Gould,

Of course I'm serious. It's an easy and cheap task to have an anchor ready
to deploy at all times held in place by a pelican hook and a line. In an
emergency the crewman tending the anchor during docking manuvers simply cuts
the small line and opens the pelican hook when directed to deploy the
anchor.

The mass of the anchor will drop it to the bottom almost immediately and
pull out from the chain locker all the chain catenary free to be pulled. In
the case of a ferry using the same docking facility time after time it is
easy to calculate how much chain is reguired to be left to free fall.

If the ferry is approaching the dock too rapidly or the problem manifests
itself too far into the manuver the anchor will be less effective or perhaps
entirely ineffective. A slow approach is quite helpful when docking?

At any rate, it's clear to me that if deploying an anchor early in the
situation does not prevent a collision it will almost certainly mitigate the
damage resulting.

Or, perhaps it would be of no use whatsoever. Opinions differ.

Butch

wrote in message
ups.com...


Butch Davis wrote:
Don't they use anchors up there. Seems to me that as part of the docking
procedure they would have crew prepared to deploy a stern anchor in case
of
a loss of power. It's not as though accidents of this type are uncommon
for
boats or ships.

You reckon the standing orders have been changed?

Butch

I'm not sure if you're serious or not.

IMO, stopping the boat with an anchor wouldn't be practical.
By the time the pilot realizes he isn't going to be able to stop, (loss
of reverse is a common cause for this type of incident)the boat is
usually very near the dock. Most of these ferries approach the dock at
a fast clip until the few hundred yards, then rely on momentum, and
finally employ some reverse thrust. "Reverse" may not actually be the
technically correct term on a ferry boat, as many have engines on both
ends and opposite propulsion is generated by engaging the leading
engines.

It wouldn't seem like there would be any way to get a large enough
anchor down fast enough, or time and distance enough to pay out
sufficient scope to get it to hold. The momentum of a ship of that size
would drag almost any anchor along like a plow for a considerable
distance. While it would certainly be possible to anchor such a ship, I
don't think it could be accomplished quickly and effectively in a close
quarter emergency.

Rather than hoping to deploy an anchor, I think a better procedure
would be to stop and test "reverse" in mid crossing. If it can be
determined that reverse is not going to be there when needed, it is a
lot safer and more practical to deal with the problem when not bearing
down on a dock.

Major bummer for the folks who lost their boats. Thankfully, it seems
that there were no serious injuries.