NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: The Nautical Day
From: Doug Royer
Date: 2004 Feb 10, 15:27 -0800
From: Doug Royer
Date: 2004 Feb 10, 15:27 -0800
Yes sir you have what I was trying to convey as to the ships' day.However,all watches start or at least are designated at 1200 hrs.I don't wish to confuse anyone on this point so I will explain.All underway watch periods are 4 or 6 hrs. in duration.The daily 1st watch has a starting time of 1200 hrs.In a 24 hr period a 6 hr watch schedule has 4 watch periods(1st through 4th).A 4 hr watch schedule has 6 watch periods(1st through 6th). The vessel is scheduled to leave dockside and make turns for sea at 1035 hrs 01-02-03.On the above schedule you will know that the last watch section of the day(augmented by the extra crewmembers needed to depart)will have the duty and take over the watch from the port watch duty section.This doesn't mean the entire port watch section just up and walks out handing over everything to the just arriveing 4th watch section.Some members of the port watch won't be on the 4th watch duty roster and they may depart for other duties just as some 4th watch members weren't on the port watch roster and they now report to their scheduled watch sections. I believe this is still an industry standard but may be mistaken as I've worked for the same organization for many years. When one 1st comes onboard a vessel or is reporting from shore leave the 1st thing one does after checking in with the OOD is read the station bill.The station bill defines all watch periods and assigns qualified crewmembers to each section's roster. -----Original Message----- From: Navigation Mailing List [mailto:NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM]On Behalf Of Trevor J. Kenchington Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 07:06 To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM Subject: Re: The Nautical Day Thanks, Doug. So if I have this right, the only thing that runs noon to noon is the writing up of the log. Even that names the half days by the civil calendar, so one sea day (as per the log) could comprise the PM hours of 01-01-03 and the AM hours of 01-02-03 (US style: 02/01/03 in most other countries), for example. That does indeed look like a last vestige of the old practice of using nautical days. As to watch hours: Most of the research ships I have known worked 6-on, 6-off, though I have heard of some working 12-on, 12-off. (Seamen raised in the discipline of the old 4-on, 4-off routine would not recognize the watch as being continuously "on" for 12 hours, of course! That is more like 12 hours less meals, coffee breaks and a fair amount of sitting around between one task and the next.) "Soela" had started with 8-hour watches before my time because the scientific party (used to office hours ashore) found it easier to cope if they had one period of unbroken sleep per day. By the time I was working there, the crew had adopted the same routine even though most of them had grown up with the far more gruelling work schedules of the North Atlantic distant-water trawling fleets. (All except the captain, who stuck with 6-on, 6-off and so forced the mate onto the same schedule.) 8-on, 8-off also meant that we didn't force the same set of guys to stand the graveyard watch every night -- a major concern when you have scientists who are used to spending nights at home and only have two weeks on board to adjust to routines at sea while getting their work done. Trevor You wrote: > Trevor, > I didn't say there was a break in any routine at the beginning or end of the > day.The logs start at noon one day and end at noon the next day while > underway or in port.While underway the ships I work on stand either 4 hrs > on,4 hrs off or 6 hrs on,6 hrs off continuesly as set by the master(on the > Station Bill).Watches while in port have a differant schedule(8 on,8 off or > 12 on,12 off).So as examples,say I have the 1st 1200 to 1800 watch > 01-01-03.I have from 1800 to 0000 off 01-01-03.At 0000 to 0600 01-02-03 I > report back for watch continuesly.If I have the 1st 1200 to 1600 01-01-03 > watch I have from 1600 to 2000 01-01-03 off,report for the 2000 to 0000 > 01-01-03 watch,have off 0000 to 0400 01-02-03 and report back for watch 0400 > to 0800 01-02-03 continuesly. > All the ships' logs are kept on a noon to noon schedule is what I wanted to > convey by the ships' day. -- Trevor J. Kenchington PhD Gadus@iStar.ca Gadus Associates, Office(902) 889-9250 R.R.#1, Musquodoboit Harbour, Fax (902) 889-9251 Nova Scotia B0J 2L0, CANADA Home (902) 889-3555 Science Serving the Fisheries http://home.istar.ca/~gadus