NavList:
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Re: Course Changing in the Navy
From: Bruce Hamilton
Date: 2009 Dec 10, 14:24 -0800
From: Bruce Hamilton
Date: 2009 Dec 10, 14:24 -0800
The last line in some night order books was "if you even think you are in doubt, call the captain".
I was a cadet on one ship where the old man hated being called and would always give the mates a hard time when they disturbed him. Then one foggy day, the second mate did not call him in time. Ever seen a old Greek freighter come out of the fog on your port side at about 100 yards? Not fun. A quick hard a'starbord saved us and the second mate got fired. Once the Captain did get on the bridge, the worst part was, the Greek freighter kept changing course after the initial close quarters situation and coming at us. I can still hear our captain yelling on the radio, Stop your engines!
In case you are wondering, the bit in the col regs about maintaining a safe speed in fog is often interpreted quite liberally. We always did full speed in open water. I have also worked on west coast coastal tugs where we did full speed with no foghorn cause the skipper hated the noise. Keep that in mind if you go out in fog without radar.
I have seen the captain override pilot orders, but usually it was helm orders where more helm was needed than the pilot used. This usually happened in small ports where the local (make work project) required pilot was a local fisherman. The other pilots we used like Pilot Escoumins in the St Lawrence River, were really highly trained and very professional. I always thought the amusing thing was that the area where St. Lawrence Pilots were required was well marked with deep channels and lots of ranges to steer on, but from Montreal to Kingston we did not require a pilot and that was the worst part of the river, but on Canadian Lake Ships, all Captains, and any first mate who wants to become a Captain, are competent river pilots. Even as a cadet, I had my river book started with all the notes, ranges, and courses needed to do the river.
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I was a cadet on one ship where the old man hated being called and would always give the mates a hard time when they disturbed him. Then one foggy day, the second mate did not call him in time. Ever seen a old Greek freighter come out of the fog on your port side at about 100 yards? Not fun. A quick hard a'starbord saved us and the second mate got fired. Once the Captain did get on the bridge, the worst part was, the Greek freighter kept changing course after the initial close quarters situation and coming at us. I can still hear our captain yelling on the radio, Stop your engines!
In case you are wondering, the bit in the col regs about maintaining a safe speed in fog is often interpreted quite liberally. We always did full speed in open water. I have also worked on west coast coastal tugs where we did full speed with no foghorn cause the skipper hated the noise. Keep that in mind if you go out in fog without radar.
I have seen the captain override pilot orders, but usually it was helm orders where more helm was needed than the pilot used. This usually happened in small ports where the local (make work project) required pilot was a local fisherman. The other pilots we used like Pilot Escoumins in the St Lawrence River, were really highly trained and very professional. I always thought the amusing thing was that the area where St. Lawrence Pilots were required was well marked with deep channels and lots of ranges to steer on, but from Montreal to Kingston we did not require a pilot and that was the worst part of the river, but on Canadian Lake Ships, all Captains, and any first mate who wants to become a Captain, are competent river pilots. Even as a cadet, I had my river book started with all the notes, ranges, and courses needed to do the river.
--
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