"Capt.American" wrote in message
om...
"Donal" wrote in message
...
Yesterday, as we approached a large, anchored, oil tanker, it gave one
short blast. About a minute later it gave three short blasts.


One prolonged followed by 3 short usually means they are backing out
of a slip or dock

Does anybody know what this meant?

Perhaps it was a at anchor fog signal, followed a minute later by
astern propulsion signal to dig in an anchor.

This makes most sense, so far. He could very well have been digging his
anchor in -- but would he really have sounded "astern" when there weren't
any boats behind him??
I don't think that it was a fog signal. I'm fairly sure that it was a short
blast. He did swing clockwise around his anchor - so a starboard turn is
just possible. Also, the two other ships at anchor didn't start to swing
around for another 10-15 minutes. They *should* have started to swing 5-10
minutes *before* the big tanker, because of the way that the tide works in
the Solent.



Do these ships "drive around" when at anchor?

Not usually donel, Its easier if they take the anchor up to drive
around. They might be setting an anchor.

I was wondering if they used their engines to control the direction that
they pointed in. I can't see why they would do this, but he did change his
attitude before the other two ships. It could have been the tide, because
tides don't always behave as the book says.



Would they indicate a
starboard turn, and then an astern signal? Perhaps if the are anchor
handling.

I tried calling them up on the radio, but there was no reply.

Try shooting a flare at them, then they might reply!

Heh, heh. I bet. With a name like "Petrokempt", I think that they would
just jump if they saw a flare coming!


Regards

Donal
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