2007 September 07 archive at Tims Times

Archive for September 7th, 2007

Warning! Dangerous Shell

Published September 7, 2007 in Navtex and On the ship. 7 Comments

Navtex

This message rolled in on the Navtex this morning, I was still waking up and reading at the same time, you know multi-tasking and drinking coffee at the same time. I was reading away and thinking -dangrous shell? what the f….? Immediately several images came to mind, giant clams eating up deep sea divers like in the old movies, and Popeye eating spinach to get a big shell open and save Olive.

This dangerous shell must have been pretty ferocious even at 43 metres deep, of course it couldn’t have been a joke, Navtex is far too serious for that, even the Danish wouldn’t take the piss there. It was just too simple, it should have been an EXPLOSIVE SHELL or WWII SHELL not just SHELL. For all the land lubbers, the seabed contains hazards for fishermen, merchant ships and warships alike, in this case an explosive shell, you don’t want to be anchoring or trawling near one of them lads, they can go bang. The amount of mines and shells trawled up every year is amazing considering that WWII was over in 1945. Then I went to the chart and checked the position and the place is in the middle of the Halfdan Oilfield, so their is a either a WELL or a SHELL there…….probably a WELL, not great for fishing gear either!

NAVTEX means the system for broadcast and automatic reception of maritime safety information by means of narrow-band direct-printing telegraphy. (from the Admiralty List of Radio Signals)

The Navtex printer spits out a roll of messages printed on paper not unlike the size of toilet paper, you get weather and navigation warnings, distress signals, ice reports and other messages can be programmed in also. A basic little machine providing lots of info, and lots of rubbish also if you tune in the wrong stations. It forms a part of the GMDSS, but that is another days work.

Noise Filtered

Published September 7, 2007 in distress, VHF, Shipping and On the ship. 0 Comments

The one thing I am beginning to miss sorely from the deep sea adventure is the peace and quiet, I suppose I have been immune to it on previous voyages but as we pass Ushant and enter the English Channel/La Manche the racket is deafening on the bridge from the vhf, the two tone alarm, the navtex, the sat-c all spitting out paper and all requiring attention. The high pressure means that the radio reception is extremely good so we are getting every coast guard and his dog on both sides of the channel competing for radio space. It makes you feel like turning the ship around and heading back out to the Atlantic. The downside of the return to civilization.
The two tone alarm has gone again and this time it’s a pan pan from La Coruna Radio, other side of the Bay of Biscay. You wouldn’t mind so much if it was just the official users of VHF and MF radio that you had to contend with, but oh no there is every manner of animal sound, and jungle noise on the VHF from people who should not be on the radio, let alone a ship. One moron was calling out, “Gorilla from Manila, and Filipino monkey” my watchman who is from Manila laughed and said that it is often Indian’s who call this out to provoke a response from Filipinos, who say “Indian I can’t see you but I can smell you”. So childish and these guys are in charge of ships, frightening, and these days it is all being recorded, so you must be dealing with stupidity, says a lot for the profession….
Beside the noise factor and getting a headache, there is a more serious problem, with all the shite that is pouring in it is hard to filter out the distress calls, God help the poor misfortunates relying on VHF for distress.