Seamanship - Click images to enlarge.
Refuelling at sea
In 1956 "Oiling-at-sea" was a hard and demanding exercise. Alan Barsby tells us how it was accomplished -
Refuelling at sea. This was achieved by going alongside the tanker and keeping station at about thirty yards apart, and maintaining the same speed, the coxswain would be on the helm for this operation. A "coston " gun line was fired from the tanker, a "messenger" was then attached and hauled across, this was for communications. A wire cable then went across which was fixed to a point on the tanker, the fuel hose would now be hauled over by the crew on Manxman. When the fuel had been delivered the whole thing was reversed. Regards Alan.
Refuelling Manxman from the Auxiliary Brown Ranger 1956. Photograph from - Alan Barsby
Breeches Buoy
Transfer between Manxman and HMS Liverpool (Cruiser) 1951. Peter Moss tells us how it was set up :-
We had on board the 3rd Bat. Grenadier Guards -- they had been picked up at Trobruk and we were to take them down to the Suez. The person being transferred (second photo) I believe was a Pay officer (RN) who was on route back to Malta.
The "Chair " was just a normal one taken from the Chapel and was rigged by the Boson's party. A shot was fired by what is known as a schermuly line (a thin cod line attached to a brass rod ) then inserted into a 303 rifle and shot across the bows of the opposite ship.
Once caught this is then used to pull over the overhead transfer line, plus a "distance line " - this is a cod rope with markers (bits of bunting) equally spread along the line to indicate the distance between the two ships. The normal distance apart is about 45 feet. The speed of the ships is controlled by the bridge, which it indicates by placing signal flags jutting out from the bridge .
A travel block (Gin block) is slipped onto the over head rope, the rope used to pull over the "Chair " is attached and also has a rope trailing behind to allow the chair to be pulled back over (to and fro).
The usual practice when one has someone known in the chair is to let the overhead rope sag down towards the sea in between -- just for a laugh and to give them something to think about.. All good sailors fun !!
Just sit back and enjoy the ride !!
The incident of the Guards I remember well because they had brought on board some small biscuit shaped mattresses (filled with straw) three to each man. When they disembarked they left them in the empty mining deck - resulting in providing a good place to get one's head down during "Make & Mends" -- trouble was that they were infested with red mites, we all had to "shave off" and dust down with AL63 powder because they spread like wild fire amongst the lower deck.
This resulted in the mattresses being dumped on the quay side at the canal
HQ and being set on fire, much to the Army's disgust and anger ..
Aye,
Mossy. Photographs from - Curly Galbraith.
