Brave heroes

Why don't they lower a line with a double action hook for the pilot to clip a harness onto ?

I'd rather be a bit bashed against a rolling ship ( something akin to body armour on head, torso, knees, elbows seems worthwhile ) than drop and either go round the prop' or get left behind !
 
Last edited:
Seajet said:
Why don't they lower a line with a double action hook on a line for the pilot to clip a harness onto ?

I'd rather be a bit bashed against a rolling ship ( something akin to body armour on head, torso, knees, elbows seems worthwhile ) than drop and either go round the prop' or get left behind !
Click to expand...
Apparently there are serious provisions for pilot ladders etc. in the SOLAS regulations. The dangerous bit if using a safety line as you suggest would be the actual transfer from the pilot boat to the ladder; ship and pilot boat might be moving quite a lot relative to each other, so you couldn't clip on until actually on the ladder, by which time you're past the most dangerous bit! But whatever, the provision of safe means for a pilot to board a ship is taken very seriously - but many ships (there's a case or two in nearly every CHIRP newsletter) get it wrong.

I personally don't fancy a pilot's job! But we see them going out to bring ships in practically every time we go out; Felixstowe and Harwich require the use of a pilot, as do most large ports these days.
 
I have had the opportunity to follow pilots up and down that ladder. In sheltered waters, in reasonable weather, but with the additional gear that a camera crew needs. I found that difficult enough, let alone doing that on the open sea, at night in a force 7 with 1.5 m waves.
Somehow pilots in my country seem to have an image of being well paid and privileged and being too eager to go on strike to protect their perceived privileges. That perception lives notably among the bosses of harbour-related industries. They might get a different understanding if they accompanied a pilot in real-life conditions.
 
Her in LA they're paid around $100k a year. Seems like a lot but remember they have a Master Unlimited and yeah climbing that ladder... I did boardings in a previous life but never had to climb a ladder like that

I 'might' do it for that sort of money but probably not :)

W.
 
I’ve not boarded a ship using a pilot ladder for a long time..... I spent a couple of weeks in Port Stanley going from ship to ship using an RCT workboat confirming what was actually left on board the cargo vessels and where it was stowed. Sometimes it was fairly easy, when there wasn’t much of a swell running, other times it was a case of step and pray you’d timed it right. And that was before climbing up the thing to the deck. Getting off again was equally entertaining with a step off, usually in the dark at the end of the day. All good character building stuff.
 
Seajet said:
Why don't they lower a line with a double action hook for the pilot to clip a harness onto ?

I'd rather be a bit bashed against a rolling ship ( something akin to body armour on head, torso, knees, elbows seems worthwhile ) than drop and either go round the prop' or get left behind !
Click to expand...
My grandfather was a ships pilot in Penang. He got “left behind” and had to swim back to Penang where, the story goes, grandmother gave him a rocket for being late for dinner.
 
doris said:
Watch
https://twitter.com/x/status/1232231200111988737
and read the thread.
Interesting
Click to expand...
Been there done that in Egypt at Zeit Bay SBM Red Sea. No gangway. Trick was for the pilot boat to hold close enough to the ladder for us to step on to it at the highest point. Went on one time, it was big seas, I got on then the pilot got a bit twitchy, the skipper of the pilot boat was letting it take a beating, I was waving him off, the skipper did stubborn, the boat was taking a pounding and finally the pilot did as he was told! Interesting, the boats were shuttle tankers to take the product up the Suez canal, Greek skipper Pakistan engineer and the rest if the crew Bangladesh. They did 12 months on board straight. We would be given one can of coke as contract refreshments! We soon learned to take provisions with us as we were usually on board for 24 hours while they loaded. The Greek skippers used to have vines growing in tubs winding there way through their quarters!
 
duncan99210 said:
I’ve not boarded a ship using a pilot ladder for a long time..... I spent a couple of weeks in Port Stanley going from ship to ship using an RCT workboat confirming what was actually left on board the cargo vessels and where it was stowed. Sometimes it was fairly easy, when there wasn’t much of a swell running, other times it was a case of step and pray you’d timed it right. And that was before climbing up the thing to the deck. Getting off again was equally entertaining with a step off, usually in the dark at the end of the day. All good character building stuff.
Click to expand...
Angola offshore, going to the unmanned offshore production platforms, built to Mexican Gulf designs on similar work boats was also interesting. Big Atlantic swells running. The bottom deck had a boarding platform, the boat would back up to it, the crew would use a boat hook to grab knotted ropes and pull them inboard, we would grab as high up as we could and swing on to the platform! The skippers on the three engined boats would leave the middle engine in forward gear and use the outside ones to manoevre, one told me it was the gearbox clutches were air driven and it would take 30 secs to disengage and switch to the opposite gear. It was too easy to stall if they panicked and tried to go to fast ftom stern to fwd. If all went titsup they could do netral in the manoevering engines and the middle one would take them away from the platform
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

zoidberg
MetO vapourware?
Replies
0
Views
154
zoidberg
zoidberg

Share this page

Top