August 4, 2013: My Cozy Cabin

365 Project, Day 45

Here is my day fourty-five submission to my 365Project:

My cabin is quite small and cozy on this vessel as you can see from this photo. I could just barely get my bed in the shot. Although it's quite small I'm happy I'm in it by myself because this cabin is actually a two person cabin! It's just right for me on this job but it would be a long trip if I was sharing with somebody.

Fun fact of the day:

The names of the jobs of men responsible for working a ship (boatswain, coxswain - even seamen) are of Ango-Saxon origin whilst those of officers (Captain, Lieutenant, Admiral) are of Norman-French origin. This is an indication of a class distinction between roles on board.

Read more about life at sea on the Royal Museums Greenwich website here. 

August 3, 2013: BBLT

365 Project, Day 44

Here is my day fourty-four submission to my 365Project:

This is one of the offshore installations we pass during this survey offshore Angola...and, despite the fact we've been passing these structures nearly everyday for a month, I still find these structures unbelievable. BBLT is a Compliant Piled Tower (CPT) which measures 512 m from the seafloor to the top of it's derrick. It ranks as the fifth tallest freestanding structure in the world, standing 212 m taller than the Eiffel Tower.

Fun fact of the day:

The first offshore oil and gas platform was constructed in 1897 at the end of a wharf in California. 

Read more about this on this HowStuffWorks webpage.

August 2, 2013: Helideck Fencing

365 Project, Day 43

Here is my day fourty-three submission to my 365Project:

We're still at anchor today...so I had to resort to taking photos around the ship. I got this photo of the chain link fence around the heli-deck and thought it made an interesting photo. 

Fun fact of the day:

The first wire-netting machine (used to make chain link fences) was built in 1844, based on cloth weaving machines, by Charles Barnard in Norwich, England.

Read more history of Norwich here.

August 1, 2013: Ship's Fender

365 Project, Day 42

Here is my day fourty-two submission to my 365Project:

We were bunkering (taking on fuel) this afternoon but before the other ship could come alongside to give us the fuel we had to put out the fenders, like this one, to go between the two ships. I liked this photo I got looking down at the fender along the side of the ship. 

Fun fact of the day:

Originally Japanese ships used dead whales as fenders! These were replaced after WW2 when the Japanese tire manufacturer Yokohama was asked to design an alternative to the 'whale' fender, hence the now commonly used Yokohama feather like this one. 

Read more ship stuff here at gCaptain blog.