Enter keywords or a search phrase below:
... of God, went I.
I can relate to the poor helmsman at the wheel of the Overseas Reymar, the oil tanker that hit the Oakland Bay Bridge Tunnel the other day. Almost 40 years ago I just missed it with the USS Ranger because of an inattentive harbor pilot. He had the starboard engines both ahead full and the port engines ahead one third and had given me orders to give twenty degrees left rudder and no new course to steer. I hollered at him (and the CO) that I couldn't control the turn, the CO relieved the pilot, assumed the conn and got everything right just before we passed the center structure (large cement pylon) of that very same bridge. Later, he gave me a pat on the back and thanked me. I probably saved his career.
We were passing through the space on the left, coming from the opposite direction from NAS Alameda.
I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
It is a strange story. The O/R was outbound empty from Martinez and instead of turning right and going out the Golden Gate it turned left around Treasure Island and went under the Bay Bridge to the South Anchorage by Hunters Point, then did a 180 and headed north back under the bridge, which it hit.
It was under the control of the Bar Pilot at the time.
Modeling is an excuse to buy books.
That pilot had probably hit the bar before coming aboard.
She's moored off TI. I went down and took a picture but it's not worth posting. Apparently the pilot is a past pinball wizard, but there has to be a twist...
HI:
Having lived in the SAN JOAQIUN / SACRAMENTO delta area , as a member of a CLEAN BAY skimmer contract crew , I am quite familiar with this area .
Even if he hadn't hit a bar (beforehand) Those waters and currents are very tricky . Now , that said , even with my forty foot houseboat (a RIVER QUEEN ) it was a handful .
What I never understood was the obnoxious cockiness of those pilots .They would have you think they were a diety or something. I had the unfortunate experience of dealing with these guys. They make you think they know it all.
I will grant , a very good pilot is worth his weight , But , these guys (the bad to mediocre ones) overshadow the really good ones . There are a few .
They were ALL better when the BAY AREA had much heavier ship movements in the day . Tanker-builder
The worst when it came to an inflated ego were the Panama canal Pilots. They had one tricky spot, and for that they hooked up locomotives!
Now the story is that the Racon system was down.
Maybe the bridge moved...
I think they need to take a clue from the other agency up the bay and paint the thing bright orange.
No matter what kind of navigation electronics a ship has, the Mark I eyeball is the best piece of equipment out there. On a Navy ship, radars are in abundance and are referred to constantly during Sea and Anchor Detail, but the true position of the ship is determined by quartermasters taking angles of sight on known landmarks during transits in and out of port with the exception of reduced visibility due to thick fog.
One of my old jobs during Sea and Anchor, the alidade:
True, but the Navy has the people to do that. A merchant ship going into port has only 3 to 4 people on the bridge. ( Helmsman, mate, pilot, and maybe or maybe not the Captain)
Since GPS and electronic charts with GPS positions on them, there has been an unfortunate reduction in looking out the window.
She's been anchored just north of the bridge since Monday. I took this picture yesterday afternoon from the bridge (my wife took it). That's got to be costing some money.
At least she is empty. To have a full load and to just sit there would be bad for the owners.
Around ten years ago, there were many colliers at anchor in Hampton Roads just riding idle for months. The foriegn crews had very limited access to the ports for some reason or another and since they were not well paid, just sat on the ships waiting for a cargo so they could leave. Until it made the news that they were still on board, the local citizens just assumed they had gone home. After the story came out, there were a lot of donations made to help those poor guys.
I guess he learned that when he used to drive the Saratoga...
F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!
U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!
N is for NO SURVIVORS...
- Plankton
LSM
Reduced visibility due to thick fog . . . a real problem in San Francisco Bay!
Bill
warshipguy Reduced visibility due to thick fog . . . a real problem in San Francisco Bay! Bill
I've heard that about that bay.
So its a good thing they had a pilot on board;
Why theres no telling how bad the damage would have been, other wise
Steve
Building the perfect model---just not quite yet
Half mile visibility rule for ship movements.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.