From Newsgroup: rec.crafts.metalworking
"Richard Smith" wrote in message news:
m1qzyphm47.fsf@void.com...
Another I have met is having the tidal flow in estuary work enough to
pry the end of the vessel out, presenting an ever-increasing vane to the tide-flow - then you have to cast-off and work out what to do next.
Happened when I was on a vessel "just looking pretty" and making up the
legal crew-number for the few minutes. Having worked as a steel-erector
(N.Am. "ironworker") I thought I could do the necessary, and the crew of
the barge we had to return to talked me through it as the tug held
position nearby. Then in we came with me on the foredeck of the
tugboat, threw the loop, round-turned the bollard on the foredeck, ran
out the line until they called, and I smoothly and progressively tailed
the rope halting the tugboat, then leaned back hard and gripped my heals against the deck, and the tugboat skipper put the engine full-ahead and
turned the rudder 45deg. to thrust the stern of the vessel firm against
the barge against the strong tidal flow from astern. The barge crew
came about and made-fast, until the tug skipper could go to neutral
(smaller craft so fore-neutral-aft gearbox) and I was free to release
the tailing of the round-turn and tie-off with that line.
After that, I could run-out the line feeding line into the round-turn
around the bollard while looking at the skipper in the wheelhouse, and
when he nodded I'd start tailing the line and bring the vessel to a stop against the engine.
*** If you do this, stand at 90deg. / right-angle to - to-the-side-of -
the line you are tailing around the bollard, so if the line breaks under tension you are not in-line with the elastic recoil - which can be
lethal ***
In a gale I have seen a tugboat spend all day idling against the side of
a bulker as a "just in case". ----------------------------------------------------
***The other safety consideration to mention here is not getting an ankle caught in a loop.
I've watched that done and follow your description. I think I should have hands-on training before trying it on more than a rowboat myself, I use tree trunks for that type of rope snubbing when logging but friction on iron or smooth aluminum is different and has to be enough the first time.
https://www.ropelab.com.au/figure-8-descenders/
On Titanic a single cross bollard provided enough friction for two crewmen
to manually lower one end of the 5 ton lifeboats, the second feeding the untangled line to the first. There were electric winches to hoist it back up in a drill but in an emergency electricity could suddenly fail.
Unfortunately the ship carried less than half the number of deckhands needed to lower (4), row (4) and steer (1) all 16 ready lifeboats and many weren't experienced with the very new and different Welin davits meant to launch multiple boats so fumbling plus passenger reluctance delayed the launches. Stokers from the two flooded boiler rooms and female passengers crewed some boats, one had been standing next to and testified about the aft extent of
the hull ruptures.
The ship's officers were struggling to muscle the last spare lifeboats to
the davits when the uppermost deck submerged under them, and some survived
by balancing on the inverted hull of one. Another spare lifeboat was found a month later with 3 decomposing remains in it.
I haven't seen nearly as thorough descriptions of actions on any other
famous sinking ship, like Lusitania, Bismarck and Scharnhorst, or Titanic's sister Britannic, which was modified to correct Titanic's assumed
deficiencies yet sank much faster when a WW1 mine caused similar flooding.
http://www.combinedfleet.com/shoksink.htm
"On the flight deck aft, the men waited in supernatural calm as the chiefs
and officers made their head count, even though explosions continued to rock the ship and the flight deck was now starting to slant perceptibly
downwards. ...
[4 terrific explosions] ...
The men gathered aft were caught completely off-guard--they had assumed they had several minutes to evacuate; in reality they now had only seconds. They were sent tumbling and sliding down the flight deck as Shokaku's shattered
bow plunged under the waves.
...
Screaming and frantically trying to grab anything to hold onto, the mass of humanity on Shokaku's flight deck aft slid down the incline to their deaths and a "fiery hell" as they fell headlong into the open and blazing No.3 elevator into the cavernous inferno that had been the hangar. Survivors already in the water were horrified and the sight of the white-clad mass streaming down to incineration in the elevator pit would remain with them
for the rest of their lives."
In Halifax NS the harbor tour boat docked by coming in fast straight at the quay, turning 90 degrees at the last moment and briefly reversing engines to kill forward motion, and letting the wave the side of the boat pushed up
stop it in just the right place beside the stone wall. I practiced that in
my canoe until I could make it ride its wave up onto the beach sideways.
jsw
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