Seamanship 4
Unit 23
BERTHING
Ship handling operations include manoeuvring and controlling the vessel by means of engines, helm movements and tug assistance. Berthing means bringing a vessel to her berth until the ship is made fast. A ship may berth port or starboard side on or bow or stem on.
The term “berth” refers to the quay, or wharf, or, pier or jetty where the ship comes alongside, but it may also mean a place in which a vessel is moored or anchored.
The berthing and unberthing manoeuvres require great knowledge and skill by the master, officers and the crew, as well as an excellent team-work with the rope-runners and the mooring party ashore.
A ship may berth port or starboard side to, with no wind or tide, with the tide ahead, with the wind onshore or offshore. The master, the pilot and the tug skippers must have good local knowledge of the tides, wind conditions, depths and aids to navigation, but they also have to take into consideration the transverse and axial thrust of the propeller, how the ship responds to the rudder and how much power she develops when running astern.
The MEDITERRANEAN MOOR consists of making a ship fast stem-on to a berth with the bows held in position by the anchors. Usually about four shackles of cable are used on each anchor and it is preferable although not always possible, to achieve a reasonable spread between the anchors so that the bows are held securely in a beam wind. The approach is best made with the berth on the port side and the starboard anchor should then be dropped-with the vessel two ship lengths off the berth and about half a ship length before the line of the berth.
After proceeding slow ahead and paying out cable, the engines should be stopped and put astern when half a ship length past the line of the berth. (see Fig. 1). As the vessel gathers sternway the port anchor should be let go. The effect of transverse thrust as the vessel goes astern paying out cable is to cant the stem to port towards the berth.
BERTHING
Ship handling operations include manoeuvring and controlling the vessel by means of engines, helm movements and tug assistance. Berthing means bringing a vessel to her berth until the ship is made fast. A ship may berth port or starboard side on or bow or stem on.
The term “berth” refers to the quay, or wharf, or, pier or jetty where the ship comes alongside, but it may also mean a place in which a vessel is moored or anchored.
The berthing and unberthing manoeuvres require great knowledge and skill by the master, officers and the crew, as well as an excellent team-work with the rope-runners and the mooring party ashore.
A ship may berth port or starboard side to, with no wind or tide, with the tide ahead, with the wind onshore or offshore. The master, the pilot and the tug skippers must have good local knowledge of the tides, wind conditions, depths and aids to navigation, but they also have to take into consideration the transverse and axial thrust of the propeller, how the ship responds to the rudder and how much power she develops when running astern.
The MEDITERRANEAN MOOR consists of making a ship fast stem-on to a berth with the bows held in position by the anchors. Usually about four shackles of cable are used on each anchor and it is preferable although not always possible, to achieve a reasonable spread between the anchors so that the bows are held securely in a beam wind. The approach is best made with the berth on the port side and the starboard anchor should then be dropped-with the vessel two ship lengths off the berth and about half a ship length before the line of the berth.
After proceeding slow ahead and paying out cable, the engines should be stopped and put astern when half a ship length past the line of the berth. (see Fig. 1). As the vessel gathers sternway the port anchor should be let go. The effect of transverse thrust as the vessel goes astern paying out cable is to cant the stem to port towards the berth.