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Engine Room Doors and Down Flooding
A High Water reminder.
With high water still with us, it is not just company policy but common sense that says, "Keep all watertight doors closed".
In our operation, freeboards are low. With towboats designed to work primarily in flat water conditions, crews must be conscious of the possibility of flooding and ultimately sinking if the right conditions occur. With that in mind, water tight doors are critical to the operation.
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Buoyancy and Reserve Buoyancy
Every boat depends on the displacement of water to provide the Buoyancy for the hull. When a towboat is floated, she sinks into the water until the weight of the surrounding water displaced by her underwater volume is equal to the weight of the entire boat. As additional weight is added to the hull either by equipment, fuel, water, etc., the boat will sink lower and lower. The upward force created by this displacement is the vessel's bouncy.
The volume of the watertight portion of the towboat that is above the waterline is described as the Reserve Buoyancy. The freeboard is a rough measurement of your reserve buoyancy.
Watertight Doors
Keeping the vessel riding high means keeping water out of the hull. Watertight doors fitted above the main deck are one of the main protectors from water making its way into the hull. Most critical of these are the engine room doors. These doors protect the engine room from down flooding and are critical when water flows over the main deck.
Watertight doors provide the watertight integrity of the vessel and must always be treated as such. Although an open or poorly maintained door may seem like an insignificant issue, when the right factors align, the door can become a death trap and result in terrible circumstances to a vessel and its crew.
Down Flooding and Free Surface Effect
So what happens when water is washed over the towboat's deck due to a passing ship? This is non scientific example, but will illustrate the point.
When hit by an unexpected wave with the engine room water tight doors open, water will quickly start down flooding into the engine space. Let's say our boat has a typical watertight door that measures thirty six inches wide, what happens when water goes over the coaming?
Imagine two feet of water washing over the coaming and entering the the engine room at flow rate of one linear foot per second. At that rate, in ten seconds about two tons of water will have flooded down.
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The Free Surface effect allows water to flow to the low end in the engine room. |
Those two tons of water now gather in the engine room bilge. The liquid will flow to the lower side in the direction of a list. This is called the Free Surface Effect.
As more and more water enters, the list will increase, which in turn increases the down flooding. The freeboard decreases and the lower edge of the coaming goes further below the water's surface.
It can spiral into a capsize that is hard to stop.
Keep those doors closed!
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Capt. John Gonzales Goes to School
The Third Grade is ready to get onboard.
The Hermes Elementary School in La Grange, TX will never be the same. At the request of his son Devin, Capt John Gonzales brought the Towboat world to the third grade. John is the Relief Captain on the M/V JESSE B GUNSTREAM.
Third graders are known for their offbeat questions but this group was serious from the start. "Are you trained to deal with oil spills?" asked one kid. "What courses in school do you need to take to work on a boat?" "Does everyone wear a life vest?"
Everyone seemed to have a question.
In the end, the class thanked John for the great presentation and the teacher asked about coming back next year.
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Capt John has their attention! |
If you are interested in bringing the Higman Towboating Presentation to your son or daughter's school, contact Gordie for a copy. |
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Towboats and S'mores
Send your kid off to Towboat Camp this summer!
Students 14 and older interested in the maritime industry may register for the Maritime Youth Career Camp this summer at San Jacinto College. Higman Marine is one of the sponsors of the program being held at each of the College's three campuses.
The three-day camps will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., July 20-22 at the Central campus; July 27-29 at the North campus; and Aug. 3-5 at the South campus. Cost for the camp is $20, and lunch and camp T-shirts will be provided. Space is limited to 20 participants per campus.
Campers will learn about the various careers within the maritime industry, experience cargo handling and simulations, tour the Texas A&M ship and Houston Ship Channel, and participate in navigation exercises. They'll also meet captains, mates, tankermen, pilots, able seamen, and other mariners.
San Jacinto College Central campus is located at 8060 Spencer Highway in Pasadena; South campus is located at 13735 Beamer Road in Houston; and North campus is located at 5800 Uvalde Road in Houston. For a Maritime Youth Career Camp application, call 281-974-2200 or email sanjacinto.maritime@sjcd.edu.
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Send Us Your Pictures!
 Tired of seeing pictures from the same boats? Then send us some of yours.
Pictures from the fleet are very helpful to the office staff. Often it is very difficult for us to get out there to see what you do on a daily bases. The photos you send in are used for here on the Newsletter, on Friday Questions, CBT, and even in the annual calendar. If you have pictures of high water, a pretty sunset or just random pictures of your crew, send them in. We appreciate your help. Send your pictures to Kelly or Gordie. |
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What Does Drowning Look Like?
With summer upon us and water activities high (when on the boat and at home) it is important to understand what drowning really looks like. Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect. Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for, is rarely seen in real life.
 Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. Drowning people's mouths will alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help.
To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) - of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult.
Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water's surface. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.
So what you should really look for is:
- Head low in the water, mouth at water level
- Head tilted back with mouth open
- Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
- Eyes closed
- Hair over forehead or eyes
- Not using legs - Vertical
- Hyperventilating or gasping
- Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
- Trying to roll over on the back
- Ladder climb, rarely out of the water.
This doesn't mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn't in real trouble - they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn't last long - but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.
So if someone falls in water or looks like they are in trouble, you should simply ask them, "Are you alright?" If they can answer at all - they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents - children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why. |
Nav Zone
Receding Water
The high water situation in the Mississippi is expected to start receding in the next couple of weeks. Just like high water, receding water can create hazards for towboat operators. Make sure to watch out for these possible hazards:
Off station/ missing buoys: The excessive water creates high currents. These currents may have moved, or removed, buoys that were there. The Coast Guard has been very busy with this disaster and may not have fixed the buoys yet.
Debris will be more concentrated. It may also be caught on docks, make a good inspection before docking.
Shoaling: Exceptionally high waters like these have been known to change the course of a river. The currents move sand and silt from one bank and it settles somewhere else. In general shoaling will occur around obstructions (like pilings or locks) and in areas of lower current (like the inside of a bend).
USCG Navigation General Questions
Under the IALA Buoyage Systems, a cardinal mark may NOT be used to _______________.
A: indicate that the deepest water in an area is on the named side of the mark
B: indicate the safe side on which to pass a danger
C: draw attention to a feature in the channel such as a bend, junction, bifurcation, or end of a shoal
D: indicate the port and starboard sides of well-defined
Red sectors of navigation lights warn mariners of _________.
A: floating debris
B: heavily trafficked areas
C: recently sunken vessels
D: shoals or nearby land
You are sailing south on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) when you sight a red nun buoy with a yellow square painted on it. Which statement is TRUE?
A: The buoy is off station and should be ignored as a navigational mark.
B: The waterway in that area has shoaled and the available depth of water is less than the project depth.
C: ICW traffic should not proceed beyond the buoy unless the crossing waterway is clear of all traffic.
D: You should leave the buoy to port.
You are underway and pass by a lighthouse. Its light, which was white since you first sighted it, changes to red. This means _______.
A: the light is characterized as alternately flashing
B: the lighthouse has lost power and has switched to emergency lighting
C: it is the identifying light characteristic of the lighthouse
D: you have entered an area of shoal water or other hazard
An orange and white buoy with a rectangle on it displays _________.
A: directions
B: distances
C: locations
D: All of the above |
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Stern Shots
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Relief Capt. Carey Hester ready to roll on the M/V DECATUR. |
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Tankerman Justin Surdukan on galley duty aboard the M/V DECATUR. |
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Tankerman Drew Ezernack gets taxi service from the M/V DECATUR out to the M/V GREBE. |
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Teddy cooks crawfish at Channelview! |
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Nautical Trivia
Henry Shreve and the Snag Boat "Heliopolis"
Early steamboats were especially susceptible to boiler explosions, fires, and sinkings caused by hitting snags. Most steamboats in the early 1800's were lucky to last five years. Snags or submerged trees and stumps, boat wrecks and other hazards, were especially problematic. These snags made river travel hazardous and coul d even block navigation completely.
In 1824, Henry Shreve designed a vessel to tackle this problem. His efforts to sell the idea to the Federal Government at first went unanswered, but eventually the War Department appointed Shreve to try his plans.
Henry Shreve built his first steam-powered snagboat in 1829. The Heliopolis had twin hulls with a heavy iron wedge between them to use as a ram against snags. The boat's lifting machinery was geared to the engine, making it more powerful than anything yet employed against snags. It removed snags by ramming them and dislodging or breaking the trees so that pieces could be lifted between the two hulls where they were cut up. The cut wood was burned for fuel or floated to a landing. The stumps and other debris were either sunk in deep pools or placed on land.
By 1830 Shreve's Snag Boats, or "Uncle Sam's Tooth Pullers" as they were called, had improved navigation to the point that only one flatboat was lost on a snag during that year. During the 1830s Shreve set about cutting back trees on the banks of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to prevent the recurrence of snags. Shreve's success helped ensure St. Louis' future as a commercial port and a major steamboat center before the Civil War. |
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Dates to Remember
2011 Tankerman's Seminar
Sixth Session JUN 8
Seventh Session JUL 11
Eight Session AUG 15
Ninth Session SEP 20
Tenth Session OCT 11
Eleventh Session NOV 3
2011 Advanced Wheelhouse Management (Simulator)
Third Session AUG 1 - AUG 3
Fourth Session OCT 17 - OCT 19
Fifth Session DEC 12 - DEC 14 2011 Higman Management & Leadership First Session SEP 22 - SEP 23 Second Session OCT 6 - OCT 7 To schedule training please email Kelly or call at 281-864-6011.
CBT Certificates earned by Higman employees from JAN 1, 2011 to date........2380! DO ALL CREWMEMBERS HAVE ACCESS TO THE HIGMAN TRAINING NEWSLETTER? - PEASE MAKE SURE A HARD COPY IS PRINTED AND MADE AVAILABLE FOR THE CREW.
- Add your email address with the "Join our Mailing List" button (above, page 1, left side) to get your own copy!
Answer to this weeks Navigation General ....D,D,D,D,D |
Summer is here. Most of the kids are now out of school. There is much going on when you are off the boat.
Here are some thoughts about this time.
Take your safety culture and safety training home with you. We preach safety to each other while on the job, but need to keep it going while off the boat. With all the outdoor activities, sports, beach vacations, driving (motorcycle) trips planned, safety should be a number one priority.
Most of us have made trips to the emergency room with our kids for some injury or another. Maybe with some planning and safety discussions with the family, those trips can be avoided.
Most of us do some boating, fishing or spend time at the beach. Are your kids up to speed in swimming skills, life jacket use and common sense water safety?
Make safety a normal part of your life every day of the year. Make it part of your family life also.
Have a great and very safe week!
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GORDIE KEENAN
KELLY CLEAVER
HIGMAN MARINE SERVICES, Inc. | |
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