Teaching a car driver how to steer a ship

Controlling the rate of turn while steering a ship is somewhat analogous to controlling the speed of a car.

If  we name certain settings of the car throttle as follows: idle, slow, moderate  in the analogy they match up to rudder angles, amidships and say 5 and 10 degrees of rudder.  Using the car's brakes is similar to using counter rudder, that is rudder in the direction opposite the turn.

Note that cars speed is analogous to the ship's rate of turn, not it's speed.

The Snowbird

M/V Snowbird Alongside Dutch Harbor (1985) (Photo by K.C. ) 

I went to work on the Snowbird as mate in February of 1985. We had a crew of six, Captain, mate, Chief Eng, 1 A/E, a deck hand and a cook. We ran from Seattle to Alaska.calling ports in Southeast and Southwest Alaska. My previous post on the Snowbird is here
 

Ship's cook and deckhand shove pallets around on Deck(Photo by K.C. )

The cargo holds of the Snowbird were insulated and refrigerated. During cargo operations the crew, sometimes with the aid of a couple of guys from the cannery, would move the frozen boxes of seafood, usually crab from Trident Seafoods, and stack it by hand in the holds. It took about two days working all night to load the ship. The holds were kept at about -25F.

View from the port wing - The Fork Lift is used in the hold(Photo by K.C. )

The Snowbird often made up alongside a vessel at anchor. Here the whip from the Snowbird's outboard boom is married to the outboard whip from the bigger freighter. I never heard this set-up called anything but "Jap Style".

M/V Snowbird Alongside a Reefer Freighter (Photo by K.C. )  
The two boxes aft are reefers and are used for cargo. They are loaded by dropping loaded pallets aft of the boxes and moving the boxes of seafood into the reefer boxes by hand.

M/V Snowbird Alongside view from the Freighter (Photo by K.C. )

Not much to the wheelhouse, besides throttle and rudder control we had a compass, one radar, a couple VHF a HF/MF radio

Last time I saw the Chief he was making and selling Pal Oil

Al, The Chief, in the Wheelhouse (Photo by K.C. )

I sailed with Doug for two years and learned more about seamanship, navigation and ship handling in that time then any other time in my career prior to sailing master myself.

Captain Doug(Photo by K.C. )  

Every voyage involved navigating the Inside Passage then heading across the Gulf of Alaska, needless to say the sailing wasn't always smooth, especially in the winter.

Headed HomePhoto by K.C. )

Working on the Snowbird involved  almost no paperwork, no safety  management system, but  plenty of long hours at low pay in less the ideal conditions

K.C

Photos of Zona Comun Pilot Boat -Rio de la Plata

Zona Comun Pilot Boat on Río de la Plata(Photo by K.C.)

When I first saw the pilot boat with the Pilot age SA pilot aboard I though the boat itself was tied to a dock of some sort until the whole thing started coming our way.

When bound for the Port of Zarate, Argentina The Plate River  pilot boards at Recalada, the Parana River pilot boards at Zona Comun near Buenos Aires Roads.When we switched pilot I managed to snap a couple of fotos. 

If there is ever a contest for photos of the most unusual pilot boats I am entering these pictures.

K.C.