9 Heavy Weather

Sometimes at sea, particularly if you are constantly trading in more northerly latitudes in winter, the ship will sail into very heavy weather. Hopefully there is some advance warning of the

Was everything secure last night when you finished up for the day?

oncoming situation and so time to prepare the ship. As the Chief Officer, the main responsibility for carrying out these preparations is with you. If you have a Master experienced in the weather patterns of the part of the world you are in, he will undoubtedly direct you to the precautions that are required. However, it could be that direction is not forthcoming and so you are required to consider the situation for yourself. It is important that you make sure you know the rudiments of preparing a ship for any weather situation.

9.1 At Sea
You must assume that the main brunt of the weather will be taken on the bow. This is because of the sensible anticipation that, when the weather becomes really bad, the Captain will put the ship's head into the sea. So concentrate here first. Make sure that your anchors are completely secure, stoppers and claws are on, the hawse pipes and spurling pipes are covered and cemented or foamed and your ropes are stowed below. All this should have been carried out as part of a normal departure from harbour, but it does no harm to repeat the checks required.

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When stowing your ropes, lash the ends together so that when you stow them down you have only one end left, which you can secure to the underside of the hatch. When you need to bring them on deck again open the hatch, take the end and heave all the ropes out together, one after the other. It saves a lot of time. With regard to the hatches on the foc'sle, cleats on and tight is not enough. The seas can knock them loose and smash the hatch open.
This happened to me in the North Sea, and the fore part of the ship was flooded in a storm at night.

There are two ways to secure these hatches. The best way is to tack weld. Then, when you want them open again, just use a hammer to knock them free. The other way is to rope the cleats together, weaving a rope web so they are all secured to each other. Sometimes a net is put over the hatch to achieve the same objective. In addition, the weight of your mooring rope secured on the inside hanging down will also help keep the hatch secure. Your vents should also be covered and the covers firmly lashed down, although quite often in a severe storm they will disappear. Plastic bin bags, which can be seen on some ships, are really not suitable for this and it is why you still need canvas at sea and seafarers who can work with it. Make sure that your halyards are tight and the stays on your foremast tightened up. Remove any loose gear, even wooden platforms for the windlass. Now the foc'sle store. This always seems to be the ship's junk room and plenty Of the gear in there is not properly secured. You really do not want loose gear, particularly drums rolling around, so again secure it, and especially the paint store It It is here. Secure down the weather doors, hammering the cleats home. Similar checks follow on the main deck. Ventilators, hatchways and masthouses should be secured down and loose gear removed, stowed and secured. Ensure that all your safety lines are rigged and tight. If you have cargo hatches all the crew must go round each hatch and tighten the hatch top cleats, with special emphasis on the forward hatches. If you have an amidships pilot ladder make sure this is inboard and well battened down, similarly the main gangway. The poop area must have the mooring ropes completely secured if they are not stowed down, both with lashing and canvas covers. Check whether the Captain wants the deadlights put up on the main deck. The further forward your accommodation, the more likely it is that you will need deadlights. The side ports below the main deck should certainly have deadlights secured. On the boat deck, check the boats are secure and there is no movement in the davits, then work your way up to the monkey island. Ensure that the top of the

magnetic compass is well secured and the covers are lashed down and that all the halyards are tight and well secure. All the main deck accommodation, weather or storm doors must be secured and dogged down, except for one door on the lee side on the main deck that can be lightly dogged for easy exit. Have the furniture in the messrooms and smokerooms secured and the table fiddles up in place. Finally, check the storerooms as the catering department never seem to realise that they work on a ship that tends to move!

9.2 In Port

Do you have enough lines for the forecast weather?

In port there is a limit to what can be done to safeguard the ship. As Chief Officer, you are responsible to the Captain for ensuring that his requirements are carried out and for suggesting any further precautions that might assist with the situation. However, if the weather has suddenly worsened and the Master is not onboard, the situation is entirely in your hands. The first thing to verify is the direction of the wind. Is it blowing you onto the berth or off it? Onto the berth is preferred as at least then your moorings and the security of the ship alongside is safe. In such a case your one concern is any ranging that the ship might do along the quay, and any damage that might be done to the hull and coatings by the fendering. You should ensure that your moorings and springs are tight enough to stop this and that the gangway is watched carefully for any damage. If necessary, try to put out any additional fendering that you might have onboard. You must remember that if the wind is blowing you onto the quay, it could also be forcing the water into the harbour and onto the berth and there could be a rise in the water level. If the wind is such that it is blowing the ship off the quay then, on any warning of the worsening weather, you should increase your moorings. If the ship is relatively light, see if

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you have time to ballast her down. As in most cases ships break away from the berth in the fore part first, you should consider lowering the outboard anchor onto the bottom. This will assist considerably in holding your bow in.

This hole was left by a bollard that had five headlines secured to it before the wind rose to 60 knots and blew the ship off the berth (breast lines on self tensioning winches did not help matters either!)

Watch the cargo operations. If the ship is moving at the berth and the port has not suspended cargo operations you might have to consider stopping, particularly when working with light or wind susceptible loads such as empty containers, timber or similar. In many ports the limit for crane and loader operations seems to be a maximum of 40 knots, with some ports it can be much lower. Sometimes terminals can be reluctant to stop work just because you consider that the operations are becoming too dangerous. This is a difficult situation because if you stop them working when they do not have the same opinion you could find that the charterers claim the period as off-hire. There could also be a threat of being thrown off the berth. Such a decision should rest with the Captain but, in his absence and as the ship's cargo officer, if you consider that the ship could be damaged by the terminal's continued operation, and if after discussion with the terminal supervisor he continues operation, call the agency runner down to the ship and put in a note of protest to the terminal. At the same time move the ship's personnel away from the endangered area of operations. The most effective way to stop terminal operations is to close the hatches or stop the pumping of cargo. Because of the possible consequences of such actions, you should do this only under the most extreme circumstances if you do not have the authority of the Master. You should advise the agent and see if he can contact the Captain to let him know of the deteriorating weather situation, although if he is in the vicinity he will observe the weather deteriorating and will probably be returning to the ship already.

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You should stop all shore leave for the deck department and consider sending them to stations to standby the moorings. An additional precaution is to have the engines put on standby. If you become more concerned about the movement of the ship, call the harbour and request a tug for standby.

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