[B][I][U]I was waved away from a fuel dock because the guy ahead of me had put the fuel nozzle in his rod holder and put 50 gallons of gas in his bilge.
[/U][/I][/B]
this was written up in the sun-sentinel florida newspaper
Time for Confession,
31 years ago as a young mate 
on a 140’ tug running light boat in the oilfield around 0300 (with crew sleeping soundly) the deck lights reflected off of an unlit vertical pipe 2 pts off the stbd bow, OMG :eek: I almost messed my pants. I hadn’t seen it on radar but thank God I saw it out the window just in time for hard left rudder to clear it. No one ever knew it happened.
Scary stuff!
[quote=Old Bakelite;26476]Before we were all captains ourselves didn’t you just hate it when the captain would come up to the bridge after seeing something out of his window, and a say something like; “What’s that ship doing 3rd mate?”
Used to get him every time…with a panicked look, “Ship? Ship? What ship?” Then looking where he was looking; “Ooooohhh, now where did he come from?”
OK, I admit it, I was a young smart ass, confident, invincible, thought I knew everything…[/quote]
And some third mates are actually taken by surprise and use that form of reply to cover their remiss…
He would have caught it right away if the rod holder was a cheapo and did not penetrate his deck but who is to say what the consequences might have been in that case…?
This happened in Boston, I don’t think it was written up in the Florida newspapers
The intrepid mariner was getting tire of holding the nozzle and yelled up to the pump operator to tell him when he got to 15 gallons. The operator yelled down your already at 40. The Captain yells up, that’s impossible I only hold 20.
That’s when the operator shut down the pump and called 911. They ended up foaming the boat. I don’t know what happened after that.
POINT PLEASANT – A recreational boat spilled 100 gallons of fuel in a local marina this morning, according to the Coast Guard.
The 40-foot vessel had been leaking fuel internally, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Daniel Mitchell. That triggered the boat’s bilge pump, which dumped the fuel overboard. No one was injured in the incident.
[B] Distracted and Disabled…….[/B]
http://bestboatbuzz.com/?p=389
[B]Boat Explodes Off Georgia Coast[/B]
By Tiani Jones First Coast News
GLYNN COUNTY, GA – A boat exploded off the coast of Georgia Wednesday night. Witnesses say the owner put 262 gallons of fuel in a 200 gallon fuel tank.
The explosion happened while the boat was docked at the Two Way Fish Camp in Glynn County. Larry Kicklighter said he saw the disaster coming and warned the boater, "Whatever you do don’t try and start that boat."
Kicklighter says the boater did not follow his advice, “and [the explosion] blew him overboard.”
“Fire and smoke everywhere. In fact, I thought it was going to get under the dock,” he said.
Other witnesses say the man’s clothes and skin were ripped off in the explosion.
The boater was taken to a local hospital and then transferred to the burn unit at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, GA. Officials say he is in critical condition.
:D:D:D:D:D
How scary is it when,
Leaving Anchorage, AK. CG report is 30’ seas, 50-60 mph winds. Winter. Big deal right. Run into major storm, 60’ seas, 110-125 mph winds, gusting 140. 0400-0800 watch, hove to, on auto and swinging 15 port and strbd. Swings 15 port, midship, 10 more, midship, 10 more… This is the same storm that rolled that CG boat and killed one of the crew off Washington.
Been there, RMP, When I was stationed at Cape Disappointment, we had one storm system come through with sustained 80-100 kt winds for 3 days. The bar was really snapping. Breaking all the way across even the main channel. We had several cases. Only the 52’ Lifeboat, the Triumph could be sortied. Fun times in the gates of hell…
. . . ok, this really rocked my back on my heels . . . unloading coal at a shore station when the dock conveyor trips out so I bring the boys up on deck for a cup of mud and a munchie . . .
Then I get this from the wiper/gateman . . . “Man, thanks for bringing us up Mate, I needed a smoke and I couldn’t keep it lit down there.” My mind races, cig won’t light, low O2, high CO . . . methane . . . oh shit!
The good lord take care of drunks and sailors so I guess I am covered on both counts!
How scary is it when…
You learn first name how certain places got their name.
The first experiance I had with this was transiting Hell’s Gate as a teenager but later I learned a few other’s, the most meorable being Malfunction Junction.
john: I spent a couple months in and about the bottom of south america (around the straits of magellan & puerto deseado on one of Seacor’s new 3000 ton Flex Class) early last year and the names of those rocks and points are chilling. death on every doorstep. worse even since I speak a little spanish and could understand both the morbid english names as well as the graphic spanish names.
First, I’d like to commend everyone for being able to over-ride the natural basic instincts of seamen. That being after someone shares an experience, the natural reflex of the next would be “That ain’t $hit!” as the preamble to their contribution.
Now…How scary is it when during a coffee break, the cook is observed cutting up chicken, then wiping the knife and cutting board with his apron…then chopping up the salad offerings…
[quote=injunear;26607]First, I’d like to commend everyone for being able to over-ride the natural basic instincts of seamen. That being after someone shares an experience, the natural reflex of the next would be “That ain’t $hit!” as the preamble to their contribution.
Now…How scary is it when during a coffee break, the cook is observed cutting up chicken, then wiping the knife and cutting board with his apron…then chopping up the salad offerings…[/quote]
Excuse me while I throw up.
2 years ago at Hell Gate enroute from NY to Boston pushing 108,000 bbls of 2 oil. Window of opportunity is 30 minutes before/after slack water. We are 35 minutes after slack and the current is unusually strong so we have engines full. Due to the unusual circumstances the Captain is still steering.
I’m trying to learn so I’m watching over the Captain’s shoulder as he is describing to the Mate how to feather the steering coming around Negro Point, explaining how you want to make sure you don’t over correct. Barge dives towards Brooklyn so he gives a little more left rudder, no response, more rudder. We end up, “Hooked up and hard over”.
“POW”, the lovely sound of a face wire parting. Of course it is the Port face wire so we no longer have steering control over the barge to bring her to the left. Captain backs to Port hoping to swing the barge around and by the time it’s facing back toward the city the crew may have a spare face wire up. Nice plan in theory. It is successful for a few minutes before the current catches the barge bodily and instead of swinging around, we are going sideways towards the rocks.
The crew had a spare face wire up in approximately 10 minutes (or an eternity, who could tell). It wasn’t tight but it was holding and the Captain worked into it. He was able to straighten her out and we proceeded on through the gate.
Escaped the newspapers once again! (we don’t need to talk about the other escapes do we?)
I’ve been witness to many examples of the Lord taking care of drunks and sailors in the last 39 years. Especially with electricity. One that is burned into my memory…
We were caught in a winter storm for 4 days towing 225K bbl of MTBE. When the weather subsided, we got into the notch. The OS and I boarded the barge for inspection. I radioed back that there was 6 inches of water in the generator room and proceeded to the bow to check the wireways and windlass motor cmpt. On arriving at the bow, the generator was started and and put on line. I must have set the fat man speed record to the manifold emergency shut-down. It was enclosed in ice. Seconds later, when I hit the kill switch at the generator room, I peered down to see the CM standing in ankle deep water at the switchboard, adjusting the speed control.
They make fun of us fat guys, but they’re simply amazed at how fast we can move when we want to!
How scary is it:
When your watch-partner is commonly referred to as, " Here comes Oh- Shit!!!"
Seeing the captain up for 2 days without sleep.
Loading traffic on ferry last autumn. Signaled for a Tractor Trailer to board and when just feet from the boarding ramp a new training captain somehow gets us underway pulling out from under boarding ramp, ramp falls, :eek: my jaw drops to the deck, truck stops. OMG, I can still see the white of the driver’s eyes.
When did you go to work for Pierce County? :eek: