AncientMariner

In 1969, I was instructed to join s.s. Erne in Swansea drydocks. I was a 20-year old deck cadet, and the Erne was a 20,000 ton dwt product tanker, built in 1962, and was a fairly typical vessel of that era. Technically and operationally, she was generally regarded as one of the less challenging vessels in the fleet, and with its relatively comfortable accommodation and exotic trading pattern, she was a popular ship. I was delighted to get the appointment. An early port of call was Port Everglades, where the Queen Elizabeth had been berthed, following its retirement from Cunard earlier that year. I was able to seize an opportunity to get ashore and pay the Grand Old Lady a visit. For some reason, I took a photo of the crow’s nest. During my 7-month tour of duty, we called at New York, Puerto Rico, San Francisco, Houston, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Pago Pago, Tahiti, Venezuela, Curacao and Trinidad. I was able to get a run ashore during many port calls, and managed to visit Disneyland, the top floor of the Empire State building (albeit in dense fog!), and the Nasa Space Center in Houston shortly after the Apollo 11 landing. Of the photos above, top left is at Port Everglades (I think), the next is taken in the Panama Canal. The lower left photo was taken in Pago Pago, and finally when experiencing a bit of lively weather. I’m sorry that my photographic skills weren’t (and still aren’t) great. It was a memorable trip, and definitely not typical of life on a tanker. An unusual consignment during this trip was sacks of mail, loaded in Honolulu and discharged in Pago Pago and Papeete, carried in a tiny hold in the foc’s’le area. Of course, life at sea was not always smooth sailing.... Above is mv Quentin, a small LPG tanker on a run between Norway and Orkney, the photos were taken a few seconds apart in the 1980's. Like other posters, I also find that the lines of many modern cruise liners to be less pleasing than the more classical shapes. But for sheer ugliness, I would nominate Panamax-sized car carriers which, structurally, are essentially high-density car parks. Nevertheless I did manage to find beauty on the inside of one - in the form of Porsche Carreras – 428 of them. John

Going back to the mid-sixties, I recall that a daily newspaper train appeared in the public time table, leaving London Liverpool Street at 04:00 for Cambridge and then northward. This was formed of a couple of passenger coaches and parcels vans. Not surprisingly, there were lengthy stops on the way and IIRC, the 56 mile trip to Cambridge took the best part of 2.5 hours. I also recall another similar newspaper service which left London Victoria in the small hours for Brighton, haulage was a class 73 electro-diesel. On the several occasions I used this service in the early/mid 70’s, passenger accommodation was in a single BSK, and its 4 compartments were always full. John

The South Devon Railway offer a full day experience for £450 (steam) and £310 (diesel) per person. There are more details on their website. On a visit a few weeks ago, I noticed that the SDR were running a diesel event using a class 37 with 4 coaches in tow. Also on the SDR, annually, in early November, and in support of the British Legion, there has been a “Driver for a Tenner” day for some years. You pay a tenner, and - under very close supervision I must point out - you get a 10 minute slot to take the controls of a steam loco running light out of Buckfastleigh for about a mile, and then bring it back. I have taken advantage of this along with my wife several times, and it is always a thoroughly enjoyable experience. It is when you try bringing the loco to a smooth stop at the right spot that you can appreciate the skill involved, and it is then very apparent that this is only a small part of the knowledge and experience needed to be a proper train driver. Regarding fitness, my wife needed assistance to shift the reversing lever of SDR’s 57xx pannier! John

Another Autonomous ship project which is taking place in Plymouth is: http://www.shuttleworthdesign.com/gallery.php?boat=MARS By googling Mayflower Autonomous Ship, there’s more info on other sites. This is more of a research project rather than a serious commercial proposal. I attended a talk last night given by a senior MCA official, and although the main thrust of the talk was about recent amendments to seafarer training, there was some discussion on the impact of autonomous ships. Twenty years was a time scale mentioned. The general consensus was that taking an autonomous ship on its first and final part of its voyages would involve transferring a mooring/unmooring crew by launch or helicopter. A number of issues cross my mind. 1. A machinery failure results in the ship becoming disabled. No engineers to fix the problem. 2. When a conventionally manned vessel and an autonomous ship are approaching on a collision course, the autonomous ship will use technology to assess the situation and work out who gives way to whom, and with any action taken being determined by what it is programmed to do. The guy on the manned bridge will make his own judgement, with room for exercising discretion. 3. The software will need to be able deal with multiple ship encounters, commonplace in congested areas. 4. Radar clutter hiding small objects, being able to identify false and 2nd trace echoes. 5. Vessels not complying with ColRegs, The Stationmaster made a very valid point regarding fishing vessels chasing shoals of fish. Anyone who has served as a bridge watch keeper will know that fishing vessels are often a law unto themselves worldwide and they have been the cause of most of my heart-stopping moments on the bridge. The last thing I expect from fishermen is compliance with ColRegs. I could go on, but I’ll end my rant here. I understand that cruise ships have sailed through the Solent to and from the berth, using hands-off navigation, but believe me, there are plenty of mark I eyeballs monitoring the process, and that human intervention is immediately available if required. I have heard mentioned the use of video monitoring, with a guy at a desk keeping any eye on things. I can just imagine a guy sitting at a desk in Hamburg, arguing over the phone with a guy in Hong Kong over a close encounter in the Indian Ocean. John (now retired)

Thanks jjb, This gives me an interesting insight into how things have moved on since I retired. John

Of the four candidates standing for election in my neck of the woods, the only candidate that knocked on my door and left any leaflets just happened to be the leader of our County Council – by chance, he lives in the same village as I do. He has a bit of a profile in the local media, and I was under the impression that he was a bit disappointed when I couldn’t immediately put a name to his face. Anyway, he remains at the helm of the County Council. John

The International Regulations for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea (aka ColRegs in the trade) are quite clear. Unless a vessel is secured to a berth, then navigation lights must be displayed from sunset to sunrise or in restricted visibility. AIS is a requirement for all ships over 300 gross tons engaged on international voyages, and all passenger ships regardless of size. The AIS transponder must be switched on when the vessel is under way. A transponder may be switched off if vessel security is considered to be compromised, in which case the event must be recorded in the vessel’s log book, with the reason stated. I believe that there may be instances of ships switching off their navigation lights and AIS in pirate infested areas, but there is no hiding the blob that will show up on a radar screen. There is radar surveillance throughout the Dover Strait with monitoring from both the French and English side, and at various points around the UK, French, Belgian and Dutch coasts. When passing through the Dover Straits, ships are required to report to Dover CG when SW bound. NE bound ships must report to the French side at Gris-Nez. The vessel must state their destination, and amongst other things, the cargo its quantity and any defects. Dangerous cargoes must be declared. This reporting is mandatory. In darkness, military vessels are often quite easy to recognise as such simply because: 1. A commercial ship often shows accommodation lights and/or working lights. On naval vessels, other than navigation lights, the ship is normally completely blacked out. 2. Very often on naval vessels, the horizontal separation of the masthead white lights is often very short. Under pre-1972 rules, the horizontal separation of the lights had, where possible, to be at least 3x the vertical separation, but on many naval vessels, this ratio of separation often was, and still is, the other way around. It is perfectly normal for a ship that is waiting for work to sit at anchor in a safe area to wait for its next employment. In northern European waters, there is a greater need for power and energy in winter than in summer, and this will impact on the movement of tankers. I have spent quite a few days catching up on maintenance and paperwork whiling my time away at a safe anchorage in various parts of the world waiting for orders, in the meantime the vessel still had to function, which meant taking provisions, stores, crew changes, undergoing surveys, etc., all of which requires the attendance of a launch. Nothing sinister about this, provided that the vessel is showing the prescribed navigation lights for a vessel at anchor, plus all available deck lights, meaning, effectively, that the decks have to be floodlit. If a vessel is engaged in any nefarious activity, then no doubt they will not be too concerned about compliance with the regulations I have mentioned. I hope this goes some way to answering the question without drifting too far off topic. John

Hello Kevin, Of the books I mentioned, "Branch Lines Around Plymouth" is probably the one I would go for. The maps reproduced in the book are no better than that on the link provided by The Stationmaster. Good luck with your research John

A quick look at my bookshelves came up with the following: “Branch Lines Around Plymouth” by Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith; Pub. Middleton Press, 1997, which shows track plans and photos on the Turnchapel branch. “Plymouth Steam 1954-1963” by Ian H. Lane; Pub: Ian Allan, 1984. Mostly a pictorial record, but gives closure dates (Sept. ‘51 to passenger, Sept ’61 to freight). “An Illustrated History of Plymouth’s Railways” by Martin Smith; Pub: Irwell Press, 1995. Track Plans, photos and some historical notes. “LSWR West Country Lines Then and Now” by Mac Hawkins; Pub: Grange books, 1993. Some photos, track plan, and a few notes. “Steam around Plymouth” by Bernard Mills; Pub Tempus 2003. A few photos. Bernard has written a number of books on the subject of railways around Plymouth. “The Turnchapel and Yealmpton Branch Lines” by Colin Henry Bastin; Pub. C.H. Bastin Publishing, 1989. This booklet looks to be a home-made affair of about 30 pages, There are some historical notes, and a 1932 time table, which boasts of up to 28 trains on weekdays. John

A few years back, I had just signed off a ship in Belgium, I was in my taxi, and on my way to the airport. Within the first couple of hundred yards of my journey we were stopped at a rail crossing, which was ungated but protected by alternately flashing red lights and an audible signal. We were still within the port complex, and therefore on private land, access to which was through a manned security gate, and only personnel and vehicles with a valid reason to be in the complex were given access. We could clearly see the train approaching, but we could also see that it was moving slowly, and that it was some distance off. My taxi driver stayed put, but the drivers of several other vehicles decided it was safe enough to ignore the red lights, and nipped across the track ahead of the approaching train. I recall at least one guy even pulling out to overtake our stationary taxi to get across. When I commented to the taxi driver on the situation, he responded with words to the effect that terminal security would have seen this on CCTV, and that the miscreants, having breached the port company safety regulations, would be banned from the terminal, and told to leave immediately, regardless of whether or not they had completed their business within the complex. As pretty well all traffic was commercial, not a lot of imagination is needed to see what sort of impact this could have on their businesses. The taxi driver was used regularly by shipping agents to transport crew members to and from their ships, and he wanted to keep that work. Of course, a sanction like that is hardly enforceable on a public highway. John

I find that fat balls hereabouts are a waste of time. The type I have are inside a fine plastic mesh which is supposed to limit it to smaller birds, but they just don’t seem to bother, and the fat balls have simply been left to fester. I have tried several locations in the garden without success. Taking them out of the mesh and breaking them up generates some interest, but that includes larger birds, squirrels and from small rodents which I would prefer not to have near my house. Currently, we’re seeing numerous blackbirds which are rapidly stripping the berries from our pyracantha. John

Hi Nick, I recall somewhere reading about someone trying to resolve problems with models using S&W couplings coming adrift. Having tried to locate it using a Google search, I came up with the following. http://www.gwr.org.uk/procouplings.html The final two paragraphs in the article are the ones that matter most. Basically, the guy tried initially to reduce the strength of the magnetic field by trying to shield the magnet with a bit of Plasticard, with unsatisfactory results. He then simply broke the magnet in two, with a more satisfactory outcome. I mentioned when I saw you about 10 or so days ago that I have decided to go down the road of S&W, and actually got started over the weekend. So far, 2 tank locos (one end only), and 2 wagons have been converted. Early days as yet, but so far, the system seems to be doing what it’s supposed to do. John Edited for a typo

I've seen very little activity with small birds the last week or so. I live in a large coastal village near Plymouth, and would describe my environment as semi-rural. We have a regular robin, saw a wren two days ago, and I see the odd sparrow. Flocks of starlings put in an appearance fairly regularly. Apart from that, we see the odd blackbird, some wood pigeons and some magpies. Being half a mile from the beach, herring gulls are commonplace, also we are also seeing a lot of rooks and crows – rooks especially, and like gulls, these corvids will take eggs and nestlings from smaller species. Rooks gathering in large numbers and perching on telephone wires between poles seems to be a daily (and noisy) morning ritual, on some days being reminiscent of a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”. Sadly, we see few smaller birds at the moment. Certainly, the feeders in the back garden have currently been getting very little attention. At the risk of going slightly off-topic, a group of badgers have included our garden in their territory, and quite apart from the destruction they cause to my wife’s creations, these omnivorous creatures seem to do little to help other wildlife. Although I never really perceived them as a major threat to small birds, I believe that, given the opportunity, they will eat small birds, eggs and nestlings. They are difficult to discourage by means which are legal and ethical. One thing that does encourage them is bird food falling from a feeder. Here’s hoping that the swallows (mentioned in my post 1960) will return next year.

In addition to Catwatch, the RSPB has a page on deterring cats. http://www.rspb.org.uk/makeahomeforwildlife/advice/gardening/unwantedvisitors/cats/catdeterrents.aspx John

I always thought robins were very territorial, and would not tolerate an intruder without a fight, hence they are usually seen as a solitary bird or as a breeding pair. I have a regular visitor in my garden, which does take food off a feeder. This summer I have had the following little charmers in my eaves. At first I thought they were house martins as the nest location is typical of this species, but the British Trust for Ornithology have put me right on this, and told me they are swallows, for which the nest location is not typical. House martin numbers have been dwindling, and are now amber listed. I understand that swallow numbers have recovered in recent years. The swallows have now left on their migration south, leaving me to clear up the mess! John