The Final Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter East.... End of London. Namely, St Katherines Dock!


Gracing us with their presence amidst a gaggle of journalists and presenters were Prince Caspian, wearing his girlfriend's cardigan and Eustace Scrubb, who may I say is a very polite young man. They would spend the entire day locked in the hold giving interviews to the world's media regarding the pending DVD release of the latest Narnia flick.
The journalists, whilst waiting for their time with the cast, would be kept occupied by learning the ancient art of sword-fighting. Not happy with the low fatality odds of such a sport they were also made to climb to the crows nest. Needless to say all survived and a good time was had.

It was nice to see this sort of event at work. Everyone there inducing the excitement that they themselves were surrounded by. A self perpetuating media orgy of cheeky northern presenters fooling around through to a Japanese over actor wearing a deck chair. Madness. I had to sit back and take it all in...
...The sun kissing my skin, London bustling away, the clink of sword on sword under the shadow of a dragon. WHAT THE F%*K?!

How did I go from marking oil rigs to this?
Here's how!

Drive as fast as you can from Harwich to Ramsgate, the town of the dragon makers. Or, the last stop before London where one can logistically turn a medieval caravel into a dragon.

then...

BISH

BASH

BOSH

One fully functioning Dawn Treader. 

The trip through to London was mostly non eventful and quite relaxing. We did find that the moon being the closest it has been to earth in 19 years upset the tides a little. Consequently we spent an hour grounded in the entrance to the Thames estuary. Did we panic? Of course not. We ate dinner and played music until there was enough water to float us through to our anchorage near Tilbury Fort.

The morning saw us motoring into a sun stricken London, where at Greenwich we picked up a small boarding party to continue on to St Katherines Dock.

When the oil dries the wind shall rise!

This is a dead oil rig.

Once the oil is depleted, the rig proved uneconomical or too old for purpose, a transformation occurs. All of the useful gear that was there is stripped away. This also includes any navigation equipment to warn vessels of its presence. So to ensure that it is visible there are cardinal markers placed around the structure at a distance of 500 meters.

The diagram below shows how the 'place of interest', or our oil rig is marked. This is the case for most hazards at sea.

At night they will flash white to direct a vessel around the hazard. An easy way of remembering what does what is seeing them as a clock.
                                                            N- A continuous flashing.
          
                                                            E- 3 flashes.
                                      
                                                            S- 6 followed by one long (In a rough sea you may not catch all of the flashes, the one long at the end emits any confusion)

                                                            W- 9 flashes.


SO! The Buoys are in place, situated 500 meters from the rig. But what next?
We move the buoys from here...

...to here...

Now they will lay at a distance of 1500 meters from the hazard. This gives the removal men and women the room they need to break down the rig. To manoeuvre ships,  swing on anchors and whatever else they need to undertake such a task. The rig itself will be broken up to the level of the sea bed or below and will no longer pose a threat to navigation.

We shall be seeing the numbers of oil rigs in the North Sea diminish and perhaps even be obsolete entirely within the next 25 years. For reasons why, I'm not privy to such information. I can merely speculate that the 50 years worth of oil that was previously thought to be in these wells, was a figure based on a population that has been exceeded.

As the horizon clears of such structures, it shall in the near future be host to masses of wind farms, some as large as 25 square kilometers.
Funny really, for the three weeks I spent out there there was piss all wind.

There was however plenty of sea, a sea that is host to strong tides and, at times, large waves. This begs the question; Why not use tidal or wave 'farms'? Sea bed tidal generators being planned for the Orkney area should prove to generate as much as 1.2 GW of energy. This rivals some major nuclear power stations! Maybe it's the vast infrastructure that would have to be installed to allow such endeavours to flourish. There would be a need for new ports and a new grid to wire up to the existing one. 
Maybe someone somewhere will see that the investment would be worth it, to light up 75,000+ homes on a resource that is always there and always creating energy.

Ours is not to reason why, Ours is but to chip and grind.

For those avid followers of this humble Blog O Gramme, you will be all too aware that I often mention how much painting, greasing, grinding &cetera that we as deckies undertake.
It is not that we are ragging the ship into oblivion, merely getting on top of things before the work overtakes the workforce. I don't envy those on The Patricia or any older ship that must be doing this all of the time to then watch the bit they've just done rust over again!

Galatea has spent the last couple of week in Harwich undergoing a general refit. Now as you can imagine this is a gargantuan task. Not only is it a boat, it is also a floating home for the 20 crew and officers on board. Not only this but a floating depot/storage facility/worksite. You can imagine the damage a 2 tonne sinker would do as it is lifted from the sea in a swell were it to strike the boat.
The consistant use of the gear, most of which is made out of heavy metal takes its toll.

A brief idea of the work we've been undertaking follows.

Chipping back rust spots, priming then painting; Mainly on the Davits (A crane for lifting the tenders in and out of the water),the High Focal Buoy pods, in which we hold our Class 1 big bastard buoys (see Blog O Gramme on Buoy Bashing. Also the life boat cradles and other such areas of the ship that are inaccessible and at use whilst at sea.

Cleaning the hull of ship. It's a big bugger, we reach the topsides by using a cage on a crane. An environmentally friendly cleaning product called Viceroy is used. This took four men three days

Cleaning the big crane on the stern, for this we use a cherry picker on the Quay along with some guys working at height on the crane itself.

Grinding back the welds where windows have been covered over. Enter the crane and cage for this as they are 2 decks high. Each window took four hours and five grinding discs. They were then primed and painted. Of course.

Welding the Gunwhale area from where we lift the Buoy chains onto the boat. The friction here is massive, the effect of the chain rubbing gives a wrinkling effect. When lifting you sometimes see smoke and sparks.

We are having some interior changes done, for which we have contractors working hard day and night.

Servicing the two tenders, one of which is getting a new slip slap slop it on paint job.

The smaller crane on the back of the Ship has just been fixed after a few months of being broken. I was volunteered to be the one to catch the leaking hydraulic oil in a bucket. I'll let you guess how much of the 200 litres reached the bucket and how much found me.

Void inspection. For this we have what is called a Permit to Work. A Permit to work is also enforced if there is work being done by the RADAR. If it was turned on when you were near it then you would be lucky if you were only made sterile. The permit is signed and a note kept by the RADAR monitor warning it not be used. I may post more in depth about Permits to Work later on.
The bridge is notified when anyone is entering a void (Usually a space between hull and boat interior). A team of two enter to check for any damage, especially if we have taken a large knock at a particular point of the vessel. Prior to entering, oxygen levels are checked and two men are on standby with breathing apparatus for those who enter. There are still many cases within the shipping industry of people entering voids and dying. Sometimes through inhalation of noxious gasses, through there being no oxygen, or even not notifying of entry and knocking themselves out or, rarely, being sealed back into the void.
Once here, any damage there may be is welded, ground and chipped, primed then painted depending on severity.

So yes there's a lot to do, the above list is but a mere smattering of the tasks and jobs we undertake. So I'd better get on with it.

Light Work of Heavy Metal

Here is Foxtrot 3

Here is Foxtrot 3. The first light ship that I set foot on. This was actually in January, though I have only just acquired the photos from one of the cadets on board. My job here was pretty much the usual Trinity House deckhand job. Grease what needs greasing, replace what needs replacing and to find a way through the bird shit. I don't know what it is about lightships but birds love crapping on them!

You'll generally find lightships in areas too deep or unsuitable to construct a lighthouse. This one is at the Eastern entrance to the English Channel. Being the busiest shipping lane in the world you can understand the need for a light that can be seen for 19 nautical miles.

19 nautical miles! From a car bulb?! Yes. It's not the lighting that's the clever bit but the lenses they use to project the light. Amazing. Nine out of ten people get really excited when I say I can get them one of these, thinking that they're gonna be bigger than their head.

If you can manage to see through the bird shit you'll notice the damage on the bow from an impact. I find it quite amusing that they are hit so often. 

' Sorry sir I didn't see it?'

'See what young fellow?'

'That fecking great big light on top of a fecking great big pile of red birdshit.'

Maybe it happens more when it's foggy. Though there are two clever sensors that send signals to each other. When the signal is broken by something such as fog or mist, the alarm sounds. Very loud indeed. That get's pretty boring pretty quickly when you're trying to work with such an abrasive din. Still. It's nice to know that it works.

The above picture shows a great big jammer. This stops the chain from rolling out if the windlass breaks. 

'Where does the chain go?'

I'm pleased that you ask. Follow the chain to the depths of the sea and at the bottom of it you'll find a great big shackle, and on the end of the great big shackle is a great big mushroom shaped sinker weighing around 5 tonnes. These rarely drag. If however they do then they have a drag alarm to alert trinity house that it is moving.

Imagine living aboard a boat that goes nowhere, for weeks at a time and with no company other than two other men. Other than a few provisions you'd eat what you caught, the only change in scenery as you sail to no place are the boats that pass you by.

What would you do with your time? Well, tend to the light of course, maybe even on occasions carry out a rescue (this happened, though rarely). Roll a rollie, through out the rod and have a fish. Though by the nature of this work from a modern stand point I have a feeling you'd spend a lot of your time cleaning, greasing, chipping and painting.

How To Bash A Buoy...(Buoy lifting on Trinity House Vessel Galatea)

So, Here I shall try and explain how we do what you expect us to do. Known in the trade as 'Buoy Bashing'. I tried to get photos of every step, though there are a couple missing. I am there to work after all and not fanny about with a camera. This Buoy is a Class 1 High Focal Cardinal Buoy. There aren't many. You can see in the final picture just how different in size they are to a Class 2. So this really is quite an adverse example, however the principals remain the same.

APPROACH BUOY

 This is the Old Mans's time to shine. Using his amazing boat handling skills and intricate seamanship... hang on, I mean by turning on the ships Dynamic Positioning system, we can stay in the correct and exact same position all day. I shall go into DP in a later post as I think it's worth mentioning. The Patricia, sister ship to Galatea, hasn't yet been fitted with DP. The crew on The Pat still jump onto the buoys to attach the strops. They get all the fun!

USING THE 'HAPPY HOOKER', ATTACH THE STROP FOR THE  CRANE THROUGH THE LUG OF THE BUOY, ATTACH TO CRANE, REPEAT ON OTHER SIDE OF BUOY

 The Lugs are large dead eyes in the base of the buoy that are for the purpose of attaching the strops. Once through the lugs we double up the strop and hook it onto the monster crane. hooking the lug can be quite fiddly, especially when the sea is not keeping still.

BEGIN TO LIFT, AS YOU CAN SEE THERE ARE LOTS OF MUSSELS AND SEA CREATURES LIVING HERE SO...

...JETWASH THE BUOY

We only wash from and above the waterline, not only does this make the buoy more distinguishable, it makes it easier for us to do our thing. We use scrapers to get off the worst of the flora, fauna and other nautical shitty mess that accrues over time, then give it a blast when it's still outboard. This is purely as there's less mess doing it this way.

CONTINUE LIFTING

Once it is high enough to make it onto the deck, an in-haul is attached, this not only aids the crane driver to bring the buoy inboard, but also increases the stability, making it less prone to swing and clear away a whole deck of people. Safety First! Also note the size compared with the buoys in the background.

Once on deck, or in this case in the well, the bridle (the loop of chain attached directly to the buoy going to a swivel attached to the chain heading to the sea bed) is disconnected, taking off the load from the chain which we now start to bring on board.
The chain is pinned in place, a hook lowered and attached onto the chain going into the sea, then it is lifted, flaked below deck, then a hook lowered to repeat the process until we can get the sinker onboard.

It's at this point that one hopes it'll be just chain and sinker that arises, with nothing else fouling the chain. So far we've picked up an anchor weighing a tonne with about 50 fathoms of cable, and an old concrete sinker. It has been known of an unexploded bomb coming up with one sinker.


ONCE ON DECK, CLIMB TO TOP OF BUOY, CHECKING THAT THE LIGHT, BATTERIES AND REGULATOR ARE OK. MEANWHILE ON DECK WE ARE CHECKING THE THICKNESS OF THE CHAIN, CONDITION OF THE SINKER AND FOR ANY WEAR AND TEAR ON THE SHACKLES.

If the chain is too thin, it is replaced, as for anything else that is deemed unfit for purpose.

ALL OK!!! REVERSE PROCESS

Though we turn the hooks around in the lugs as to swing the buoy around and wash the other side of it.
Also now we have attached lines to the strops, as when the hooks go slack they can get tangled around the top marker and cause all sorts of bother. By pulling like nutters on these ropes we can get the strops and hooks away from the buoy pretty swiftly.

Say good bye, cup of tea, rollie, and jobs a goodun.

If all goes smoothly we can get a Buoy lifted, checked and back in the 'Oggin in little over an hour. That's 500 plus years of doing it every day. Ask them on the Pat, some of them have been there for about that time.

What Do You Do For A Living?

I cruise around the coast picking up buoys and wash mussels from their bottoms.
Hmmm.

Apologies for such a belated entry. I have no excuses for this other than I am naturally fainéant.

So What is it that I actually do? The above description being the broad strokes of the job, I shall elaborate
I maintain the vessel, obviously not all of it, but there's always moving parts to be greased, bits to be sanded, ground, painted, greased, stowed, tidied, lashed did I mention the greasing?
When mooring we (Deck Crew) are responsible for tying up the boat effectively and in the correct position. The Boatswain communicates to the bridge via VHF. One team is responsible for the bow, one for the stern.

As a rule we work from 8am until 5 though this may vary. We recently undertook some contract work on data buoys in the North Sea. The data took several hours to download, water samples were to be taken, sinkers* replaced, chain to be tested. This work saw us go on for longer with shorter beaks. The company (TH) still reforms to having 12 hours rest in any 24 hour period, and all hard work is rewarded fairly.

My first tour was insightful. A lot goes in to the maintaining of Navigational Aids, a lot of it from our part being hard graft and, especially this time of year, cold graft.

I have had a very varied first trip. Buoy Bashing, the salvage of an upturned yacht, water sampling, fire drills, bomb drills, contract work for windfarms, various weather, all variants of cold.
I was on board for 2 weeks before anyone thought to issue me with my warm weather gear.

A View of the Working Deck from the Boat Deck

*Big bastard weight that keeps the buoy where it should be.

Salty Air & Heavy Metal! Blog-O-Gramme Number 4

So, I've started my term as Trainee Deck Rating aboard THV Galatea. It is heavy, hard work indeed. Friday saw us just off of Great Yarmouth, we lifted three buoys in total, 2 starboard navigation buoys and 1 port one.  The first buoy was replaced with a shiny new one. The other two were lifted, the Mussels and other salty crud from the sea was jetwashed off and the buoy then placed on deck for testing. We had to replace a faulty regulator (this is what regulatres the power from the solar panels to the batteries). This put us back a little bit, though not a great deal.
Saturday we did the same with an Easterly Cardinal buoy. As well as the above there was 75 meters of chain that had to be replaced. This is very thick and heavy chain that requires thick and heavy work!  So this seems to be the bulk of my job. I shall endeavour to go into a little more detail on the step by step processes. I'll leave it for when I get the chance to take and upload some photos.
Also if you think that there's anything you want to hear about, let me know and I'll get back to you.

Blog-O-Gramme Number Three, A Wee Bit of History a Bippety Bop Noo!

So I think that before I actually start telling you about what I see, hear and smell whilst at work. I should probably give those of you that don't know, a brief story of what Trinity House actually does! The following words have been taken mostly from the Trinity House website, it is all polished off with a link to said site for anyone wishing to indulge a little further.

The Corporation of Trinity House's prime concerns are the safety of shipping, and the well being of seafarers. These have been at the top of the list since a Charter was granted by Henry VIII in 1514.

Trinity House has three main functions today:

• T.H is the General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar, responsible for a range of general aids to navigation, 'signs of the sea', from lighthouses to radar beacons.
• T.H is a charitable organisation dedicated to the safety, welfare and training of mariners.
•  T.H is a Deep Sea Pilotage Authority providing expert navigators for ships trading in Northern European waters.

Still interested?! Blimey! Here's a bit of history for you then...

The first official record is the grant of a Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1514 to a fraternity of mariners called the Guild of the Holy Trinity. In 1604 James I conferred on Trinity House rights concerning compulsory pilotage of shipping and the exclusive right to license pilots in the River Thames.

Until responsibility for District Pilotage was transferred to Port and Harbour Authorities under the 1987 Pilotage Act, TH were Pilotage Authority for London and over 40 other Districts, including the major ports of Southampton and Harwich.

Lighthouses

The first lighthouse built by Trinity House was at Lowestoft in 1609, which was part of a series of lights to help guide vessels through a maze of sandbanks between Happisburgh and Lowestoft. The lighthouses were paid for by a levy charged on vessels leaving the ports of Newcastle, Hull, Boston and King's Lyn, a method of payment which is similar to the current light dues system that remains in use today.

The next two hundred years saw an increase in lighthouses being built, a vast amount being privately owned. Owners could find themselves becoming very rich from the dues collected from Ships entering into port. The reliability of many of these private lights left much to be desired and so in 1836 legislation was passed for all private lights in England, Wales and the Channel Islands to be compulsory purchased and placed under the management of Trinity House.

www.trinityhouse.co.uk

Follow me in realtime with AIS

You can use the below link to follow THV Galatea on it's duties. In fact any ship that has AIS (Automatic Identification System) can be viewed on this site.
From where the vessel is going, where it's been, what sort of cargo it may be carrying, it's nationality, it's current track and speed, it's tonnage and dimensions! All of this and a photo of the boat, lovely.

Upon opening the link, on the left hand side of the page will be a section called Last Position Received. Here click on Current Vessels Track and it will show you on a map just where the boat is and where it's been. Great stuff!!

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?mmsi=235054097

AIS is a legal requirement for any seagoing passanger vessel, or any comercial vessel in excess of 300 tonnes. It is an amazing system that is aiding in collision avoidance, obviously there is still no excuse not to maintain a visual look out at all times.

The American Coastguard are planning on replacing the RACON system in navigational aids with AIS.

Blog-O-Gramme Number One

Call us what you will; Sailors, Mariners, Seamen, Jacks, Tars, Grunts, Deckheads, Barefoot Vagabonds &cetera... We have many monikers and one affinity, the ocean.

I hope to share with you my encounters of a career at sea, to pass on a salty yarn or two from the fo’c’sle, off duty with nothing more to do with my time.
This site is for you, for the sailor, for the armchair explorer, for the nautically inclined and overall for my family and my friends, even enemies are welcome here.
This is a place to feel a part of the vast yet solitary community that makes up The Cold Face Brigade, enjoy.