This ship I’m on is an older one; built in the early 70’s. The bridge still uses an engine order telegraph as the primary way for making speed changes. I thought you guys and gals might enjoy this short video I made of the telegraph in action during a man overboard drill.
At first I thought the watch officer was changing speeds every couple of seconds, then I noticed your quick editing and felt a lot better about those poor bastard engineers.
The first ship I was a Mate on had an EOT, too, and the Captain wisely made us all stand a couple of watches in the engine room before he let us do any maneuvering. Really smart, and let me tell you, it was great for my shiphandling skills. I spent a lot of time figuring out how to dock the ship with the fewest engine orders possible, and even though of course now I’ve got direct throttle control, it is still fun for me to see how few engine changes I need to get alongside.
lol. I agree those bastard engineers would be pissed. However if the bells really were that quick the ship would not go anywhere. The engines would not have time to react. I am glad there are still some captains who think its a good idea for a mates to see what it takes to maneuver from the engine room. Down below we definitely notice which captain can maneuver with the least amount of bells and save the air. I have seen some guys give a bell then back to stop before the engine even starts to turn. Wasting air for no reason.
Never actually worked on one but been aboard some old timey tugs with direct reversible mains and the controls for the engines where rigged with wires and pulleys right up to the bridge. You did your own starts and stops and if you ran out of air then you didn’t have anybody to yell at but yourself.
I was onboard a tug in the Caribbean (Martinique/ St. Lucia) that use to be that way. I believe the tug name was the “Troll”. The captain told me they could only clutch in and out 7 times before they ran out of air! I couldn’t imagine handling a boat with that kind of restriction!!
[QUOTE=c.captain;78365]Never actually worked on one but been aboard some old timey tugs with direct reversible mains and the controls for the engines where rigged with wires and pulleys right up to the bridge. You did your own starts and stops and if you ran out of air then you didn’t have anybody to yell at but yourself.[/QUOTE]
I used to own a tug (yacht conversion) with a direct reversing Enterprise controlled by the telegraph in the wheelhouse. Air start, “air motor” to shift the cam.
As far as number of bells in a given time by way of an old fashioned telegraph, I think the record must be held by the Ocean Phoenix. During maneuvering to pick up a cod end the number of bells is amazing and the daily total - though I have forgotten but will try and find some old notes - is enough to drive an engineer nuts.
Man, this thread makes me feel old. I sailed on quite a few ships with an EOT. Sweat and Grease has a pretty good video of a Lykes Pacer during maneuvering. I have been at the controls of both the old school hand wheel throttle, toggles and joy stick. You can guess what my preference is. The SL-7 I sailed on was the most interesting. Two turbine sets with two boilers. Keeps one on their toes.
[QUOTE=cmakin;78446]Man, this thread makes me feel old.[/QUOTE]
But we are old and I actually consider myself fortunate to have experienced going to sea before it was just pushing buttons to operate a ship. I got to sail on old WWII stickships with Nordbergs! Not only did you have to remember that you didn’t have many starts available to you but you also had to remember that you didn’t have much HP available either. Only 1700bhp for a ship displacing 4500tons. Hell I’ve run 100’ tugs with more HP. Maybe the bad old days in many ways, but I’d go back if I could.
When I was on an SL-7 I had 4-8 watch. We did most of our maneuvering on that watch and I had to fill out the bell books. I remember thinking the captain would never last on a diesel ship. The amount of bells rang just to get off the hook on a calm day was ridiculous.
I move 5000ton gravel barges with 800hp takes a long long time to stop her up 
[QUOTE=c.captain;78458]But we are old and I actually consider myself fortunate to have experienced going to sea before it was just pushing buttons to operate a ship. I got to sail on old WWII stickships with Nordbergs! Not only did you have to remember that you didn’t have many starts available to you but you also had to remember that you didn’t have much HP available either. Only 1700bhp for a ship displacing 4500tons. Hell I’ve run 100’ tugs with more HP. Maybe the bad old days in many ways, but I’d go back if I could.[/QUOTE]
I, too consider myself VERY fortunate to have started at sea when I did. No doubt about it. I am not one to look back on Glory Days (I feel that mine are either current or yet to come), but I certainly do waxa bit nostalgic about those early days at sea. Makes me want to start another shoreside entertainment thread. . . . .
[QUOTE=cmakin;78480]but I certainly do wax a bit nostalgic about those early days at sea. Makes me want to start another shoreside entertainment thread. . . . .[/QUOTE]
Well we’ve taken that road trip already but if you want to go on another journey then OK by me! I do know that going to sea was a lot more fun in the old timey daze. You know that we yarned a bit about drinking off the ship but there was plenty of drinking onboard as well. Using the yard and stay rig to bring a couple of pallets of beer aboard in Antwerp to a long voyage to Saudi Arabia during Gulf War I. Damned those beers were fine after watch in the Red Sea heat. Picking up plenty of bottles of J&B or Cutty Sark when in port to provision for the voyage ahead.
AND GUESS WHAT! The ships got their all the same just fine and there weren’t more accidents or injuries either. There was always the whacko crewmember or two who’d go looney every once in awhile but nobody died (at least not most of the time).
[QUOTE=c.captain;78487]Well we’ve taken that road trip already but if you want to go on another journey then OK by me! I do know that going to sea was a lot more fun in the old timey daze. You know that we yarned a bit about drinking off the ship but there was plenty of drinking onboard as well. Using the yard and stay rig to bring a couple of pallets of beer aboard in Antwerp to a long voyage to Saudi Arabia during Gulf War I. Damned those beers were fine after watch in the Red Sea heat. Picking up plenty of bottles of J&B or Cutty Sark when in port to provision for the voyage ahead.
AND GUESS WHAT! The ships got their all the same just fine and there weren’t more accidents or injuries either. There was always the whacko crewmember or two who’d go looney every once in awhile but nobody died (at least not most of the time).[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I found that on ships with larger crews, having some adult beverages onboard wasn’t too hazardous. I recall picking up over 100 cases of San Miguel’s finest in Manila on the outbound leg and storing them in the Engineer’s Parts Locker. Making a beer run on the Big Island to the convenience store across the street. Buying wine at dirt cheap prices at the grocery store in Pernis, Having tropical barbecues with cocktails in coconut shells outbound from Tanjong Mani. . . Most foreign flag vessels (well many anyway) had (or certainly recently DID have) bars onboard. I recall a riding ship job that I did on a tanker operated by a major US oil company where much spare time was spent in the Officer’s Lounge. I caught the ship in Mexico and rode it down to Panama. The officers onboard told me that only a month or so previous to my boarding that the ship was in the San Francisco Bay Area, and some office brass came onboard and saw distilled spirits in the bar (post EXXON VALDEZ). They Captain was ordered to dispose of same once at sea. They did still have a decent selection of beer, and that was perfect after a long day of crawling and floating around the cargo tanks. . . . . I only really recall two specific incidents where alcohol was a factor on US ships, and one of those was from Aqua Velva consumption. . . .
When I sailed on ocean tugs and ATBs, however, with the (much) smaller crews and larger responsibility, I personally did not care to have any liquor onboard. In fact, it became somewhat of a nuisance. At one point I had to fire my new relief who showed up not only stocking his own supply, but having amply sampled same prior to boarding. Nothing scarier than watching someone pull out a cigarette and starting to light it on a gasoline barge during discharge. I guess a bit less scare than loading. . . . That is one day that I don’t think I will ever forget.