"Joe" wrote
| Yes, but work on deck may prevent that. In one case the guy was
| watching cargo slide on deck after tieing the line that snapped.
| We had headache rails on the boat to jump behind and be safe : Lika
| so..
| http://www.marcon.com/library/Sales_...005Sales/a.jpg

That's a very little picture, Joe. I guess your talking about those things that look like blue walls.

| http://supplyboats.leefelterman.com/specs/osv116a.jpg
| see the big rails along the deck side, between the deck and bulwarks?

I see them.

| Thats were you go when **** starts shifting, then you can turn and
| look. See were the stern bits are?

I can't see the stern. It looks like the bow. Or did they put the pilot house right on the bow?
Maybe that's it. Most boats have the pilot house on the stern. Are those blue things sticking up the bits?

| A line goes up to each corner of a
| drilling platform and you set an anchor off your bow, you may be
| offloading and loading cargo for days on end. You have to work the
| deck, you can not hide all the time.

I thought a hawser was a rope for towing barges. I don't think lines to a platform would break.
Unless there was a hurricane.... Before that you'd be away from there I'd expect.

| The second was a guy on a Fleet tug deck pulling on our ship to get
| her away from the dock in a typhoon.

You should have kedged it off. :-)

| IIRC it was this tug : http://www.msc.navy.mil/N00P/graphics/Mday4.jpg

Well golly! They DO put the pilot house right on the bow. Must be a bumpy ride in a storm.

| The guy was not in direct line when the 6" samson braid let go, he was
| on the stern quarter of the deck I think heading to dis-engage the
| brake as the line started to smoke.

It's a sad story. You can't be too careful. You can get squashed like a bug any time.

| Not so, the larger the hawser the wider path of danger , the way the
| hawser parts, and it's braid, can make it go off at weird angles.

OK. I believe you now and I understand better. Thanks for a great post.

Cheers,
Ellen