SH Cap. 7 — Departure

1. Overview

Chapter 7 covers the departure — getting the ship from the dock, out through pilot waters, and safely to sea. The departure mirrors the arrival in reverse, but it carries its own hazards: the ship leaves a known berth for a converging traffic picture, the pilot is dropped at the busiest point of the passage, and the temptation to rush to sea speed is strongest exactly where it is least safe.

The chapter's running theme is professional restraint. The seasoned master or pilot slows or stops rather than speeds up to escape a developing situation; keeps an extra officer on the bridge until the ship is clear; plans the outbound passage as carefully as the inbound; and resists the urge to commit the engine to sea speed before traffic is astern. Departure is finished only when the ship is in deep water, clear of hazards and other vessels.

2. Dropping the Pilot

Before reaching the pilot station, the master and the mate on watch discuss inbound and outbound traffic with the pilot. Every ship in the area is identified by name and its intentions clarified, so the conn passes smoothly from pilot to master. The pilot is uniquely placed to do this: he has radio contact with the other pilots and the pilot station, and they collectively know the destinations, drafts, nationalities, and intentions of the moving ships. That shared local knowledge lets the pilot help the master arrange safe meetings before he disembarks.

3. Departure Speed

A lee is made and the pilot boards his boat. The ship returns to her heading and proceeds to the departure point at a speed that matches the flow of outbound traffic. Moving with that flow roughly halves the traffic to be dealt with, since only crossing and meeting ships then present a problem. Time saved never justifies excessive speed — in the author's words, any fool can engage in false heroics with a ship that belongs to someone else.

3.1 Speed Is Limited by Depth of Water

Pushing a ship faster than the depth allows causes excessive squat and suction, and because the underkeel clearance restricts the flow of water to the rudder, the ship becomes hard to steer. Increased steering difficulty and pronounced vibration felt throughout the ship are certain signs of excessive speed.

This holds true until the ship clears shallow water entirely — not merely until she is out of the harbor or channel. Speed should be brought up incrementally as she reaches deeper water, rather than jumping straight to sea speed on departure. The point grows in importance as ships get larger: VLCCs carry inherently greater drafts, and higher horsepower and bigger hulls tend to develop harmonic vibrations in shallow water. As ship size increases, the master must adjust his shiphandling habits.

3.2 Move With the Flow — and Stop, Don't Rush

Make every effort to move with the flow of traffic, whether or not there is a formal traffic separation scheme. If a problem develops, do not hesitate to stop the ship and let the situation clear. Because the master and mates have developed their shiphandling skills, maneuvering while holding heading and position should present no problem.

4. Maneuvering With Other Ships

Make your actions known to other ships by whistle signals and by use of the VHF radio. Make any change in course or speed large and obvious. By altering heading more than strictly required — especially at night — you effectively talk to the other ship with your lights, showing her your sidelight, so there can be no doubt about your intentions.

4.1 Relieve the Conning Officer of Other Tasks

To maneuver the ship and continually assess traffic, the conning master or mate must be relieved of navigational and administrative tasks. The pilot navigates mainly by eye from intimate local knowledge, so he can give full attention to traffic and shiphandling. The shipmaster visits many ports and cannot build that working knowledge of any one of them, so another person is needed to do the navigating while the master concentrates on maneuvering.

The master alone can manage other work when traffic is light and conditions good, but as soon as any one task demands more than passing attention, the major duties of assessment and shiphandling are compromised unless extra help is on the bridge. This is not a call for a horde of people doing redundant tasks, as too often seen on naval vessels — just one additional person to replace the local knowledge that went down the ladder with the pilot.

4.2 The Chief Mate as the Extra Officer

The mate on watch keeps doing the tasks she carried out while the pilot was aboard, while the additional mate plots traffic and navigates, passing the information to the master — who needs only to check the work often enough to be sure it is correct. The extra officer should be the chief mate when possible: he is generally the most experienced and benefits most from being involved as the ship enters and leaves port.

The plethora of bridge equipment has relieved the master of none of his traditional tasks; it often distracts the other officers so that essential, good-seamanship tasks are overlooked. Any impression that this gear lets a ship be conned with a bridge team a third smaller than the master-pilot-mate team is illusory — bring an additional officer to the bridge until the ship is at sea, clear of hazards and traffic, so the master can actually be the shiphandler rather than the navigator.

5. Course Card and Passage Planning

The outbound passage should be planned as carefully as the inbound: a chart in the wheelhouse for consultation, courses inked in with pertinent information labeled, and a course card made up by the master. The card minimizes distractions and lets the master stay at the centerline window to conn the ship. The pilot can draw the port from memory yet still carries a course card — so how could the master conn effectively without one?

5.1 What Goes on the Card

The card lists the reaches or ranges in order, with the course, the length of the reach, and the turning point at the end of each reach. All of this fits on a three-by-five card kept in the shirt pocket, eliminating repeated trips to the chartroom to pick off each course. The freed-up time lets the shiphandler watch the tug and tow crossing the bow while being more certain that each new heading is correct.

The course card should cover the entire run from the dock to sea — not just the portion after the pilot disembarks. This is especially appreciated if a rain squall or fog sets in midway to sea, since the master then need only glance at the card to check the heading as the ship feels her way.

5.2 Passage Plan Versus Voyage Plan

"Passage planning" too often conjures pages of detailed courses, distances, aids, and estimated runs at various speeds. That form-based plan is fine for voyage planning, but it is not by itself suitable for navigating restricted pilot waters. A shiphandler working from pages of detail alone, without marked-up charts and a proper course card, is like an actor reading from a script during a performance — distracting, and it puts mental limits on the mariner when a situation arises that the plan did not foresee.

A passage inked in advance with turning bearings, courses, and distances, together with the pocket course card, is very much part of a proper passage plan. With that plan, a properly marked chart, the course card, and effective bridge resource management, the mariner can give maximum attention to handling the ship. (A fuller treatment of the course card and passage plan is in chapter 12.)

6. Ability to Maneuver

Keep the ship able to maneuver through the pilot waters. Do not be too quick to change to heavy oil on a motor ship that can maneuver only on light diesel fuel, nor to bring a steam-turbine ship to sea speed when that means you cannot then reduce speed without delay.

The haste to increase speed is understandable, since everyone aboard wants to reach the sea, where the routine settles down and life returns to normal — but wait a little longer until traffic is astern. As the author closes: contrary to the landsman's opinion, the seaman does consider life at sea normal.