Messing Around At Anchor
BP British Trader
Testing Lifeboats and Rescue Boats in Trinidad
It started out as a quiet Thursday afternoon on the bridge. As one o’clock came around, the Captain came up to the bridge and said we were going to test the lifeboats in the water. I duly went down and got changed into a boiler suit only to discover that one of the lifeboats had already been done by one of the other officers, which only left the starboard boat to go.
Once the first boat was back onboard and Chief Officer Phil Wigglesworth had given us our safety briefing, we boarded the boat and secured our safety belts. As soon as everyone onboard was happy, we lowered the boat into the water and proceeded to carry out our usual tests. We tested the engine and the water spray system.
Everyone then had a chance to drive the boat and experience what it was like to manoeuvre around British Trader. Once everyone had had a go, we then proceeded back to the ship to recover the lifeboat. When we were hooked back on to the falls and the securing arrangements were checked, we all then secured our safety belts and the boat was safely recovered.
Once back on board the Chief Officer informed me that after smoko (shipboard coffee break) we would launch the rescue boat. Now this is a much easier boat to manoeuvre, so I was looked forward to this.
After smoko we all met at the rescue boat and the Chief Officer briefed us as to what would be happening with regards to launching the boat, which would involve the Bosun, the fourth engineer and myself. Once we were all in the boat and the harbour pin was released we were given the go ahead to launch.
I pulled on the wire to release the boat and in no time we were waterborne. After a quick check on the engines, I decided to drive the rescue boat away from the ship in reverse! When we were clear of the ship’s side I stopped the engine and then thought we would try going ahead. As the rescue boat on Trader is capable of doing about thirty knots and will pick up speed very quickly it didn’t take long to get up to speed. After a few laps around the ship to give the engine a good test, I relinquished control of the boat to let the Bosun have a drive. Once he got behind the wheel, he was up to full speed within seconds and again we were soon doing more laps of the ship. The Chief Officer then called over the radio and asked if we could get him a set of local draft readings. This meant we had to read the drafts from the side of the ship. So we promptly completed a more leisurely lap of the ship to obtain these readings.
It was then the turn of the fourth engineer to have a go at the driving. Again within seconds of the change of driver we were up to full speed and the fourth engineer was learning how to steer the boat, practicing turns and figure of eights to get a feel for the characteristics of the boat.
Second Officer Stuart Goddard
As I have completed the Fast Rescue Craft Training Course I decided it would be a good idea to practice some emergency turns and emergency stops that I was taught during the course. So I got the rescue boat up to full speed and informed the others that I was going to turn. Little did they realise that we would be turning quiet as quickly or in such a short space as we did! The fourth engineer turned to me and said that it was quiet an impressive turn, so I promptly did a few more just to prove it wasn’t a fluke. These turns could be carried out if we were rescuing a casualty from the water. Then came the emergency stop. The biggest problem of which is it gets everyone in the boat wet!
After a few more manoeuvres and an approach to a simulated casualty we decided it was time to return to the ship. We got the boat in position, secured ourselves to the hook and once the weight was then taken on the hook and after one final inspection the boat was lifted safely back onboard. Once the harbour pin was back in the boat, the crew disembarked and for some reason the fourth engineer started kissing the deck, not sure my driving was that bad!
Well that was an afternoons anchor watch gone and I had hardly spent any of it on the bridge (the Captain was up there instead).
Anyway hope you all enjoyed reading this.
Stuart Goddard
Second Officer