Now Ye're Talking - To A Merchant Navy Officer

I'm A Merchant Navy Officer AMA

fred funk }{ wrote: »

Ever see anything really unusual floating in the sea?

Not really, the odd container,a navigation buoy miles out at sea after a storm. Plastic bottles are an almost daily occurance, which is a shame.

Dozen Wicked Words

Want to thank you for doing this fantastic AMA, the most interesting one boards has done so far by a nautical mile in my opinion, really interesting.

My question then, is a nautical mile the same as a normal mile?

Lisha

I'm A Merchant Navy Officer AMA wrote: »

Not really, the odd container,a navigation buoy miles out at sea after a storm. Plastic bottles are an almost daily occurance, which is a shame.

That is tragic. The ocean is so vast to think its that polluted is simply wrong.
I've loved reading this thread, thanks a mil.

HeidiHeidi

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

Want to thank you for doing this fantastic AMA, the most interesting one boards has done so far by a nautical mile in my opinion, really interesting.

My question then, is a nautical mile the same as a normal mile?

+1

rosb

Do you have a favourite dinner on board?

What is the best and worst thing about your job?

What food do you miss the most from home?

Really loving this topic. Thanks

I'm A Merchant Navy Officer AMA

John_Rambo wrote: »

Thread is getting silly. Back on course anyone? Not surprised at the drop out rate in college only after reading your posts here. Fascinating stuff.



So, it's like carrying water slopping port and starboard, for and aft? (I presume you use this terminology)

1 - Do you jettison in this case?

2 - Much wildlife interaction? Do you have migratory exhausted birds landing on board? Have you hit a whale? Seen breachings or big dolphin schools? (I see dolphins when sailing, so it's probably like seeing pigeons in a city to you).

3 - Have you hit ocean debris, containers floating a few inches under water? Abandoned trawler nets in the prop? I know it can be a problem for sailing boats, just speed bumps to big ships?

4 - Do you often have to react to maydays or pan-pans?

5 - Have you come across migrant boats?

Thanks.

Kind of yeah. It's called free surface effect when a liquid is allowed to move freely from side to side. That's why all tanks designed to hold liquids would be long and narrow from for'd to aft. If your lucky and you haven't capsized you would try to rearrange ballast to get the ship upright or at least reduce the list.then you would pray you can make it to a port of refuge.

Jettisoning the cargo would be very difficult in most circumstances and impossible on ships without cranes. On a tanker it is easier as you can pump it out. In terms of priority it's human life, the ship, the environment, then the cargo In respect to dealing with emergencies.

I see dolphins all the time. Whales are less common so are a bit of a treat. I saw a documentary once on birds using ships to help them migrate which is interesting. On my last ship we'd often have a hawk sit on the bridge wing with us for a few days.

I've never hit a container, at least I don't think I have. I'm really not sure if I would notice. Fishing nets wouldn't effect us really. Our prop would cut it to ribbons.

I have never had to respond to a mayday or pan pan! We only respond if it was within a hundred miles or so or if we are specifically asked to help by a coast guard.

No migrant boats either. The med really is becoming a disaster though.

I'm A Merchant Navy Officer AMA

silverfeather wrote: »

Are your weather prediction capabilities better than met Eireann? And what can you tell us about that and the methods you use? :-)

Haha I doubt it. We use computer programs for our weather forecasts. We will send a weather routing company our intended voyage and they will advise us on the best route to take to avoid bad weather and take advantage of currents. Shortest is not always the best or fastest. For predicting local weather or approaching storms a big and fast drop in pressure almost gaurantees a storm is coming. In the northern hemisphere face your back to the wind and the low pressure will always be on your left side. That is buy ballots law and is the opposite in the southern hemisphere.

I'm A Merchant Navy Officer AMA

enda1 wrote: »

Is smuggling still a big thing in the merchant navy?
I'd a colleague who started out his career in the German merchant navy and he said that every boat he was on, smuggling was part and parcel of the operation and a nice bit of extra cash. (This is alcohol and tobacco now I'm talking about, not illegal drugs!)

This might be a hard question to answer for obvious reasons, but maybe you've heard that it is still commonplace?

It does still happen. I can buy 200 cigarettes onboard for $15, if my next port of call is Dublin then the temptation to sell them to the stevedores for €50 is certainly there. In most ports we end up giving the port officials a ream of 200 fags. It ensures everything runs smoothly. Some officials will just come onboard and say captain do you want a problem or not? In my company we have an alowance of $200 per port for ciggarettes specially to stop these problems occurring. Corruption is something very few people are immune too. I suppose the smuggling would be most common on ships going back and forth between the same ports so you can build up relationships with the stevedores . I was on a ship that went between Cuba and Europe regularly. I would always go ashore and pick up a box of cigars. When I got to Europe I then posted them home. I built up a very decent selection of cigars at home for a fraction of the price it would have cost me to do in Ireland.

I'm A Merchant Navy Officer AMA

uptherebels wrote: »

Have you ever been under quarantine? Had the wrong cargo placed on board that caused problems? Or had to jettison cargo? Is cargo insured for this or is the captain held liable if it did occur?

Nope I was never in quarantine. It was an issue for a lot of ships coming from West Africa recently with the ebola virus. The irish policy was to keep all ships at anchor for two weeks on arrival in Ireland if there last poet of call was an ebola affected area.

We loaded the wrong chemical once and had already been at sea for two days before we were told to come back and discharge it. The wrong shore tank had been connected.

If you jettison a cargo, or damage it anyway the company's p and I club will pay for it. A p and I club is a big ship owners run insurance club where they all pay a membership and the club will then pay out on any claims. The captain although responsible can't be expected to pay for any cargo damage. It will almost always cost millions so it's impractical.

Icepick

Fantastic AMA

Do you have to pay any income tax?

I'm A Merchant Navy Officer AMA

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

Want to thank you for doing this fantastic AMA, the most interesting one boards has done so far by a nautical mile in my opinion, really interesting.

My question then, is a nautical mile the same as a normal mile?

No a nautical mile is about 1850 meters. It is equal to 1/60 of a degree which is called an arc minute. So one nautical mile is equal to one minute of arc. In navigation since the earth is round all our calculations are based on on triangles where all sides are angles. Since we use degrees, minutes and seconds for positions it makes sense to have something that can divide easily into it. I'm not explaining it very well sorry. A sextant is called a sextant because it can measure a sixty degree angle.

I'm A Merchant Navy Officer AMA

Lisha wrote: »

That is tragic. The ocean is so vast to think its that polluted is simply wrong.
I've loved reading this thread, thanks a mil.

It is. There's a sort of plastic island in the middle of the pacific ocean the size of texas! Due to the ocean currents they all accumulate there. I don't see why some sort of ship that can scoop it up and recycle it couldn't be cost effective if not even profitable.

I'm A Merchant Navy Officer AMA

rosb wrote: »

Do you have a favourite dinner on board?

What is the best and worst thing about your job?

What food do you miss the most from home?

Really loving this topic. Thanks

On Saturday we have steak and chips and ice cream. This is my favourite as nearly every cook can manage it.

I miss loads if things. A decent pizza, a nice burger. The usual stuff everyone takes for granted most of the time.

The worst thing is definitely being away from loved ones.

The best is the money and the time off!

I'm A Merchant Navy Officer AMA

Icepick wrote: »

Fantastic AMA

Do you have to pay any income tax?

No I am a non resident. If your out of the country for more than 273 days a year with an income from a foreign company then no. There's a seafarers allowance if your out for more than 180 but less than 273. It's amazing how quickly you can save money when the government doesn't take half.

Lisha

That bit about the plastic iSland is shocking. I never heard this before. I'm no Eco warrior but hearing that makes me think maybe I could do a little bit more.

Reading your post above about steak dinners makes me think that I could never cope with the lack of choice that life at sea would entail. Possibly I'm a bit of a control freak. Never the less it sounds like an interesting life and I've really enjoyed and learnt from this Ama .

sullivlo

Fascinating AMA. I used to work in shipping so found some of your answers incredible.

Do you have a licence to bring the ship into dublin or do you need a pilot? Has a pilot ever been stuck on your ship and had to stay until the next port? Happened us a few times during bad weather.

HeidiHeidi

sullivlo wrote: »

Fascinating AMA. I used to work in shipping so found some of your answers incredible.

Do you have a licence to bring the ship into dublin or do you need a pilot? Has a pilot ever been stuck on your ship and had to stay until the next port? Happened us a few times during bad weather.

I'm going to guess the answer to the Dublin Port question - I always thought that only the ferries could bring their own ships into Dublin, everyone else needs a pilot.

Do you operate regular routes (and does that include Dublin?), or can you wind up zigzagging all around the place depending on the contract?

bjork

Would you go on a cruise on your holidays?


Is there a washing machine on the boat?

HeidiHeidi

Who actually physically drives/helms the ship? I'm assuming moving and manoeuvering something that size takes quite a bit of training and skill - is there a core crew of "drivers"? Is it all computer/joystick driven these days?

Are all the ships you can find yourself on much of a muchness in terms of basically operating them? Or do you need to be trained up on certain classes of ships to be able to work them?

bjork

When you retire have you any plans to run off with Sea Shepherd and live out your days as the old man and the sea?


Do you have a suite like Captain Watson or just a regular bunk?

Icepick

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Who actually physically drives/helms the ship?

autopilot

bjork

Which Sailor do you admire more; Captain Birds Eye or Popeye?


Why?

HeidiHeidi

Icepick wrote: »

autopilot

And when the autohelm packs up? (as they all inevitably do some time!)

HeidiHeidi

What's your usual "cruising speed"? Is it weather/sea state dependent?

And if you (metaphorically, obviously) slam on the brakes, how long does it take to stop?

sullivlo

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

I'm going to guess the answer to the Dublin Port question - I always thought that only the ferries could bring their own ships into Dublin, everyone else needs a pilot.

Do you operate regular routes (and does that include Dublin?), or can you wind up zigzagging all around the place depending on the contract?

Some can come in alone but need a pilot to leave. I used to have to book the pilots!

HeidiHeidi

sullivlo wrote: »

Some can come in alone but need a pilot to leave. I used to have to book the pilots!

Why on earth?

_Tombstone_

Lisha wrote: »

That bit about the plastic iSland is shocking. I never heard this before. I'm no Eco warrior but hearing that makes me think maybe I could do a little bit more.

Genie Mack, how'd ya not hear of it??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch
http://io9.com/5911969/lies-youve-been-told-about-the-pacific-garbage-patch

J Mysterio

Icepick wrote: »

Fantastic AMA

Do you have to pay any income tax?

Do you really like it?

That question was already answered.

SEPT 23 1989

thread needs some music

Jammyc

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

thread needs some music

I've always found the shipping forecast comforting for some reason.

Fantastic AMA, thanks for all your insight OP!

I've read that the shipping forecast is entirely defunct but still stands as tradition. Are there any other traditions at sea that serve no purpose but still happen with every journey?