The correct knot for the correct purpose
'Well that could have been a whole lot worse!' was what passed through my mind as I struggled to pull myself back into the ship's launch.
Anchored outside the reef of a very small village on a tiny Pacific Island, we were ferrying crew ashore on the ships launches in fairly heavy swells.
On returning to the ship, we lifted the boats onboard as they would be safer on deck while we waited for the call ashore to collect the outreach teams.
As there was no dedicated lifting system the deck crew had to improvise. In and of itself this is not an unsafe practice and it has been accomplished many times before.
However when trying to attach any type of lifting system while the launch is going up and down 2 meters (6.5 feet) and the ship itself is yawing port to starboard, timing is paramount.
Wearing hard hats is also a must as the ship's crane, which was being used to lift the launch, has a heavy steel swivel and gated hook and with all the movement your head is constantly near this wrecking ball!👷♂️
In an instant a larger swell, nearly 10 feet (3 meters) came out of nowhere and tipped me out of the launch and into the sea. The saltwater lifejacket inflated instantly and I was scrambling back into the boat while the cranes swivel around my head.
The bowman also was struggling to tie off the bow line and we had to motor away from the vessel and try it again. Eventually we made it safely back on deck, wet and glad to have all limbs and bodies intact.🪢
As always after an incident like this, a time is set aside to discuss what worked and what needed improvement. One of the improvements that I was able to bring to the discussion was the way the bow line is attached. When letting go of the bow line on a launch and then reconnecting it, there are several ways to do this.
In my experience, an eye splice on the launch end of the bow line, run through a shackle connected to the bow and then a toggle (a tapered wood dowel) is inserted in the bight that has been created by pulling the standing part up through the eye splice, confused yet? (see picture below) aka in the Royal Navy as an “toggle and eye”
This allows for the bow line, which is tied off on the ships deck to stay connected to the launch while affording a simple and effective way to “let go” of the bow line when motoring away from or when coming back “alongside” the ship. 🚢
After some other crew input we went about correcting the head line (bow line) and spliced an eye and as there were no “wooden dowels” to be had I carved one from a piece of timber. This description of the incident and the processes of launching and recovering small craft from a ship is but a small part of what it is to be a mariner.👌
This is but a small piece of knowledge that I have been able to glean from the years at sea and now look to incorporate this and much more in the training platform I am developing.
'Well that could have been a whole lot worse!' was what passed through my mind as I struggled to pull myself back into the ship's launch.
Anchored outside the reef of a very small village on a tiny Pacific Island, we were ferrying crew ashore on the ships launches in fairly heavy swells.
On returning to the ship, we lifted the boats onboard as they would be safer on deck while we waited for the call ashore to collect the outreach teams.
As there was no dedicated lifting system the deck crew had to improvise. In and of itself this is not an unsafe practice and it has been accomplished many times before.
However when trying to attach any type of lifting system while the launch is going up and down 2 meters (6.5 feet) and the ship itself is yawing port to starboard, timing is paramount.
Wearing hard hats is also a must as the ship's crane, which was being used to lift the launch, has a heavy steel swivel and gated hook and with all the movement your head is constantly near this wrecking ball!👷♂️
In an instant a larger swell, nearly 10 feet (3 meters) came out of nowhere and tipped me out of the launch and into the sea. The saltwater lifejacket inflated instantly and I was scrambling back into the boat while the cranes swivel around my head.
The bowman also was struggling to tie off the bow line and we had to motor away from the vessel and try it again. Eventually we made it safely back on deck, wet and glad to have all limbs and bodies intact.🪢
As always after an incident like this, a time is set aside to discuss what worked and what needed improvement. One of the improvements that I was able to bring to the discussion was the way the bow line is attached. When letting go of the bow line on a launch and then reconnecting it, there are several ways to do this.
In my experience, an eye splice on the launch end of the bow line, run through a shackle connected to the bow and then a toggle (a tapered wood dowel) is inserted in the bight that has been created by pulling the standing part up through the eye splice, confused yet? (see picture below) aka in the Royal Navy as an “toggle and eye”
This allows for the bow line, which is tied off on the ships deck to stay connected to the launch while affording a simple and effective way to “let go” of the bow line when motoring away from or when coming back “alongside” the ship. 🚢
After some other crew input we went about correcting the head line (bow line) and spliced an eye and as there were no “wooden dowels” to be had I carved one from a piece of timber. This description of the incident and the processes of launching and recovering small craft from a ship is but a small part of what it is to be a mariner.👌
This is but a small piece of knowledge that I have been able to glean from the years at sea and now look to incorporate this and much more in the training platform I am developing.