FENDER

Pneumatic Rubber fenders have been in use for around 50 years. The development of the Pneumatic Fender has progressed through the years in conjunction with the changing shapes, designs and size of ships and ship technology. These days Pneumatic Fenders are widely used in the off-shore transfer of oil and other chemicals. For gas, bulk, car and passenger carriers and on many installations of floating structures, pontoon and off-sore platforms.

Pneumatic Fenders are constructed of three vulcanized layers each providing an important function in the construction and lifespan of the fender. The three layers are (1) the inner rubber layer (2) the cord layers of reinforcement and (3) the outer rubber layer.

The outer rubber layer has a special compound that provides extra tensile and tear strength to protect the fender from harsh weather conditions and heavy usage whilst the inner rubber layer is specifically designed to seal the air inside and to prevent any leakage much like the inner tube of a tire. The reinforcement layer has cross hatched synthetic tire cord designed to evenly distribute the stress.

By sandwiching the reinforcing cord layer between the inner and outer rubber layers it is protected from abrasion and degradation from outside forces. The reinforcement is specifically designed to be pressure holding and fatigue resistant.

CTN Type
Pneumatic Fenders are usually supplied with a protective Chain & Tyre Net (CTN) fitted around the body giving extra protection to the body of the fender. The CTN is constructed of galvanised chain and shackles covered at the joins with used truck tyres (or aircraft tyres on request) and along the length of the chain with rubber tubes. Anti-scratch matting can also be supplied inside the tyre centers for added protection if required. On smaller diameter fenders a chain net or rope net can also be supplied.
 

Sling Type

Pneumatic Fenders that are supplied without a factory fitted CTN are referred to as a sling type, this fender has modified end fittings allowing the fender to be lifted and installed efficiently.

RIB Type
If a low-maintenance options is desired the fender body can be manufactured with reinforced rubber ribs crossing the body in a grid format. This provides extra protection for the fender body but does not suffer the wear and tear of conventional CTN protection.
 

Fender body color
Various color’s can be achieved on the outer layer of the fender providing for berth identification or corporate branding. As standard the fenders are supplied in Black but the can be offered in Orange, Red, Grey, Cream or other colours upon request.

GANGWAY

Gangway and Types of Gangways Used in the Shipping World

The equipment that is used to help a person get into (embark) and get out (disembark) of a ship or a boat is known as a gangway. Technically, the gangway is like a ramp which is smooth and sloping. In ships, gangways are mainly used by passengers or crew to enter or exit the ship and are sometimes also used for loading and unloading cargo.
Read more: http://www.marineinsight.com/

GW-500
Straight Truss Gangway

Rugged equal height truss construction affords a distributed load capacity of 2000 lbs.
Available in lengths to 70’. Constructed of 6000 series marine grade aluminum alloy for durability.  24" wide aluminum deck plate features a slip-resistant coating and aluminum angle cleats for better traction and added safety. Available with 51/2" rollers on dock side, allowing for variations in ship’s float. Curved tread models available.

GW-100
Bowed Truss Gangway

Bowed truss construction affords a distributed load capacity of 2000 lbs. Available in lengths from 20’ to 40’. Constructed of 6000 series marine grade aluminum alloy for durability. 24" wide aluminum deck plate features a slip-resistant coating and aluminum angle cleats for better traction and added safety

GYRO COMPASS

Gyro Compass on Ships: Construction, Working, and Usage

a Gyro compass is a form of gyroscope, used widely on ships employing an electrically powered, fast-spinning gyroscope wheel and frictional forces among other factors utilizing the basic physical laws, influences of gravity and the Earth’s rotation to find the true north.

R

Construction

Gyro compass has become one indispensable instrument in almost all merchant ships or naval vessels for its ability to detect the direction of true north and not the magnetic north. It is comprised of the following units:

• Master Compass: Discovers and maintains the true north reading with the help of gyroscope.

• Repeater Compasses: Receive and indicate the true direction transmitted electrically from the Master Compass.

• Course Recorder: Makes a continuous record of the manoeuvring on a moving strip of paper.

• Control Panel: Governs the electrical operation of the system and ascertains the running condition by means of a suitable meter.

• Voltage Regulator: Maintains constant supply of the ship to the motor-generator.

• Alarm Unit: Indicates failure of the ship’s supply.

• Amplifier Panel: Controls the follow-up system.

• Motor Generator: Converts the ship’s DC supply to AC and energizes the Compass equipment.

yro compasses are linked to the repeater compasses via one transmission system. The fast-spinning rotor attached weighs from 1.25 pounds to 55 pounds. It is driven thousands of revolutions per minute by another electric motor. However, the most essential part in a Gyro compass system is the spinning wheel, which is known as the Gyroscope.

Working

External magnetic fields which deflect normal compasses cannot affect Gyro compasses. When a ship alters its course the independently driven framework called ‘Phantom’ moves with it, but the rotor system continues to point northward. This lack of alignment enables it to send signal to the driving motor, which moves the phantom step in with the rotor system again in a path where the phantom may have crossed only a fraction of a degree or several degrees of the compass circle. As soon as they are aligned, electrical impulses are sent by the phantom to the repeater compasses for each degree it traverses.

Read more: http://www.marineinsight.com/sports-luxury/equipment/gyro-compass-on-ships-construction-working-and-usage/#ixzz1uxKB1hUG

FLAG SIGNAL

Even in these days of satellite communications, the RCN still uses (but to a linmited degree) the international alphabet flags, numeral pennants, numeral flags, and special flags and pennants for visual signaling. These signal flags are used to communicate with other ships while maintaining radio silence. NAVCOM signalmen transmit messages by hoisting a flag or a series of flags on a halyard. Each side of the ship has halyards and a storage compartment containing a full set of signal flags. Signals unique to the Navy are used when communicating with other navy ships. When communicating with all other vessels, the International Code of Signals is used. Flag signals, physically hoisted on the Signal or Flag Deck were controlled by the Chief Signalman or Yeoman of Signals from the bridge. Today, these terms are extinct..

FLAG SYSTEMS

It would have been so easy had there only been one flag system used by both naval ships and merchantmen. But that was not to be the case. Naval flag systems varied slightly from navy to navy and changed a bit over time. International signals used by merchantmen shared the alphabet flags but used numerical pennants instead of square numeral flags.

In the interest of brevity, only the alphabetic and numeral flags are posted below since there were a number of other flags in each of the systems which had special meanings. Listed is the RCN flag system circa 1937, the Royal Navy system used by the RCN in WWII and the current system.

SEXTANT

When a ship is approaching a rocky coast and the life of the ship and its crew depends on a fast and accurate answer. It's the Navigator's job to provide the answer. So what do navigators need to find their position on the earth's surface by observing the stars? They need an Almanac prepared by the astronomers to forecast precisely where the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon planets and selected navigational stars, are going to be, hour by hour, years into the future, relative to the observatory that prepared the almanac, Greenwich, England in modern times. They need a chronometer or some other means of telling the time back at the observatory that was the reference point for the data in the almanac, It is the cartographer's job to provide accurate charts so that navigators can establish their position in latitude and longitude or in reference to landmasses or the hazards of rocks and shoals. The navigators need a quick and easy mathematical method for reducing the data from their celestial observations to a position on the chart Finally, navigators need an angle-measuring instrument, a sextant, to measure the angle of the celestial body above a horizontal line of reference. How do navigators use the stars, including our sun, the moon, and planets to find their way? Well, for at least two millennia, navigators have known how to determine their latitude, their position north or south of the equator. At the North Pole, which is 90 degrees latitude, Polaris (the North Star) is directly overhead at an altitude of 90 degrees. At the equator, which is zero degrees latitude, Polaris is on the horizon with zero degrees altitude. Between the equator and the North Pole, the angle of Polaris above the horizon is a direct measure of terrestrial latitude. If we were to go outside tonight and look in the northern sky, we would find Polaris at about 40 degrees 13 minutes altitude - the latitude of Coimbra. In ancient times, the navigator who was planning to sail out of sight of land would simply measure the altitude of Polaris as he left homeport, in today's terms measuring the latitude of home port. To return after a long voyage, he needed only to sail north or south, as appropriate, to bring Polaris to the altitude of home port, then turn left or right as as appropriate and "sail down the latitude," keeping Polaris at a constant angle. The Arabs knew all about this technique. In early days, they used one or two fingers width, a thumb and little finger on an outstretched arm or an arrow held at arms length to sight the horizon at the lower end and Polaris at the upper.

he sextant basically consists of a telescope, a half silvered horizontal mirror which the telescope "looks" through and a moving arm on which the index mirror is fixed. By manipulating this arm a star or other celestial body can be made to appear on the horizon. Accurate adjustments are made by means of a micrometer knob. The angle can then be read off the arc and micrometer. The shades are to use when the object being looked at is bright - such as the sun.

he sextant relies on the optical principle that if a ray of light is reflected from two mirrors in succession then the angle between the first and last direction of the ray is twice the angle between the mirrors. And this angle can then be read off the arc.To use the sextant the telescope must be focused on the horizon. The celestial body to be shot, found and the sextant aimed at it. Bring the body down to the horizon by moving the arm along the arc and then clamp the arm. Using the micrometer knob make small adjustments while gently swaying the instrument slightly from side to side until the heavenly body just brushes the horizon.  When this is achieved instantly make a note of the time, seconds first, then minutes and hours, then the name of the body and its observed altitude. Every second of time counts - an error of 4 seconds equates to an error of a nautical mile in the position.

ANCHOR

Anchor, device cast overboard to secure a ship, boat, or other floating object by means of weight, friction, or hooks called flukes. In ancient times an anchor was often merely a large stone, a bag or basket of stones, a bag of sand, or, as with the Egyptians, a lead-weighted log. The Greeks are credited with the first use of iron anchors, while the Romans had metal devices with arms similar to modern anchors. The ordinary modern anchor consists of a shank (the stem, at the top of which is the anchor ring), a stock (the crosspiece at the top of the shank, either fixed or removable), a crown (the bottom portion), and arms, attached near the base of the shank at a right angle to the stock and curving upward to end in flat, triangular flukes. Other types of anchors include the patent anchor, which has either no stock at all or a stock lying in the same plane as the arms; the stream, or stern anchor, lighter than the regular anchor and used in narrow or congested waters where there is no room for the vessel to swing with the tide; and the grapnel, a small four-armed anchor used to recover lost objects. A sea anchor is a wooden or metal framework covered with canvas and weighted at the bottom; it is a temporary device used by disabled ships. Modern ships have several anchors; usually there are two forward and two aft. Formerly made of wrought iron, anchors are now usually made of forged steel.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia® Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/

•ANCHOR TYPES

• Poor anchors : Danforth, LWT, Vicinay, non offshore type
• •Good anchors: Stevpris, Bruce FFTS, Bruce TS, Stevin, Flipper Delta

•The anchor must always be tested after running. Heave the winch to 1/3 BS and hold for 15 mins, then slack to working tension

•Depth of burial very important and soil type. The modern anchors have much larger fluke area and are also designed to bury very deeply

•

These modern anchors however must be handled properly 

The Boatswain's Call

http://www.readyayeready.com/

The boatswain's call is held in the hand between the index finger and thumb, the latter being on or near the shackle. The side of the buoy rests against the palm of the hand. The fingers close over the gun and buoy hole in such a position as to be able to throttle the exit of air from the buoy to the desired amount. Care must be taken that the fingers do not touch the edge of the hole in the buoy, or over the hole in the end of the gun, otherwise all sound will be completely choked.

Playing the Boatswain's Call

The bosun's call can be tuned by scraping away and enlarging the wind edge of the hole
in the buoy and it will sound if the mouth of the gun is held directly into a moderate wind.

There are two main notes; the low and the high, and three tones; the plain, the warble
and the trill.

• Low Note: The low note is produced by blowing steadily into the mouth of the gun with the hole of the buoy unobstructed by the fingers.
• High Note: The high note is produced by throttling the exit of air from the hole of the buoy. This is done by closing the fingers around the buoy, taking care not to touch the edge of the
  hole or the end of the gun.
• Warble: The warble is produced by repeatedly moving your hand quickly from the high to the low position, which results in a warble similar to that of a canary.
• Trill: The trill is produced by vibrating the tongue while blowing, as in rolling the letter R.

The Pipes

The following instructions show the various pipes used in the Canadian Navy. The numbers at the top of each figure represents seconds of time. The nature, continuity and tone of the notes are indicated by the various lines, and the degree of their slope indicates the speed of ascent or descent of the notes.

The Still

The still is used to call all hands to attention as a mark of respect, or to order silence on any occasion. The still is also used to announce the arrival onboard of a senior Officer. The pipe is an order in itself and does not require any verbal addition. The still is a high note held for 8 seconds. If done properly, it should end very abruptly.

Carry On

The carry on is used to negate the still. The pipe is an order in itself and does not require any verbal addition.

General Call

The general call precedes any broadcast order; it draws attention to the order. The general call is used when passing out-of-routine orders or information of general interest.

Officer of the Day Call

The Officer of the Day call is used to attract the attention of the Officer of the Day to contact the gangway. The pipe is an order in itself and does not require verbal addition. The pipe sonsist of 4 high "pips".

Pipe the Side

When a Commanding Officer of an HMC ship arrivesd onboard he/she is entitled to this pipe. To be done properly it should be 12 seconds long with very smooth transitions. To accomplish this, the sailor must take a very long deep breath prior to beginning; failure to do so will cause the pipe to be abruptly cut short. The side is also piped for Royalty, teh Accused when entering a Court Martial and for the Officer of the Guard (When the Guard is formed up).

Hands to Dinner

The dinner pipe is made at 1200 when the Ship's Company secures and commences the mid-day meal, referred to as dinner. It is never made for any other meal-time. The pipe is an order in itself and does not require any verbal addition. This pipe is very long and any is the pride of any sailor that can do it absolutely properly, and the disgrace of any sailor that does not.

Pipe Down

The pipe down is made at 2230 or at any other time specified by the routine daily orders, when the Ship's Company retire for the evening and the silent hours period commences. The pipe is an order in itself and does not require any verbal addition. When this pipe is made during the middle of the day, it means that the ship is adopting a "Sunday Routine for the remainder of the day.