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When I was in the US Navy, I served aboard a couple of our LHA's (amphibious assault ships), the Saipan and the Nassau. These ships when being built were thought to be too big to be effected by heavy seas, so features such as dining tables weren't designed to be secured to the deck. Mistake, as it turned out; in such notorious stormy seas such as the North Sea and Norwegian Sea the towering seas made it necessary to secure all the tables by folding them up and tying them all in corners, while the sailors and Marines ate while seated on the deck, indian-fashion with crossed legs. One of the two ships had a roll-o-meter that looked something like this:
6 comments:
Bay of Biscay is nothing to mess with.
The predominant winds are from the South West, the wind drives the 'fetch' into a U-shaped bay, where the depths go from 5K ft to something like 500 feet.
Before I set off to cross the Atlantic, I was chatting with Robin Knox-Johnston, www.robinknox-johnston.co.uk and I asked where he found the craziest and most frightening seas?
"Bay of Biscay".
It's one of the infamous lee shores of the world. In the days of sail ships would sail far out into the Atlantic to avoid being driven into the Bay.
Indeed. Being "Embayed", with no engine to claw your way out was one of the big no-no's of square rigged sailing.
The three days we took from Brest to Gijon (We were heading for La Coruna!)saw a mix of feelings from terror to complete elation when we finally tied up at the City Quay in Gijon.
The Biscay crossing will be a big subject for the T.I.N.S. file on my blog.
What you're describing is called an inclinometer. It's marked in degrees from 0 degrees at the bottom to 90 degrees at the left and right perpendiculars.
Every ship has a tipping point which depends on design and load. My old ship could take a 52 degree list, but would tip at 54 degrees.
We took some 52's which caused me some extreme pucker factor.
My ship used hanging plants in the galley to bother the new sailors. Of course, mexican food was served on the rough sea days. Loved to hang on the bridge wing on the roughest days. I only got seasick if i was inside....
My buddy on a frigate got to 44 degrees. They were walking on walls at times. He said that at 45 degrees, topside equipment like,oh, 5 inch guns, were supposed to come loose so as to prevent rollover.
Grain of salt needed on that, but, good times in the Atlantic.....
Cargosquid: I noticed two things about seasickness when I was onboard ship. The first was that the first guy was always watching something move; onboard it was usually the jerkoff curtains on the bunks.
The second thing was that once the first guy puked, you'd have a bunch of sympathy pukers. They'd all end up standing around a shitcan heaving their guts out in six-part harmony.
*laughs*
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