Marine Engineers

[Invernahaille]

I did a Trans Atlantic crossing recently on the Q M 2. New York to Southampton.
Strange feeling to be part of the cargo for a change.
What a marvelous ship it is. Three captains and a Commodore, Four chief engineers, one on each watch and one overall chief, Superintendent.
Totally bridge controlled, from a joystick not much bigger than a game-boy controller.
Diesel electric four generators plus a standby. Props are 5 electric pods individually controlled. Massive osmosis plant to make fresh water from the sea.
The ship only docks for a few hours, to disembark and embark passengers.
Although she has been at anchor off Weymouth for the last few months due to the Pandemic.
More to follow.

[Tizer]

Appledore returns but will be under the Harland & Wolff brand. There's lovely photo of the yard
`Appledore Shipyard to reopen after £7m InfraStrata deal' BBC
`A longstanding shipbuilders in north Devon is to reopen after being bought in a £7m deal. Appledore Shipyard closed in March 2019 after owners Babcock said its future was not "secure", despite the offer of a £60m Ministry of Defence contract. The site's new owners InfraStrata said the yard's ability to cater for smaller vessels was "a market segment that cannot be ignored". Unions have welcomed the deal and urged the government to give the yard orders..'.

[Invernahaille]

I know Appledore very well. Having worked on their engines. Medium speed. Sewing machines. So quiet relatively speaking.
Reassuring to know they have been salvaged from the brink.

[Stanley]

I loved those small shipyards. I remember seeing a wooden fishing boat under construction at Girvan in the 1960s and was impressed by the number and massive nature of the wooden frames used in its construction.
Search for The Sampson Boat Company on Youtube (Or Tally Ho!), I promise you'll like it.

[Invernahaille]

We sailed by the site of the Titanic disaster, Very poignant to me. It was sad to hear a couple of days later, that the wreck was deteriorating, extremely quickly. Apparently the main staircase had finally collapsed.
Perhaps in another hundred years there will be nothing at all left of her.
Especially with these expeditions continuing, gathering artifacts.

[Stanley]

As you know better than most Robert, the sea always wins in the end. Change and decay....

[Invernahaille]

Stanley,
you are absolutely right. When Robert Ballard found her, he left two plaques, one on the Stern, and one on the forward Capstan, saying leave the ship in peace as a memorial to all that perished on her.
I could not agree more.
A sad memorial to mans arrogance.
God himself could not sink this ship!

[Stanley]

Some things never change Robert. You'd think we would learn.
I look at the top heavy gin places that sail the seas now and can't help thinking they too are a disaster waiting to happen. But what the hell do I know about it, the architects say they are stable so they must be OK.

[Tizer]

`Port of Penzance: A History' by Clive Carter (Black Dwarf Publications, 1998, large format) is an excellent book that I'm sure Robert would enjoy. The author is a descendent of the Carter family of pirates who lived at Prussia Cove. He grew up with the sailors and went to sea himself, then later became an artist but spent his time around the port of Penzance. It's an excellent read, lots of fascinating stories and chock full of great photographs of old ships and the port. Secondhand copies are available on Amazon and probably elsewhere for a few pounds. I've read it twice and and will read it again!

Later...I've just looked on Abebooks.co.uk and there are many copies as shown here: LINK

[Stanley]

There ought to be a health warning on posts recommending books!

[Invernahaille]

Stanley,
There where a lot of lessons learned from the Titanic disaster. If you look at passenger liners today, they carry lifeboats and survival craft far in excess of passenger requirements.
Stability, it may appear to the untrained eye that modern day cruise ships are top heavy, what they don't see is the bottom of the hull is forty feet below the waterline, (the draught). This is where the main weight of the ship is. They also carry very powerful stabilisers, for those that suffer mal de mere.
To sum up the Titanic disaster was very much created by arrogant men.
The bottom line is, ships are designed to do what they are designed to do.
Where the problem arises is when officers and crew ask a ship to something its not designed to do.
Unfortunately, there are still a few officers out there, who push the limits, even today.

[Stanley]

Yes Robert, I understand all that but they still look all wrong to me!
I was reviewing the 1000ft long Great Lakes bulk carriers last night and again I think they are probably the ugliest ships I have ever seen. Again designed for purpose but I wonder how they would fare in a North Atlantic storm.

[Invernahaille]

The Great Lakes can be as formidable as any ocean.
I assume you are referring to the SS Edmond Fitzgerald?
She was quite an old ship at her demise, built 1957, sank 1975. Although she had, had a few updates. Changed from coal fired to oil.
When the inquiry was held, they initially tried to blame the crew, for not tightening the hatches down securely.
When the truth came to light, the sinking was caused by a series of freak waves. Her radar was destroyed, and she was overwhelmed, with water ingress.
She was seeking safe haven at the time, but the weather got the better of her.
12 miles from safety, around an hours sailing time.
So Sad.

[Stanley]

No Robert, the 13 1000ft boats still trading. All around 75.000 gross tons and built like bathtubs. Round noses and square sterns.

[Invernahaille]

2018-0117-4419.jpg

2018-0117-4419.jpg

These are not traditional lake freighters.

download.jpg

download.jpg

[Stanley]

The top one is the type I meant Robert.

[Invernahaille]

Stanley,
Do you see any resemblance to the old Thames Lighters, or the commercial canal barges of days gone by?
By the way. All the bulkers on the great lakes get laid up from October to January nowadays.

[Stanley]

Very much so Robert!
I think they always did when the ice got too bad. I remember when we were demolishing Ellenroad Norman Sutcliffe watched the reports on ice in the St Lawrence Seaway like a hawk because as soon as it was ice free the price of scrap in the UK would fall because of the amount that had accumulated in the Great Lakes ports during the shut down. Scrap price was a large part of his plunder from the mill.

[Invernahaille]

I only sailed to Canada, around three times in the winter months, and that was enough. The deckhands had their work, cut out for them.
Chipping ice off the masts and rigging. Sometimes up to a foot or more thick. I seem to recall loaning out a few engine room ratings to the deck department, to assist.
If the ice build up is too much. there is a danger of making the ship unstable.
The only comparison, is sailing to the woodyards in Murmansk, (Russia) in Dec 1975. All part of being a sailor I suppose.
I will try and download a clip later.
Halcyon days.

[Invernahaille]

https://youtu.be/8FgjDyD50No

[Invernahaille]

Weirdest thing is that when there was a swell on like in the film. It used to rock you to sleep in your bunk.

[Stanley]

Good video Robert, too bloody cold for me! I like sleeping on board at sea, just troopships Harwich to the Hook and ferries to Holland.
My firebeater John at Bancroft was a stoker on steam drifters working the Barents Sea and he used to tell me war stories about the ice and carrying coal back to the engine room in 3 gallon buckets, the bunkers didn't hold enough coal for the round trip. He also stoked on banana boats, Fyffes I think. He said they worked twice as hard inbound as they had to power the refrigeration units as well as the ship.

[Tizer]

A couple we knew back in the 1980s, who were in their fifties, used to take their holiday by getting a cabin on a banana boat to the Caribbean and back. I think they might have sailed from Cardiff. I wonder if many other people did that for holidays?

[Invernahaille]

Tizer,
They certainly did. Passenger fares where a lot cheaper than ocean going cruise liners.
Though the officers and crew did'nt accept them to well. Very needy, required a lot of attention.

[Tripps]

From today's Guardian. looks like one survivor - luckiest man alive I'd say. Gulf Livestock - 1

Six thousand cattle on a ship for seventeen days - unimaginable.