The Russian Type 11540 Frigate Neustrashimy seen outside the port of Le Havre today 5th July. She took her pilot before us and headed up the Seine towards Rouen for the Armada 2008 There was a bit of confusion when she was giving her details to the Pilot station, for starters she gave a draft of 9.8 metres. Her details on the Russian website Aeronatics gives 4.8m. The pilot station asked him to confirm his draft but he kept saying 9.8m? There was about 15 sailors on the focsle when she was heaving anchor and about 10 on the poop to take the pilot. All looking equally busy. When our pilot boarded he hardly had time to take off his jacket when he observed the Warship turning to port on the bend where she should have been going to starboard, we had to take evasive manouvres to avoid a close quarters situation. Our pilot spoke to his colleague on the warship, and there was plenty of air sucking and shoulder lifting, and “bateau de guerre” he had instructed the vessel to go to starboard but she turned to port instead….strange, then later she turned the wrong way again….very strange. There was no radar on the bridge either, so it was pilotage by compass and the Mark one eyeball method. Anyway she managed to steam away up the river before us escorted by a French navy patrol boat. Plenty smoke too.
A pilot getting ready to board, this sight may become a thing of the past in Sweden according to an article today from the newspaper Göteborgs Posten. An inquiry has been carried out by the Swedish Government into making pilotage more effective, one of the proposals is that ships can be piloted from land with the use of modern techniques available to navigators today. An overhaul of the pilotage legislation is also proposed as well as increased pilot dispensations for ships that are regular visitors to ports.
No surprise to read in the article that Pilots are against the idea of piloting from land by VHF and or computer, one pilot said that you have to be onboard to be able to steer a ship correctly, to be able to feel the characteristics of a ship. I agree in part with the Pilots but also feel that there are many occasions where the services of a pilot are not required, and in some ports you can be delayed because you have to wait for a pilot, to take you out on a 15 minute pilotage, you may have to wait a few hours for that 15 minutes.
The answer is not easy, but more flexibility is required in some cases and compulsory pilotage should be continued where local knowledge is important for safe berthing of ships, or ships carrying dangerous goods
The suggestions are hardly new thinking in any case, in Rotterdam you get a VHF pilot if the weather is too bad for a pilot to board, a bit of an irony really, if the weather is too bad for the pilot to board they trust the master to navigate whereas in better weather you need a pilot on the bridge? Pilotage dispensations are hardly a new idea either, ferry Masters have been getting dispensations for years, more widespread issuing of dispensations will have to be carefully thought through though, an oil spill or collision in port with no pilot on board is unwelcome to say the least.
The real reason for the inquiry is probably more likely to do with the difficulty in finding enough qualified people to do the job of pilot, a problem across the industry, than any need for using new technology. New technology didn’t help the container ship LT Cortesia from going aground in the English Channel, and you can bet your last dollar that it would never have happened had they a deep sea pilot onboard.
Netherlands Loodswezen SWATH boats Perseus (a constellation and Greek mythical figure who killed Medusa) and Cetus ( another constellation and Greek for Whale, the one that swallowed Jonah….) in action off Rotterdam (Perseus) and Amsterdam (Cetus)
The sea pilot arrived by helicopter yesterday, nothing too strange there. When he arrived on the bridge he wanted to smoke directly which is not allowed so he was in a bit of a humour. When we were going into the locks at Dunkerque he was behind me as I was at the controls, he didn’t say anything except made a sort of a noise like tut tutting when he felt we were wandering off track, then he didn’t have to say anything because I knew something was wrong and fixed it by applying more helm or thrust. Once in the locks and secure he dashed down to the smoke room for a couple of Gitanes, when he came back the humour was better…..I suggested a nicotene patch for the long pilotages where smoking is not allowed……he produced a box of pills from his pocket and said “I ‘ave been chewing thees nicotine sweets all evening!¨
The demon nicotine!
Any aircraft experts out there (Devin) know what kind of helicopter it is?
No offence meant to the vast majority of Pilots, or even to my friend from my story.
The pilot arrived on the bridge in full regalia more gold than a Tsar and said “Compulsory Tugs” and nodded to me, the agent had already primed me so I was aware, I tried to say that we normally don’t use tugs as we have a powerful engine, becker rudder, variable pitch propeller and azimuth bow thruster a modern ship in all respects, he just smiled and said “is compulsory” so two tugs arrive, they look like they have been gone over with lump hammers so that there is no area of steel that doesn’t look like crumpled up tin foil that has been reused a few times, then they want to use ships lines….of course.
As we get singled up and the tugs make fast I look for an explanation thinking I can convince him to keep the tugs fast but that I will do the manouvre without their assistance they can just tag along, no dice, he starts mumbling about 10 metres from the jetty engines…he also tried to explain in a blur of words about collapsing jetties and only good concrete on top foundations bad, looks nice but not so good. The grasp of English is limited to port-starboard, numbers from 0-9, normal engine commands, yes no and is compulsory for tugs, the rest is a blur. The tugs started heaving black smoke pluming out of the forward tug as he pulled like a dervish possessed, my understanding was that we would be pulled parallel to the quay to avoid engine movements which were potentially damaging to the foundations. However the excited efforts of the forward tug result in the bow swinging out and the stern starts to ease closer to the quay than is comfortable for me, my hand has already put the pitch to 50% or half ahead as my brain thinks about it and then I tell the pilot that the paint is new and wouldn’t look good on the jetty, he nodded with approval even though his face was as grey as the concrete and then he started in apoplexy to roar into the radio. So the whole operation with the tugs is a fiasco, with minimal engine movement and bow thruster I could have moved the ship off gently, but the tugs actions put the ship in a risk of hitting the jetty we were supposed to be protecting and I have to give a use vigourous engine manouvre resulting in plenty wash and more likely to dislodge the poor concrete below the waterline than a controlled manouvre. So much for common sense and good seamanship.
I suppose we were never in any real danger of hitting the quay but you never know and the paper work alone would have caused a significant increase in deforestation, my remaining hair to go completely grey, the little I have left at this stage of the game from self removal in great tufts when severely frustrated by the seemingly unending supply of totally avoidable situations.
One of my old ships was on a regular run to LOOP or Louisiana Offshore Oil Port we transported crude oil from West Africa and the Persian Gulf to LOOP by VLCC and then the oil was then piped on to the mainland US for refining. This was my first experience of the US Coast Guard and US Pilotage, it was before 9-11 so the atmosphere of security was controlled but not as tough as it is for sailors visiting the US today. But back then you could still get ashore if you wanted to. We arranged for the agent to buy us Levi’s and other American goods, not that we were living in the Soviet Union or anything but because they were so cheap.
Anyway one of the Able Seaman was one Jesus Rey Fernandez from Cebu in the Phillipines, Jesus (which was pronounced Hay-soos by the Filipino sailors and Jees-us by the officers probably because of the novelty and Jay-zuz by me because I couldn’t resist) was an old sea dog with a woman and child in every port the ship managed to get to, he looked about 90 but was probably more in the region of 60, he nearly starved to death one trip when he managed to spit out his false teeth into the Suez Canal, he was only gobbing over the side but the teeth went sailing in with whatever he was spitting out, he stood at the rail for ages his mouth half open and shiny gums silently gnashing in disbelief, the cook didn’t like him as it was and he had to suck down all his food until a reserve set of teeth arrived.
We were sailing from LOOP and we got instructions to take bunkers (thats fuel for the land lubbers) at Pilot Town on the Mississippi, so we headed for the entrance and took on board our river pilot for the short passage up to Pilot Town. He arrived on the bridge out of breath and proceeded to light up a Marlboro before getting down to the usual introductions and how are you Captain and would you like a cup of coffee Pilot, after the first blast of Nicotine he calmed down ordered half ahead on the engine and a man on the wheel. The currents at the mouth of the Mississippi River are strong and can be unpredictable so a good helmsman is required, the old man wasn’t so old and probably put the wrong man on the wheel, so the ships head was a bit shaky approaching the entrance, the pilot got angry and shouted with a strong southern accent “Jesus Christ Cap’n, this is no time to put a beginner on the wheel” just then Able Seaman Jesus Rey appeared like an apparition on the bridge, the Captain said “Jesus, take the wheel!” The pilot raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, he was satisfied as long as the steering went well. We negotiated our way up to the designated spot which is little more than a bend in the river and anchored 4 shackles on the starboard and 1 on the port. The pilot made his way off after doing a professional job even if he was a bit rough around the edges himself.
Later on in the bar, the old man was giving his version of the story while sucking down our newly bought Coors beer, it was a little bit more exaggerated than reality, the pilot smoked more cigarettes, and spoke with a John Wayne accent and said “Truly this man was the son of God” when Jesus took the wheel,………not really as it happened but hardly the first time a story about Jesus got exaggerated……
On the Netherlands coast last year we had to disembark the pilot by helicopter because the weather was too rough for the pilot boat. The decision to use the helicopter was taken at the last minute and the pilot had been expecting to get off by launch, but he had the helicopter suit and helmet with just in case.
He wanted to get off by boat and he was very dischuffed about the whole helicopter lark, he didn’t say anything and remained professional but his facial expression fell and there was a fair deal of huffing and puffing putting on the immersion suit. His hands were a bit shaky also, I felt sorry for him but he marched out stoicly and his departure was successful.
It was a fairly spectacular sight to see the yellow chopper buzzing over the deck, I was in the helicopter party, which sounds like fun maybe but is a bit more serious, we have the bolt cutters and chemical foam and extinguishers ready if it all goes wrong. It didn’t and the pilot flew away and we sailed away.
The Pilot Boat has more on pilot operations click on the link and head on over.
Our peaceful anchoring was rudely interrupted by Amsterdam Port, informing us that we had to pick up the hook and proceed to Australiehaven Berth A, AKA BP terminal and unload our cargo. We boarded the pilot just after chow and went on our way.
In an attempt to be sociable I was telling the pilot about the similarities between Swedish and Dutch, I even told him that I had clogs outside my door, he said that he lived in a windmill and had tulips in the garden, he had me going for a split second, then he just shook his head. Who said the cloggies had no sense of humour?
We are off to Riga next, first time for me. More news later.
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