maritime

  An adventure for the Båtlab gang It all started about two years ago when two of our colleagues, Charlotte and Camilla, announced that they would not be around the Norwegian Maritime Museum for some time, as they were involved in a large project to move all the cultural items stored in Ekeberg to a new storage location near Drøbak. This was very sad for us, as with Charlotte we had learned a lot on traditional clinker-built boats by working with the boat builders on the reconstruction of Norwegian boats. In fact, 4 boats in total. With Camilla, we learnt much on the conservation of cultural artefacts, especially boats, rubber gloves included.   So, they disappeared and then later, we had an invitation from Camilla for an orientation tour on a new warehouse, located in the countryside around Nesodden. This would be exciting as we had spent some time working with Charlotte and Camilla in the caves of Ekeberg and anythi...

One of the critical competencies a seafarer needs is situational awareness, being alert to his or her environment and being able to analyze the situation and make informed decisions. A formal definition: The term situational awareness can be defined as how elements are viewed within their surroundings, relative to time and space, and how to foresee or predict the occurrence of events by understanding trends and patterns. [1] Lack of this competence can lead to navigational errors that can be disastrous. A survey of practising seafarers using a bridge simulator found that over 50% of them failed to recognise a navigational fault even when there were audio and visual cues [2] . A report by the Norwegian Maritime safety authority into a recent collision between a Norwegian warship and a tanker off the Norwegian coast had several safety recommendations. One of these (Marine No 2019/06T) stated: «The navigator in charge did not pick up on the signals of danger or that the navigator’s own si...

 Like all food, regional diversity in Yorkshire is no exception.   Of course, everyone knows about Yorkshire puddings, or do they? A Yorkshire pudding is not some soggy sponge like batter that you eat with your Sunday roast, but a light, fluffy, crispy cup like dough that is filled with gravy. A real insult to a Yorkshire person is to serve the Yorkshire pudding with the main course. It should be eaten alone as a starter. The reason for this is pure Yorkshire. Fill ’em up with Yorkshire pudding and they won't want as much main course! Thriftiness is a Yorkshire trait always to be followed! Of course, if you come from Nottinghamshire, you would eat your Yorkshire pudding with jam as a dessert. But then again, they're really daft from down there! A variation on the Yorkshire pudding is “toad in the hole”, a large Yorkshire pudding with sausage embedded in the mix. Very filling. Then there are kippers, another essentially Yorkshire fish delicacy. In my youth, my bro...

 You know yourself, that you are getting older. Your knees do not work as they used to. They're not as flexible, for example going downstairs you need to hold onto the rail. You are short of breath if you attempt to run, I should say hobble to catch the bus. Worse still you notice you do not have the physical strength that you had, and you start to have arthritic pain in your shoulders and fingers. Such is your state now! You are mentally sharp although your short-term memories come and go. You tire more quickly, and afternoon siesta has become a welcome break. You accept all of this; you have to as there is little you can do about it! Adapt to survive has become your watchword. Add extra time to reach the bus, Do physical work in shorter periods with plenty of rest time.   It works.   But it is not your discovery of how your body ages which is the most annoying. It is how people change their behaviour towards you that becomes most irritating. You must be ti...

  A changing scene In a previous article I wrote on the way that technology has changed the nature of shipping and brought new demands for training. Now we face a new technological challenge in the form of digitalisation and decarboniisation for shipping [1] and this will lead to new demands for training of seafarers. Where should that training come from? The International Maritime Organisation has always set the “minimum safety standards” for the operationf of ships under its conventions, particularly the four main conventions: 1.        The Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention, 2.        The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), 3.        The Convention for Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers 4.        The Maritime Labor Convention. Ratified by maritime nations it is lef...

  Technology has been a major game changer in maritime affairs for thousands of years. Maritime historians recognise significant periods when the development of shipping and its global expansion has taken place. [1] From propulsion changes from rowing to sail, from construction methods that enabled larger vessels to be built and improvements in the navigation methods that led historians to label periods such as the age of discovery and the age of navigation. [2] [3] In later periods too technology has enabled major advances in shipping. The Industrial Revolution at the end of the 1800’s was such a period when in a relatively short period of time massive changes in shipping took place. Stopford [4] summarises the development such: “Between 1833 and 1914 every aspect of ship design changed. The hull grew from 176ft. to 901ft and gross tonnage from 137 tons to 45,647 tons. Hull construction switched from wood to iron in the 1850s, from iron to steel in the 1880s, paddle prop...