Anyone Interested in Ships

[MarkC]

8 hours ago, drmditch said:

On a smaller scale, I did once lose an anchor (a grapnel of about 2kg or so) presumed eaten by a crocodile.

 

At least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

The croc was trying to resolve its usual diet's iron deficiency? 

[MarkC]

3 hours ago, peach james said:

They forgot about ours...we were in the drydock, and someone asked when they were going to weld the hole up....consternation, it was growth work !  No-one had spec'd that the hole needed a proper weld job on it. 

My last day before the fire onboard (well, op tow-ex)  was trying to get the anchor unstuck-some numpty boz'n (bos'n) had pulled it into the hawse pipe, solid like.  The dockyard had about 90 tons hanging off it trying to drag it downwards, including one of the big cranes through a tackle.  I was all kinds of busy trying to get paperwork sorted to go to school in the US, couldn't afford to waste that much time watching the dockyard maties play at how to get it unstuck.  I had advised that they didn't have enough weight because that wasn't the first time it had gotten stuck.

We'd already had one go to the bitter end, and what a "Bang" that made !  I'm sure you've seen the Youtube videos of the foc'sle team making a rather rapid departure, with new underwear on order?  Yep...it turns out that if you are sitting over 600' of water, and let out say, 3 shackles, with a brake rated for 3 shackles, that it may pay out all 6 shackles, and the bitter end.  That one ended up with the cheekplate bent like a prezel in the hawse pipe, a rather thin Hull Tech climbing in from underneath with a cutting torch to remove said plate once anchor was on the blake & brake, and several embarrassed individuals.  Worst was, we as engineers knew the limits of the gear better than the bosn's who are responsible for operating it, and had words with them & then were overruled.  Idiots everywhere !

 

James

Sounds a familiar story, James. Large lumps of metal and toys to play with, coupled with eejits doing said playing. is always a recipe for bad things to happen...

 

I'm pretty sure I've told the tale of our losing the anchor in the Jammerbugt before on here - it started out involving a Superintendent trying to save money at the previous month's drydocking. The scallops on both gypsy wheels were badly worn, so as a consequence, when heaving up the anchor, the cable links would slip.

 

Both gypsy wheels were down for renewal at drydock, but when the ship arrived, the word was that none were available, & so the scallops were to be built up with weld... Needless to say, the protests of the ships' staff were ignored.

 

So, we had discharged a cargo at Stenungsund & no further orders were known, so we proceeded to Skagen and dropped anchor. After a week, the Danish authorities told us to move on, but charterers wanted us to stay in the Skaw area, so we moved to the west side and anchored in the Jammerbugt. All seemed well, until a strong westerly wind picked up. At 0230 or thereabouts in the morning, I got a call to get the Main Engine started, as we were dragging anchor. The 2/E and I fired up the engine, handed control to the bridge & listened to the fun on the radio as the deck department got the anchor up...

 

It was obvious that the weld repairs had failed, as we could hear the reports of slipping. Now, normally you would go ahead on the engine to take the weight off the cable. This, however, required the bloke on the forecastle reporting how the cable is leading and how much weight (strain) is on it. We had 2 problems - the 2nd Mate's English wasn't the best, and was spoken with a heavy Russian accent. This was compounded by his not getting behind the bulwark & out of the wind when transmitting, so it was even more difficult to understand him. I had just remarked to the 2/E that I thought it might be prudent for me to go up to the fo'c'sle to do comms, when the phone rang - it was the Master, asking me to do just that!

 

Duly suitably wrapped up, I headed forward. I could hear the cable slipping, even from some 50 metres away & over what was now a full Force 9 wind. As I got within 10 metres of the foc's'le there were 2 almighty CRACK sounds, the 2nd Mate, bosun and AB leaped for their lives, and the whole winch seemed to jump as its foundation bolts broke, allowing the gypsy wheel gears to come out of mesh, followed by a cloud of dust, rust & sparks as the cable flew out of the spurling pipe, over the gypsy and down the hawse pipe, and another CRACK as the bitter end tore out. Then, other than the howling wind, there was silence...

 

I first checked that all were OK, then reported to the bridge - "Anchor & cable are clear - very clear - they're on the sea bed. Bitter end torn out. Suggest you note our position". For a moment there was no reply - then "Understood. Are all OK?" Well, other than them all needing to change their undercrackers, yes, they were...

 

The call to the Superintendent was interesting, to say the least! Orders given to proceed to Rotterdam for repairs. On arrival there, one new anchor, 9 shackles of new anchor cable and 2 NEW GYPSY WHEELS... Funny, that!

[380John]

On 31/10/2021 at 07:58, MarkC said:

Just departing Antwerp here. We had this one moored nearby - can't say I'm a fan of the colour scheme...

 

From Antwerp to Milford Haven... Rmweb member to Rmweb member... 

 

[MarkC]

That's better

 

 

Now off to Rafnes.

 

Should have been relieved by now, but my relief has had a close family bereavement. Not good. Not sure yet when he'll be ready to join, so, as Freddie sang - "The Show must Go On".

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Oh I hate it when that happens - once did an extra month as they had forgotten about me (I was only a Ph2 gadget still then) and the alleged relief was ill - although I was hardly essential they told me to stay on and I got mislaid - I finally got home the day after my Ph3 started at college having flown from Hong Kong, the inverse of a pier head jump!  Still, the saved up leave came in handy later. Then got a bollocking for being 3 days late to start college.....typical.

 

A better tale about being forgotten - the crewing system at Bibs back then was a huge board with wooden name plates adjacent to each rank on a ship, and at the end all the officers on leave by rank.  A cleaner sent a load of these last flying by accident and just stuck them all back up on the board - staff came in, realised what had happened and sorted them out by rank again. One electrician was down the back of the radiator, he got 9 months on leave before someone sussed it!  A legend in the company!

[MarkC]

13 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Oh I hate it when that happens - once did an extra month as they had forgotten about me (I was only a Ph2 gadget still then) and the alleged relief was ill - although I was hardly essential they told me to stay on and I got mislaid - I finally got home the day after my Ph3 started at college having flown from Hong Kong, the inverse of a pier head jump!  Still, the saved up leave came in handy later. Then got a bollocking for being 3 days late to start college.....typical.

The problem we have is that both 2/Es on here (Officers are 10 weeks on, 10 weeks off - in theory) are not long in rank, and so, to comply with the dreaded Officers' Matrix, insisted on by Oil Majors, the Chief has to be experienced in rank, so they can't simply promote someone. Couple that with the fact that some of our Eastern Europeans have gone chasing more loot elsewhere, having used the Company to get LNG experience then dropping us in it, plus the fact that we have just had to do 2 complete crew changes, after the whole crew came down with Covid at drydock, thanks to shore folk bringing it on board. (This despite the yards saying that all their staff were both inoculated AND had regular testing...). So, we're a bit short of staff.

 

Next, of course, will be some Eastern Europeans 'going sick', days before rejoining their ships, just before Christmas. (I got caught like that, 3 years ago).

[380John]

14 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Oh I hate it when that happens - once did an extra month as they had forgotten about me (I was only a Ph2 gadget still then) and the alleged relief was ill - although I was hardly essential they told me to stay on and I got mislaid - I finally got home the day after my Ph3 started at college having flown from Hong Kong, the inverse of a pier head jump!  Still, the saved up leave came in handy later. Then got a bollocking for being 3 days late to start college.....typical.

 

A better tale about being forgotten - the crewing system at Bibs back then was a huge board with wooden name plates adjacent to each rank on a ship, and at the end all the officers on leave by rank.  A cleaner sent a load of these last flying by accident and just stuck them all back up on the board - staff came in, realised what had happened and sorted them out by rank again. One electrician was down the back of the radiator, he got 9 months on leave before someone sussed it!  A legend in the company!

 

When I was a gadget with Bibbys, I had joined the Boularibank in General Santos in the Philippines, and after serving the Asian ports across the Indian ocean, the med, ports in northern Europe, off across the Atlantic through Panama.... 3 ports in Fiji we finally got to Papeete in Tahiti. The Old Man (John Gunson) said I'd get my travel details when we got to our next port (Auckland). Arriving on the 22nd of December due back in college for phase 5 starting in January.  No travel details.... Office had forgotten....! Panic stricken...as next port for travel would be Singapore in 3 weeks.... They got me a flight to Manchester for the following day via Sydney, and Dubai. Managed to get to Sydney and after a 4 hour delay... Families being told that Christmas was cancelled as the connecting flights were full or had already gone.

 

Thankfully the lone off signer I was got a seat via Tokyo and Heathrow.... Jumping at the ticket I thanked the nice agent from Qantas who informed me that my seat wasn't very good, to which I replied "I'm happy to sit on the pot" but she said she'd try and find me something better. Anyway... Long story short..... I flew first class to Tokyo complementary and got through my front door on Christmas eve evening! Only terminal 5 at Heathrow lost my luggage! But I made it home for Christmas and college restarting the following week. Great! 

[Mol_PMB]

I wonder whether the boxes are green all the way through, or if they were carefully arranged to put the odd colours inside? 

 

[Mol_PMB]

... and much closer to home, one of my favourite local vessels was out and about yesterday on the upper reaches of the ship canal. 

MSC Buffalo was built in 1968 and is still in daily use:

(This one is my photo, unlike the Evergreen one) 

 

[laurenceb]

3 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

I wonder whether the boxes are green all the way through, or if they were carefully arranged to put the odd colours inside? 

 

Am I the only one who thought lego blocks? Especially the funnels

[380John]

11 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

... and much closer to home, one of my favourite local vessels was out and about yesterday on the upper reaches of the ship canal. 

MSC Buffalo was built in 1968 and is still in daily use:

(This one is my photo, unlike the Evergreen one) 

 

Still going strong! A family friend is skipper on there. From the days when the canal company had a fleet to be proud of. Makes you wonder in a slightly different world what part the fantastic Manchester ship canal could play. Time is money as they say.... 

[Mol_PMB]

6 minutes ago, 380John said:

Still going strong! A family friend is skipper on there. From the days when the canal company had a fleet to be proud of. Makes you wonder in a slightly different world what part the fantastic Manchester ship canal could play. Time is money as they say.... 

Indeed!

 

Although ship traffic above Runcorn is a shadow of its levels in the 1950s, it has been slowly increasing for the last few years. Imported Irish cement is the highest since that traffic began in 2015, and grain shipments have been strong this year too. The truck driver shortage has seen East Anglian grain coming to Manchester by sea, as well as the usual imports. 

Also this year there have been anout a dozen shipments of oversize or overweight project cargo, both imports and exports. For example these were grain silos for a brewery, which were unloaded in the former dry dock next to ‘Coronation Street’:

Other bulk traffics in the upper reaches include scrap exports and propylene imports. 

Plus we’ve had 7 naval or sea cadet training ships visit Manchester this year.  

 

There is finally some action on the site of the long-talked-about ‘Port Salford’ too. Maybe one day we’ll see container ships back in the canal? 

 

I’d imagine shipping has a part to play in decarbonising freight transport, and hopefully the canal will benefit from that. 

 

 

[Mol_PMB]

A few more of my pics of MSC Buffalo taken in COVID times:

 

Lock gate repairs at Latchford:

 

Closeup of the bridge and builders plate:

 

Dredging by the dry dock:

 

Working with divers at Barton Locks:

 

Heading home past the former sludge dock

 

In Irlam Locks with ‘Maratona’ a cement carrier:

 

The last one also shows some of the clearance work at ‘Port Salford’; more has been done since:

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by Mol_PMB
Captions added

[Tankerman]

15 hours ago, Mol_PMB said:

I wonder whether the boxes are green all the way through, or if they were carefully arranged to put the odd colours inside? 

 

 

Someone who is in a position to know has told me that the Evergreen boxes are indeed arranged so that other companies boxes are hidden, but this is only done for the maiden voyage.

[J. S. Bach]

42 minutes ago, Tankerman said:

 

Someone who is in a position to know has told me that the Evergreen boxes are indeed arranged so that other companies boxes are hidden, but this is only done for the maiden voyage.

I suspect that the cost to do that is prohibitive to do it for ever voyage.

[MarkC]

Has anyone done the Ship Canal cruise? Looking for something different to do for/with my wheelchair-bound brother-in-law next year, and would appreciate comments from anyone who has done it. Publicity blurb is all very well, but I like proper gen from genuine reports   (I know, I know - how TERRIBLY old-fashioned...  )

[380John]

38 minutes ago, MarkC said:

Has anyone done the Ship Canal cruise? Looking for something different to do for/with my wheelchair-bound brother-in-law next year, and would appreciate comments from anyone who has done it. Publicity blurb is all very well, but I like proper gen from genuine reports   (I know, I know - how TERRIBLY old-fashioned...  )

If you fancy the Daniel Adamson version in steam I can have a word with the chairman of the society? . I have helped out in the past every now and again. They do the river weaver too. She's just gone to Liverpool for winter maintenance ready for next season. 

 

John 

[MarkC]

46 minutes ago, 380John said:

If you fancy the Daniel Adamson version in steam I can have a word with the chairman of the society? . I have helped out in the past every now and again. They do the river weaver too. She's just gone to Liverpool for winter maintenance ready for next season. 

 

John 

Hello John

 

That sounds very interesting. I'll talk to the family when I eventually get home (might be this weekend, but it's gone very quiet ) and get back to you, if I may?

 

Cheers

Mark

 

 

[Mol_PMB]

1 hour ago, MarkC said:

Has anyone done the Ship Canal cruise? Looking for something different to do for/with my wheelchair-bound brother-in-law next year, and would appreciate comments from anyone who has done it. Publicity blurb is all very well, but I like proper gen from genuine reports   (I know, I know - how TERRIBLY old-fashioned...  )

I did the Mersey ferries one a few years ago, and thought it was excellent. However, it hasn't run for the past 2 years and there is talk of only going up as far as Latchford.

 

I also had an excellent trip on the Daniel Adamson this year, Acton Bridge to Ellesmere Port. Highly recommended.

 

What I would really love to do is the Danny to or from Manchester/Salford. They haven't done that for a few years and say it costs too much and tends to make a loss. I was considering a whether a charter might be practicable, though it's expensive.

 

Bringing together a couple of topics on this thread, here's one of those ugly all-green ships at Ince, photographed from the Mersey Ferry:

 

And here's a ship turning at Ellesmere Port photographed from the Danny:

 

[MarkC]

Thanks for that, Mol-PMB - I wouldn't bother if they're only going as far as Latchford in future. I wonder if that's so that the bus transfer one way wouldn't be needed? Just out & back.

[Mol_PMB]

Yes, the plan for the Latchford trips (which were due to run this year but didn’t) was just out and back in a day. Not so good - you only see half the canal but see it twice. 

I think one of the limitations is the lack of a passenger berth at the top of the canal. The old berth on 8 Pier no longer has enough depth for the ferries and the cost of dredging is exorbitant. 

When I did the trip, it left from the former No.1 dry dock, but that’s an industrial site not ideal for passengers and has seen an increase in cargo ship usage recently. 

To my eyes it wouldn’t take much to create a passenger berth outside Coronation Street adjacent to the pedestrian swingbridge but maybe no-one wants to spend the money. 

[380John]

2 hours ago, MarkC said:

Hello John

 

That sounds very interesting. I'll talk to the family when I eventually get home (might be this weekend, but it's gone very quiet ) and get back to you, if I may?

 

Cheers

Mark

 

 

No problem at all Mark, happy to help. 

 

John 

[MarkC]

Still on board here, with no sign of getting off.

 

Passed this beastie on the way into Le Havre last night - some of you like this sort of shot

[MarkC]

We passed this monster on the way into Rotterdam on 13th November - she's LNG powered. One of our fleet performed the biggest LNG bunkering yet performed into her - the largest vessel of her type yet built - a few months ago...

[billbedford]

12 hours ago, MarkC said:

Still on board here, with no sign of getting off.

 

It could be worse...

 

https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2021/11/critical-situation-might-be-making-northern-sea-route