SEASPEAK

[binch]

Short time ago, sailing southward down the Bosphorus in a boat over 20 metres, I was approaching the fanous bend when I was called by the controller..
The Bosphorus is hyper busy, too narrow for lanes, twisty, and carries big ships. There is a rigid (and ncessary) control system. Four controllers supervise traffic and obedience is not only compulsory, but advisable, a bit like Air Traffic Control near an airport. On first entering the Bos and giving ship details one is given a number consisting of a letter for hour of first entry (all letters except R and Y) followed by your number in sequence. One is handed on from controller to controller at known points in the passage. It is hyper-efficient.
I was told to wait as there was a 40,000 ton tanker coming north and she would need all the width to negotiate the bend. The instruction ended with ..."report intentions, over".
I'm an oldish sailor and the Turkish controllers spoke such good English, and I was concentrating hard on the unfamiliar navigation, that I absentmindedly replied; "Roger, will haul over to starboard and heave to."
I'd thrown a spanner in the works. I was not understood. And then it dawned on me that they were all using Seaspeak, and I had qualified long before it was invented.
It's a fascinating language of 1500 nautical words which is obligatory now in intership VHF.
Just for interest, it is worth a bit of study because the philosophy behind it is fascinating.
Long words are better understood than short ones!!! Don't conjugate verbs. Avoid adjectives, unless they serve as nouns. (derelict, for eg)
It's a good holiday rumble on the internet.
PS Small boats in Bosphorus, are not in this scheme -- they keep out of everyone's way.

 

[emandvee44]

The project leader was Captain Fred Weeks ExC (now Professor), who was my Navigation Lecturer at Plymouth School of Maritime Studies. Very good he was too, must have been to get me through the exams. He used to talk to us students about his ideas for seaspeak back in the 70's.
Being still active in the Maritime Profession I use the system on a daily basis -simple and effective

Cheers,

Michael.

 

[Cornishman]

The project leader was Captain Fred Weeks ExC (now Professor), who was my Navigation Lecturer at Plymouth School of Maritime Studies. Very good he was too, must have been to get me through the exams. He used to talk to us students about his ideas for seaspeak back in the 70's.
Being still active in the Maritime Profession I use the system on a daily basis -simple and effective

Cheers,

Michael.

Freddie Weeks was a delightful chap and was so very enthusiastic about his baby, SEASPEAK. I was at Plymouth SoMS for 11 years right up until we were all made redundant on the creation of the University of Plymouth out of Plymouth Polytechnic. MN training etc was not considered to be up to university standards, i.e. not degree level.

 

[Danny Jo]

Seaspeak has been formalized as the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SCMP). Evidently the IMO hopes to sell them, because they are not available on its website, but can be found in this document.

I was delighted to discover that I'm not wrong to use "Yes" and "No" instead of the antediluvian versions "Affirmative" and "Negative". It's a good read, especially for those whose VHF ticket is more than a couple of years old.

Verbs are not parsed and adjectives, it seems, are used only as simplified adverbs. For example, if a caller is barely audible asking "How do you read me", the answer is "I read you bad". (The scale goes up from bad though poor, fair, good to excellent.)

Perhaps the most important section for the occasional VHF user (other than the Mayday procedure, of course) is that on responses to questions, advice and instructions:

4 Responses
When the answer to a question is in the affirmative, say:
"Yes, .... " - followed by the appropriate phrase in full.

When the answer to a question is in the negative, say:
"No, ..." - followed by the appropriate phrase in full.

When the information requested is not immediately available, say:
"Stand by" - followed by the time interval within which the information will be
available.

When the information requested cannot be obtained, say:
"No information."

When an INSTRUCTION (e.g. by a VTS-Station, Naval vessel or other fully authorized
personnel ) or an ADVICE is given, respond if in the affirmative: "I will/can ... " - followed by the instruction or advice in full; and, if in the negative, respond: "I will not/cannot ... " - followed by the instruction or advice in full. Example: "ADVICE. Do not overtake the vessel North of you." Respond: "I will not overtake the vessel North of me."

As Wikipedia points out, the phrase "Say again" replaces:
"Could not hear what you said, please repeat!"
"I did not understand, say that again."
"Too much noise, repeat what you said!"
"I am having difficulty hearing what you are saying! Please repeat what you were trying to say."
"There is too much noise on the line - I cannot understand you.
What did you say?"

The traditionalists among us will be reassured to know that it is acceptable to add "please".

 

[V1701]

Interesting thread, thanks for the link Freestyle, I've got my VHF course next saturday it will be very useful...

 

[LittleSister]

Amused to see fathoms still in official use: "Shackle - Standard length (15 fathoms) of an anchor cable"



(And i though I knew what a shackle was!)

 

[sarabande]

that in itself is capable of being confusing. It could be taken that an anchor cable (by which they mean chain or warp) hasa standard length of 15 fathoms. Perhaps they intend a shackle to be " a unit of measurement, 15 fathoms long, for anchor cables".

 

[Leighb]

Interested to see that some of the phraseology is common to standard military radio procedure.

Such as "Say again" for please repeat your message and "Standby ... time" to indicate that the question cannot be answered then but after a designated time span.

These were in use in Germany in the 60s.