BBC1 tonight - "Force Ten Rescue"

[pvb]

BBC1 tonight - \"Force Ten Rescue\"

Documentary tonight (BBC1 10.35pm 22 Jan) about SAR helicopters operating out of Stornoway and Shetland. Might be interesting viewing!

 

[Johnjo]

Re: BBC1 tonight - \"Force Ten Rescue\"

Yes thanks, was not aware it was on.
should be interesring,
mike

 

[Ohdrat]

Re: BBC1 tonight - \"Force Ten Rescue\"

Strangely on BBC1 Scotland we have Scottish "comedian" Karen Dunbar.. Dunno what it is about Scottish Beeb but they have a comedy hang up trying to prove we have comedy north of the border... the Force 10 rescue is on after that..

Seems to me Beeb Scotland is just trying to make a point 'cus they regularly shunt UK beeb programmes to later after some Scottish "comedy"

But hey how can I complain when Grampian have Midnight Cowboy on (now that's one helluva movie) or there's Sex In The City ... mmm now there's a choice

 

[Ohdrat]

Re: BBC1 tonight - \"Force Ten Rescue\"

mmmm 5 mins into the programme here in Scotland and this is is what we see on our (Scottish) news... so far same footage from what I remember..

Oh and Kieran Murray has photos he's taken in the Adlard Coles tombe "Heavy Weather Sailing"...

 

[Cutter]

Re: BBC1 tonight - \"Force Ten Rescue\"

Thought these guys were incredibly brave and true professionals - comforting thought to know they are out there - BUT what do we think about the trawler on fire - why did a mate have to deliver a liferaft?

 

[Twister_Ken]

Re: BBC1 tonight - \"Force Ten Rescue\"

Have to admit those guys have got very considerable cojones.

 

[Mirelle]

Wish I had not persuaded SWMBO to watch it...

I fancy that might have been counter-productive!

I assume that the burning trawler's own liferaft was stowed aft, and the galley fire, spreading so rapidly to the accomodation, prevented her crew from reaching it. Pretty good effort by the other skipper.

Large ships are obliged to carry a liferaft forward in addition to those stowed aft but I think this fishing vessel was too small for that rule to apply.

 

[steve_cronin]

I bet I\'d agree with that....

..if I knew what it meant!

Didn't it make you proud! What a bunch AND I found myself actually YOUNGER than the two winchmen!

Steve Cronin

 

[AndrewB]

Astonishing! But windspeeds...

Some amazing and brave pieces of seamanship. I'm awestruck that a wireman can still be doing such a dangerous and athletic job at 57.

Were the windspeeds really 70-80 knots in the rescue of the Elektra? Surely it would not have been possible for the crew to have been walking unsupported on deck in such conditions - let alone getting a wireman down? Although the swell was collosal, the sea state did not look like the description of a F12.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Re: Astonishing! But windspeeds...

Actually the Elektra somewhat reinforced Mirelle's point in another thread, about ships being built to lower and lower standards. The reason it was in trouble the second time, was because the towing cable was sawing through the bows. Worrying.

 

[AndrewB]

She\'s not ...

... the phlegmatic Oriental type then?

For some reason Conrad's "Typhoon" sprang to mind as we watched the Elektra tearing itself apart as it pounded into the seas.

"A gale is a gale, and a ship has got to face it. There's just so much dirty weather knocking about the world, and the proper thing is to go through it with none of what old Captain Wilson of the Melita calls 'storm strategy.' The other day ashore I heard him hold forth about it to a lot of shipmasters who came in and sat at a table next to mine. It seemed to me the greatest nonsense. He was telling them how he outmanœuvred, I think he said, a terrific gale, so that it never came nearer than fifty miles to him. A neat piece of head-work he called it. How he knew there was a terrific gale fifty miles off beats me altogether. It was like listening to a crazy man."

 

[tr7v8]

Re: Astonishing! But windspeeds...

Whilst I think to a certain extent you're right, If I was designing a ship like the Elektra I don't think part of the design criteria would be heaving it along on a hawser in seas that big!
If you did make it strong enough then I suspect the owners would be very unhappy at paying for all that steel that may never be used, aside from having to pay for fuel to push it around the oceans.

Jim
----------

 

[steve_cronin]

Re: Astonishing! But windspeeds...

That's true of the lifeboats and all the other safety kit as well surely (...having to pay for fuel to push it around the oceans.)

Since towing is a likely occurance in the life of any vessel why shoudn't an adequate facility be designed in? I think that there was another factor involved in this one though (see my reply above)

Steve Cronin

 

[steve_cronin]

There was a shot..

...shown before the tow started in which I thought I saw a vertical crack almost from the top of the bulwarks right down the stem. If this was true then the hawser would only aggrevate the damage, which subsequently it appeared to do.

Steve Cronin

 

[Mirelle]

Panama Fairlead, Smit brackets....

Most ships, even small ones, have a "Panama" fairlead i.e. one right on the bow, and a tow line can be rigged through that. Tankers and some other large ships have either a Smit bracket or, even better, a chain stopper, right forward, to which a towline can be secured. A Smit bracket has a pin that passes through a link of the towing chain, a chain stopper does what the name suggests i.e. it is an heroic version of the rope clutches that you probably have on your coachroof and it locks the chain in place. These items are also used (far more often!) in making fast to single buoy moorings.

It is customary to rig a towline in the following way:

First, a length of towing chain, which is secured aboard the casualty in a Smit bracket or chain stopper if fitted, if not a wire tail is belayed round two or more sets of bitts (on occasion, if the casualty is a very tired old lady. round the deck erections!). The chain lies in the fairlead to take the chafe. Then a wire pennant, then a doubled length of nylon to act as a shock absorber, then the tug's main towing wire which these days will certainly be reeled on a winch drum and which may be a kilometre or so long.

 

[Will]

Re: I bet I\'d agree with that....

Spanish for nadgers Steve.
So if, like a certain notorious Dartmouth gentleman, you were to sign yourself as "C.O. Jones," you are not in fact Cyril from Merthyr Tydfil, but taking the piss.

 

[halcyon]

Re: BBC1 tonight - "Force Ten Rescue"

The husband of one of our employees was diver on SAR at Culdrose in Cornwall, and the stories he told were hair raising. They used to operate 250 mile out into the Atlantic, limping into Ireland to refuel, now they send two Seakings and a Nimrod as cover, health and safety every were.
The day he nearly gave up, and it stuck in his mind for a long was when they had a shout for Loe beach and a person in the sea one winter morning. When they got there it turned out to be a three year old girl, to small to fit in strop, so he had to hang onto her till they reached the Seaking, then found she was dead.

Brian

 

[steve_cronin]

Re: Panama Fairlead,

There was no "Panama fairlead" on that vessel

Steve Cronin

 

[steve_cronin]

Re: I bet I\'d agree with that....

Ahh, right, good.

Steve Cronin

 

[Mirelle]

Re: Panama Fairlead,

No, and that would have made securing a towing bridle a bit trickier. I tried to trace the ship on the Equasis database (I recommend this if you are interested, it is free - www.equasis.org) but none of the three Elektras listed was the right one, so she has been renamed or scrapped.