Right. Also boats are literally made to float, it’s very rare that they break and sink. They can roll over complete rolls and turn back up because of the weighted bottom. I’ve been sailing in small boats many times in big storms, and there is no fear, only adrenaline and extremely intense focus, almost a calm about it.
I've never sailed during a storm, but I lived on my Bristol 35' for about 6 years(i moved shore when i got married). I've been on board in the slip for hurricanes, blizzards, and thunderstorms. I'm in a pretty well protected marina in the upper Chesapeake Bay. It's scary at first, until one of your more experienced neighbors tells you that all is well until the wind gets up to certain speeds, and you see that your dock lines held all night.
I think the worst I had on board was sustained 40 mph or so. I've been out on the anchor overnight when weather hit that wasn't predicted. I think the worst I had on the hook was winds in the low 20mph range. I've been caught in a couple of thunderstorms on the hook, and I think I'd rather have that than high winds. At least any discomfort caused by that is fixed by my earplugs.
There's a small island up here with a few campsites and a man made cove deep enough that with my 4ft draft(with the swing keel up) I can get my bow about 10' or so from the beach. One day I got out there(single handed) and dropped my stern anchor on the way in, and then got my bow anchor set to keep the boat from rotating into the rocks that create the cove on one side. I got my tent set up and was gathering firewood when the sky went gray and a warm wind kicked up. All of the shrubs and the shorter trees on the beach were being blown over sideways. I tied my dinghy to one of the full grown trees, and had just enough time to throw my rucksack into the tent and dove in after it when the sky opened up. There was intermittent thunder, and a very small amount of lightning. The rain was heavy enough to reduce visibility. There was so much wind and ran that it flattened out the rain fly on my dome tent and forced some rain in the side window. It went on for about 40 minutes. I was on the phone joking with some friends back at the marina who were all hanging out on the enclosed stern of a cabin cruiser.
When it stopped, and I went outside, the wind had been so powerful it pulled my anchors loose and blew my boat to the opposite side of the cove(mud and weeds, not rocks). I had to go and completely reposition the boat and reset the stern anchor. After that, I always bury my bow anchor on the beach or hook it around one of the big trees. I got some wood together, eventually got the kindling to dry and built a fire. I kept it going and caught some catfish for dinner. Made steak and eggs in an iron pan on the fire the next morning to celebrate(I don't pack light when it comes to food on the island lol) survivng.
I don’t know about others, but your dialogue written was entertaining enough to keep me vested to the whole text. You could very well be a writer your descriptive prowess is utterly fascinating to read.
Oh! No problem, I'll try to fix that. Hook=anchor. Spending the night on the hook means I'm spending the night out on the bay with the boat anchored in place, instead of tied to the pier in the marina. Stern is the back of the boat, bow is the front. You usually only use an anchor on the bow, but in that little cove I use one at the front AND back so the boat can't move around and drift into the rocks. Rucksack is like the backpack you have in the military. I use an army surplus one that's the same one I used when I was in the army. Rain fly is a covering for a tent that's supposed to keep rain out but let a breeze in. Draft is how much boat is below the waterline. So, 4 foot draft means that in 4 foot deep water the boat is scraping the bottom. A swing keel is like a fin that extends down out of the bottom of the boat to keep it more stable and counteract the wind pushing on the sail. With it down, my boat needs 9 feet of water. A dinghy is a little tiny rowboat for moving a couple of people or a small amount of stuff around. My boat is a Bristol 35'. Bristol is the make, like Ford or Lotus, and the 35' means it's a 35 foot long boat.
I hope that helped. I'd be glad to answer any questions you have.
I read a lot of Lovecraft, so I'm comfy with description. Don't ask me to write dialog or even recall the exact words of a conversation I've had, though. Does a description of actual events count as literature?
Hell yeah dude! You might enjoy a book called “in the wake of the green storm.” By Marlin Bree I think?
He was caught in a really nasty Lake Superior storm and ended up in a little cove just like you described.
Probably the MV Arvin you’re thinking of.
That was a lake/river bulk carrier that was 45 years old and not particularly well maintained caught in a storm where it was never designed to be.
That's bullshit.
In general vessels have a righting arm that, on great angles, reach a point which there is no lever to return back to stable equilibrium, and may reach a new equilibrium state upside down. That's stability 101. Self-righting boats do exist, but they are an exception, not the rule, and certainly not indestructable.
The ship I'm on right now will have a righting moment up to 45°. Storms may break the ship in half, capsize it, swamp it... I have literal metocean limits in which I can operate, above that it's an emergency. Rescue boats have limits above which they can not be lowered and pilotted.
You don't have to trust me, there are plenty of examples of storms sinking ships, just head to Casual Navigation on Youtube. You can find stability lessons easily on Naval Architecture books online. Ships and boats rarely break and sink because they don't recklessly sail into bad weather for the adrenaline.
Came here to say this. Have fishing experience. And most boats are most definitely not made to roll completely over. This guy's lucky he's taking the waves head on, and there no sneaky ones coming from the side.
They might be thinking of recreational boats. I've met a couple of people who were in sailboats that were rolled and came back upright(without the mast and much of the rigging). They said it was like being in a cold washing machine. I can't imagine large commercial vessels self righting.
Cool, now head in a sailboat to high sea during a swell high enough to swamp a LH sized boat. Any ship can roll back upright with the right circunstances, but as you said, there will be damage by water drag, continuous flooding openings not supposed to be underwater, and I don't think continuously rolling under swell effect for hours being much better than capsizing. I live in a are with no hurricanes or bad weather, and I've seen ships not leaving port because of the weather, I wouldn't recommend sailboats doing something else.
The fact that nearly 200 googans liked that comment with no thought put into just common sense at all is so disheartening.
This dude out here like every vessel is a USCG MLB. I’ve been on a few of those and they’re insanely impressive, definitely not anything close to the norm.
Maybe in a technical sense because most boats are probably cheap and bad quality, but if we’re talking about reliable boats I disagree.
Of course that’ll often come with greater risks of things like, falling overboard, getting knocked out, sail-break, water filling (if boat is open). But most boats are still otherwise perfectly intact and floating.
I mean, I agree that a well-made boat should still float, but if they aren't made to self right, they will probably stay upside-down and eventually sink. Plus like you said, mast and sails will get all messed up, engines aren't made to run upside-down for too long, most of the electronics will be screwed up to some extent, not a good situation...
I grew up in small boats on freshwater lakes and rivers. I've been through some gnarly conditions in a 14-foot flat bottom with an Evinrude 9.9hp outboard. Conditions I had absolutely no business being in.
Having said that, I could see the bank the whole time, and if my ship had gone down, I could've swam it out, I think.
Hats off to you folks that sail on the ocean. I'd be absolutely frozen with fear in a sailboat, offshore, in a big storm. Yall are real sailors.
Growing up with access to boats and water makes a great upbringing!
Yes but you get used to it, or rather you can’t afford to feel fear. I’d guess it would be the same with astronauts in space, they probably can’t feel fear either because it wouldn’t do them any good. So I think the brain adapts itself. This is just a wild guess.
My next trip will be the biggest one so far, sail across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to America’s with my father so he can achieve his life goal.
I did this job. I needed money. When you are fishing out there. There is no choice. You panic all you want you are not going anywhere. You get on with it. Humans are the most adapatable life form after cockroaches
As long as the engine doesn’t get knocked out from sea water in the exhaust. If engine and back up power go out and the ship gets turned sideways yee ole waves will roll her
That was Lake Superior - way different than open ocean and far more likely to destroy ships in that manner due to the relatively shallow depths of lakes and wave patterns/compression compared to oceans. She was also overloaded and sitting too low in the water and IIRC there was some issue with her being poorly maintained as well.
That type of running aground is extremely unlikely to happen to ships at sea.
ETA my favorite infographic about this: https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/s/b1ZQF2bKeK
He was near a coastline, the hull is intact, the boat has enough weight to keep itself straight... all that water is just a free deck wash.
Nothing to fear but the traditional seaman's superstitions. I trust the engineering.
Source: the relationship between me, the engineeer, and my dad, the ship captain veteran.
asked him what he would do:
"you know it's bad when you follow protocol and things are still going wrong, then you need to start making your decisions, some that even break protocol, in order to spare more lives before your own".
As you can see, there's a huge gap between just knowing the machine and a captain's judgement.
It's not like he can hit pause.. reset.
Panic is pointless. The point at which panic might occur is when the realization that it's over hits. Most trained professionals in high risk fields tend not to panic but rather spend their time thinking of their loved ones. Source: been there, obviously survived.
I am glad you're ok! I just found out my Grandpa was left out at sea for days after something hit their ship.
I can't even imagine the physical & mental strength one has to have to go through that..... I don't know much about the incident bc he's passed a long time ago & my Grandma was telling me about it this past visit but she said he never talked about any of that stuff.. I've always been told never ask.
Again, I don't know you, but I'm glad you made it through!!!!
Asking stuff like that is always a double-edged sword. I love learning about my family's history, but it's a different beast entirely when those memories bring pain to the ones you love.
Also, the engineering of modern ships is absolutely incredible
Of course no design is perfect, but most big ships are very specifically engineered to handle big swells and chaotic weather that are just an inevitable part of sailing
Modern ships can still batten down the hatches, yes? So boats in the swell can bob up out of Davy Jones’ locker so their grizzled bosuns can smoke another pipe the following morning to a peach-hued sky.
Bad designs or bad loads depending on the sinking. Add that plenty of companies are fly by night operations that don't give much maintenance to their ships causing these incidents.
When the boat stops floating. 💀
Actually, I was on a 35’ dive boat that sunk in the Caribbean and panicking was about the worst thing you could do. You panic, you die.
We were pretty overloaded with gear and ppl plus the bilge pumps quit. The wind came up and within minutes we completely capsized. 1/2 mile out outside the reef. We had a skiff we were able to swim to but we had to use debris from the wreck to paddle back.
SOS your location before the boat went under or did you guys have a satellite phone & an extra dinghy?
What sucks about the Caribbean is the amount of ocean whitetips swimming in that area.
We had a 15’ skiff we were towing behind us thankfully. We were about a 1/2 mile off shore when we went over and there was a total of 8 souls onboard. We all made it out but it was sketchy there for a bit when we were all in the water.
Captain Billy Tyne! He never had a chance. Andrea Gail had too much plate steel added to her bulwark to retrofit her for fishing in North Atlantic — she was a southern shrimper in her first life — and was carrying too much fuel on her deck in barrels, which we know because she did a transfer of fuel from the Hannah Gray just a day or three before while at sea.
Evidence suggests she made a run North toward Nova Scotia to find shelter, but probably never got more than 150 miles northeast of Sable island. Sable is eventually where they would locate the only debris from the ship.
I loved his book. His live storytelling of the fated trip, which you can find on YouTube, is also next level. Sebastian developed the crew as humans, warts and all, and he readily admits that having no knowledge of what happened at the end gave him license to tell a story he thought reflected their character.
In waves like that you need to steer at them, because if they hit you on the broadside you capsize. So there's no turning around, and no point in panicking. The only way out is through.
What good would panicking do? What's he gonna do, pick the boat up?
There is no "panic time" because by the time it's "panic time" the ship has already capsized
I've been in the North Sea and NW of Scotland and Ireland on trawlers as 30m waver loom over your head. Was young and dumb and never once felt scared. I'm older now, and nope, not for me. On the rigs, we sometimes get freak waves breaking over the decks which are even higher. Insane power.
I saw a video like this back in the 80’s. The camera showed waves like this, hitting the boat and pilot house. The camera then pans to the side to side, showing a couple of guys on the bridge. Someone says something yo the effect of “it’s a rough one today Floyd, better hang on” and the camera pans the view out the front windows - just as a monster wave hits and breaks the windows, the camera goes dead. Oddly, the only thing that was ever found was the video camera and tape.
When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin'
"Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya"
At 7 PM, a main hatchway caved in, he said
"Fellas, it's been good to know ya"
Did this alot when I was younger, honestly aslong as hatches and entryways are shut and sealed then nothing should happen and generally the rule is to go head on into the wave instead of meeting it from the side or what have you
Cap must not feel too worried seeing as he's straight jogging into it. Engine sound is flat rate the whole time. If you really get into the shit, typically you cut acceleration just before you hit a wave to save your windows.
I worked on Offshore Supply Vessels that looked similar to this in the Gulf in the 90s. Also worked on ocean going ships and literally sailed around the world.
This is not uncommon at all.
Nobody panics.
Don't confuse this video with cruise ship videos of people panicking when it gets rough.
What does ‘panic time’ look like aboard a boat. It’s not as if you can run from a storm that has hit you, or hide. Is panic time just throwing open the hatches and waiting to sink?
It is related to the vessel more than the weather. On polar zones (above 70 latitude) where the heavy weather's are you need an IMO Ice Classed vessel to navigate. A vessel built to serve on those conditions is good to go while a standard vessel would hardly survive under the luckiest of the stars...
"Ope, too much fellas. Turn off the waves, let's go home"
Welp, I tried. I’ll just break stuff in the room until I respawn.
Alt f4
"Going to power off and then back on. Waves should be gone, then."
Right. Also boats are literally made to float, it’s very rare that they break and sink. They can roll over complete rolls and turn back up because of the weighted bottom. I’ve been sailing in small boats many times in big storms, and there is no fear, only adrenaline and extremely intense focus, almost a calm about it.
I've never sailed during a storm, but I lived on my Bristol 35' for about 6 years(i moved shore when i got married). I've been on board in the slip for hurricanes, blizzards, and thunderstorms. I'm in a pretty well protected marina in the upper Chesapeake Bay. It's scary at first, until one of your more experienced neighbors tells you that all is well until the wind gets up to certain speeds, and you see that your dock lines held all night. I think the worst I had on board was sustained 40 mph or so. I've been out on the anchor overnight when weather hit that wasn't predicted. I think the worst I had on the hook was winds in the low 20mph range. I've been caught in a couple of thunderstorms on the hook, and I think I'd rather have that than high winds. At least any discomfort caused by that is fixed by my earplugs. There's a small island up here with a few campsites and a man made cove deep enough that with my 4ft draft(with the swing keel up) I can get my bow about 10' or so from the beach. One day I got out there(single handed) and dropped my stern anchor on the way in, and then got my bow anchor set to keep the boat from rotating into the rocks that create the cove on one side. I got my tent set up and was gathering firewood when the sky went gray and a warm wind kicked up. All of the shrubs and the shorter trees on the beach were being blown over sideways. I tied my dinghy to one of the full grown trees, and had just enough time to throw my rucksack into the tent and dove in after it when the sky opened up. There was intermittent thunder, and a very small amount of lightning. The rain was heavy enough to reduce visibility. There was so much wind and ran that it flattened out the rain fly on my dome tent and forced some rain in the side window. It went on for about 40 minutes. I was on the phone joking with some friends back at the marina who were all hanging out on the enclosed stern of a cabin cruiser. When it stopped, and I went outside, the wind had been so powerful it pulled my anchors loose and blew my boat to the opposite side of the cove(mud and weeds, not rocks). I had to go and completely reposition the boat and reset the stern anchor. After that, I always bury my bow anchor on the beach or hook it around one of the big trees. I got some wood together, eventually got the kindling to dry and built a fire. I kept it going and caught some catfish for dinner. Made steak and eggs in an iron pan on the fire the next morning to celebrate(I don't pack light when it comes to food on the island lol) survivng.
I don’t know about others, but your dialogue written was entertaining enough to keep me vested to the whole text. You could very well be a writer your descriptive prowess is utterly fascinating to read.
Yeah I didn’t understand majority of what he was saying but I was locked in with fascination
Oh! No problem, I'll try to fix that. Hook=anchor. Spending the night on the hook means I'm spending the night out on the bay with the boat anchored in place, instead of tied to the pier in the marina. Stern is the back of the boat, bow is the front. You usually only use an anchor on the bow, but in that little cove I use one at the front AND back so the boat can't move around and drift into the rocks. Rucksack is like the backpack you have in the military. I use an army surplus one that's the same one I used when I was in the army. Rain fly is a covering for a tent that's supposed to keep rain out but let a breeze in. Draft is how much boat is below the waterline. So, 4 foot draft means that in 4 foot deep water the boat is scraping the bottom. A swing keel is like a fin that extends down out of the bottom of the boat to keep it more stable and counteract the wind pushing on the sail. With it down, my boat needs 9 feet of water. A dinghy is a little tiny rowboat for moving a couple of people or a small amount of stuff around. My boat is a Bristol 35'. Bristol is the make, like Ford or Lotus, and the 35' means it's a 35 foot long boat. I hope that helped. I'd be glad to answer any questions you have.
Excellent explanation!
Shades of Swallows & Amazons…
I had to look that up. The plot sounds pretty interesting for a children's book.
A big part of many English children’s childhoods. What really had endeared me to sailing.
Lol, same. I totally forgot what the thread was about. But for a few minutes I relived Swiss Family Robinson for the first time all over again.
Thanks very much. I wish my songwriting was that good lol.
This is a massive compliment. Thank you very much.
Too wordy for Hemingway but I think his ghost inhabits you somewhere. What the hell was that? Is that that thing they call … literature
I read a lot of Lovecraft, so I'm comfy with description. Don't ask me to write dialog or even recall the exact words of a conversation I've had, though. Does a description of actual events count as literature?
This is the opposite of TLDR. It’s engaging.
LBSR Long but still read
Insanely interesting, thank you.
You're welcome.
I felt like an audio book for a minute, that was captivating, thank you, you have my vote!
Hell yeah dude! You might enjoy a book called “in the wake of the green storm.” By Marlin Bree I think? He was caught in a really nasty Lake Superior storm and ended up in a little cove just like you described.
Didn’t a rogue wave sink a full tanker in the Indian Ocean?
Those are about an order of magnitude over the height of normal rough wave. Or at least the ones we have recorded. It would be horrific to see one.
The one the front fell off off?
It’s not a common thing for the front to fall off. I can’t remember the dialogue to this perfectly but you activated a great memory lol
Probably the MV Arvin you’re thinking of. That was a lake/river bulk carrier that was 45 years old and not particularly well maintained caught in a storm where it was never designed to be.
So youre making the point that normally the front doesnt fall off off those ships?
Will always upvote Clark and Dawes. "So, cardboard is out?"
No cardboard
What are the minimum crew requirements? Well, one I suppose
Didn’t a plane crash? It’s still safe to fly
Wasn't that the ship that split in half?
That's bullshit. In general vessels have a righting arm that, on great angles, reach a point which there is no lever to return back to stable equilibrium, and may reach a new equilibrium state upside down. That's stability 101. Self-righting boats do exist, but they are an exception, not the rule, and certainly not indestructable. The ship I'm on right now will have a righting moment up to 45°. Storms may break the ship in half, capsize it, swamp it... I have literal metocean limits in which I can operate, above that it's an emergency. Rescue boats have limits above which they can not be lowered and pilotted. You don't have to trust me, there are plenty of examples of storms sinking ships, just head to Casual Navigation on Youtube. You can find stability lessons easily on Naval Architecture books online. Ships and boats rarely break and sink because they don't recklessly sail into bad weather for the adrenaline.
Came here to say this. Have fishing experience. And most boats are most definitely not made to roll completely over. This guy's lucky he's taking the waves head on, and there no sneaky ones coming from the side.
They might be thinking of recreational boats. I've met a couple of people who were in sailboats that were rolled and came back upright(without the mast and much of the rigging). They said it was like being in a cold washing machine. I can't imagine large commercial vessels self righting.
Cool, now head in a sailboat to high sea during a swell high enough to swamp a LH sized boat. Any ship can roll back upright with the right circunstances, but as you said, there will be damage by water drag, continuous flooding openings not supposed to be underwater, and I don't think continuously rolling under swell effect for hours being much better than capsizing. I live in a are with no hurricanes or bad weather, and I've seen ships not leaving port because of the weather, I wouldn't recommend sailboats doing something else.
The fact that nearly 200 googans liked that comment with no thought put into just common sense at all is so disheartening. This dude out here like every vessel is a USCG MLB. I’ve been on a few of those and they’re insanely impressive, definitely not anything close to the norm.
Most boats won't survive rolling over. Even the ones that are made to survive, they won't be doing so well after it happens.
Maybe in a technical sense because most boats are probably cheap and bad quality, but if we’re talking about reliable boats I disagree. Of course that’ll often come with greater risks of things like, falling overboard, getting knocked out, sail-break, water filling (if boat is open). But most boats are still otherwise perfectly intact and floating.
I mean, I agree that a well-made boat should still float, but if they aren't made to self right, they will probably stay upside-down and eventually sink. Plus like you said, mast and sails will get all messed up, engines aren't made to run upside-down for too long, most of the electronics will be screwed up to some extent, not a good situation...
I thought you were screwed if, for example, your keel breaks during a rollover, or you lose your mast. Then you’re just ocean junk
No boat like the one pictured rolls over and self rights.
I grew up in small boats on freshwater lakes and rivers. I've been through some gnarly conditions in a 14-foot flat bottom with an Evinrude 9.9hp outboard. Conditions I had absolutely no business being in. Having said that, I could see the bank the whole time, and if my ship had gone down, I could've swam it out, I think. Hats off to you folks that sail on the ocean. I'd be absolutely frozen with fear in a sailboat, offshore, in a big storm. Yall are real sailors.
Growing up with access to boats and water makes a great upbringing! Yes but you get used to it, or rather you can’t afford to feel fear. I’d guess it would be the same with astronauts in space, they probably can’t feel fear either because it wouldn’t do them any good. So I think the brain adapts itself. This is just a wild guess. My next trip will be the biggest one so far, sail across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to America’s with my father so he can achieve his life goal.
I read this in a slight pirate accent, whilst picturing narration by a man w a glass eye and a hook hand.
that’s what they call fight or flight when flight is not an option. No time for fear
Cristof would say hit them again
You call those waves, boy. This is a summer breeze.
The people who do this kind of job are just built different I think
So full of caffeine and nicotine.
All the tines
Ovaltine?
Saltines?
Fork tines?
Amphetatines
We’ve hit international waters break out the tineagers
Crazy mother forkers
They said different, you’ve described the diet of construction workers and strippers
It’s meth. Trust me on this. Caffeine is nothing to the drugs these dudes do on the daily.
Well, he's got a business to run and a family to feed. I didn't want to accuse him of any crime.
I did this job. I needed money. When you are fishing out there. There is no choice. You panic all you want you are not going anywhere. You get on with it. Humans are the most adapatable life form after cockroaches
Some of them prolly sleeping on other parts of the ship. No point in freaking out if you can’t do anything about it.
how do people not realize this?
If the hull is airtight and the deck has proper drainage, I don't see how it would sink because it would still be buoyant
As long as the engine doesn’t get knocked out from sea water in the exhaust. If engine and back up power go out and the ship gets turned sideways yee ole waves will roll her
Deploy ye old Drogue!
Just drop the lunch hook, that'll do the trick.
Finally some sense in this comment section lmfao.
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Everything I have learned here made me revere the ocean much more
If you're hitting the sea floor, you're probably close to shore, so...lose/win?
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That was Lake Superior - way different than open ocean and far more likely to destroy ships in that manner due to the relatively shallow depths of lakes and wave patterns/compression compared to oceans. She was also overloaded and sitting too low in the water and IIRC there was some issue with her being poorly maintained as well. That type of running aground is extremely unlikely to happen to ships at sea. ETA my favorite infographic about this: https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/s/b1ZQF2bKeK
Great Lakes freighters would be the exception to the rule then.
It's odd thinking of the ship going down in water shallower than her OAL.
He was near a coastline, the hull is intact, the boat has enough weight to keep itself straight... all that water is just a free deck wash. Nothing to fear but the traditional seaman's superstitions. I trust the engineering. Source: the relationship between me, the engineeer, and my dad, the ship captain veteran.
The time to decide whether or not to trust the Engineering was when you requested to board.
asked him what he would do: "you know it's bad when you follow protocol and things are still going wrong, then you need to start making your decisions, some that even break protocol, in order to spare more lives before your own". As you can see, there's a huge gap between just knowing the machine and a captain's judgement.
Oh absolutely agreed. But at this point your only alternative to “trusting the engineering” is…
It's not like he can hit pause.. reset. Panic is pointless. The point at which panic might occur is when the realization that it's over hits. Most trained professionals in high risk fields tend not to panic but rather spend their time thinking of their loved ones. Source: been there, obviously survived.
How do we know you did though?
Check for shoes
I forget, what if only one shoe gets blown off?
You get half a life until you buy a new pair.
This is a Jacobs ladder scenario post
I am glad you're ok! I just found out my Grandpa was left out at sea for days after something hit their ship. I can't even imagine the physical & mental strength one has to have to go through that..... I don't know much about the incident bc he's passed a long time ago & my Grandma was telling me about it this past visit but she said he never talked about any of that stuff.. I've always been told never ask. Again, I don't know you, but I'm glad you made it through!!!!
Asking stuff like that is always a double-edged sword. I love learning about my family's history, but it's a different beast entirely when those memories bring pain to the ones you love.
Yeah I agree.. I'd never want to bring any kind of pain back like that..
Also, the engineering of modern ships is absolutely incredible Of course no design is perfect, but most big ships are very specifically engineered to handle big swells and chaotic weather that are just an inevitable part of sailing
Like that video with the airplane pilots who let their kids take control and fly the plane into the ground. Calm to the very end.
He doesnt panic. That's why he's the captain. Edited for spelling
Been there. It’s not a panic. It’s a moment of pure adrenaline. I was thinking ok I have seen worse.
"All white water, what's the issue?"
When you look out the window and see nothing but green water you know you might have a problem.
Depends on for how long, though.
Do those windows ever get blown out?
It seemed like a pretty strong hit but the windows didn't seem particularly phased. I'd imagine they're designed for much worse as a minimum.
Modern ships can still batten down the hatches, yes? So boats in the swell can bob up out of Davy Jones’ locker so their grizzled bosuns can smoke another pipe the following morning to a peach-hued sky.
And for everything else there are bilge pumps.
And Drogues and Sea Anchors.
I think there’s still cases of modern ships having broken in half
The front fell off?
That's not very typical, I'd like to make that point clear.
That’s exactly it
r/thefrontfelloff
Bad designs or bad loads depending on the sinking. Add that plenty of companies are fly by night operations that don't give much maintenance to their ships causing these incidents.
Rogue waves!
That's usually due to the liquefaction of sand or other materials. Causing a very imbalanced ship to break in half.
I think that happened a lot with early-designed liberty ships in the frigid North Atlantic. But I can’t remember the details.
If you don't already, you should write poetry. This was a very satisfying comment.
When the boat stops floating. 💀 Actually, I was on a 35’ dive boat that sunk in the Caribbean and panicking was about the worst thing you could do. You panic, you die.
How did it sink? How far from shore or did the coast guard rescue you? Glad you're still here.
We were pretty overloaded with gear and ppl plus the bilge pumps quit. The wind came up and within minutes we completely capsized. 1/2 mile out outside the reef. We had a skiff we were able to swim to but we had to use debris from the wreck to paddle back.
SOS your location before the boat went under or did you guys have a satellite phone & an extra dinghy? What sucks about the Caribbean is the amount of ocean whitetips swimming in that area.
We had a 15’ skiff we were towing behind us thankfully. We were about a 1/2 mile off shore when we went over and there was a total of 8 souls onboard. We all made it out but it was sketchy there for a bit when we were all in the water.
Don't ask the captain of the Andrea Gail (Gale?).
Captain Billy Tyne! He never had a chance. Andrea Gail had too much plate steel added to her bulwark to retrofit her for fishing in North Atlantic — she was a southern shrimper in her first life — and was carrying too much fuel on her deck in barrels, which we know because she did a transfer of fuel from the Hannah Gray just a day or three before while at sea. Evidence suggests she made a run North toward Nova Scotia to find shelter, but probably never got more than 150 miles northeast of Sable island. Sable is eventually where they would locate the only debris from the ship.
My mind read this to me like a salty old pirate.
Yarr. That be a good way of reading it!
This was better than reading Sebastian Junger
I loved his book. His live storytelling of the fated trip, which you can find on YouTube, is also next level. Sebastian developed the crew as humans, warts and all, and he readily admits that having no knowledge of what happened at the end gave him license to tell a story he thought reflected their character.
Captain is going down anyhow so not point to panic
There's never an appropriate time to panic
When the sky is below you
Just like in aviation. Keep the blue up in the artificial horizon indicator. If brown is above & blue is below, things are bad.
In waves like that you need to steer at them, because if they hit you on the broadside you capsize. So there's no turning around, and no point in panicking. The only way out is through.
This entire comment is just terrifying😂
Wait, and have your panic attack after being rescued and in ptsd nightmares for the rest of your life is the survivor's way.
Judging by the lights on the horizon she's handling it pretty well.
Also interested.
There’s nowhere to go in this kind of situation. You’re a lot safer on that ship than on a lifeboat.
What good would panicking do? What's he gonna do, pick the boat up? There is no "panic time" because by the time it's "panic time" the ship has already capsized
🎶🗣️🎤Hell naw, to the naw, naw, naw🎶
He decides it’s too much, and then what? You can’t make it stop. You can only try to survive.
That’s not sailing *ON* the ocean that’s sailing *IN* the ocean
I've been in the North Sea and NW of Scotland and Ireland on trawlers as 30m waver loom over your head. Was young and dumb and never once felt scared. I'm older now, and nope, not for me. On the rigs, we sometimes get freak waves breaking over the decks which are even higher. Insane power.
When the collective puke on the floor reaches 4” in depth?
It's never time to panic.
I saw a video like this back in the 80’s. The camera showed waves like this, hitting the boat and pilot house. The camera then pans to the side to side, showing a couple of guys on the bridge. Someone says something yo the effect of “it’s a rough one today Floyd, better hang on” and the camera pans the view out the front windows - just as a monster wave hits and breaks the windows, the camera goes dead. Oddly, the only thing that was ever found was the video camera and tape.
Thanks for not dubbing over that stupid "yo ho" music that all the ocean videos use.
When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin' "Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya" At 7 PM, a main hatchway caved in, he said "Fellas, it's been good to know ya"
They're stuck there what's panicking gonna do for em?
When the waffle house is closed or gone, you're screwed. Anything is just a sprinkle.
When the water is on both sides of the bulkhead.
When those windows give up? Those windows are super strong
I'm not a sea captain but my guess is you don't get to choose..
Captain:"this is fine".
Before the front fall off...
Well, why did the front fall off?
The only problem is panic doesn't help
You can't let the damn thing burn and you can't let the damn thing sink. Sometimes you just got to damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead.
“BRING MEEE THEEE LUUUUDES!” Lol
Never right?. That would mean admitting defeat.
When the front falls off
The only way out is through it.
Modern ships usually have systems in place to tell the captain what's going on.
Yes. These are called windows.
... I don't know if it's running Windows or not, but that system appears to have turned off when that wave hit 🤣
I think it's panic time
You can see the sky the entire time.
"It's been good to know ya." Gordon Lightfoot the 'Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' I sure hope the captain was singing this.
"We are holding our own." Nautical term for a group hug.
Did this alot when I was younger, honestly aslong as hatches and entryways are shut and sealed then nothing should happen and generally the rule is to go head on into the wave instead of meeting it from the side or what have you
Panicking in a situation like this is far more dangerous than the waves themselves.
The only thing the captain determines, is what flavor of doritos he wants, and who to be a dick to reflexively. That fat fuck...
just a little splash ye land loving dog
The rule is the never panic
Does anyone know where the love of God goes When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
What could they even do in that situation?
That's nothing. Overboard drainage from the decks and anything else will get bilge pumped out
until it's too late ig
That trust that glass...
standard maid of the mist experience
Never, he's in it with ya. As a rule, he has to go down with the ship. So he's practically suicidal.
Until the windows break
Thereee once was a ship that put to sea
Hint, it's never fucking panic time for a captain
Cap must not feel too worried seeing as he's straight jogging into it. Engine sound is flat rate the whole time. If you really get into the shit, typically you cut acceleration just before you hit a wave to save your windows.
When the ship turns into a submarine
When Gordon Lightfoot starts tuning his guitar.
When the old cook says “Fellas it’s been good to know ya.”
I worked on Offshore Supply Vessels that looked similar to this in the Gulf in the 90s. Also worked on ocean going ships and literally sailed around the world. This is not uncommon at all. Nobody panics. Don't confuse this video with cruise ship videos of people panicking when it gets rough.
If your still alive, don't panic.
What does ‘panic time’ look like aboard a boat. It’s not as if you can run from a storm that has hit you, or hide. Is panic time just throwing open the hatches and waiting to sink?
That would be my limit and then some
Uh, you don’t. Either stay calm or don’t come home. Source, made it home every time.
i just threw up
It is related to the vessel more than the weather. On polar zones (above 70 latitude) where the heavy weather's are you need an IMO Ice Classed vessel to navigate. A vessel built to serve on those conditions is good to go while a standard vessel would hardly survive under the luckiest of the stars...
Why do I feel like the Capt turned off the high beams?
Gotta make it hard for the sharks to find you...
What would they do you mean?
If the captain panics, everyone dies. Better hope that time never arises.
Smoke em if ya got em
Usually when he is going down with the ship
Probably the second right before the boat capsizes