Vessel Encounters - The Play

In comments of my post Vessel encounters drunks. Which rule applies?   I said I was going to take another stab at making my point so here goes.

One of the books I have here at home is Mariner's Rules of the Road by William P. Crawford.  

The book uses the analogy of a play to explain the rules of conduct between vessels. From the book, regarding the rules:

"The structure, though, can be reduced to this: a code of conduct and a code of signals. Vessels are given a script to follow when they meet; that is the code of conduct."

and:

The analogy of a script is apt. Performers acting out parts in a theater are guided by the playwright's specifications of who says what and when.Vessels approaching each other so as to involve risk of collision also require direction.

When a recreation vessel deliberately uses it's superior maneuverability to harass a larger vessel one actor is not following the  script and  the play is over.

Searching through the rules of the roads for the appropriate rule in this case would be  like searching for Booth's line "Sic semper tyrannis"  in the script for Our American Cousin. It's not  there, the play was over when Booth shot Lincoln.

At sea, once Booth jumps onto the stage it's time for the pedantic types to turn to Rule 2 also called "The Rule of Good Seamanship and the General Prudential Rule.

Again from Crawford's book:

"If there is no script, or if what script exist won't work, then be ready to 'ad lib'."

K.C.

Would the stern swing to port?

What?? I have been researching the so called "Gross tonnage rule" and from a Coast Guard Auxiliary site I read:

"In other words, if a boat is moving a 5 mph east and you were in the vacuum of space, it would never stop traveling east at 5 mph. However, we all know when we stop our engine on our boat, we slow down".

I wonder if I was in the vacuum of space and I backed the engine would the ship and the propeller begin to rotate in opposite directions? I mean assuming my engine is going to run?

Anyway speaking of ships in outer space the blog Strait of Magellan has safely circumnavigated the sun.

K.C.

Use of the GPS to regain the track-line to recover a MOB

Typical Maine GPS

In the case of a crew (man) overboard many  GPS units have a MOB (man overboard) button which will give the bearing and range back to the position of the ship when the button was pushed. The problem is  the button may be overlooked  entirely or it may not pushed in a timely manner.  Even if it is pushed in a relatively timely manner it may be difficult to determine the distance between the MOB position on the GPS and the actual position of the crew in the water.

However,   the crew member in the water has to be somewhere along the previous track. This track  information is likely stored continuously and automatically on the GPS unit.

The GPS "PLOT", which shows the previous track, can be an invaluable aid in locating the ship's track while executing the man overboard turn.

It is important to know how to switch to the PLOT screen during the overboard emergency  and it is also important to check to insure that it is set up properly to continuously record the ship's track before the emergency.

The ship's track may also be stored in other electronic equipment. For example  "target trails" on the radar set at the appropriate time may also display the ship's previous track.


K.C.

Program to aid Seafarers subject to pirate attack.

[Photo: ITF Seafarers' Trust: Rob Murray]

A program  " to help seafarers who have been or may be subject to pirate attack." The Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme (MPHRP) has been established:

"to assist seafarers and their families with the humanitarian aspects of a traumatic incident caused by a piracy attack, armed robbery or being taken hostage"

The announcement from the International Transportation  Workers Federation (ITF) is here. 

K.C.

Photo of Shipyard Worker Cadiz Spain

Cadiz shipyard worker

A shipyard worker standing on staging set up to work on the bow thruster.

K.C.

BTW I also managed to get a couple of photos of the anchor gear to tune up my post Ground Tackle for PCTC