Page 30: of Marine News Magazine (July 2005)

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Donjon Takes Part in Fire

Fighting Exercise

Donjon Marine Co., Inc. was invited by the State Fire Mar- shall and the Director of the New Jersey Division of Fire Safe- ty to participate in an exercise conducted by members of the

Union and Morris County Fire Services to test and showcase the capabilities of a portable marine firefighting system known as Neptune/Iron Man. On May 26, at Donjon's Berth 22 Port Newark Facility, Donjon loaded the Neptune/Iron

Man firefighting system onto Donjon's newly built 225 x 54 x 14-ft. deck barge, the Witte 254, along with necessary support equipment including a forklift, rigging, and matting to move the gear during the exercise. On May 27, Donjon's tug Atlantic

Salvor took the Witte 254 and associated gear into Newark

Bay where the fire-fighting system was tested successfully.

Circle 21 on Reader Service Card 30 • MarineNews • July, 2005

TRAINING & EDUCATION

The rudder and engine commands came rapidly, as the cumbersome tanker wend- ed its way ponderously, but purposefully, through the hairpin turns of Hartford

Channel. A more lithe containership approached at the next bend, sounding one blast of the whistle. Meeting head to head on such a tight turn is not usually recommended, but the captain decided to try it just to see how it worked and replied with one blast. The 90 degree turn was negotiated safely as the containership

Patriot State passed inches away.

An hour later, the anchor tore noisily out of the hawse pipe of the containership

Bay State, and the pilot shouted "full astern." Was he in time to keep the stem from plowing into the rapidly approach- ing dock? The wind was not helping, as the ship set rapidly down on the pier. It would have been much more comforting to have a stout tugboat laying off to assist, but this was infinitely more interesting.

No, this was not the set of a maritime version of "Survivor" where pilots and captains try to outdo each other with fool- hardy bravado. This was just another day at Massachusetts Maritime Academy's course in Advanced Shiphandling. The ships were manned models, navigating the waters of Great Herring pond on scenic

Cape Cod. This course has been offered through the Academy's Center for Com- mercial Maritime Training since 1999.

You may have heard of similar to courses offered at Port Revel in eastern France, and at the Warsash Maritime Centre in

England. The Massachusetts Maritime

Academy course is the only one of its kind offered in the United States. It is also the only manned model course to have United

States Coast Guard's approval. This five day course satisfies the entire advanced shiphandling training requirement for mariners wishing to proceed to a manage- ment level license (chief mate/master) and makes efficient use of the mariners' pre- cious time ashore. Though there are some maritime professionals who would prefer a week in England or the French Alps, the appeal of a domestic facility has been heightened by the travel uncertainties of the past few years.

This past autumn was a good example with pilots in attendance at Massachusetts

Maritime from the Saint Johns River in

Florida, the Columbia River Bar, and the port of Los Angeles, as well as captains and mates from companies such as Glob- al Santa-Fe, SeaRiver Maritime, Military

Sealift Command and others.

At present, the school is utilizing three models, the Patriot State and Bay State, of 16,070 tons displacement, and the Massa- chusetts, of 196,000 tons displacement.

The former were purchased from the

Navy in 1997 when the they discontinued their manned model program at the Little

Creek, Virginia facility. The Massachu- setts was custom built in 2001, from plans of the laid-up tanker Atigun Pass. All of the models are about 37 feet in length with the 2 dry cargo ships being built at a scale of 16:1 and the tanker at a scale of 25:1.

At first, when you approach the models lying at their berths at the Academy's

Keith Hartford Sailing Center, they look like toys. This notion is dismissed very quickly as the lines are cast off and the first rudder and engine orders are given.

Then you realize that they handle just like the ships they are duplicating. Captain

Jim Nolan, retired San Francisco Bar pilot said "I know these ships from real-life experience. These models are incredibly realistic".

Backing away from the pier with a 10 knot breeze blowing the ship "on the dock" becomes a challenge, as with simil- itude this is equivalent to a 30 knot wind.

The models share the behaviors of their full sized counterparts, backing to port and backing into the wind , being set off course and crabbing in the channel, and the general "flukiness" caused by wind and current that all ships are prone to. If the wind kicks up a bit in the afternoon, it can feel like being in a gale as the seas crash over the bow. Of course, the stu- dents are still full sized, which requires them to remain seated. A six-foot pilot standing on the model would have the same height of eye as someone standing in a crow's nest 150 feet above the water. (Not many ships are conned from such a lofty position). After the first few hours students have little problem treating the ships as the "real thing."

As important as the models and the facilities are the team of instructors that the center has assembled. They bring rich- ly diverse experience from almost all parts of the maritime industry. The most senior of the facilitators are Captain Jim Nolan, retired pilot and "spark-plug" of the orig- inal program and Captain Richard "Red"

Shannon, who, among his other accom- plishments is a master of both power dri- ven and sailing vessels of any gross tons and former master of the sailing passenger ship Sea Cloud. Complementing these two are Captain Kerry Fitzpatrick, retired containership master, Captain Ron

Mason, retired Boston docking-master,

Captain Craig Dalton, retired tanker cap- tain, and Captain Pat Crane , who is a cur- rent ITB master. The shared background and experience of these instructors guar- antees students a rewarding experience.

Among the many skills that are taught as part of the syllabus are some that are nearly forgotten, such as the use of the anchor in a narrow channel, the use of the anchor while docking and "Mediter- ranean" mooring with both anchors. In the past the anchor was referred to a the "poor man's tug." It is still used in some parts of the world where due to economic or mechanical constraints tugs are not avail- able. Because tugs are so readily available in the remainder of the world, the skills are being lost, so the captain or pilot who must proceed without a tug for one reason or another may not be readily familiar with the anchor's use. It is a difficult skill to learn on your own, on the job, but easy to address with the manned models.

The interaction of passing vessels in a shallow channel is another topic addressed in the class. Here the worst that can happen after two vessels pass too closely is some scraped fiberglass and tat- tered egos. Again, this is a subject not easily taught in the real world of piloting.

With the models it can be carefully observed and practiced many times in a morning. To complement the models the

Center has the use of the Academy's AME full function bridge simulator. On the simulator several programs have been developed to compliment and enhance the work done on the models.

MMA: Time Flies When Well Spent

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