# R0's Why we were there



## charles henry

On the face of it we spent our time listening for ships in distress, getting time signals, weather reports and handling messages relative to ships busines and nursing batteries. One tended to forget why you were actually there.

How many of you actually sent an SOS signal for the ship you were on? - I did twice.

In transit from Vancouver homeward bound we were rammed in our bow by the mv William Luchenbach which then backed off and left.
We were taking lots of water and I was told to send an SOS and we eventually made it to San Francisco dry dock. Our ship was the Cape Hawke

Homeward bound to Montreal in the Cheticamp (Canadian) we were caught in a vicious hurricane but were riding it out bowing into it with reasonable comfort when the tarpaulin and wooden boardings from number one hatch broke loose and blew up to and smashing the bridge. We were then taking massive amounts of water into number one hold. Captain Noel Maw had to swing the ship round 180 degrees or she would founder. He told me to send the distress which I did realising that there was absolutely no way anybody could help us if we foundered. He confered with and instructed what he wanted from the engine room, watched the weather and then swung the vessel round
180 degrees in a remarkable piece of seamanship.

Ahh memories
Chas (Pint)


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## Varley

Responded,once. Subject vessel, never - I am happy to say.


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## Troppo

RRR SOS once.

XXX (man overboard) once.


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## John Briggs

Surely someone is missing the point here.
Sparkies were on board to keep the third mate company on long boring mid ocean watches.
Seriously though, whether a distress was sent or recieved, they were essential.


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## Bill Greig

Responded to SOS once - Shaw Saville "Megantic" had engine room fire and had operated the CO2 bottles, I was on the "Post Champion" about 400 miles from her down in the Pacific, luckily all turned out ok. Two days later had to send an XXX when one of our AB's got a lump of meat stuck in his throat and we thought he was taking a heart attack. Again all ok after an hour or so.
Bill


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## teb

John Briggs said:


> Surely someone is missing the point here.
> Sparkies were on board to keep the third mate company on long boring mid ocean watches.
> Seriously though, whether a distress was sent or recieved, they were essential.


Thank you!!!


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## Graham P Powell

I heard distress calls from relay stations but never actually heard one myself. On Royal Mail once we did respond to an XXX from a Greek freighter which had had an engine room explosion. We took on badly burnt guys as we had a doctor but I think two died. I also sent an XXX to 9VG when C/E had terrible pains. He was taken off with kidney stones. 
One night at GKA a ship came up on HF to say he had heard a distress but nobody had responded. We got him to re broadcast it. It turned out to be burning freighter. The R/O got an SOS off before the fire meant they all ended up in the bows. They were picked up safely. This was off West Africa somewhere. rgds
Graham Powell


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## GWB

Was on Southern Cross when she went to the aid of an other ship with a passengerv in need of oxegen, lowered the crash boat and Doctor went over to assit with administration of oxegen, mid pacific.


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## JWJ1

I sent SOS once. Onboard an Israeli tanker when explosion happened during tank cleaning. The explosion killed 3 men, blew a hole in the bottom and started a fire. The explosion was directly under the centre castle accommodation.
My SOS contained, "serious explosion, on fire, taking on water, preparing to abandon ship"
This incident apart, I had a fairly quiet 6 years seeing the world whilst being well paid. 
I thought this was why I went to sea in the first place !


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## Troppo

More details on my RRR.

I had just delivered the wx to the mate at 1900, and was chatting with him in the chart room - through the open hatch to the radio room I heard the AA sig on 500...

It was the Australian Tanker Mobil Australis/VMMO. She had lost power and was drifting ashore.... I was in the Iron Bogong/VJBA, a 60000 bulkie...not much we could do, but I sent the RRR and our position anyway.

A salvage tug got a line on the Mobil Australis, and dragged her into deep water.


A couple of years later, I was in the Baron Murray/GWES - we were deep sea, en route Japan from Nauru. The Deck Boy went missing. Much searching. I sent an XXX on 500 - it was early afternoon, and not many other ships about - I had the STC transmitter absolutely flat out...no reply.

We eventually found him - he was at the bottom of the lift shaft....the interlock on the lift door was faulty....the poor sod stepped into an empty shaft.....he lay at the bottom of the shaft, watching the lift go up and down......


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## Tai Pan

On Radnorshire GMRS responded to XXX for medical help from a Greek in Indian ocean. sent Doc over in Lifeboat. he needed more assistance on his return


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## Klaatu83

There's another aspect to consider that hasn't been touched on here. Through the years ships have become equipped with more and more electronics and computers. As a result, the RO morphed into an "REO" (Radio/Electronics Officer). It was invariably the RO who repaired and maintained the radars, computers and other electronics. 

In a prime example, I was once on one ship where we acquired a computer virus. Since the ship's computers were all networked, the virus quickly spread to all the computers on the ship (Bridge, Captain's Office, Chief Engineer's Office, Engine Room, etc.). Since the ship was at sea, we had no recourse to shore-based computer repair facilities. It was the RO who cured the problem.


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## sparkie2182

"Responded to SOS once - Shaw Saville "Megantic" had engine room fire and had operated the CO2 bottles, I was on the "Post Champion" about 400 miles from her down in the Pacific, luckily all turned out ok."

I recall that one..............I was on one of the ACT box boats and Rx'd the alarm signal on 500kHz in the "dark hours".
There was nil heard subsequently and as we were on the other side of the Pacific there was naught we could do except log it.

A few coast stations chimed up at distance but we assumed the worst until
a week or so later,alongside in ZLA or ZLW............Megantic sailed passed us without a scratch.


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## hawkey01

On the Blanchland we were bound for Cristobal from the US when I picked up SOS from Greek vessel in distress off the Yucatan Peninsular. Captain acknowledged and we were proceeding at all possible speed to assist. Working with US Coast Guard think it was NMA/Miami who were controlling. Another vessel arrived some hours before we could and we were eventually released to proceed on voyage.
Did send XXX one time from Sarpedon ex Denbighshire with very sick crew man. Requesting urgent medical help. Pax vessel in sight but no reply from them at all. Did get some help from another Bluey with a male nurse aboard. We took the fellow on to Singapore - how he survived is a miracle as he had a burst appendix and all that goes with it. He pulled through. Still think of the pax vessel who would not help!!
Handled several when at the coast stations.

Hawkey01


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## Chris Isaac

John Briggs said:


> Surely someone is missing the point here.
> Sparkies were on board to keep the third mate company on long boring mid ocean watches.
> Seriously though, whether a distress was sent or recieved, they were essential.


John
They were also there to get the football results and to enter the pools coupon.


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## frank elliott

I agree with Chris Isaac in previous thread. Never sent a distress (thank goodness) but received one and in doing so and going to assistance we on a BP tanker hit the jackpot indeed.We were on our way to Japan and going up through the China sea received an SOS from a ship nearby,a Japanese ship carrying timber from Borneo and the deck timber had shifted in rough weather to a point where the ship was in a perilous condition and needed assistance to escort it to Manila at dead slow speed.We did it took us nearly 4days.However when we arrived Yokohama we were greeted by the Japanese owners and given about a months worth of money ,goodies transistor radios etc and 3 cases of Orangeboom each. The captain did exceedingly well and also got 2 ivory statuettes of geisha girls.Then we went to drydock at Onomichi near to Hiroshima for about a week and the best shoreleave we ever did have and all on a BP tanker,forced to drydock because the buyers of the fueloil refused it.It was saturated in a couple of tanks with seawater and Lloyds would not allow the ship to trade until a full drydock session done.It must have cost BP a fortune.


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## Bill Greig

sparkie2182 said:


> "Responded to SOS once - Shaw Saville "Megantic" had engine room fire and had operated the CO2 bottles, I was on the "Post Champion" about 400 miles from her down in the Pacific, luckily all turned out ok."
> 
> I recall that one..............I was on one of the ACT box boats and Rx'd the alarm signal on 500kHz in the "dark hours".
> There was nil heard subsequently and as we were on the other side of the Pacific there was naught we could do except log it.
> 
> A few coast stations chimed up at distance but we assumed the worst until
> a week or so later,alongside in ZLA or ZLW............Megantic sailed passed us without a scratch.


Hi Sparkie,
I remember it well, I had a junior R/O with me on that trip, Brian Nickerson from Bacton. We were just finishing off working on the radar transceiver which was mounted on the bulkhead at the radio room door. We were just putting the covers back on when Brian said -"There's an SOS". We had 500 Khz on loudspeaker fortunately. It was about 9pm or there abouts. As I said not a lot we could do at the time being a few hundred miles away, but I think we were the closest ship. Next day we got a thank you from the Sparks on the Megantic, but did nothing more than offer moral support at the time.
I think they had operated the fire bottles with a view of worse case senario occurring and consequent SOS transmission. All well though in the end.
Bill


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## david.hopcroft

The Distress Guide at GKZ (what to do if.......) had writ in big red letters at the beginning............

'It is far better to do too much than too little' 

Good advice.

David
+


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## Varley

I am comforted to hear that.


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## JWJ1

I know very little about coast station distress procedures but from my SOS experience, at the moment the distress situation arises, procedures mean very little.

The vessel was an Israeli super tanker (tiny by todays sizes). I had stripped off to take a shower when the explosion happened directly below. The fireball rolled right passé my opened window (to let steam out).
I thought I was badly burned, the heat was blistering. Racing up the stairs to the radio room I collided with the skipper (dense smoke). He shouted to me to send SOS now, urgently.

When I fired up the Reliance (Globespan was hanging off the work top) I tried to key SOS. My hands were shaking so badly, what went out was just garbage.

I tried holding my right wrist with my left hand to steady it. It didn't work so I decided to use the autokey.

Eventually SOS went out but I'm afraid any thought of correct procedures was the furthest thing from my mind. I just wanted to know there was someone out there to help us.

Fortunately, by the time the Autokey had done its job my nerves had steadied and I was able to use the key again, but again, correct procedures were probably not to the forefront at least until a little later.

I think self preservation steps in but, at the same time, you know what you have been taught and it does eventually take over, thank goodness.

JWJ.


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## David Williams

charles henry said:


> On the face of it we spent our time listening for ships in distress, getting time signals, weather reports and handling messages relative to ships busines and nursing batteries. One tended to forget why you were actually there.
> 
> How many of you actually sent an SOS signal for the ship you were on? - I did twice.
> 
> In transit from Vancouver homeward bound we were rammed in our bow by the mv William Luchenbach which then backed off and left.
> We were taking lots of water and I was told to send an SOS and we eventually made it to San Francisco dry dock. Our ship was the Cape Hawke
> 
> Homeward bound to Montreal in the Cheticamp (Canadian) we were caught in a vicious hurricane but were riding it out bowing into it with reasonable comfort when the tarpaulin and wooden boardings from number one hatch broke loose and blew up to and smashing the bridge. We were then taking massive amounts of water into number one hold. Captain Noel Maw had to swing the ship round 180 degrees or she would founder. He told me to send the distress which I did realising that there was absolutely no way anybody could help us if we foundered. He confered with and instructed what he wanted from the engine room, watched the weather and then swung the vessel round
> 180 degrees in a remarkable piece of seamanship.
> 
> Ahh memories
> Chas (Pint)


R/Os are just like household insurance,you complain when
you have to pay for something that you never used as you
did not have a claim,but you would be right up the creek if you
didnt have insurance or R/Os when they were needed.

Dave Williams


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## JWJ1

R651400 said:


> Small question referring to the brevity of your skipper's order to send SOS then auto-key and morse tremors to boot.
> Were you aware of your exact QTH and able to send?


Sorry about the misunderstanding R651400. Here are a couple of quotes from the write-up I did of the incident several years ago. I think you have to understand that in a few milliseconds the situation changed from a peaceful, sunny afternoon to horrendous chaos. Thick black smoke, breathing very difficult, total vision loss because of the smoke, alarms and sirens clanging etc and damage everywhere.

Quote: Racing up the stairway in thick black smoke I collided with Captain Kruyswjk who was also heading up to the bridge. He uttered a couple of his favourite “Godverdomme” or “God Dammit’s”. 
When he realised who I was, he shouted “Johnnie send SOS now, urgently. I’ll give you our position as soon as I can”. Unquote.

Quote: At that moment the captain came into the station and gave me our position in Lat and Long scribbled on a bit of paper. He also told me that we were on fire and were preparing to abandon ship. 
He asked me to keep in touch with the tanker nearby, ask them to standby but not to approach too closely as, being full of gas and on fire, we could explode again at any time. Unquote.

The whole distress period lasted from approx. 15.30 till midnight when a passenger ship arrived with a doctor, unfortunately 3 crewmen died.

I was busy right through the night and all next day with official and crew traffic.


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## Naytikos

I never had to originate an SOS, but did relay or respond a few times. 
One thing I always made a point of doing was to have the day's noon position written on my scrap pad; so that if I had to send out a distress call in a big hurry I would have something to send that, if I never got to update it, would at least narrow down the search area to, say, around 300 miles radius at the most.


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## JWJ1

Naytikos said:


> I never had to originate an SOS, but did relay or respond a few times.
> One thing I always made a point of doing was to have the day's noon position written on my scrap pad; so that if I had to send out a distress call in a big hurry I would have something to send that, if I never got to update it, would at least narrow down the search area to, say, around 300 miles radius at the most.


This sounds like a brilliant idea. I can't understand why it wasn't a standing order for the bridge to pass the noon position to the radio station, together with course and speed.

It could have been included in any SOS and updated asap.

In my own case it must have been 5 to 10 minutes (hard to judge in the cir***stances) before I was given our position by the skipper but as it happened, I was already in contact with a vessel which was very close by.


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## trotterdotpom

Wasn't it a rule to put the ship's position into the radio logbook every day? I know I did.

John T


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## Ron Stringer

trotterdotpom said:


> Wasn't it a rule to put the ship's position into the radio logbook every day? I know I did.
> 
> John T


Correct. Under the British Radio Rules it was one of the items that had to be entered in the Radio Logbook by the R/O.


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## Troppo

We sent the QTH, crse and speed every day when in Oz, for the AUSREP reporting system.


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## King Ratt

RFAs sent PCS every day in my time with them.


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## G4UMW

I remember getting the "noon chit" on the ships I worked on. Blue Star had a special form for this purpose - position at noon, average speed and distance run in the previous 24 hours, distance to run to next port, ETA and maybe other stuff that I've forgotten.


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## david.hopcroft

Not all distresses started with alarm signals. 

On a peaceful, quiet but foggy day on the east coast, a panicky voice shouted out over Ch16 - "You cut my f*****g ship in half", nothing else. A tanker had been rammed just forward of the midships accommodation and had been cut in two !!

Just prior to that I had sent a message to his agents with an eta. When I phoned them later for info, the reply was "Solved a problem. We didn't know where we were going to put his cargo anyway" Over the Norfolk beaches was the real answer !

David
+


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## sparkie2182

Not all alarm signals were followed by distresses................mostly QRN.

Happily.


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## GBXZ

Yes KR
And lots of people knew where we were judging by the distribution of the PCS. 

Rgds 
GBXZ


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## trotterdotpom

"On a peaceful, quiet but foggy day on the east coast, a panicky voice shouted out over Ch16 - "You cut my f*****g ship in half", nothing else. A tanker had been rammed just forward of the midships accommodation and had been cut in two !!"

I hope he got reported for swearing on air.

John T


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## Moulder

G4UMW said:


> I remember getting the "noon chit" on the ships I worked on. Blue Star had a special form for this purpose - position at noon, average speed and distance run in the previous 24 hours, distance to run to next port, ETA and maybe other stuff that I've forgotten.


That would have been R.O.B. - Rob.

(Thumb)


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## bluemoon

with my ex company a "noon chitty" from the 2/0 was standard procedure each day at sea.

as well as all the other reasons mentioned above, it was useful for exchanging info with other company ships on our daily radio schedules.


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## david.hopcroft

I did have actual experience of a fire onboard once, but luckily didn't have to send distress signals.

There was an accommodation fire on the main deck level. Pretty soon smoke was thick everywhere pouring out from every nook and cranny. I sprinted up to the Radio Room, shut the door and the air-con vent which made little difference. I ran up main and emergency Tx's into respective aerials. Went out to the bridge to get QTH but by now the smoke was so thick in the Radio Room it was almost untenable, so I went back out to the bridge and got the lifeboat set out next to the boat station. 

By this time, led by the old man, the fire was brought under control and extinguished. Never did send anything in anger, but I was ready.........It was a frightening experience.

David
+


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## G4UMW

Moulder said:


> That would have been R.O.B. - Rob.


Remaining On Board - of course! (Applause)


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## duncs

Picked up(QRN5) and worked distress, Arabian Sea on Ibn Abdoun/9KEG. Picked up 16 survivors from a lifeboat from Bukom Island/9V?? (Pot luck)
Always had N/N posn in L/Book.


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## Varley

duncs said:


> Picked up(QRN5) and worked distress, Arabian Sea on Ibn Abdoun/9KEG. Picked up 16 survivors from a lifeboat from Bukom Island/9V?? (Pot luck)
> Always had N/N posn in L/Book.


When was that Duncs? (sailing PG to GoAquaba 1972-1975)


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## sparkie2182

Hopefully not Raz to Jazz.


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## duncs

Hi V, 
from my dis bk, it was around end of May '77. I seem to remember the same storm battered Muscat.
Rgds, D


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## Varley

duncs said:


> Hi V,
> from my dis bk, it was around end of May '77. I seem to remember the same storm battered Muscat.
> Rgds, D


Thanks D. After my time there apart from the odd visit. V


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## Bill.B

Received SOS from Matadi Palm off Madiera around 74 with an engine room fire. stood by most of the night. Received distress from Ben Chruachan off Durban 73 when she got hit and bent. That was the only time RFA Orangeleaf overtook anything. All the southbound VLCCs we're coming past with bent bows and masts. We were on Beira patrol, a joke, and off to Mina. Saw the Ben boat a year later coming out of Immingham looking like Concord and have a couple of photos of her.
Bill Bonner


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## alan ward

What were Sparkies for?how else would trawler crews have got those interflora bouquets back home apologising for only getting as far as Rayners before shipping out again,passengers wanting to know how their stocks and shares were getting on,pools syndicates would never have known how if they`d got a win ,above all they could make a Japanese bought stereo work off DC,they were invaluable.


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## Graham P Powell

I have a feeling that the noon position was supposed to be an entry in the radio log book. Could be wrong about that but certainly with RML a proper little chit used to turn up with position, days run, eta etc.
I think there was some sort of sweepstake running on that information. Spent several days running parallel with a tanker and he called me up everyday for our noon position. The British R/O on board told me the incompetents on board could not work out where they were!. Aforementioned tanker got a name change and was subsequently wrecked with oil pollution on UK coast. I won't mention any names.rgds
Graham Powell


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## trotterdotpom

I found a copy of the Handbook for Radio Operators on line.

Part 3, ship's Radio Log Part II .... Must enter in chronological order .... (v) approximate position of the ship at least once per day.....

John T


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## Ron Stringer

R651400 said:


> The same noon QTH chit arrived daily in Blue Funnel for TR exchange with other GTZB ships within contact region but I don't recall it was an official PMG prequisite for log entry.
> From memory PMG regulations for logging entry should show..
> Silence Period Observed.
> All ship station tfc working with definite logging of any movement away from 500 kc/s listening...
> A 500 kc/s log entry every ten minutes
> Area control traffic lists at the commencement of each watch period..


I think that you are remembering what you did - not what the regulations specified. They were quite extensive and quite specific on some points, more general on others. The 1974 Rules are quoted in the 1974 PMG Handbook for Radio Operators and listed some 20 entries that had to be made.

http://archive.org/stream/HandbookForRadioOperators/Hmso-HandbookForRadioOperators#page/n41/mode/2up

In the 1998 Regulations (rather late in the day for use by most R/Os I suspect) the requirement in (_v_) above was expanded to read "_if the ship's rules permit, the position of the ship at least once a day, preferably at midday_".


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## trotterdotpom

The copy I found was a 1965 edition. The reqirement was the same as in Ron's 1974, ie an approximate position once per day. There was no requirement for a noon position, any position would do. However, if you had a noon position you might as well use it. Bearing in mind, of course, the noon position wasn't necessarily where you were at 12 o'clock.

John T


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## chadburn

Were there different Rules, Regs and proceedures for those who were Company employed and those on Contract like Marconi R.O.s


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## trotterdotpom

chadburn said:


> Were there different Rules, Regs and proceedures for those who were Company employed and those on Contract like Marconi R.O.s


No.

John T

PS there were different rules for different countries though.


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## trotterdotpom

R651400 said:


> #54..Read again... Daily position if ship's rules permit...


#52. Read the link. No mention of ship's rules. In any case, why would ship's rules not permit it? The position was written in the ship's log, and, I believe, the engine room log.

However, in the interests of moving on, have it your own way.

John T


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## stein

JWJ1:


> I sent SOS once. Onboard an Israeli tanker when explosion happened during tank cleaning. The explosion killed 3 men, blew a hole in the bottom and started a fire. The explosion was directly under the centre castle accommodation.
> My SOS contained, "serious explosion, on fire, taking on water, preparing to abandon ship"


So what happened, did you sink?


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## Ron Stringer

trotterdotpom said:


> #52. Read the link. No mention of ship's rules. In any case, why would ship's rules not permit it?


John,

Part II of the Radiotelegraph Log had to be completed by the operator and after entering the names of the ports of departure and destination he had to enter (in chronological order) some 20 items. The sub-paragraph (v) required the operator to enter "_The approximate position of the ship at least once per day if the ship's rules permit._"

I don't know the reason for including the let-out - possibly a hang-over from wartime or some other security reason in special cir***stances - but on every ship that I sailed on, the noon position was passed to me from the bridge each day.

However I didn't record the signals on 500 kc/s every 10 minutes - the requirement was only to record signals of other stations "_about_" once every 10 minutes - and with no mention of the frequency involved. Working traffic or copying press on HF did not allow you to start writing down calls on 500 - you could listen to them on the L/S and would be able to attend an Alarm or other emergency call, but would not be copying non-emergency calls down. 

Similarly although _(vii)_ required that the operator copied traffic lists, there was no blanket requirement for all British ships to copy Area scheme traffic lists, only those traffic lists "_appropriate to the voyage on which the ship is engaged_". Of course that often meant that the Area broadcasts were required but on many runs and at certain parts of other voyages, traffic would not be routed via an Area Station and monitoring those broadcasts would not be appropriate.

Hence my comment that although some operators might have done (or not done) things in a certain way, it does not automatically follow that what they did was precisely what the Rules demanded. The Rules allowed flexibility except where precision was essential for safety or other reasons. There was nothing to prevent any individual from doing more than the Rules required and recording more information, or more frequently, than the minimum demanded.

It is all somewhat nit-picking, but if you choose to use the Rules and Regulations in support of a claim or an argument, then you have to accept the correct texts; it is not acceptable to supplant them with your memories.


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## Ivor Lloyd

I didnt actually send a SOS but sent SSSS in Jan 1944 
to indicate that we had been torpedoed by submarine. Never found out if it was picked up by anyone.
Ivor


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## John Dryden

I have noticed that some ships carried more than one RO,even cargo ships in my time(69/73).Must have been a company policy I guess or purely for training?


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## trotterdotpom

Whoops, sorry Ron and R65. I've just re-read the link and saw the proviso - must have missed the second line.

However, I don't see it as a "get out clause" because the overwhelming majority of ships had no rule against entering the position in the log. Certainly none that I was in. Saying "if the ships' rules permit" doesn't make the entry optional if the rules don't prohibit it.

I can imagine cir***stances where a logbook used in an investigation would be more useful if it had an indication of location.

John T


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## Varley

John Dryden said:


> I have noticed that some ships carried more than one RO,even cargo ships in my time(69/73).Must have been a company policy I guess or purely for training?


If memory serves, this depended on the number of passengers carried and the length of voyage. For a qualifying vessel only R/Os that had completed their 6 months supervised service as Junior counted. Certainly both exclusively Cargo and many Passenger vessels might carry Juniors doing their 6 month stint - but they didn't 'count'.


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## Wismajorvik

They certainly did count! It was common to place a junior, (ie less than six months service) on a two or three operator vessel, (class 1) with a couple of old timers, although the regs stated only one is required to have a minimum of two years sea service.
Another anomaly was the case of a ship between 1600 and 3000 tons gross in which case three months sea time was considered adequate for a single operator.
I sailed under both these examples.


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## Naytikos

Writing as one who has an aversion to rules and regulations generally, phrases like 'if the ship's rules permit' are great!

Comparing Ron's link with my copy of the 1964 edition of the PMG handbook, there are a few small alterations to the wording, and, indeed, the 1974 edition does allow the use of an 'approximate position' rather than 'the position'. Neither edition mentions 'noon position'.

Sub-para. (vii) of the 1964 edition does require the entry of 'Traffic LIsts from Commonwealth long-distance Area Stattions in full'.

Hands up anyone who somehow complied with the letter of the rule by copying ALL of the area station traffic lists regardless of propagation, trading route or time of broadcast.

One could devote a whole thread to picking these regulations apart; and then go on to those of other flags with which members have sailed.


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## hawkey01

When I was Liberian flag I never kept the mandatory 2 on 2 off system. I would work hours that suited the ship business times ie when the Captain was likely to want to send traffic. So possibly three hours before lunch then the rest over the afternoon evening as I thought were the best. Especially for Greek press from SVA or the footie results. Log entries were tfc lists when it came to my callsign time ie 6ZDC - imagine copying all GKA/SVA foreign tfc lists. No chance. other entries were whatever I did with possibly the odd entry from some other stations if the mood took me. Never missed any traffic and life was far more sociable. 
I did however always, when on British ships, copy the area tfc lists as per regs.

Hawkey01


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## Varley

Wismajorvik said:


> They certainly did count! It was common to place a junior, (ie less than six months service) on a two or three operator vessel, (class 1) with a couple of old timers, although the regs stated only one is required to have a minimum of two years sea service.
> Another anomaly was the case of a ship between 1600 and 3000 tons gross in which case three months sea time was considered adequate for a single operator.
> I sailed under both these examples.


Sorry, you're right - for the full gen. see the handbook at:

http://archive.org/stream/HandbookForRadioOperators/Hmso-HandbookForRadioOperators_djvu.txt


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## beedeesea

Can anybody tell me how a Special Radiotelegraphy Cert differed from a PMG2 Cert? Was there a separate curriculum of study, and what limitations were placed on employment at sea? I know that Special Certs were issued during the War, presumably because of a shortage of ROs, but I'm not sure if this would have been the same Cert issued to blokes on the deep-water trawlers later on, in the 60s, for example.


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## beedeesea

R651400 said:


> Special Certificates had the same requirement as the PMG2 exam without the necessity to sit the radio theory part of the paper.
> I feel the GPO were winding down on this aspect of a sea-going alternative when I took my ticket in '56 as it was not widely broadcast and yes the eventual employer would have been a deep sea trawler or tug company.


Thanks, R651400. I don't think any of the Irish radio colleges covered it, at least I didn't ever hear it mentioned over here.

Brian


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## Wismajorvik

Re. log books. On one vessel, although there was only one operator on at a time, as there were three 'stations' namely MF, HF and Emergency we had a logbook for each! The majority of the entries were of the 'log book open', 'log book closed' variety.
Re. battery logs I agree how ridiculous they were and also the additional battery logbook if you had an Indian crew.


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## Troppo

Aussie flag ships kept the following watches (ship's time):

0800-1200

1400-1600

1900-2100

I made it a point when I was with the Gov't to find out what happened to all those part 1 radio logs that we completed....they were kept for 3 months and then burned!


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## trotterdotpom

Those times became the standard on UK ships too, but I think they had the flexibility of "any 2 hours between 1800 and 2200ship's time". Actually, I think it might have been the same in Australia.

Hope they burned those logs under a bridge in Redfern ... They would have kept someone warm and finally been useful.

John T


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## Troppo

Yes, I used to do 1800-2000.

_The Young Ones_ started at 2030....one had to get the priorities right!


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## bluemoon

When the watch keeping regulations changed around the early 80's, rightly or wrongly, I always kept the hours 0800-1200 and 1600-2000


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## Ian Beattie

I seem to recall that in the sixties round the UK the first watch was 0800-1000 then two down two up etc till eight hours were completed but as you moved east or west into different time zones the start times could vary like 0600-0800 and finishing early but you never got a full nights sleep in UK waters as there was always some distress which always had to be logged even if it was thousands of miles away as the bridge log had the time the auto alarm went off and the old man wanted to see the log book the next day, usually it was first sos log then as we were nowhere near sign off - but if there wasn't anything in the log papa really wanted to know why not. happy days
Cheers Ian


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## Wismajorvik

Remember it well. Start the day at 0800 and finish at 2200. 
Auto-alarms were a pain especially in European waters. I recollect being in the Med. when a station in Norway sent the AA every half hour through the night. Goodness knows how many ROs had their sleep interrupted and no possibility of being any assistance. Although I guess that was what we were there for.(The bridge personnel were not too happy either as the bell up there was bigger than those in the radio room and ROs cabin).


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## trotterdotpom

Another pain with the logbook was getting the Old Man to sign it. Needless to say, they had little interest in it and if you gave them it once a week, you had a battle to get it back. Some of them left it until the end of the trip, but that was their own fault.

John T


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## Troppo

I had a rubber stamp made up for the daily signature - which I still have.

It also listed all the daily tests (em tx, etc).

Made it a lot easier for the old man, and looked neat.


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## JWJ1

*stein wrote*

JWJ1:

Quote:

I sent SOS once. Onboard an Israeli tanker when explosion happened during tank cleaning. The explosion killed 3 men, blew a hole in the bottom and started a fire. The explosion was directly under the centre castle accommodation.
My SOS contained, "serious explosion, on fire, taking on water, preparing to abandon ship" 

So what happened, did you sink?

No we didn't sink thankfully. The fire was eventually extinguished and the pumps coped with the incoming water.

We spent a week in Djibouti having underwater surveys etc then spent a couple of months in Durban having major structural repairs.

Incidentally we were the biggest vessel to enter Durban until then.

The skipper entered into the ships log for the period of the distress, the following :

Quote " I want to mention the excellent, competent and calm behaviour of the Radio Officer, Mr Jackson. He remained at his post during the whole distress period and was of great assistance to afterwards." Unquote.

I felt quite pleased with that comment.


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## Ian Beattie

JWJ1 I think you had every right to feel "chuffed". I was only involved in a couple of sos shouts the first was on the Pacific side of the Panama canal and I think it was an ex CPR Empress boat that caught fire, they were very fortunate as there were loads of shipping around to take off the passengers, bit miffed as we got there the US coastguards stood us down (sigh such is life) The second incident was in the Med when we picked up a motor launch with four people in it which had been drifting for three days, they were Spanish and very happy bunnies until they were told our next port of call was Genoa. The Old man claimed the launch for himself (such is life) Quite lucky not to have been the victim of one though. The last was a Pan shout from British Airways jet crossing the Atlantic E to W which lost cabin pressure and reduced altitude rapidly luckily he was able to continue to LHR and I only had to relay for him to Shanwick FIR must have been a bit hairy for those on board to say the least.
Cheers Ian


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## Wismajorvik

trotterdotpom said:


> Another pain with the logbook was getting the Old Man to sign it. Needless to say, they had little interest in it and if you gave them it once a week, you had a battle to get it back. Some of them left it until the end of the trip, but that was their own fault.
> 
> John T


Agree, was a pain with some of them. One of them requested the log for signing after Sunday inspection when he would would take refreshments, sometimes continuing same to Tuesday evening. Kept a rough log in the meantime.


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