Oh wow, never heard of that last one, pretty cool!
With line boats the off-shore head and stern lines can be sent ashore and made fast. Then the crew can bring the ship alongside with little or no tug assist.
Once the ship is alongside the spring lines can be run by heaving line (or just paying out till the line-handlers can reach them) and the inshore head and stern lines can be run by line boat or by heaving line.
In the days of single screw ships without bow trusters the normal way of docking without tug assistance was to put the bow gently against the wharf/pier and run the bow spring first. Then use that as a leverage to bring the stern in, controlled by engine power and rudder angle.
If necessary, drop the outboard anchor to ease impact and/or to pull the bow away from the wharf on departure.
PS> Of course we didnât have the added complication of enclosed mooring decks.
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Small ships are still handled that way. I was talking about larger heavier ships.
If you put a big deep-sea ship with a low-speed diesel on dead-slow the spring line would snap like an old worn-out rubber band when it took the ships weight.
Aside from that large ships require more precise handling to avoid damage
Hereâs what happens when you donât land flat on the shipâs parallel body
Or higher risk at least.
On well fendered piers pilots sometime land touching the stern first but itâs far more common to land parallel at very low, carefully controlled speed.
What is termed large ships have changed with times obviously, but I think the main reason is that older ships were built of better quality steel, with thicker plates and heavier scantling.
Not having computer also meant that they used higher safety factors when designing ships, thus they didnât buckle from the slightest touch.
Itâs not only that, heavier ships means higher risk for damage to the pier as well. A lot of piers are poorly fendered. A very light landing in many cases is needed to prevent damage.
If a ship is stuck in nose first what about the bulbous bow? That could wreck havoc on the pillings.
Another factor is the ratio of the strength of the mooring lines to the weight and power of the ship. A line strong enough to be able to spring off would be too big and heavy for the crew to work.
A low-speed diesel starts at dead-slow, the lines would part like wet noodles.
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Nobody is talking about ânose firstâ as in 90 degr. on the wharf, but at an angle of say 30 degr. or less, touching lightly against the fenders.
I would say that the ratio of weight to strength of mooring ropes have improved, as has the control of the engine power. Shouting orders from the wing to the 3rd Mate at the engine telegraph and hoping that whoever where at the throttle in the engine room was gentle when starting.
I have used this method on a ship of 18000 dwt and with an old Doxford that was not among the most âfriendlyâ engines around.
PS> I donât recommend it for modern ships though for the reasons mentioned above and because there would probably would be a lack of understanding, both among the crew and the linesmen, of what was going on.
Like Damn Yankee I rarely (except for LMSR breakouts0 dealt with enclosed mooring spaces but yes messenger rigs are the way to go with halyard clips/snap swivels to quickly attach heaving lines to and from messenger lines. This also solves the problem of having to send over multiple heaving lines and begging the âstirlingâ line handlers to heave them back onboardâŚ(good luck).
A timely update from Skuld P&I re: fendering:
https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/fender-damage/
Just to be clear here I am not taking about mooring without tugs. If the crew is using the head and stern lines for the last few meters of landing the tugs (or tug) will still be alongside. Just they donât necessary need to be pushing.
Sometimes the tugs will push all the way in and the crew will just pick up the lines as the ship comes alongside.
Also by nose first I am assuming a flat landing attempt. A stern first landing would be if the stern hit the pier first, bow first if the bow hit first. In both cases the ship would be almost flat.
Another problem with landing bow first aside from the bulbous bulb is the bow flare. Itâs possible to strike things, cranes or other cargo handling equipment for example, with the flare.