Old Weather Forum

An academic comment, since, well, I'm an academic. But actually drawing on my time as a deck walloper -- when anchored somewhere, some hapless junior officer or senior deckie gets stuck with anchor watch, the main purpose of which, especially in windy or currenty places, is to make sure the ship does not drag anchor, and with first light the captain finds the vessel either aground or in deep water with 6 shots up-and-down. In this case the anchor to windward (so to speak) is the 'anchor bearing' (and sometimes ranges which are not distances but various objects on land lined up gunsight-wise and in view of the wheelhouse) recorded in the logbook. These can be anything convenient and stationary that can be seen over the pelorus. Any house or tree, but not parked cars. Thus their utility is often ephemeral, yet the not-watched anchor bearing has brought woe to many dozies.

"6 shots up-and-down." ??

I found the phrase in "Modelling of High Velocity Impact on Composite Materials for Airframe Structures Application," but I don't see any nautical connection...

A shot of chain is the same as a shackle. 15 fathoms or 90 feet. 6 shots = 540 feet 'up-and-down' or hanging uselessly directly below the bow.
There may be 12 or 13 shots in a chain locker, each linked by a shackle (or split link), painted red and white, with a wire seizing to boot, to mark the measured length payed out. With 6 shots in the water, the mark would at the surface, more or less. When hauling up the anchor, the bosun may call out 'up-and-down' to signify the anchor is coming off the bottom and hanging free - and thus the vessel may begin maneuvering slowly.

Also, WW2 is moving right along. Finished Nav on all 6 destroyers for 1941 already.

Thanks Kevin.
As slack chain at anchor is not a good thing to have.
I knew about the coloured chain links but had not heard of them called shots.
(Not everything makes it down to the engine room. )

Ah, yes, but I'd have to take the M. V. Coho from Victoria to Port Angeles, except it isn't running due to Covid. So, I'd have to drive to Swartz Bay, take the B.C. Ferry to Tsawwassen, drive to the Peace Arch border Crossing then to Bellingham, and there might be a ferry from there across Puget Sound. Even so, it would be a rather a roundabout journey. Of course, they wouldn't let me into the U.S., even for OW research. And, if they did, I wouldn't be allowed back into Canada.

It just happens that I'm tentatively going to Port Angeles for a Volkssport walk in a few weeks. Probably be too late to be of any help by then though.

I was wondering whether the Coho was currently running. How old is the Coho? I remember going across to Victoria on it back in the 60s.

As far as I know she's not running due to Covid. Otherwise, she would be. She's now just over 60 years old.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Coho

You can compare her to the modern B.C. Ferries. The largest ones of which carry 358 vehicles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BC_Ferrie ... nt_vessels

Michael wrote: ↑Sun Dec 27, 2020 1:10 am As far as I know she's not running due to Covid. Otherwise, she would be. She's now just over 60 years old.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Coho

You can compare her to the modern B.C. Ferries. The largest ones of which carry 358 vehicles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BC_Ferrie ... nt_vessels

Back in the late 50s and early 60s we took either the Blackball or CPR ferries to the island from Vancouver. The CPR boats also carried rail cars, so space was limited. The ferries also went downtown to downtown, which made the crossings rather long. The B. C. Ferries run Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay (Victoria - Vancouver) and Horseshoe Bay - Nanaimo. The crossings are much shorter, and point to point the trips are much quicker because you are driving between the terminals and the cities instead of taking the ferries the entire distance.

I site I came across whilst looking for the path of Iceburg A68a.
New Scientist 14 Nov 2020 showed the iceberg on a possible collision course with South Georgia about now. The iceberg is roughly the size of South Georgia.
I found it interesting, maybe others will also.

https://www.scp.byu.edu/iceberg/A68tracking.html

In today's Weird News:

Dancing robots are a thing

pommystuart wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 10:05 pm I site I came across whilst looking for the path of Iceburg A68a.
New Scientist 14 Nov 2020 showed the iceberg on a possible collision course with South Georgia about now. The iceberg is roughly the size of South Georgia.
I found it interesting, maybe others will also.

https://www.scp.byu.edu/iceberg/A68tracking.html

It's worrying because it'll upset the environment on South Georgia for sure. I'm amazed by how it suddenly took off once it was out of the lea of the Antarctic Peninsula. I bet that any shipping was happy to avoid it!

---

Hanibal94 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 30, 2020 4:24 pm In today's Weird News:

Dancing robots are a thing

Stunning! All they need is a handbag to dance around and it's a proper disco

An early (or late? we're spread all around the globe - Pommy Stuart has already celebrated for sure!):

Happy new year to everyone!!

And early/late greetings from us.



Hoping for better things in 2021.

For our Scots contingent who are cruelly robbed of Hogmanay and first footing... https://www.youtube.com/embed/xX47kd9L6oc and lang may your lums wreak!

I also found this splendid version from The Gold Rush (Charlie Chaplin) https://www.youtube.com/embed/cJd5mToR0Rw

There are already a lot of fireworks going off round here (although nearly 2 hours to go), so Happy New Year!

Happy New year to you all from Down Under.

Quite breathtaking display by drones in the night sky in Edinburgh. Accompanied by wonderful words and poetry to record this terrible year and look forward to better. What a Hogmanay show
https://www.youtube.com/embed/msMRpeYxoBA
https://www.youtube.com/embed/StvmozI5dJ0
https://www.youtube.com/embed/CaHh8Imy5Ws