Now you've done it! Shot down the whole basis for the constant
claims of the know-it-all crowd that bridges on commercial vessels
aren't manned much of the time.

Dave... My knowledge of the SOP of bridge watches aboard commercial
vessels in general... is very limited. It could well be that some
Masters *are* rather lax about bridge duty while underway out in the
middle of nowhere and on auto pilot.

I am only familiar with the container ship that I hang out with. And
yeh they do the 24 thing... but subject to the distractions that I
posted earlier. I suspect too... that in the middle of the night and
early morning hours things can get a little sleepy up there... if you
get my drift. I know our wheel house though very spacious... was
quite comfortable and cozy as well. (smile)

I failed to mention this little bit of nautical trivia in my earlier
posting. The engine room no longer has to be personally manned
24 hours like it use to be. This may be where some of the confusion
has come from relative to unmanned duty stations.

The chief engineering officer and his crew have computer alarm
systems in their personal accomodations that are activated when
they are done for the day down below. The electrical engineer's
(who's part of the "blackgang") cabin was right next to mine... and
often I would hear that alarm going off during the night for one mec-
hanical problem or another. Then followed by the chief engineers
pitter patter of foot steps running down the stair well to supervise
the incident.

Or if you didn't hear the alarms... another attention getter was to
wake up in the middle of the night and experience total silence...
the engine has shut down. You get so use to the rumble of the
engine and propeller shaft... that the silence is almost deafen-
ing... so to speak. One thing about it though... you knew the
engine crew had a problem going on. If necessary... soon the
back up engine(s) would be started up and at least our electrical
capabilities would be reinstated... until such time the "main"
could be fired up and we could get underway again.

Note: On this particular vessel the main engine not only propelled
the ship but provided the electrical as well. The two back ups
were not operational at sea (only in port)... or per the aforemen-
tioned circumstances.

Bill

Do those container ships ever carry passengers? Just curious.
Gordon


wrote in message
oups.com...
Now you've done it! Shot down the whole basis for the constant
claims of the know-it-all crowd that bridges on commercial vessels
aren't manned much of the time.

Dave... My knowledge of the SOP of bridge watches aboard commercial
vessels in general... is very limited. It could well be that some
Masters *are* rather lax about bridge duty while underway out in the
middle of nowhere and on auto pilot.

I am only familiar with the container ship that I hang out with. And
yeh they do the 24 thing... but subject to the distractions that I
posted earlier. I suspect too... that in the middle of the night and
early morning hours things can get a little sleepy up there... if you
get my drift. I know our wheel house though very spacious... was
quite comfortable and cozy as well. (smile)

I failed to mention this little bit of nautical trivia in my earlier
posting. The engine room no longer has to be personally manned
24 hours like it use to be. This may be where some of the confusion
has come from relative to unmanned duty stations.

The chief engineering officer and his crew have computer alarm
systems in their personal accomodations that are activated when
they are done for the day down below. The electrical engineer's
(who's part of the "blackgang") cabin was right next to mine... and
often I would hear that alarm going off during the night for one mec-
hanical problem or another. Then followed by the chief engineers
pitter patter of foot steps running down the stair well to supervise
the incident.

Or if you didn't hear the alarms... another attention getter was to
wake up in the middle of the night and experience total silence...
the engine has shut down. You get so use to the rumble of the
engine and propeller shaft... that the silence is almost deafen-
ing... so to speak. One thing about it though... you knew the
engine crew had a problem going on. If necessary... soon the
back up engine(s) would be started up and at least our electrical
capabilities would be reinstated... until such time the "main"
could be fired up and we could get underway again.

Note: On this particular vessel the main engine not only propelled
the ship but provided the electrical as well. The two back ups
were not operational at sea (only in port)... or per the aforemen-
tioned circumstances.

Bill

In article ,
"Gordon" wrote:

Do those container ships ever carry passengers? Just curious.
Gordon

Most large commercial Cargo Ships are equipt to carry six, or less,
Passengers onboard during voyages. If they should carry more than six,
they would then be classed as a Passenger Ship, and would then need to
comply with the SOLAS Requirements for a Passenger Ship, which are
significanly more involved, that that of a Cargo Ship.

Bruce in alaska
--
add a 2 before @

Do those container ships ever carry passengers? Just curious.

Gordon...

Some do. I believe they are all foreign flagged vessels... according
to a friend of mine that is an electronics/radio officer for Matson...
no American flagged commercial ships do this.

I think one of the reasons for this type of occupancy (pax) being
available is that the foreign flagged vessels have been allowed to
cut back on some of the minimum crew compliment requirements
in the past few years.

To the best of my knowledge if they have the accommodations...
they can bring aboard no more then 12 passengers... otherwise
a medical doctor must be present as well. Bruce rendered a different
opinion... and may be more up to speed about this sort of thing than
I am.

Any how... here is some info to get you started...

The best web site that I know of concerning this type of
cruising is at:

http://www.geocities.com/freighterman.geo/

You can spend quite a bit of time viewing the links in
"freighterman's" site.

Judd Spittler has an excellant personal web site depicting
his experiences... which can be seen at:

http://www.juddspittler.com/freighterbum/index.htm

My main squeeze for freighter bookings is with Joycene Deal
at FreighterWorlds in Pasadena, California. For the record
there are several other agencies around that specialize in
this sort of thing besides Joycene's office. FreighterWorld
also has a very informative site at:

http://www.freighterworld.com/index.html

The above references will keep you busy for quite awhile.

Best regards

Bill

wrote in news:1138316324.034663.308230
@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Some do. I believe they are all foreign flagged vessels... according
to a friend of mine that is an electronics/radio officer for Matson...
no American flagged commercial ships do this.


When my wife, now ex-wife, was a test coordinator at the MSO Group
Charleston, the guys from Evergreen were always trying to get us to book
passage to Europe or Asia on the Evergreen Lines ships out of Charleston.
I know someone who's gone to Europe many times on ships from here and they
said it was more fun getting TO Europe than it was being IN Europe.

Of course, he's an engineer and they let him in the engine room, let him
play helmsman, etc. I doubt his wife enjoyed that more than she did
Amsterdam...(c;