One of the most difficult trips I’ve made was my first trip as mate from Seattle to Dutch Harbor… First full trip up the inside, wasn’t very comfortable piloting without a track-line or formal plot. Didn’t know the call in points. I was almost paranoid I was going to hit a rock or run aground.
Unlike later trips we loaded our “back load” before we discharged the northbound load so we had to work in the holds at 20 F below. Cargo was loaded wrong with the first ports cargo blocked by other cargo. I think we moved every piece of cargo on there at least three times.
Spent about 14hrs on a USCG 47ft motor life boat off the WA coast in 25 ft seas accompanied by a sustained 50kts. was out towing in a fishing vessel with a jammed rudder. on the way in got a call that another f/v hit a rock and was taking on water at a high rate. Dropped the tow and proceeded to location of the sinking vessel. Fortunately it was inside the strait and the wind was out of the south so sea state wasn’t bad inside. Pumped that boat as best we could, had another life boat run out two more pumps then had a helo from port Angeles come out and drop us another. We were able to keep the flooding at bay and the second lifeboat brought them back into Neah Bay. Meanwhile the numb nuts with the jammed rudder (second time we rescued this guy in the same week) was being taken back out by the current and was now outside in the beautiful weather again. We went back out and towed him in. Longest feeling trip of my life anyway. I do 28/28 now and still that day felt longer than anything.
40 degree rolls on a tanker with improper lengthed side keels during heavy weather in the Northwest
Then sea water line bursts and have to repair and clean up water and sea creatures while sea sick.
Not fun.
[QUOTE=Kennebec Captain;163605]One of the most difficult trips I’ve made was my first trip as mate from Seattle to Dutch Harbor… [/QUOTE]
Coastal Transportation?
Used to sail relief chief for them when shipping was slow. It was an interesting job with the occasional adventure.
Most difficult was meeting a monster typhoon close to the dateline on a Valdez to Tsingtao trip. Almost a week of near 100kn winds and 100 foot waves. Hove to and blown several hundred miles back to the east. Damage to the ship was awesome and the second worst part was the noise of wind, waves, and the contents of every stateroom sliding and banging from side to side. The worst part was watching the plant go from near zero steam flow to near maximum as each wave lifted and dropped the ship … if we lost the plant we would surely have lost the ship. It was bending and twisting like a pasta boiling in a pot.
Hmmmm. . . . lots to sort through. . . .I would guess my worst trip was one of my last at sea. Onboard the BELCHER PORT EVERGLADES. The idea of even putting a slow speed diesel plant on a tug was stupid to begin with, but then to have no mechanical connection to the barge. . . . . Bags full of glycol were used to fill the spaces between the barge notch and the sides of the tug. These would leak and lose pressure from time to time. When enough were deflated and because of the loss of the BELCHER TAMPA, insurance warranties required that the barge be towed. . . I was assistant engineer onboard. No one had any hawser experience other than myself. . . It was a short trip, Pascagoula (I think) to Tampa Bay. Took it out on the string and I have to tell you, that tug was never designed to tow. Like riding a runaway elevator and we were only making about 4 or 5 knots, as I recall. . . I could not have slept without my life jacket under my mattress. . . but the worst. Getting close to Egmont Key and the Tampa Bay sea buoy, needed to shorten up. It was still very rough. The other assistant went to start the towing winch and tripped as the waves crashed on the back deck. He went to grab something to stabilize himself, and managed to get hold of the airbrake control, releasing it. Out of ignorance, the deck department had us towing on the airbrake, and the hand brake was not engaged at all (subsequently found that it was rusted to the point of not even being able to function). Of course, the towing winch started paying out. The assistant had the presence of mind to jump back into the engine room and shut the hatch just about the time the clutch (airflex) exploded against the bulkhead between the winch and engine room. We managed to get into the notch (knocking a hole or two in the bow in the process), faced up and then “end for ended” the tow wire while chaining the clutch on the winch together so that we could then put the towing wire back onboard. . . .
Other adventures on other boats. . . fixing tow pin hoses on Crowley Invader Class tugs. . .they never fail in calm weather. . . . lucky not to get washed over the side . . . the SEA SKIMMER and it infamous gearboxes. . . .
This not so much a difficult trip but rather a difficult 2nd Mate.
We were East Bound in the GOM bound for Tampa in around 15 foot seas. This is a InterCon Rig. The 2nd Mate was on watch around 2330 when I felt to Boat start to Slam back and forth in the Notch. I headed down to the IC Room to try and figure out WTF was going on. Well we found out that the 2nd mate had switched the system to Retract rather than Extend. When he felt to slamming start he kept trying to “Extend” the pins. We almost came out of the notch but the Captain and I were able to get the pins back in even though we had about a 10 deg list. We were slamming so hard that it broke the main switch board loose from it’s foundation.
This was a really interesting 15-20 minutes and for the following time that I was on that rig, I never slept until that Mate was Off Watch.
[QUOTE=Tugs;163623]This not so much a difficult trip but rather a difficult 2nd Mate.
We were East Bound in the GOM bound for Tampa in around 15 foot seas. This is a InterCon Rig. The 2nd Mate was on watch around 2330 when I felt to Boat start to Slam back and forth in the Notch. I headed down to the IC Room to try and figure out WTF was going on. Well we found out that the 2nd mate had switched the system to Retract rather than Extend. When he felt to slamming start he kept trying to “Extend” the pins. We almost came out of the notch but the Captain and I were able to get the pins back in even though we had about a 10 deg list. We were slamming so hard that it broke the main switch board loose from it’s foundation.
This was a really interesting 15-20 minutes and for the following time that I was on that rig, I never slept until that Mate was Off Watch.[/QUOTE]
Oh, man. . . . why the hell. . . . . .“Has anyone seen the Second Mate?” “Nope not since yesterday.” “Wonder where he is?” "No idea. . . . "
At least with the Bludworth System that I operated, the connection controls are NOT in the wheelhouse. . . . not that I haven’t ever been ejected. . . forgot about that one. . . . need to add it to the list. . .
Probably from the Med to NY on a Victory ship in late 1958. Horrible weather.
Emergency diesel generator died. We had taken sea water in a goose neck and pumped it to the day tank. To avoid more water coming in the 1st A/E decided to ram a wood plug in the goose neck. He failed in multiple runs on the starboard side for he had to time his runs between waves hitting us. Finally he decided to stay there in a futile effort to get the job done and the first wave carried him down the outside walkway, over the coaming and slammed him into the No.4 hatch coaming. Luckily he only suffered bruises and cuts. I went below and cut the vent line letting the incoming water drain to the bilge.
A day or two later in the ER we all heard banging apparently coming from No. cargo hold. Thought there were stowaways. Eventually, the hold was inspected and none found. On arrival NY divers found that our bilge keels were corkscrewed by the weather and were slamming against the side of the hull.
I was on a break out job in Tacoma for TOTE. We had open lifeboats on board and the Coast Guard wanted us to still do the davit weight test. We had to drive these open boats around for about 5 hours in the middle of February. It was just freaking snotty out, froze my ass off and it was so windy I couldn’t get my smoke lit. Finally our escort tug invited us on board to thaw out. Total time spent out there was about 7 hours.
My most harrowing seagoing experience was just last year. I was aboard my yacht and the weather had taken a turn for the worst. Our stabilization system was on the fritz and there was just no way my wife and I could stay aboard in such a state. We had to board our helicopter and cut short a trip that had been very enjoyable up to that point. The whole incident ruined my week.
This trip by far was my worse. (Paragraph is taking from USS Bainbridge CGN-25 history log.)
On 5 September 1990, she arrived in Portsmouth, England, her first visit to the United Kingdom. Next she moved northward to Oslo, Norway and to Wilhelmshaven, Germany. From Wilhelmshaven, she escorted the SS GOPHER STATE and SS FLICKERTAIL STATE, which were carrying nerve gas canisters to be destroyed at an incinerator in the Pacific, all the way to the Galapagos Islands, where she was met by USS TRUXTUN and relieved of her escort duties. During her return to the East Coast, she made a transit through the Panama Canal. BAINBRIDGE celebrated her 28th birthday on the trip north.
What is not said is we went around the horn due to the nerve gas, ran into two storms that collided against each other. We had 20Kts rung up on the engines in order to maintain bare steerage way. Waves so high you could not see the top of them just by looking out the windows on the bridge, you had to bend down and look up, way up. Our surface and air search radar gears were stripped from the wind spinning them around as the boat rocked. (Nobody went up on the mast to put the pin in to secure them.) Nobody was allowed in their bunks for the 36 hours it took us to get around and out of the storm due to falling out and injury. All our HF fan antenna’s were wrapped around each other and we lost two pole antennas. Even after all this we only had one injury on the boat but nobody slept for those 36 hours thinking we may sink.
I HAVE NO CLUE HOW THE GOPHER TAIL AND FLICKERTAIL SURVIVED OR DIDN’T HAVE NERVE GAS ESCAPE KILLING US ALL.
I’ve had quite a few bad trips, but the worst was probably the last trip heading up from central America. We hit some nasty weather around PT Conception that lasted through the California/Oregon border. Head on in 25 foot seas we wound up breaking the jackstaff off and had to do an about face and ruyn downswell to secure it. Then we had a generator fire. Then had what we thought was a man overboard at abour 0230 in the AM that turned out to be a false alarm…but I’d rather have the Officer of the Deck call a MOB and have it a fals alarm then not call it and have it be real. Following night at around 3 in the morning we had flooding in the chain locker because we were taking so much water over the bow. Easily the most troublesome patrol I’ve been on.
It is true I wanted the best and had to look no further than my own backyard. He is one of the best Large OSV masters to ever command one of my vessels.