training archive at Tims Times

Archive for the 'training' Category

The Lifeboat Drill

Published April 24, 2008 in training, Cadets, Drills and From the ship. 8 Comments

The Lifeboat Drill
(a true story, only the names have been omitted to protect the innocent from embarrasment)

Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong often known as Sod’s Law.

After 32 hours on the Parana River up to Rosario we anchored just after midnight. After 6 hours deep sleep the old man was awakened by the arrival of many members of the uniformed shore authorities looking for the arrival clearance inwards documents. He shuffled down to his office with the entourage who obviously had eaten raw garlic for breakfast mixed with tobacco. After 90 minutes of paper shuffling and application of the ships stamp on documents here and signatures there, the dark sunglass gang were happy, not because of the paperwork, a necessary evil but because of the quantity of Marlboro and Whiskey they had received, the grease on the axle of commerce. Then they informed the captain that the ship would not go alongside for 2 days.

It was then that the Chief Officer came up with the splendid idea of testing the port lifeboat as it had not been in the water for 2 months, and this was the perfect opportunity to do this. Instructions were given to lower the boat into the water, and NOT to release it but only run the motor for about 10 minutes to get it up to running temperature, and test the water spray, the reason being that the current in the river runs at about 3 to 4 knots, so launching wouldn’t be so clever. Everyone was prepared and briefed, life jackets on and the boat lowered to the waterline. It was now that the young Filipino cadet decided to show off what he had learned at his weekly lifeboat muster since joining the vessel, namely to release the painter, because that was his specific job upon launching the boat, and no better oppurtunity to show he knew his duties with the old man leaning against the ships rails on deck a few meters above. Said and done, before anyone had a chance to react to the actions of the Cadet, as he had done what he had learned let go the painter. This meant that the boat had the same speed as the river, 3-4 knots with a fairly confused crew and bewildered Chief mate, who couldn’t understand how they had a man onboard who did what he had learned in all cases without thinking of the consequences. After 2 minutes contact was made with the boat by VHF radio, where we were informed that the motor was running well but the clutch wasn’t engaging. The advantage of a functioning clutch is that you can transfer power to the propellor shaft and thereby get the boat to go ahead or astern. When the clutch isn’t working it doesn’t matter that the engine sounds good, the boat was all the while drifting with the current downstream without regard to the well sounding motor.
So what does the old man do in such a situation with 4 men disappearing downstream towards Montevideo? You’ve guessed it, a new crew to launch the Starboard lifeboat as a rescue boat, everything went well with lowering, but there was an AB that had learned from the incident with the port boat, had the cadet not let go the painter then none of this mess would have happened, better to let the painter line stay put, because an AB knows better than a Cadet of course. 2 of the crew nearly fall overboard because of the tight line but fortunately all of them are still onboard when they eventually do get underway down the river no thanks to the dimwitted AB.
The port boat by this stage had been met up by a local fishing boat trying to sell fish, not really the most appropriate occasion to discuss the price of fish with the Russian Chief Officer, who was only able to communicate in the International seafarers language, which the fisherman clearly understood as they disappeared quickly away. A report came from the bridge that the port boat was 1,2 miles away doing 4 knots, a really great piece of news at this stage. 1 ½ hours had gone since the beginning of the exercise and it was nearing 12 O’Clock, lunch time, the cook noticing that his lunch guests were missing wandered out onto the deck and noticed that 2 lifeboats were heading downstream, his only comment being that maybe they could bring a cow back from the shore as they were passing as the feeding rates were astronomical the past month, not really a great suggestion to the Chief mate at this stage.

By now the rescue boat had reached the port boat and the towing operation had begun, the bridge reported that both boats were now doing 1.5 knots upstream against the current but in the right direction towards the mother ship. When they were about 100 mteres away came the cheerful news that the Starboard boats engine was overheating and the revs were reducing automatically, so the boat was only doing 4 knots same as the river, so they were making no headway.

New idea send out a mooring line from the stern, they float on the water, 220 meters of one line was sent out, not enough, a new one was connected so 300 metres of line reached the port boat, not the rescue boat, the whole thing was getting complicated even for the old man who threatened that if anyone let go of the mooring rope they would be collected outside Montevideo in 3 days 300 miles downstream. After another hour all boats were secured. Both lifeboats now used in drill, next drill in 3 months time. Will revert with new information and details of that drill.

Mark 1 Eyeball Method

Published September 20, 2007 in training and Cadets. 1 Comment

I had many and varied training officers as a cadet, some gave me gems of wisdom others talked a load of crap, but on the whole they were well meaning and genuinely interested in seeing me do well in my chosen career. The tradition being that the seafarer trains up his successor, the more well trained the better, and even though it is no longer called an apprenticeship, it is to all intents and purposes. The training received onboard ship can’t be replaced by simulators, it can be enhanced and helped along by but not replaced, all too many of the final phase cadets and trainees that are coming out to ships today have no clue about traffic situations because they have no experience and don’t know the rules, but they can operate the ARPA and ECDIS like experts, poor foundations for a job as deck officer. Final trip cadets should know the basics. Practical hands on experience combined with a firm grounding in the basics is without doubt the best way to train cadets.

Maritime Colleges and Marine Academy’s can provide schooling in the basics which if planted correctly in the brain of the trainee or cadet will make their lives easier as an officer when the time comes, I’m talking about Collision Regulations, Buoyage, LSA, FFA, ISM, Stability, Construction and all the myriad of rules associated, but primarily Collision Regs and Buoyage, if a junior officer knows his rules verbatim then when a situation arises he doesn’t have to start wondering about what type of vessel is showing what lights and what the right move to make is, he just does it, and if it is getting hairy then wake up the old man. If confident enough wake up the old man and tell him what you intend to do, if less confident wake him up and ask for assistance, if shitting bricks then wake him up and ask him to take over, but rule number one wake him up , it doesn’t matter how much of a cantankerous auld bastard he is, he will be worse if not woken up in time to prevent a catastrophe and you may lose your ticket/license at the end of the day or worse.

Having said all that an experienced Captain won’t (should not in any case)leave an inexperienced officer in charge on his own in the Dover Straits, Singapore Straits , or anywhere that a large volume of crossing traffic and meeting traffic is likely to be encountered, thats only asking for trouble. But the junior officer should keep conning until the master takes over or until he requires assistance.

Anyway back to the title of this post, the “Mark one eyeball method”, a phrase I learned from an old professional second mate, who served his time with British India Steam Navigation Shipping Company, the likes of whom are rare if there are any left at all, when I was learning to do chart correcting with this guy he was able to tell an anecdote about whatever port or harbour the chart related to, how much the beer was what the girls were like and how much a taxi back to the dock was, a living encyclopedia of jolly jack information and it was his advice to all the cadets he sailed with, it boils down to this…look out through the window at what is happening outside in real life, forget the Ecdis and the Arpa and the AIS, take up the binoculars and look out through the window, take bearings with the azimuth ring and get a feel for what is happening, use the eyeball method, the oldest and most well proven navigation method known to the seafarer, then go back to your other Navigation equipment for distances and CPA’s and the like. If you pay heed to this simple piece of advice you will have a better feel for navigating and you won’t start to shit bricks when a ship appears on the 12 mile range giving 0.1nm CPA. You will also be able to navigate without the radar if the screens go black on the bridge, and still have a good idea of ranges. It also will improve confidence both personally and in the confidence the old man has for his deck officer, the more the old man trusts you the less time he will spend breathing down your neck, better for all parties concerned.