December 14, 2020

Rigging

Rigging a Bosun’s chair. A bosun’s chair consists of a piece of wood about 50 cms long, 13 cms wide and 2.5 cms thick. Two holes are drilled at each end through which two strops are rove and spliced underneath. A thimble is then seized into the bights of both […]
December 14, 2020

Safety – Watchkeeping

Since a ship operates 24 hours around the clock, the crew is divided into watches. This applies to both the deck department and engineering. What are the watch keepers responsible for? Responsibilities. The watch keepers are responsible for the following during their period on watch: Ensuring the effective and efficient […]
December 14, 2020

Steering

Normally these days most vessels have auto-pilots (a computer steers the ship) but when it breaks down and also when entering and leaving harbour and navigating in restricted waters, the ship has to be steered manually. At sea most English speaking maritime countries use a common form of wheel orders […]
December 14, 2020

Emergency drills – man overboard

Introduction. Emergencies usually occur when they are least expected and usually under less than ideal conditions. This is particularly true when they occur at sea. Because of this, ships usually make provision by having standard drills and by practising them regularly. The idea is that by doing the drills often […]
December 14, 2020

Emergency drills – shipboard fires

A shipboard fire is another nightmare for seamen. Unfortunately there is no fire department to call upon and you cannot evacuate the crew. This means that the crew themselves have to combat the fire and put it out. This means that the entire ship’s company, irrespective of whether he is […]