SeaTalk

Sea Stories

2011-01-25T15:57:00.000-04:00

An audience of young people sat spellbound on the grass by the pier as he unfolded his yarn. He stepped sideways, catching his balance as though on the deck of a boat pitching into heavy seas. He was dressed only in ragged briefs. His beard unfurled in the breeze, and his skin was tanned the colour of English tea. His little broad-beamed gaff ketch lay alongside the bulkhead basking in the Bermuda sun, nudging her fenders as though she had heard this story a hundred times.
I winced in pain at the part where his beard became fouled in a sheet block, and had to be cut off with a rigging knife. The seas were higher than the mainmast, the winds hurricane force. The storm trys’l flailed away, but it was too dangerous to go forward and take it down. The wind shrieked in the rigging. Legs wrapped around the mizzen mast, hang on and let her ride, bucketing down the waves, the bowsprit plunging into the troughs. Tonnes of water washing over the decks, but plenty of seaway to the West.
What? Plenty of seaway? Well, that spoiled the story for me.
You see, in a good sea story nothing ever goes right except by accident or dumb luck. Of course there is always a happy ending otherwise who will tell the tale? Good sea stories always end up in calm harbours where wounds can heal and repairs can be made. . . and where the story can be told over a glass of rum paid for by admirers.
The more I think about sea stories, the more I wonder why we ever put to sea. We all know that someday we will pop our head out to have a look around and see both sides of the bow of a tanker. (That is one of my sea stories, which I will tell you all about some other time.)
We spend almost all our time at sea worrying about the dreadful things that may happen. What if a hurricane develops, or a whale staves in the hull, or a shroud parts? What if I fall overboard? Now, you tell me, does this sound like fun? So why do we do it?
For the sea stories!
I recall standing at the rail with a shipmate watching Martha’s Vineyard sink over the horizon. “Why?” he moaned. Three months at sea with seven ugly men. Too much work. Too much trouble. I must be crazy!”
Of course, after the voyage, and a few weeks ashore, he would be standing at another rail, watching another beach disappear, and sing that same miserable lament. During his time ashore, he would be the centre of attention, busy telling his stories and getting drunk. Getting drunk is important, because that improves the stories.
After everyone has heard the tales, and the hangovers have eased leaving a sick hollow spot in the soul, it’s off to sea again to reap a new crop of stories about important things: storms, cold, terror and death: the stuff good sea stories are made of.

CHAIN

2007-10-16T16:33:00.000-03:00

Some think there may be a connection between this unit of measurement and the anchor chain, but this is false. The chain is a surveyor's measuring tool, equal to 66 feet (Gunther's chain). The actual chain used by surveyors (before the advent of modern optical measuring tools) was comprised of 100 metal rods, each 8-inches long, connected with rings. One chain is equal to four rods. Ten chains equals one furlong, and ten square chains equals an acre. These are all land measurements and have nothing to do with the sea. From Wikipedia

LOFTING

2007-10-03T14:49:00.000-03:00

The original plans for a boat are drawn to scale by the marine architect. With pencil and paper, he is able to refine the lines so that they run smoothly from frame to frame. He can emphasize the elements of speed, stability and buoyancy that he is trying to achieve with his concept for a new design.

When the time comes for construction to begin, those line drawings are recreated at full size, often on the floor of the workshop. That process is called "lofting". Usually there is a degree of art involved in boatbuilding, since nothing is made square. The reference points are marked on each station using careful measurements, and then those points are connected using sweeping curves drawn with the help of flexible battens.

When the lofting is complete, the boatbuilder can begin cutting and shaping each piece, using the lofting drawings for his reference.

ELECTROLYSIS

2007-10-03T14:36:00.000-03:00

Sea water is salty, the result of river waters carrying salts out of the rocks of the earth during endless millennia, and washing those chemicals down to the oceans. The salt makes ocean water more buoyant, so that a person or a ship actually floats higher in salt water than in fresh water. The salt content also makes sea water a fairly good electrolyte, meaning that the liquid can more easily conduct electricity. The underwater parts of boats and ships often expose different metals to that electrolyte creating a kind of battery. One metal, such as the bronze of the propeller may lose electrons through the water to the stainless steel drive shaft. Over time this will cause pitting of the propeller, weakness and eventually failure. That devastating process is called "electrolysis".

FLOTSAM AND JETSAM

2007-08-21T10:25:00.000-03:00

Jetsam refers to any of a ship’s gear or cargo that is purposely thrown overboard in an emergency. The term is derived from the word "jettison", and refers to all items sacrificed to lighten the ship, whether those items sink or float. Flotsam describes floating debris from a shipwreck at sea.

BAGGYWRINKLES

2007-08-14T20:21:00.000-03:00

Even without knowing the meaning of this term, you have to admit this one is really charming. To get the meaning, you have to picture the sails sometimes filled and drawing hard against the shrouds, or sometimes slapping against the standing rigging during a tack or when the wind shifts suddenly. That kind of friction will wear out the sails, and cause tears and holes. To protect the sails, seamen used to improvise chafing gear out of old rope, wrapping it around the shrouds so that the strands stick out, providing a soft cushion for the sails. That chafing gear is called baggywrinkles.

BUCCANEER

2007-08-09T20:57:00.000-03:00

One of the SeaTalk contributors, John Hutchinson, suggested that we provide more information about this term. It comes from the French word "boucan" meaning smoked meat. Back in the 17th Century, freebooters used to stop at islands in the Caribbean and poach cattle, then preserve the meat by smoking it for their own use and for resale at the market. The French word for smoke is "boucane", and the smoked meat was called "boucan". The scoundrels who engaged in this trade in stolen meat were known as "boucaniers". When the term was Anglicised, it became "buccaneers". They were the forerunners of the pirates of the Caribbean.

AVAST

2007-08-07T09:40:00.000-03:00

Here's an archaic term often used in pirate movies: "Avast, me hearties!" Probably the script writers had no idea what this meant; it just sounded nautical. In fact the term comes from the Dutch, and means "hold fast!" It's good to know the term, but don't use it, unless you don't mind sounding foolish.

ABOVE BOARD

2007-08-06T09:39:00.000-03:00

Today, above board means without deceit or trickery, and the term comes right out of the seafaring traditions. The board refers to the topmost plank in the siding, and that important slab of wood shows up in numerous seafaring terms, such as on board, overboard, inboard, by the board and others. Back in the days of the buccaneers, when a pirate ship approached another vessel at sea, most of the crew would hide below so that there appeared to be no threat. On the other hand, when the crew could be seen "above board", that signified they were not being deceitful about their intentions.

MAKE AND BREAK ENGINE

2006-12-08T11:46:00.000-04:00

A magneto ignition single-cylinder gasoline engine once used in small motor boats. Often called a one-banger, these simple engines carried one or two flywheels to keep the engine turning until the next firing sequence. Some are still operating. They make a characteristic popping sound.

HULL DOWN

2006-12-08T11:38:00.000-04:00

Quite often at sea, if you keep a careful watch, you can just see the rigging of a ship in the distance. The ship itself lies over the horizon, and is described as being "hull down." Aside from the additional distance afforded your vision, this phenomenon also clearly reveals the curvature of the earth.

GALLEY NEWS

2006-11-22T15:52:00.000-04:00

The galley is the place where food is prepared. (There is no such word as "kitchen" on board ship). When there was no work to be done for a period of time, the crew inevitably gravitated to the galley, where there was water to drink, warmth from the fire, and possibly a scrap of food to eat. At the door of the galley, shipmates would also talk about what was happening in their little floating world, and swap stories, some of which were not always truthful. Ashore, we would call that gossip. Aboard ship, those stories are called "galley news".

CAREEN

2006-11-22T15:36:00.000-04:00

Ashore the word means to drive extremely fast and recklessly, barely in control. At sea, the word means to moor a vessel in a place that dries at low tide leaving the boat grounded. This is often done at harbours that have a big tidal range, and is sometimes employed as a simple way to expose the bottom of the ship for repairs and maintenance. The ship is brought carefully into shallow water at high tide and braced there. When the tide falls, the bottom is left exposed for quick scraping and painting or repairs that can be completed before the tide fills again.

VEER

2006-11-03T08:23:00.000-04:00

Ashore, this term always carries the idea of changing direction, but at sea veering is a little different. The term is used in four different ways on board ship: 1) Changing direction of the wind clockwise; as in: "The wind is veering into the East." 2) To lead a line around a bitt or block, thereby changing its direction for a purchase. 3) To indicate that the relative wind is changing direction toward the stern, as in "Ease the sheets; the wind is starting to veer." 4) To let out rope. "You can veer out about 20 feet of the dinghy painter so it will tow better."

TANBARK

2006-10-26T10:14:00.000-03:00

Before the days of Dacron, cotton canvas was the common material for sails. Cotton is heavy, and stretches, and, when left furled too long, provides a perfect place for mold and mildew to form. To combat those destructive growths, sailors used to treat the sails by "tanning" them with the bark of the Acacia catechu tree. The sails were boiled in water filled with the tree bark, or else the mixture was swabbed on, giving the sails some protection from mildew, and turning them a handsome reddish-brown colour. That colour became known as "tanbark".

LEADLINE

2006-10-19T15:54:00.000-03:00

In this electronics age, the leadline is nearly forgotten. Today when a mariner wants to know the depth of the water he simply looks at an electronic readout. But in the old days, a crewman would go forward and swing a leadline, a heavy lead weight fastened to a line marked in fathoms. When heaved properly, the weight would hit the water far in advance of the ship, and plummet to the bottom touching down just as the line went vertical. The man would read the marking on the line where it touched the water and call out the depth to the deck officer.

DORY

2006-10-11T08:46:00.000-03:00

The dory is a flat-bottom straight-sided fishing boat that was carried on schooners and whalers during the 18th and 19th Century. The design was probably prompted by the bateaux of the trappers and fur traders of Canada and Maine. They were built in Lowell's Boat Shop at Amesbury, Massachusetts, and cost $15. As many as a quarter million were built in production methods along the Merrimack River. Having no thwarts, the dories could be nested on the deck of a larger fishing vessel, and were respected for their sturdiness and cargo capacity. (Ref. Yankee Magazine, August 1986, p. 96)

FATHOM

2006-10-09T09:37:00.000-03:00

This term comes from the Anglo-Saxon term "faetm" and was originally a land term meaning "embrace". As with many of the measurements from those old days, this one was adapted from the proportions of the human body. A "hand" (still used to measure horses) was about four inches, and a "foot" about 12 inches. The "faetm" or "fathom" was the distance between the fingertips of the outstretched hands, (an embrace), which is about six feet. This was perfect for measuring rope, so the term was adopted by seamen. Since the leadline is marked with a tag every six feet, the depth of the water was described in fathoms too. The symbolic meaning of the term, to discover or understand, comes from this use of the leadline to find the bottom.

All Aboard!

2006-06-21T11:15:00.000-03:00

That warning call, often accompanied by the ship's whistle, gave notice that the vessel was about to get under way, and that any lingering passengers had better hurry across the gangway.

The boards of a ship are the planking, timbers cut long and flat, and usually no more that two or three inches thick. Unless you have been to sea, you may have trouble sensing the special meaning of those planks or boards. On one side is a dry bunk, food, safety and comfort. On the other side of those boards is cold water, and death by drowning. With that in mind, perhaps you can begin to comprehend the special importance of the word.

In the early development of the term, you will find the word "bord" which carried the sense of a line of demarcation, or a border. That word conveyed a meaning so closely related to the sense of the term "board" on a ship, that the two words just blended together in the English language.

You will find "board" used often on ships and boats. If you type the word "board" into the search field of the Seatalk Nautical dictionary, you will find 45 entries for the word. Most of them refer to that concept of planking, but there are many others referring to parts of a vessel that are made with thin, flat pieces of wood, such as trailerboards, centerboard and running boards.

The word is also commonly used to indicate a course sailed on a single tack. The expression "short boards" suggests frequent tacks.

"By the boards" describes losing something over the side of the ship, a term related to "overboard". A "boarding party" is a group of armed seamen who have the task of entering another ship by climbing over the side.

"Inboard" can be used to describe anything, such as an engine, that is mounted within the ship, while "outboard" describes anything mounted on the wet side of the planking.

The Seven Seas

2006-04-20T13:14:00.000-03:00

"Sail the seven seas" goes back to very ancient times, perhaps as long ago as 2100 BC or earlier. Even then, the term described an adventure of huge proportions, navigating a vessel on all of the major known waters of the day. There is no absolutely correct list of those seven seas, but they must have been the ones surrounding the cradle of civilization:

the Red Sea
the Mediterranean Sea
the Persian Gulf
the Black Sea
the Adriatic Sea
the Caspian Sea
the Indian Ocean

Some geographers suggest that the Aegean Sea and the Arab Sea should be considered part of this list.

In more recent times intrepid sailors ventured out on even greater bodies of water, so huge that there seemed to be no end to them. They became known as the four oceans:

the Atlantic Ocean
the Pacific Ocean
the Indian Ocean
the Arctic Ocean

Notice that the Indian Ocean appears on both lists. There are also other lists of named areas of the earth's waters, but they actually represent subdivisions of these major oceans.

For example, some insist that there must be a North Atlantic and South Atlantic Ocean, as well as a North Pacific and South Pacific Ocean, and that makes a lot of sense too. Some others reference the Southern Ocean, which describes the waters south of the continents.

There are many other large bodies of water known as seas, such as the Dead Sea, as well as some very sizeable lakes and bays, but they don't usually fit into this rather poetic terminology: the four oceans and the seven seas.

Squids and Swabs

2006-04-06T13:07:00.000-03:00

While writing definitions for this dictionary I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of terms for the crew, the men who do all the really hard work on board ship. Some of the terms are old fashioned, from the early days of sail, such as tar and jack tar. Possibly this is the origin of the term gob too. The military crewmen often came up with their own special names for themselves, usually having something to do with their work. That's where the term swab comes from. Inter service rivalries surface in some words, like squid. In more respectful language, navy men were called bluejackets, but more often they were working names, such as deckhand or black gang.

Of course in early times there was scurvy on board from lack of fresh citrus fruit, which is where the term limey comes from. Those sailors were sometimes referred to as hearties for their fearless nature. Of course there are the straightforward names, such as sailor and seaman. In the Chesapeake Bay, the term waterman grew to have a special meaning. The most common of the general terms for the seagoing man is mariner

You can also find some rough and tough terms, such as shellback and water dog, and one of my personal favorites, salt.

A new column is published here every Wednesday.

Which Horizon?

2006-03-29T20:49:00.000-04:00

When you are out on your boat, the line where the sky meets the ocean is called the apparent horizon, or what appears to be the horizon. They call it the apparent horizon because it is not a very exact term. After all, it represents your line of sight (notoriously unreliable) as a tangent (just touching the arc of the globe) where there are seas that can reach 15 meters or more (a fuzzy surface). This is not a terribly scientific horizon, nevertheless good enough to perform pretty reliable celestial navigation.

To find out how far away the horizon may be, there is a simple calculation: Find the square root of the height of your eye in meters, and multiply that by 3.57, which will give you the distance in kilometers. If you want to find that distance in miles, find the square root of the height of your eye in feet and multiply that by 1.23.

For example, if you are standing on deck so that your eyes are four metres above the water, you multiply the square root of four (two) by 3.57 and that equals 7.14 kilometers to the geodetic horizon.

Now you have to throw in refraction, which refers to the bending of the light passing through the atmosphere above the horizon. In certain conditions of humidity and heat, you may be able to perceive islands, land masses, light houses and ships that are much farther away.

And then there are mirages caused by atmospheric conditions that perform like a lens. On some days you will see low islands that seem to have huge palisades, ships sailing in the sky, and mirror ships sailing upside down above them.

The point of all this for the navigator: you cannot really trust the horizon to judge distances, yet sometimes being able to see over the horizon gives you a big advantage.

Box or Swing

2006-03-23T09:16:00.000-04:00

I had an email this week from a contributor who wondered if there was another definition for the term box the compass. He reported that the term was used in a different sense in a book he had read. The author had referred to a procedure that was performed by an "expert" prior to undertaking a voyage.

I replied that the term was correctly defined in SeaTalk, but perhaps the author had intended to use the term swing the compass.

There are two components of compass error, each generating a correction that is applied to any navigation problem.

The first correction is variation, which is the difference between the angle of True North and Compass North at a specific location on the globe. This correction is clearly printed on current marine navigation charts.

The second correction is deviation, and that error is the result of influences on board ship that alter the magnetic field around the compass. Rather than change the ship, we simply take note of the error on a simple deviation card that is posted at the navigation station, and then apply the appropriate correction when plotting each course.

To determine the deviation of any particular compass installation, we have to "swing the compass", by actually sailing in eight or more directions of the compass along courses that are determined by landmark ranges, then comparing each course with the reading on the ship's compass. The numerical difference in degrees is the deviation for that direction.

This test of the compass is best performed in a harbor on a windless day and at slack tide so that the vessel is not crabbing to follow a range.

Birds on Boats

2006-03-15T17:25:00.000-04:00

The first mariner that we know about was Noah, and from what we have read about that great voyage, there was not a lot of navigation involved. Nevertheless, after ten months on the water, Noah could see the tops of the mountains, and decided to find out if the water had receded.

He sent out two of the flying creatures, a raven, and a dove. The raven flew up and down looking for a place to rest, and the dove returned after awhile having found "no rest for the sole of her foot." A week later, he sent the dove out again, and the bird returned with an olive leaf in her mouth, so Noah knew the waters had receded.

Early mariners usually stayed near shore so they could return safely. The Vikings were the big exception. They went on long and thrilling expeditions well offshore, and became proficient at enduring the struggle of navigating in the frigid North Atlantic.

We have some evidence that Viking voyagers carried crows with them, and would release a bird when they wanted to find land. The crow, a landlubber at heart, would head for the nearest dry ground, and the Vikings would follow his direction to safety.

That seems to be the origin of the crow's nest, a platform at the top of the foremast, where a lookout would stand for hours scanning the horizon for land. From a height of 10 feet above the water, the horizon is only four nautical miles away, but from a height of 50 feet, a lookout can see more than 8 nautical miles.

Next week: How far is it to the horizon?

(A new feature is published every Wednesday.)

Jaws without Teeth

2006-03-08T14:05:00.000-04:00

Here are some more of those shorebound words that, when seasoned with a little salt water, develop a completely new flavor.

On board ship, the crew does not go to the tabernacle to pray.

There is no place for a drawing pin on a ship, but how about a tack?

Your lemonade may taste a little sour, but another kind of tang holds up the rigging.

There are lots of yardarms on a tall ship, handy places to hang a man, but for some reason they would never use the gallows.

A sailor's crotch is not located where you are thinking.

A weeping woman is sad. A weeping ship is bad...but nothing that a little tar won't fix.

A board that dries unevenly will warp, but did you know you can warp the whole ship?

You can use your jaws to clamp onto your dinner, but the jaws on a ship's rigging are not intended to eat anything.

Most of that stuff piled up in the corner of your garage is useless, but this ship is certainly not junk.

You may wash your face in a basin, but can you fit a whole ship in there?

The banker will take good care of the cash, but a seagoing banker is more interested in the catch.

(A new feature is published every Wednesday.)

Don't Smell the Rose!

2006-03-03T14:27:00.000-04:00

For people who are used to living ashore, the language of the sea can be a bit confusing. Many of the words we use every day on shore will have a completely different meaning once they step aboard a ship. Here are some of them.

You can play a fiddle ashore, but on board ship the fiddle keeps the dishes from falling off the shelf. The floor is not for walking on, and you would not want to cook a fish for supper.

A flake has nothing to do with pie crusts, and the ceiling is where the walls should be. The bottom of your shoe is called the sole, but has another meaning in the cabin of a ship.

Your brow is the front of your head between your eyes and hair, but when you want to go aboard ship you use a different brow. Oh, and by the way, at sea you won't find a head on your shoulders. Speaking of body parts, do you think you know what a throat is?

You may think you know what a step is, but on a sailing ship a step is something else altogether. When you go aboard ship you will find four monkeys and none of them are like ones in the zoo. And please, don't smell the rose.

More of these next week.

(A new feature is published every Wednesday.)

Nautical Anachronisms

2006-02-22T19:55:00.000-04:00

Old pirate movies are full of those salty terms that may have been used once in the days of wooden ships and iron men, but when those terms are used today they make me cringe. Utter the phrase "Shiver me timbers" on my boat, and you may be put ashore at the nearest beach.

Whenever a lubber comes on board I brace myself for the usual "Ahoy mateys" or "Heave ho me hearties". I try to encourage cheerful feelings on board, but somehow these anachronisms put a knot in my knickers.

What causes newcomers to the sea to come up with these antiquated expressions? Probably they are very uneasy with this new and unfamiliar environment, nervous about being out of place, uncomfortable or even fearful. The urge to call out "Batten down the hatches" is possibly their way to stirring up some courage. So I swallow my discomfort, clap on a nice smile, and subdue my urge to give him a smack.

We don't keelhaul people anymore....but sometimes it crosses my mind.

(A new feature is published every Wednesday.)

Ugly Ducklings

2006-02-15T23:29:00.000-04:00

That's the way President Franklin D. Roosevelt described the new cargo ships that were being built for the lend-lease program during World War II. True, they were not pretty, but they performed well and some would say they won the war. Designated Emergency Cargo/large ship (EC 2), they earned the name Liberty Ship from the famous Patrick Henry quote: "Give me Liberty, or give me death!" The first of the 2751 ships launched was the SS Patrick Henry in 1941.

The ships were driven by a three-cylinder oil-fired steam engine, and could barely make 11 knots. Passing through the wolf packs of German U boats was treacherous, and many were torpedoed. The life span of the liberty ship was five years, but any one of them that made it across the Atlantic intact had fulfilled its purpose.

Based on the production techniques developed at the Hog Island shipyards in Philadelphia, the Liberty ships were prefabricated in factories all over the country, then assembled at 11 shipyards by welding the parts together. Ships were being produced on average in 70 days, and one ship, as a publicity stunt, went from keel to launch in less than five days!

The Liberty ship was 441 feet long, 56 feet at the beam, and could carry about 10,000 tons of cargo. Many of the ships went to sea overloaded, some broke up in storms. In the rush to build quickly, shipyards employed workers with limited skills, and some ships experienced structural failures. A few actually broke in half during their voyage.

Read the whole remarkable history of the
Liberty Ship.

Last to Die

2006-02-08T21:33:00.000-04:00

Millions of people died during World War II. After all the brutality and destruction, there had to be an end, and there had to be one final life lost. What a poignant tragedy to survive such carnage only to be the last to die.

The last day of April 1945, Hitler committed suicide and left Admiral Doenitz in charge of the Third Reich. Doenitz tried to arrange a surrender to the Allies in order to avoid having to face the vengeance of the Russians. When that attempt failed, he issued a cease fire order on May 4th and sent radio messages to his fleet to cease hostilities and return to base. That order was to go into effect the next day at noon.

The collier Black Point was steaming off the coast of Rhode Island that day, headed for Boston with 7000 tons of coal. The German submarine U-853 had been submerged when the cease fire order was transmitted, and was apparently unaware that the war was over. The sub launched a torpedo attack on the Black Point hitting her in the stern. She sank in 15 minutes, taking with her Lonnie Whitson Lloyd, the last American sailor to die in the Atlantic war.

Just after midnight, May 6th, two blimps from Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey arrived on the scene to join sub-chasers hunting for the U-853. Some 190 depth charges, hundreds of hedge hogs and rocket bombs were launched, eventually bringing up debris and oil. Divers from a submarine rescue vessel confirmed that the German submarine lay destroyed on the bottom, her entire crew of 55 dead.

The next day Germany officially surrendered

Read the fascinating story of the Battle of Point Judith , researched and reported in rich detail by Ralph DiCarpio.

Snobs and Corinthians

2006-02-02T14:38:00.000-04:00

No matter whether you are operating an eight foot dinghy or the largest supertanker, the rules of good seamanship are the same. After all, we are all operating on the same waterways, are subject to the same navigational restrictions, and are tossed about by the same weather systems. A true seaman would never have contempt for another fellow simply because his vessel was smaller or older.

Nevertheless, there are those "yacht snobs" out there who have committed themselves to learning everything about good seamanship, and who probably know all the words in this dictionary and use them properly. Nothing wrong with that! They do sometimes show off their expertise, though, and express their disdain for inferior seamanship.

They may be right, but annoying people are no fun.

At the other end of the same spectrum are the boat owners who know nothing about seamanship, and don't care. We sometimes call them corinthians . They seem to think their yacht is just like a car with no wheels, and that they already know everything they need to know. They often display all the common sense that money can buy.

Foolish people are no fun.

Somewhere in between are the yachtsmen who are proper seamen. They know their stuff, stow their fenders when underway, and can throw a bowline in a line. They keep a good watch, maintain a current decklog and carefully follow the rules of navigation. Above all, they look after the welfare of their crew and passengers, and show good-natured courtesy to all of their fellow seamen.

And they are fun.

(An original feature article is published here each Wednesday)

EPIRB

2006-01-24T23:20:00.000-04:00

EPIRB units have been available for many years, and they save lives of crewmen who have to abandon their vessels out beyond the 30 fathom line. The problem is that the technology has improved enormously in recent years. That old EPIRB unit may still work, but not nearly as effectively as the newer units, and sometime soon the old system will be discontinued.

The new beacons operate on the 406 MHz frequency, and communicate through satellites to land-based coordination stations. The effective range is global. These beacons use a doppler based GPS system which can locate you anywhere in the world within about 100 metres! They work either manually or automatically. In most locations, the local coast guard can be on their way to help you within about an hour.

Why an hour? Because the first thing they do when they detect a beacon signal is check to see if there really is an emergency. They look up the registration for your particular beacon. Then they make phone calls to try to contact you, check for float plans, and see what other ships may be in the area of the distress signal.

Cost is a consideration, of course. The old beacons cost $750 US, the new ones about $2500 US. You would not be prudent to buy the older type since they will be phased out eventually and you will then be faced with the cost of a 406 unit anyway.

For anyone heading offshore, check out Equipped to Survive, a blog filled with solid information and discussions of survival equipment. For a good description of the EPIRB SARSAT program, look into the NOAA website.

(This feature column is published new every Wednesday.)

Grab and Go

2006-01-19T09:35:00.000-04:00

You may have heard amazing stories about people who survived disaster with only a pen knife and a pocket handkerchief. When your boat is sinking under you, however, you had better be prepared with all the equipment you need, in good order, and handy. Otherwise you are probably facing the end of your life.

Aboard my ketch, Eric, we kept a proper Grab and Go Kit stowed just under the companionway. It weighed about 100 pounds. The night a Liberian tanker nearly ran us down in the Atlantic, my little wife, fueled by a shot of adrenaline, tossed that bag on deck while I cut the lashings on the lifeboat. The ship passed very close, but did not collide.

Later, when the shaking had subsided, we struggled to stow the Grab and Go Kit again in its proper place, very glad we had taken the trouble to make ourselves ready for any kind of disaster at sea. You should make yourself ready too.

Good seamen are worriers. Good seamen are always thinking "What if..." Good seamen live through many imaginary disasters before the real thing happens, and by then they are ready. They have rehearsed it many times in their minds, and have a detailed plan that they can put into practice in just seconds.

After the worrying and planning and research, make a list of all the items you will need to improve your chance of survival. Start with the rescue items, including EPIRB, flares, dye markers and PFD. Include food and water, warm clothing, sunscreen, first aid kit, thermal blanket. You will discover many more items you will want to include in your own kit.

If you have the time to launch the lifeboat, be sure you bring along the ship's log and pencils, a compass and a current chart. You can improve your chances of success if you can navigate to land.

(This report is published here weekly each Wednesday)

Dyeing to be Saved

2006-01-11T14:16:00.000-04:00

"Oh God, Thy ocean is so big, and my boat is so small!"

For crewmen on search and rescue aircraft, that well-known phrase is never far from their minds. Searchers looking down on the ocean from an aircraft at an altitude of 1000 metres are scanning hundreds of square kilometres of ocean, straining to pick out something different than the endless expanse of ocean waves. Even a supertanker is barely discernable in rough seas and bad weather. Imagine how hard it is to find a lifeboat, or a person.

In the movies you see scenes of shipwrecked sailors in a lifeboat, frantically waving their arms at a distant aircraft. The chance that waving your arms will help the searchers notice you? Zero!

At night, the best way to get noticed is by firing a flare. In the daytime, you can try a dayflare, but your very best tool is a dye marker. You release the dye in the water and it turns the ocean from a dark blue into an irridescent green or yellow. As the dye spreads, a huge patch of bright color displays an unmistakable beacon to attract search aircraft.

An important part of good seamanship involves preparing for the worst possible thing that can happen, fire or damage which forces the necessity to abandon ship. Good seamen always think in terms of having two vessels, one bigger one for comfortable sailing, and a smaller one called a lifeboat.

In a matter of seconds he should be able to leave his primary vessel with all the tools he needs to survive and be recovered. More on this next week.

(This feature column is published new every Wednesday.)

Is Dead Recksoning Dead?

2006-01-04T20:20:00.000-04:00

How in the world can the navigator really know where he is out there on the ocean? After all there are no landmarks. Very early ocean voyagers took note of the set of the seas, the look of the stars and the direction of the wind, because that was all they had. When the compass was finally discovered, the navigator could then be much more accurate. That was the beginning of "dead reckoning".

Dead reckoning is a simple calculation. You start at a known position, point your boat in a certain direction, then travel at a measured speed and keep track of the time. Distance equals rate (speed) times time. Simple. You have a compass for the direction of travel, and a clock (chronometer) to measure the time, but how can you measure the speed of your vessel out on the water?

The earliest solution was the "chip log". A crewman would toss a shingle in the water at the bow, and the navigator would count the seconds until the chip passed by the stern. If the boat is 50 feet long, and the chip was passed in five seconds, the speed of the boat is just under six knots. Think that sounds like shaky navigation? Try it yourself. You will find that it is amazingly accurate!

With the onset of the industrialization of the world, inventors came up with better instruments, like the remarkable "patent log" or "taffrail log". This was sometimes called a "screw log" since the rotator would spin as it was towed behind the vessel.

The term "taffrail log" described the place where the device was customarily mounted, at the stern of the vessel. The rotator is often called a "fish" since it seems to swim, or a "dart" because it looks like one.

Try learning dead reckoning to feel the excitement of accurately tracking your passage without all the electronics. If this sounds very old-fashioned because you have a GPS and radar and lots of other electronic gear, you are missing the fun of real navigating.

Bells and Watches

2005-12-29T14:02:00.000-04:00

Back in the old days of sailing, the correct time was not easy to come by. Nobody owned a watch then of course, but there was one precious timepiece on board: the navigator’s chronometer. That clock was the finest available, very expensive, and carefully wound on a strict schedule.

To alert the rest of the crew of the correct time, a deck officer would have the ship’s bell rung every half hour beginning at 12:30 am, until at 4 am the bell would be rung eight times. Then the sequence would begin again.

Each time the bell was rung, the strikes were sounded in quick pairs: ding-ding (pause) ding-ding (pause) ding-ding (pause) ding-ding. That was referred to as eight bells, and signaled the change of watch. Eight bells was often followed by a shouted assurance that “All is well.”

A watch is the period of time a part of the crew is on duty and working. Since the work of the ship never ceases, each watch is a four-hour period followed by a rest. The exception to that rule is the dog watch, which is split into two two-hour watches so that the evening meal can be served to all hands.

MIDWATCH - MIDNIGHT UNTIL 4 AM
MORNING WATCH - 4 AM UNTIL 8 AM
FORENOON WATCH - 8 AM UNTIL NOON
AFTERNOON WATCH - NOON UNTIL 4 PM
FIRST DOG WATCH - 4 PM UNTIL 6 PM
SECOND DOG WATCH - 6 PM UNTIL 8 PM
EVENING WATCH - 8 PM UNTIL MIDNIGHT

Often the watch assignments were based on the side of the ship on which the seamen slept, so there was a port watch and starboard watch. This arrangement meant that half the crew would be manning the ship at any time, and each section would work 12 hours a day in three four-hour segments. As each watch went below, they would rouse their mates on the other side to take their turn on deck.

On most ships, space was very limited, and often there were sleeping quarters for only half the seamen. This led to the practice of “hot bunking” meaning that when a sailor got out of his bunk to stand his watch, another sailor coming off watch would dive into his still-warm bedding.

Garlands and Brass Monkeys

2005-12-22T10:09:00.000-04:00

There is a story that has been going around for many years that the expression "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" originated on board ship. In fact that story has taken hold so firmly that even the better dictionaries pass it along as fact.

The explanation they give for the expression: on warships the cannonballs were stacked at each gun station on a plate called a monkey, and that when the weather turned very cold the plate would shrink a bit and the cannonballs would then roll off.

Well, you might be able to stack cannonballs like that on shore, but certainly not on board ship where the deck is pitching and rolling constantly. Sorry, but that just won't work.

In fact there was a ready supply of cannonballs kept near the cannons, but they were stored on a "garland", which is a heavy board with holes cut in somewhat smaller than the diameter of the cannonballs. The balls would rest safely in those holes until needed, and no matter how heavy the seas, they stayed in place. Far in the past, probably 16th C., a few cannonballs would be temporarily settled into a nest of rope on deck near the cannons. This rope ring is probably the origin of the term garland, which means a wreath or grommet.

So where did this idea of a stack of cannonballs come from? From all the research I found on the subject, this fanciful explanation is less than 25 years old. "The modern notion that iron shot were stored on a sort of cake-stand arrangement called a 'brass monkey' was perpetuated by, and indeed possibly originated with, Bill Beavis and Richard G. McClosky, the authors of Salty Dog Talk-:Granada Publishing, Adlard Coles Limited (1983). (John H. Harland, Research Note)

So that fanciful expression is just naughty, not nautical. Still, it's a great image, and always makes people smile, and that's not all bad.

Magnetic North is Moving

2005-12-14T14:45:00.000-04:00

North is North, right? Well, yes and no. When a mariner is talking about directions and courses and positions and fixes, all the stuff of navigation, he is well aware of the two different "North" poles commonly used as the prime reference on our planet.

The geographic North Pole is the location of the axis around which the earth rotates. Navigators call that "True North" when they are using that pole as their reference. The other north pole is "Magnetic North", which is handy for mariners because the ship's compass card aligns in that direction. The problem lies in that those two poles are not in the same location...close enough to be handy, but not the same place.

That difference in location is compounded by the fact that Magnetic North is on the move, constantly shifting and drifting around northern Canada. As you can see on the graphic, the magnetic pole of our planet seems to be moving northward lately, headed out into the Arctic Ocean.

The shifting of Magnetic North causes a problem for seafarers, because the needle on the ship's magnetic compass keeps changing direction over the years. As a result, the charts that mariners use become outdated. A really important piece of information printed on the chart, the variation factor, is used to make a compass correction when charting a course. The variation is the angle of difference between Magnetic North and True North for a specific location on the chart. As the magnetic north pole shifts, so does that angle.

The planet Earth, with its molten iron core, behaves like a magnet, complete with "magnetic fields", loops of magnetic influence that encircle the planet, causing our compasses to point in the right direction, and creating the Aurora Borealis. With the change in location of our Magnetic North pole, that magnificent light show will begin to be visible over Northern Europe in years to come.

From Scuttlebutt to Water Cooler

2005-11-28T20:58:00.000-04:00

Here's another one of those words that came ashore from shipboard use, and settled very nicely into our language. The term means "gossip" today, exactly as it did for seafarers long ago. Part of the attraction of the word is the mystifying imagery and playful sound of it. So where did this come from?

Like many seagoing terms, this one is made up of two words stuck together: scuttle, and butt. We still use the word "scuttle" to describe a container for carrying grain or for coal. You may have one near your fireplace. A scuttle on board ship was a very small deck opening, just big enough to allow a man to climb through. The lid or cover for that opening was also called a scuttle. The verb "to scuttle" means to make a hole in the bottom of the ship so that the water comes in and sinks the ship. Both the noun and the verb carry that concept of something moving through a small opening.

"Butt" comes from the early French word for a target or the backstop behind the target. We use that sense to refer to the part of our anatomy we sit on. But the term also refers to a large cask or barrel used for storing liquids. There used to be a standard of liquid measurement for wine called a butt, meaning a barrel containing somewhat more than 100 gallons. That idea of wine containers was the source of the word "butler", since that servant's principal responsibility was to care for and serve wine.

There was alway wine and rum to drink on board ship, but water was most precious. Water was carried from home port, restocked from distant lands, and collected from rain. Without water the crew would perish. The water on board was carefully stored in butts.

So what would happen if you were to make a small hole (a scuttle) in the cask of water (a butt)? Through that opening you could draw off a little water to drink, and you have a scuttled butt, or a scuttlebutt!

Now comes the really interesting part. The scuttlebutt was customarily mounted on a short platform outside the galley, and lashed to the galley bulkhead. Thirsty crewmen could stop by for a drink using a tin cup hanging nearby, opening the scuttle to fill the cup and then closing it properly so that the precious water did not leak out. Sometimes a few crewmen would gather to quench their thirst and talk about shipboard life. Does that sound like the modern office, where the staff takes a short break for a drink at the water cooler and combines that with a little office gossip?

That is a very apt comparison. The scuttlebutt was the water cooler on board ship. And that was the origin of the expression to describe word of mouth information that may, or may not be true.

Box the Compass

2005-11-16T08:38:00.000-04:00

Back in the old days of sailing, when a new crewman was brought on board he had to begin learning the hundreds of ropes and sails and tools he
would be using every day. Eventually he would stand watch at the helm, where he had to learn the 32 points of sailing from the compass card.

From time to time the bosun would test the new seaman by asking him to "box the compass", which means to quickly name all the points of the
compass card in order.

These days, boxing the compass is employed only as an exercise in discipline at military and merchant marine academies, but it does sound very
impressive, and the effort required to keep it all straight is a good mental workout. These 32 points were used regularly by helmsmen on early
ships. Only on more recent compasses do we find the 360 degrees of the circle printed on the compass card.

In actual practice, the words which were used to describe the points of sailing were run together, so that the term South-West was spoken
"Sou-west", and so on. Here they are. Read them aloud, and very fast.

North, North by East, North-North East, North East by North,
North East, North East by East, East North East, East by North,

East, East by South, East South East, South East by East,
South East, South East by South, South South East, South by East,

South, South by West, South South West, South West by South
South West, South West by West, West South West, West by South,

West, West by North, West North West, North West by West,
North West, North West by North, North North West, North by West.

Sonic Gun Repels Pirates

2005-11-16T07:56:00.000-04:00

The sonic gun is no longer a weapon for cyber gamers only. The non-lethal weapon really exists and was used to repel pirates that attacked a cruise ship off the coast of Somalia in November 2005.

The weapon is called a long range acoustic device (LRAD), and consists of a powerful amplifier and signal generator connected to a parabolic reflector-speaker. The gadget can perform several functions, but its ability to create a mind-numbing shriek strikes our imagination.

This unit makes a super loud noise and channels the sound along a very narrow beam. The operator wears ear protection, and stands behind the speaker. The idea is to begin by talking, a function this unit can perform over hundreds of metres and in several languages. If that does not work, then the operator can ratchet up to the shrieking. Apparently the effect is stunning, and disabling, and can cause permanent hearing damage.

The whole subject of an acoustic weapon is being kept quiet, probably because any weapon that can be used against the bad guys can also be used by the bad guys.

The LRAD that has been developed by American Technologies in California is a fairly substantial unit that must be mounted on an exposed deck of a ship, or perhaps on a tank. The pocket version can't be far behind.

As every ship captain knows, the high seas are very much like the wild west. The nearest marshall is a long way away, and you must be prepared for anything, including pirates. The cruise ship companies place security people on board, but they certainly want to avoid a shootout. That would be bad for business, and put their clients in jeopardy. Word would get around. The LRAD, coupled with some good seamanship, seems to be a possible solution.

If you are wondering if this is really necessary, consider this: there have been more than 30 pirate attacks on vessels near Somalia this year; seven ships and more than 100 seaman are being held hostage for ransom right now; the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) which monitors and reports on pirate activity, says piracy in the region is "completely out of control"; the UN has recently scolded Somalia for its pirate attacks on shipping in the West Indian Ocean; so far in 2005 pirate attacks have been reported all around the Indian Ocean, Indonesia (especially the Strait of Malacca), Malaysia, West Africa off Nigeria, and both coasts of South America.

Pirates are alive and well, and armed with rocket launchers.

The Sheet Anchor

2005-11-11T14:45:00.000-04:00

Here's a term you don't hear much anymore, but which has its keel laid firmly in 19th century seamanship. This is one of those seaman's terms that grew to have a double meaning, one practical and the other symbolic.

The practical meaning of sheet anchor is a reference to the main anchor, the biggest and heaviest of the ground tackle available. This was the anchor of choice when the wind was blowing hard and the seas were heavy and the ship just had to be secure. Lowering the sheet anchor required nearly all the crew at the windlass, and demanded a heavy load of chain to be payed out. Setting this anchor was a big job, but worth the trouble to safely ride out a storm.

How interesting that the term should spring to mind when describing a booklet for young sea officers. These educated lads came on board with no practical knowledge of the workings of a sailing ship with all its complicated lines and halyards, sheets and blocks, knots and hitches, compass directions, rules of the road...it was all new to them, and they had to learn it all quickly.

So the ship owners came up with booklets that would give these ensigns a fast, practical understanding of how the ship works. Why sheet anchor? Probably they decided on that term because the booklet was an encyclopedia of reliable information which would keep the young officers from drifting. Whenever they needed help, they could pull out their sheet anchor.

Are Inspected Vessels Really Safe?

2005-10-07T13:41:00.000-03:00

The tour boat that sank in Lake George New York in 2005 was inspected by New York State regulators, and passed, even though the vessel had been modified.

In that accident, 22 elderly passengers were drowned. Inspectors for the Coast Guard have been examining the Ethan Allen, and doing water testing of a similar vessel to try to determine what went wrong.

The modifications to the Ethan Allen included a new Fibreglas canopy to replace the canvas cover that was serving as a sunshade, and a new heavier engine. The modifications would change the weight of the vessel, possibly raise the center of gravity, and affect its reserve buoyancy. The water tests that were being performed yesterday were terminated when the boat heeled alarmingly while maneuvering.

State regulations imposed on vessels operating on inland waters are less strict than the federal inspection rules applied to passenger vessels operating on the oceans and adjacent waters. In federal stability tests, the entire weight of the passengers and crew may be applied to one rail to determine whether the vessel has sufficient reserve buoyancy to remain upright.

An experienced captain was at the helm of the Ethan Allen when the boat capsized in the wake of a larger vessel. He was the only crewmember on board, even though New York State regulations required a second crewmember. Survivors have testified that there was no safety briefing before the trip began.

(from various news sources)

Stow it

2005-01-08T20:29:00.000-04:00

Boats and ships move constantly. On board a boat or ship you can't drop your gear and tools and expect them to be there the next time you need them. Sailors develop meticulous habits for taking care of their gear.

That means there is a special place for every item in a sailor's gear. When a sailor needs a tool, he knows exactly where it is, and can find it in an instant, even in the dark. That also means that a sailor usually performs only one task at a time, then puts his tools away before going on to the next task.

A boat is a tidy place. Sailors are tidy people. Their mothers would be impressed.