FB Feb 06.Indd
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Crew journal of the barque James Craig February 2006 Does everyone get a kiss from the captain when they leave the ship? Steward Marie Matanale Full & By and family recently moved to Tasmania The crew journal of the barque James Craig http://www.australianheritagefleet.com.au/JCraig/JCraig.html Compiled by Peter Davey Production and photos (except where credited to others) by John Spiers All crew and others associated with the James Craig are very welcome to submit material. The opinions expressed in this journal may not necessarily be the viewpoint of the Sydney Maritime Museum, the Sydney Heritage Fleet or the crew of the James Craig or its officers. CDs with photos appearing here and others are available at small charge to crew members for their personal use or free for promotion of the James Craig. Making sail at sunrise - more Eden photos by Mike Richter pages 8-10 The Bosun’s Locker Some little reminders A few little points that if neglected, cause a great deal of unnecessary wear and tear, expense, and extra maintenance:- Topgallant braces If the topgallant yard is down (sail not set), the weather brace should never be eased further than the canvas sleeve on the brace. This prevents the yard from chafing on the serving of the topgallant shrouds. It was standard practice in the old days to limit this rotation – see photo right - Course lifts These should always be slackened as soon as crew is off the yards having ungas- keted the sails. This prevents the lifts from straining and chafing the topmast shrouds when the yards are sharpened up. Note that to ease a lift, it should not be necessary to take the big coil off the top pin or touch the turns on the top pin. Just undo the turns From A. Villiers “THE WAY OF A SHIP” pub. Hodder & Stoughton 1954 on the lower pin, and do them up on the lower pin at the end of the sail – always leave sufficient slack between the two pins to do this. Aft awning The wires supporting the awning cause a great deal of damage to any lines touch- ing them if the awning flaps – they can demolish a line from chafe in a few days. The ones to watch are the vangs (the wire should go inside two and outside one of the three parts), and the flag halyard that is used to lift the wire span, which should be outside the wire. If you are setting the aft awning, then when you finish, please check along the wires both sides, and fix any problems. Topgallants not over-rotated on the Sir Robert Fernie - from B. Lubbock “THE LAST OF THE WINDJAMMERS” pub. Brown, Son & Ferguson 1929 Roll cloud drama 4 January-February 2006 www.aopa.com.au On a pre-christmas evening charter, that started out as a clear and balmy evening, JC and her crew and guests wsere treated to this magnificent roll cloud and ensuring deluge. www.aopa.com.au January-February 2006 5 ABOVE For those whose computers did not give then a spread of the previous two pages, here is the same photograph reproduced smaller. BELOW: Storm gathers as we sail under the bridge. OPPOSITE: Some more views. Who needs movie special effects? Eden voyage Photos by Mike Richter James Craig dawn Mt Imlay sunrise Eden sunset Eden pilot Jo at work Fire on the water Enterprize tiller Three pilots Enterprize silouette Not Jaws - sunfish Planning at sunrise Relief is in sight, entering Eden with Enterprise, moonrise at sea, JC profile, a bit of a roll, galley slaves. Steering the Craig proportionality. o quote from that great Australian thus applying greater turning movement Because the velocity is squared, it fol- Tsquare rig sailor and author, Alan before it actually reaches the rudder. This lows at once is that: Villers, in his book “The set of the Sails” water on the “Craig” would be disturbed, If you double the velocity (i.e. scale by The James Craig was a lively, lovely, and slowed down, and not a solid block as 2), then you quadruple the turning and highly responsive thoroughbred of a you would expect on a sailing ship without effect (i.e. scale by 2 x 2 = 4), ship… She tacked like a yacht and ran like propellers. If you scale the velocity by 1/2 then the a greyhound. The “Craig” would not be achieving the turning effect is scaled by (1/2) x She does not always tack like a yacht turning movement intended because we do (1/2) = 1/4, though she can still run like a greyhound. not have the build up of solid water. This If you scale the velocity by 1/4 then the When she had her first tack in over 70 effect is lost on an auxiliary sailing vessel turning effect is scaled by (1/4) x years, she did indeed tack like a yacht but with an aperture between the sternpost (1/4) = 1/16, we do not have such success. and the rudder (this allows the solid water If you scale the velocity by S then the Reasons: to escape before it can build up. I would turning effect is scaled by S x S. We are sailing her 200 tons lighter then imagine such a ship would have a larger So if the effect of the props is to reduce in her working days. This would have rudder to overcome this loss. the velocity of the water from 9 knots given the Craig extra momentum to make In John Harland’s Seamanship in the age to 6 knots the tack. of sail. The turning effort is proportional then the turning effect is reduced from T This means that we have more hull ex- to the square of the velocity of the water to (6/9) x (6/9) x T = 4/9 x T = 0.44 x posed which slows down the tack. and the square of the sine of the angle with T. This exposed hull would also be slowed which it strikes the rudder blade Put another way, a 1 - 6/9 = 1/3 reduc- down by the sea state. First, without the constant of propor- tion in velocity results in a 1 - (6/9) x We are dragging two 6ft diameter pro- tionality we can’t give any absolute num- (6/9) = 1- 0.44 = 0.56 reduction in turn- pellers which take at least a knot off our bers. Nevertheless, we can work out things ing effect. speed. like the percentage change in Turning ef- Quite dramatic. These free wheeling propellers interrupt fect (T) caused by a change in velocity (V) The effect of changing the angle is the smooth flow of water over the rudder. or rudder angle (A). The Formula is: more complex but probably not of such Normally at greater rudder angels, the T = C V^2 sin^2(A) = C x V x V x interest. water may be envisaged as ‘piling up’ sin(A) x sin(A) P. Davey seaman (sail) before it actually reaches the rudder, and Where C is the unknown constant of Good helm advice from a Photo of author from A.A. Hurst “GHOSTS ON THE SEA LINE” pub. Cassell 1957 century ago By Steve Robinson noticed coming back from Eden some I cases of “compass fixation” – steering Two helmsmen watching the steering sail from Pamela Eriksson with head bent over and eyes glued on the “THE DUCHESS” pub. Secker & Warburg 1958 compass, when there were lots of distinc- tive fluffy clouds to steer by. We can all improve our steering techniques, and some of the best hints I know of were written by Basil Lubbock over 100 years ago:- “The most difficult task of all, is to steer a large ship running before a gale of wind in a big sea. “A bad helmsman in such a case will have his spokes flying round the whole time; first his helm will be hard up and then hard down, and the ship will be swinging a couple of points on each side of her course. “This is because he probably watches his compass too much and his ship too little. “A good helmsman will know instinc- Sea off Cape Horn from Capt. A.G. Course , “THE WHEEL’S KICK tively when his ship is beginning to come AND THE WIND’S SONG” Pub. Percival Marshall 1950 up [swing to weather], and will at once meet her with the helm a second or two before the compass shows the fact. “Never watch your compass too much, as the compass is slow always, and very deceiving. “At night, if it is clear, and you are steer- ing a compass course (by which I mean that you are not steering by the wind, and the ship is able to lie her course), take a star at a yardarm and steer by it. “Always try to keep the wheel as still as possible. In steering the ship by the wind, a spoke or two occasionally is all that ought to be required to keep the ship dead on her course, if the wind is steady. “Steering like I am now, the ship going over 10 knots with the yards off the back- stays, once she is steady she ought not to require a spoke once in half an hour. “When steering by the wind, you ought to keep the weather clew of your royal just quivering. A landsman will no doubt wonder why, if the royal leech is flapping, the other sails are not doing the same: but that belongs to another branch of the art of sailoring, that of trimming your yards properly.