# Schoolboy Supernumerary



## Zeb?edee2020 (Sep 7, 2018)

In 1945 the sailing vessels Pamir and Passat were moored in Penarth’s inner harbour. Penarth is a small ex-coal port between Cardiff upstream, and Barry downstream on the Eastern shore of the Severn Estuary/Bristol channel. My schoolmate Andy W, and his, later, mutual, friend made friends with the skeleton crew and we three would visit them aboard in the evenings, and I recall how warn the accommodation was; due to all the trapped Australian sunshine I suppose. One evening I climbed to the truck of the mainmast! As it was dark, I wasn’t frightened, let alone as terrified as I probably would have been in daylight. At another extreme, one evening I stepped backwards off the pin rail, thinking that it was only about sixty Centimeters high whereas it was more like two Metres to the luckily unobstructed deck. Consequently I didn’t injure myself although I probably gained a few bruises. My wris****ch wasn’t nearly as shockproof as either I or the makers thought it. It stopped instantly (and probably expensively.).

idea which went first. But I'm going to assume that it was the Passat. Which. Of course meant that the Pamir was the second one; and the one on which I went as the schoolboy supernumerary of the title! Leaving Penarth at high tide we arrived off Barry on a falling tide and the pilot decided to anchor and wait for the evening tide. This upset the “run crew” who all knew that we could, and should, have gone straight in! Had we done so they would have got a day's pay for about four hours work. But now they faced a whole day's work instead. Little did they suspect what lay in store for then! While waiting for the tide the opportunity was taken to rig an “endless” wire from a winch to the capstan on the fo’c’sle: “endless” thanks to a long splice which was much admired by some of the run crew. The first attempt was unsuccessful: the wire feeding on to the capstan was at the top and dropped down over the coil trapping and jamming them. Re-arranging it so that the wire fed on to the base of the coil cured it of course. The winch was powered by a single cylinder two-stroke hot bulb semi-diesel. It had two external flywheels, completely unenclosed one of which had a spring loaded plunger on one side which could be withdrawn and used as a starting crank. In theory, when released it automatically withdrew but in practice the combination of centrifugal force, a corroded spring and rust in the bore meant it remained extended; threatening serious injury to anyone careless enough to get in range. But first it had to be started: initially the fuel injection was timed manually, enabling rotation in either direction! On the first attempt the fuel was injected a few degrees too soon and the early combustion reversed the piston travel, and of course, the crankshaft rotation: when the piston reached the identical position on the upstroke fuel was injected, ignited and reversed the rotation: this sequence continued with increasing rapidity and the engine was only saved from self-destruction when the bosun intervened. At about 60 or 70 Hz he shut off the fuel and then re-admitted it at an appropriate point. The stresses in the crankshaft must have been impressi! Now it was time to raise the anchor: the clutch was engaged and the cable started to come home. But OH! So slowly. I think that the engine was sized for sail handling: not cargo working, and definitely not for anchor hoisting! With the engine at peak revolutions it's clutch was e engaged. The capstan turned, the appropriate clutch had been used to “power” the intended gypsy

and the engine promptly started to labour, losing speed until on the point of stalling it's clutch was disengaged and the engine regained it's speed whereupon it was put to work again. This cycle raised about a half of one link! After a while the pilot required the capstan bars to be inserted and the run crew really had to earn their money. As soon as the anchor was “atrip” i.e. “clear of the bottom” he ordered the tugs to tow us in. This ended my involvement of course. However, when I became a Marine Engineer in the late nineteen-fifties the episode proved invaluable: in those days time spent on a sail-powered vessel was regarded as far more valuable to deck officers than the rquivalent time on a powered vessel. When a third or second mate got a bit uppity prefacing my response with “When I was on the Pamir:” brought them down to size very effectively!


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## Zeb?edee2020 (Sep 7, 2018)

Many years ago I posted under the name 'zebedee'. Recently the administration decided I should have a new name of Zeb?dee2020.


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## Freo (Nov 4, 2005)

Have just realized what is wrong with "wrist watch" written as one word. This site gets worse and worse, pathetic !


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

No. I am sure the pathetic spelling emasculator would have detected from the regrade onwards. The site is not getting worse it is simply not yet getting any better.


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## Stephen J. Card (Nov 5, 2006)

wris****ch ?


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## Stephen J. Card (Nov 5, 2006)

HOLY COW!!!

LOL!!!! Now I see it... the missing letters spell T W A T !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One way to beat the 'system'.... now we can call the people who run this system myst be 'W Anchors'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Well, they might be used to wrist action of some kind but as to the other perhaps doubtful..


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## Stephen J. Card (Nov 5, 2006)

Predictable!!!! All it is winding the watch!


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