyro) and the compass was set into the deckhead, no compass binnacle, (that binnacle was on the monkey island) the compass rose you were following was a reflection in a mirror of the rose in the binnacle up top, weird, but you got used to it, but you never saw the whole of the rose at any one time, only four points. Just for'd of the big hand wheel was a smaller wheel whose axle went through the axle of the big wheel which you clutched into a steam engine when you were actually trawling, when quick and relatively fast responses were required on the rudder, quick that is compared to the hand wheel as no rod and chain set up was noted for its rapidity. the youngest trawler I sailed on was built in 1936 she had a similar wheel set up, large and small, but hydraulically powered, but still on the aft bulkhead and same magnetic compass rose set up. Quarter point steering only, as anything else was impossible and you had to be good to do that on a bucking bronco, all river steering was by leading marks, buoys or a house you recognised on the river bank. Interesting times thanks for bringing the memories back John, this is what this site was designed for

[cappy]

#34 proper seamen

[John McManus]

Hi William.
Probably like you all I knew about the giro was that it was easier to steer by than the compass, The numbers were clearer and never swayed around and you didn't need a magnifying glass to see the quarter points, certainly would these days.
Cheers Des.

I was helmsman on a tanker called the Waziristan leaving the Thames under tow.The pilot instructed me to alter to a certain gyro bearing(can't remember the bearing) I kept applying starboard wheel but the figure on the gyro repeater would not shift!I was so engrossed with the stalled gyro I had not noticed that the ship had veered and was in danger of pulling the tug under.Luckily the second mate ,standing beside me,alerted me into altering course to avert trouble but I was relieved from the wheel.I expected to be hauled over the coals but after it was found to be a fault in the giro system I was allowed to continue with my duties.

[j.sabourn]

The difference between steering by gyro as by magnetic was that the gyro heading was quick to react whereas the magnetic lubber line was much slower due to the friction of the compass card and the binnacle, it has been known for this also to stick for short periods fortuanetly. With the gyro repeaters frequent maintainance on cleaning the electric distributors was necessary. Now a days the likes of the Armour Brown gyro compass is a sealed unit and no maintainance possible. Before such the master gyro used to be stripped down and cleaned after every long passage, this was the second mates job, at least on the ships I was on it was, the electrician never touched the same applied to the Radar unless a Marconi set then was the Sparks problem. This of course is over 10 years ago so may have all changed since then. JS

[j.sabourn]

Radar... In the earlier days of radar on ships every time the radar was switched on and off had to be labouriously kept in a radar log and the running hours of the machine logged for the main office. Nowadays is switched on and forgotten about. Probably another reason why the master did not like the radar on apart from making the watchkeeper lazy in their eyes. All these aids or what was considered an aid are now considered essential. So there are 4 things that came into being in our time at sea was the gyro compass, Automatic steering, Radar. and of course the big labour saving device the GPS which does away with what is now considered the old method of navigation. There are of course other labour saving devices such as lodicators, stress indicators, draft readers, all dependant on an electrical source of power, lose that and the average ship nowadays would have trouble finding its way to the nearest port. Nature being what it is people get very complacent and what one considered an aid years ago is now no doubt considered part of the ship to make it seaworthy. In any dire situation nowadays you have a new industry called Risk assessment , seen recently on TV when one was interviewed re the Hostage situation in Sydney. I am sure our soldiers, firefighters, police and others don't go into a huddle and take instructions from the likes of such. If this is the case we are in for a bad time. Seamen lived in a continuous risk situation at times, maybe it is just as well the industry is no more. As regards the recent hostage situation the press last night were worried about children in other parts of Australia being traumatised by hearing about it. Does this generation not realize what war and destruction consists of, some are going to be really traumatised if they had to ever undergo a world war like most on here went through. JS

[Ivan Cloherty]

On some ships I was on John, the Master didn't like the radar being switched on because it was so noisy it disturbed his sleep, on another ship fitted with True Motion Radar could not be used in TM as the Master only understood Relative Motion and forbade anyone from using it in TM, very frustrating as I had just got my TM Cert and was looking forward to using it but he wasn't going to take any lessons from a lowly 3rd mate. On others the Master was up on that bridge quicker than a rocket if he heard the radar going on, but on others you were left to your own initiative and that earned them the respect they deserved.

On one ship the master always rotated the mates between the docking stations from the usual 3/m on bridge, 2/m down aft, 1/m on foc'le, asked why he said when entering difficult ports he preferred the 1/m on the bridge in case he (the master) had a heart attack and wouldn't want all that responsibility thrown on the 3/m who may be on his first trip as such, I learnt many sage lessons from that man, he always gave youngsters experience in a position that on other ships they would have to wait for until they had reached a certain rank, as a 3/m he even let me bring the ship into port, as he did with 2/m and 1/m, he never interfered unless he thought you needed a bit of adjustment, then he always made it appear that it was a suggestion rather than an order. Everyone respected that man, Captain Churchill

[John Arton]

Re. Radar Log Books.
These are still an on going requirement to be carried and kept up to date with type and serial number of each radar along with its running hours. Each radar has its own log book and in it the shadow sector has to be indicated. There is also a section on each page that you fill in stating what the radar is being used for, e.g. Navigation or Collision Avoidance along with a column on its performance. To sail from port on a tanker with one of the two required radars inoperative could lead the ship to being out of class or detained under port state controls unless the Master can provide a valid reason for sailing with an inoperative radar. Some radars have an running hours meter installed in them but that does not relive the ship from carrying and maintaining the radar log books.
Regarding mooring stations, I regularly used to have the Mate on the bridge under pilotage and would ask the pilot if he was o.k. for the mate to be in charge of the pilotage. For mooring the bosun would be in charge down aft with the 2nd or 3rd Mate up fwd. This gave the Mate ship handling experience and the 2nd and 3rd Mates mooring experience. I would then become the record keeper although with CPP and bow thruster etc. this record keeping in the bridge bell book was mainly only times of first rope ashore and finished with engines as most ships these days, engine movements are automatically recorded on the engine telegraph printer. There are also systems whereby the times of most mooring commands and actions can be recorded at the press of a button or even with a voice command.
How things have changed in a matter of such a short time eh!
There was a nice little piece in our local rag yesterday regarding a ship launch.
In 1956 Chapmans and Willan launched there first post WW2 ship, the Lynton, at Shorts in Sunderland. The original Lynton built by Readheads in Shields in 1881 was still sailing at that time but under a different name and owners obviously.
I just wonder if these days if any ships have a greater than around a 30 year shelf life.
rgds
JA