# Are you scared of fog?



## Jocko (Oct 31, 2011)

There has been a lot of posts about bad weather and no doubt we have all seen our share. I found, in the engineroom anyway that most times you were more concerned with not slipping and trying to get your chores done to worry about the weather.
What I do remember is the North Sea, 1962 in the little Beaverfir heading north for Leith in the thickest fog I can ever remember. Those of us who weren`t on watch were out on deck. It was eerie, we would sound our horn and somewhere other horns were replying. All at once a massive Italian liner slid by us. She was white and her deck was higher than our mast. She resembled a Ghost ship and was so close maybe only thirty or forty feet from us. I`m telling you it definately made me and my mates feel as if we were in a wee rubber raft.


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## Nick Balls (Apr 5, 2008)

Not as scary as it was. Navigation equipment has come a long long way over the years. Sadly that has been offset by a drop in watch keeping competence to a certain extent. ........ Having worked on a few different types of vessel it is interesting to note your comments. Having once taken a yacht across the north sea when we encountered prolonged dense fog with no radar, putting a rather different perspective on the situation from that of a much large vessel. (Like your big liner) At least when you are sailing with no engine you can hear things coming..you just don't know from where! On supply boats in the Southern North sea it was always with some pride that we could place ourselves beneath the rigs crane in dense fog using the best of equipment and a bit of skill. It was brilliant when the call back came from the crane op telling us it was no go we would have to go to standby as he could not see us! I also sailed with one old NS Skipper who was keen to get home, coming into the port at Gt Yarmouth we traversed the complete river Yare only seeing the berth as we arrived and having never seen the harbours mouth! Some feat ! and not for the faint hearted. 
On the other hand I have never been forgiven by my friends at home for 'getting lost' on one of the 'Norfolk Broads' in dense fog, agin on a small sailing boat.... Its very easy to do!


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## billyboy (Jul 6, 2005)

My experience of fog was scary. We left Newhaven for Dieppe. Thick fog. ding ding ding ding?? watertight doors closed now we are locked in and standing between two boilers. Next came the "Full away" 24 knots into the fog crossing the channel. They did have a radar albeit a very old one.
our only consolation was that if we hit something we would not know a lot about it.
The older hands didnt seem to mind it as they were used to it.


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## leboot (Jun 19, 2009)

Once sailed through the Med in fog, the old man was informed but as there was 'nothing around' we were to carry on regardless. He then went back below. The radar wasn't showing any traffic and I wasn't too happy. I explained the situation to thr ER and revs were reduced closer to manouvering, just in case. 
Anyway to the crux of the story. Just before midnight the lookout went below to call his and my reliefs. There wasn't anything on radar and I was keeping a visual lookout when the fog started shing green like something out of a Stephen King film. Very eerie and unsettling. 
I walked on to the bridge wing and looked over the side. We were sailing through plankton which as it was disturbed gave off sufficent light to be reflected and diffused by the fog. 
Vary scarey in a halloween sort of way. Although I knew the rational cause of the light I felt a little more comfortable when the lookout returned when I was no longer alone.


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## Nick Balls (Apr 5, 2008)

Thats interesting, One of my old company (LOF) ships wrote up an observation for the Marine Observer regarding phosphoresant and fog in The Pacific. This apparently was a very spectacular effect much as you describe , except that the fog was low lying with clear air above. A sight to behold , stretching as far as the horizon. This account is the only other one like it I have ever read.


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## Ron Dean (Aug 11, 2010)

Nick Balls said:


> Not as scary as it was. Navigation equipment has come a long long way over the years. Sadly that has been offset by a drop in watch keeping competence to a certain extent. ........ Having worked on a few different types of vessel it is interesting to note your comments. Having once taken a yacht across the north sea when we encountered prolonged dense fog with no radar, putting a rather different perspective on the situation from that of a much large vessel. (Like your big liner) At least when you are sailing with no engine you can hear things coming..you just don't know from where! On supply boats in the Southern North sea it was always with some pride that we could place ourselves beneath the rigs crane in dense fog using the best of equipment and a bit of skill. It was brilliant when the call back came from the crane op telling us it was no go we would have to go to standby as he could not see us! I also sailed with one old NS Skipper who was keen to get home, coming into the port at Gt Yarmouth we traversed the complete river Yare only seeing the berth as we arrived and having never seen the harbours mouth! Some feat ! and not for the faint hearted.
> On the other hand I have never been forgiven by my friends at home for 'getting lost' on one of the 'Norfolk Broads' in dense fog, agin on a small sailing boat.... Its very easy to do!


Well summed up Nick.
I came from offshore to Gt Yarmouth on a couple of occasions when the chopper flights were grounded. At least going over the side on the Billy Pugh in fog, you didn't usually have to worry too much about a high swell.
In the early days before Choppers became the norm, there were quite a few accidents caused by not judging the rise & fall of the supply boat correctly.

Ron.


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## Pat Kennedy (Apr 14, 2007)

I sailed through a few pea soupers on the Grand Banks inbound for New York. We passed very close to some long liner fishing vessels now and then, and one time the Canadian Coastguards came across the bow at spitting distance.
It was quite eerie on lookout on the focsle. Looking aft you couldnt see past the windlass, you felt as if you were totally alone in the ocean.


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## Nick Balls (Apr 5, 2008)

Your right there Ron, about the judging of swell height! We had a Chief engineer joining by basket who smashed both legs that way. The very last time I ever did a basket transfer was 2008 up to the DB 101 off the northern coast of Norway, taking an injured man off the ship.


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## Derek Roger (Feb 19, 2005)

Fog was a pain ; slow down and stand bye till it lifted .


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## stores (Apr 8, 2007)

*Fog*

Was Once Fishing In My Boat Very Close To The Elbow Buoy About 2 Miles East Of North Foreland, Suddenly No Visibility, Could Not See The Buoy, Its A Strange Scary Feeling, So Up Anchored And Steered West, With A Bit Of South, Eventually About 1/4 Of A\mile From Shore The White Cliffs Showed Faintly, Then Went South Intill Ramsgate Appeared. But Was Scary, Especially Alone.


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## mikeg (Aug 24, 2006)

Am I scared of fog.... only if I can't see where the runway is below me (EEK) ...divert quickly


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## captainjohn (Jun 5, 2007)

Scared - no. Extremely careful and attentive, yes. And I stayed on the bridge for as long as the fog lasted.


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## Andy Lavies (Feb 12, 2006)

IOW ferries - get 100 feet off your line in the Lymington River and you take to the putty. The tide runs strongly directly across the entrance to Yarmouth harbour - a pier on one side and a stone breakwater on the other. Visibility of half a cable concentrates the mind. The company fitted new radars and were upset that some sailings were still cancelled. I always found it easier if the other ships had stopped - fewer things to bump in to. Nice to be retired and hear other peoples horns without the slightest qualm!
Andy


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## John Dryden (Sep 26, 2009)

As Pat mentioned ,I too found it a bit scary when sent to the fo'c'sle in thick fog as lookout.Nothing to be seen anyway so it was listening really,Fortunately never had to ring the bell!
Another time in fog and heavy seas I was in my cabin,couldn,t sleep because of the rolling and pitching I just happened to look out of the porthole to see a fishing boat bounce off the ships side and away out of the way.I was ten feet away from the face in that boats wheelhouse and he looked horrified!


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## Jocko (Oct 31, 2011)

The memories keep coming back to my old whisky sodden mind. I was on an old coaster, MV Lairdsbank. She ran from Heysham to Londonderry, mainly with cattle from N. Ireland. There was just one engineer on watch. One night we were in a pretty foggy trip to Heysham. On Stand-by etc. I got relieved and came topside to the old galley for a snack. I had just got started when the moron who had relieved me appeared for a cup tea!!!!!! There we were, foghorns blowing and nobody in the engineroom. To this day I wish I had reported him, he would have been sacked in Heysham. I only stayed two months on that ship. Could you blame me.


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## JoK (Nov 12, 2006)

Anchored in the Bay of Fundy in a real peasouper. YOu couldn't see 10 feet out the portholes. 
We could get TV though. The movie? "The Fog"
It was very eerie....


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## Wallace Slough (Mar 21, 2009)

The ports of Stockton and Sacramento have very thick tule fog which is prevalent in the winter. It's a pilot's nightmare, as it's very unpredictable and visibility can shut down without notice in a very short time. It's usually difficult or impossible to anchor, so you're committed to continue the voyage. A 750' ship of 106' beam in a channel 200' wide. The shipping channel also includes narrow bridge transits. Fortunately, the bottom is mud. Nonetheless, it made for extremely difficult passages which always totally drained the pilot and entire crew. I'd get on the radar and never take my head out until we were alongside in visibilities which were about 50'. I may miss piloting since I've retired, but there are things I don't miss; mostly fog and all night transits on the river.


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## reefrat (Nov 4, 2007)

Notth Sea fog really got to me, being from Tropical Australia. We were going along in bright noon sunshine with 10-15 knots over the deck when instantanously ?? we were in dense fog ,vis down to about 30 feet. Had me bluffed ;the breeze continued to blow but the fog got thicker, slow ahead and a big think.
After 2 hours of sphincer twitching, the fog disappeared as quickly as it came. As we trundled along I was subjected to a long lecture on temperature inversions, etc, but that didn't help at the time. Thing that got me was you couldnt see a fog bank anywhere untill is appeared to grow out of the sea.


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## Tony Crompton (Jul 26, 2005)

Working as a Pilot in fog was always a "Challenge".

After a few days of fog I would often wish "It would blow like hell to once and for all clear it away"

On the other hand after days of winter gales I used to think "at least in fog there was no wind and it was better than this".

Some people (me) were never satisfied and always wanted "The other"!!!!!

Tony


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## Jardine (Oct 29, 2011)

Tony Crompton said:


> Working as a Pilot in fog was always a "Challenge".
> 
> After a few days of fog I would often wish "It would blow like hell to once and for all clear it away"
> 
> ...


In complete agreement with this post. We were never satisfied.


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## Robert Hilton (Feb 13, 2011)

Coming down the Ghent canal I was informed that I would have to make fast as the bridge at Sas van Gent was closed. Made fast and then asked the reason for the closure. They told me it was too dense to open as road traffic might drive into the canal. Crew said later, "We couldn't see anything, then there was a bollard and we got a line on it."


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## jj b (Oct 13, 2009)

Robert Hilton said:


> Coming down the Ghent canal I was informed that I would have to make fast as the bridge at Sas van Gent was closed. Made fast and then asked the reason for the closure. They told me it was too dense to open as road traffic might drive into the canal. Crew said later, "We couldn't see anything, then there was a bollard and we got a line on it."


Hello Robert, JJ, how r u good I hope long time no hear? I wonder do u remember the time back in the late 70’s when 1 of Crescent V/Ls was making a trip up the Medway on the high spring tide in thick pea soup & in the darkness with a cargo of china clay bound for the Reeds paper mills up @ sondland, when the captain had enough of it & dropt the anchor, & put the sailor on watch & said give me a call when the fog clears & off to bed he went, @ daybreak the sailor called the captain & said the fog has cleared, but do you wont fresh milk & fresh meat with your tea, because there is a few cattle grazing around the V/L, he had shot over the Hook bend, apparently he was not worried as there was no work until Monday AM, & the tide was still making so they spent some time on Saturday applying paint over the side of the V/L & back off on the high tide on Saturday nigh & all went home until Monday AM work, apparently there was no damage.. Best regards, JJ.PS I was on 1 of the Lady boats @ the time & hopping to beat him to the berth before him as we was on the share to....


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## lakercapt (Jul 19, 2005)

Once heading for Thunder Bay to arrive early Saturday evening and it was a very rare occasion that we would not be loading till Sunday.
Dense fog set in and we were going to have many unhappy crew members if we did not get in.
Got through the piers OK and headed for he berth all on radar. As I did not know how fast we were going I told a deckhand to throw one of these styrene cups overboard and walk down the deck at the same speed. Got an idea for approaching and made it OK and never saw the dock till we were alongside.
Happy crew had a night on the town.


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## Pat Thompson (Jan 25, 2006)

Greetings,

The "naughty "F" word" was not allowed to be spoken on my bridge. Say it and you were fined a "can", find it and you were fined an "RPC" (_Request the pleasure of your company_", ie, fill the bar) Seemed a reasonable thing to do.


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## TOM ALEXANDER (Dec 24, 2008)

Am I afraid of the fog?? Not really - send the wife up to the bow of our 42 ft. ketch with a bucket of pebbles. She throws them ahead at regular intervals. If a pebble goes "splash" we keep going, if it goes "bonk" we stop, and if it goes "Owwwww!#%**" we go emergency full astern. (Our poor man's radar.)

Seriously, going up the Alberni Inlet to Port Alberni in the fog the pilots would sound the ships whistle at various points and then they would say that we were "on track" as the echo had the correct time difference. I often wondered whether that was a realistic alternative in support of the radar which was always on, or whether it was just local "Mumbo Jumbo" to impress us limeys.


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## cleansweeploch (Nov 13, 2010)

*Scared of Fog*

As a lightkeeper who had to provide fog signals, I was on Coquet Lt. Ho. sometime in 1970.
Believe it or not, the fog signal was explosive! It consisted of 2 Tonite charges with an elec. detonator. These were hung on a counter-weighted pole outside the lantern. By use of a circuit breaker, dynamo and ancient clock, the charge was set off at a particular interval, according to the lt. ho. info. on Adml. charts.
We once had to do this continuously for 3 days & 3 nights. Added to this was the navigation light being paraffin and the character of the light was worked by clockwork, which had to be wound every 45mins.
I always wondered that if any vessel was relying on these signals, the poor sods would be on the rocks before they even heard heard it, let alone see it!!!!(EEK)


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## BelliniTosi (Feb 25, 2010)

Steaming along in a Pusser's war canoe in a peasouper held no fears, all the radars going, ops room fully manned, all lookouts closed up.
At anchor in the Irwell off Shotley Point, at night, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face and the only warning was the rapid ringing of the bell every couple of minutes was a totally different matter.
I made sure my lifebelt was at hand and I knew were my emergency station was.


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## Pat Kennedy (Apr 14, 2007)

I think on the Ivernia, when in thick fog on the Grand Banks, the ship's whistle was sounded in two long blasts every couple of minutes. 
When Ive been on ships anchored at the Mersey Bar in thick fog, we had to do a rapid ringing on the ship's bell once a minute, followed by rapid banging of a gong on the poop every minute. 
It all sounds a bit primitive now. are these still the rules? 
Pat(Thumb)


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## TonyAllen (Aug 6, 2008)

Pat Kennedy said:


> I think on the Ivernia, when in thick fog on the Grand Banks, the ship's whistle was sounded in two long blasts every couple of minutes.
> When Ive been on ships anchored at the Mersey Bar in thick fog, we had to do a rapid ringing on the ship's bell once a minute, followed by rapid banging of a gong on the poop every minute.
> It all sounds a bit primitive now. are these still the rules?
> Pat(Thumb)


Pat if you had your guitar midships you could have had a trio and maybe written fog on the Mersey Tony


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

TonyAllen said:


> Pat if you had your guitar midships you could have had a trio and maybe written fog on the Mersey Tony


If a bit of a swell got up they could have sung: "We're banging a gong on the crest of a wave..."

John T


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## Gulpers (Sep 8, 2005)

Pat Kennedy said:


> I think on the Ivernia, when in thick fog on the Grand Banks, the ship's whistle was sounded in two long blasts every couple of minutes.
> When Ive been on ships anchored at the Mersey Bar in thick fog, we had to do a rapid ringing on the ship's bell once a minute, followed by rapid banging of a gong on the poop every minute.
> *It all sounds a bit primitive now. are these still the rules? *
> Pat(Thumb)


Pat,

All the relevant sound signals which are still in force can be found *here*. (Thumb)


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## Pat Kennedy (Apr 14, 2007)

Gulpers said:


> Pat,
> 
> All the relevant sound signals which are still in force can be found *here*. (Thumb)


Ray, 
looks like nothing has changed there then. They still clang the bell forard and bang the gong aft by the sound of it.(Jester) 
Regards, 
Pat


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## walkonthewildside (Nov 9, 2011)

I pressed our ships horn one night in thick fog by accident one night whilst bending to look into the radar. Frightened the c*** out of myself and the mate.


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## Gareth Jones (Jul 13, 2007)

I remember seeing on a ship somewhere a foghorn which was wooden box with a megaphone type speaker at on end and a handle on the side which had to be wound quickly to produce a sound. You couldnt hear it from one side of the bridge to the other, about as useful as a chocolate poker!


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## lakercapt (Jul 19, 2005)

That would be a Norwegian foghorn and at one time it was a requirement in the ships safety certificate.
Was a waste of time but inspectors used to ask for it to be tried out.


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## needadditionalinformation (Jan 30, 2006)

Ours had a side lever that had to be yanked back & forth to make sound through what I remember as a rubber diaphragm. 

Having to rely on that would have made me very scared of fog.


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## Binnacle (Jul 22, 2005)

Pat Kennedy said:


> It was quite eerie on lookout on the focsle. Looking aft you couldnt see past the windlass, you felt as if you were totally alone in the ocean.


When carrying deck cargo and access to the focsle was by rope ladder, I sometimes wondered when in pea soup with no radar if I sighted a ship close ahead if I would linger and strike three bells or if self preservation would kick in and and I would climb up the face of the pit props/esparto grass and flee for my life.


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