Ship handling techniques

The mark of a great ship handler is never getting into situations that require great ship handling. 

I am so much in love with this quote by Ernest King.

Ship handling is both a science and an art. Science because it requires knowledge of various forces acting on the ship. Art because it requires the skills of an experienced navigator to use these forces in his favour.

We may learn the science part from the various ship handling courses. But the art can only be learned from experience.

Art has many forms. Art of ship handling also has many forms. Each navigator handles the ship in his own way and so far it does not go against the general good practices, each one of it is correct.

So how can someone become a good ship handler. Or if I may say so, how can someone not be in a situation that would require great ship handling ?

It can only be achieved by knowledge. It can only be achieved by learning both, the science and art of ship handling.

I value the importance of all the terms related to ship handling. But when it comes to understanding these terms, I always prefer it to be in layman’s words.

Today, let us talk ship handling in layman’s language.

Talking in the same breath, let me ask a question. Why exactly one need to learn ship handling ? What are the things one would wish to use the ship handling for ?

I always asked these questions to myself while learning ship handling. I found that after learning ship handling, I would like to be able to

  • move the ship in any direction I want (Like moving the ship sideways without changing the heading)
  • Stop the ship wherever and whenever I want (something like applying a brake)
  • Reduce the speed in an instant (Like what I can do with my car)
  • Turn the ship at its position (like how an experienced bikers do)

In this post, I will share few of the tricks (art and science) of ship handling so that you are able to do all of this.

Let us dive in.

1. How to move a ship in the direction you want

Whenever I studied ship handling, I always asked this question to myself.

Can I move a ship in any direction while keeping the same heading ? If I can, what else do I need to know about ship handling ?

ship handling ship movement

After all Ship handling means making the ship move in the direction we want and when we want.

So do you want to know how we can move the ship in any of these direction.

Before we proceed, I assume you know how the resultant of two or more forces acting in different direction works.

If you want to know more on it, you can read it here or here.

Or else you can watch this video.

In short you should know about parallelogram of forces. It states that

If two forces whose lines of action meet at a point are represented in magnitude and direction by the sides of a parallelogram drawn from one of its angular points, their resultant is represented in magnitude and direction by the diagonal drawn from that angular point.

 

parallelogram of forces

So what all forces a ship can experience while she is at sea ?

Current and Wind are two of the most common forces. We should take these to our advantage. But there is one force that we can use to our advantage. That is the force of resistance from the water itself.

Say the ship is moving at dead slow ahead. And I turn the rudder on the port side. Will the ship start turning right away ? No it won’t. Because depending upon the under water area of the hull, there is huge resistance offered from the water.

The water acts as something like a wall to the underwater hull.

Water Resistance on turning a vessel

The hull need to over power this resistance for it to start turning. This is also the reason why loaded ship start turning late when we give rudder order.

But how can we use this resistance to our advantage ? Using this water resistance, we can actually move the vessel in any direction we want.

Let us see it with an example.

Let us say we want to move the ship towards the berth while keeping the heading of the vessel parallel to the berth.

How to move a ship in one direction

For berthing in this situation, one school of thought teaches us to berth in this way.

For berthing to port side alongside, head to the berth with an angle of around 20 deg with the berth. Few meters from the berth, go astern. For right hand, fixed pitch propeller, this will turn the ship slightly to starboard because of transverse thrust. This will make the ship parallel to the berth.

This method have some dangers associated with it. For example transverse thrust may not be as much as you expected.

What if We use the forward headway vector and resistance force of water to have a resultant vector that will take the ship towards the berth. This is how it is done.

Maintain a low forward speed (say around 3 knots). Now put the rudder on 10 Deg port. While the rudder is on 10 Deg port, vessel would experience the resistance on the underwater hull area.

This resistance will try to push the vessel on the other side. Keep an eye on the rate of turn indicator as we will not allow the ship to turn.

Before vessel starts to turn, put the rudder to midship. The resultant of vessel’s headway and the resistance we created will make the ship move towards the berth.

Moving the ship towards the berth

We can adjust these two vectors to move the ship in a direction we want. For example we can reduce the speed if we want to have the resultant more toward abeam. Or we can increase the speed a bit to have the resultant vector more forward of beam.

Or we can also increase or decrease the resistance force by varying the rudder order (say between 5 deg-15 Deg).

Still do not believe that the we can use the water resistance to our advantage ? Then see this image taken during actual berthing of the vessel.

Ship moving towards berth

By varying the strength of these two forces, we can move the ship in any direction we want.

Apart from this, there are number of ways we can use this resistance in our favour.

For example, let us say we are waiting for the pilot to board in a busy traffic area with engine stopped. If the vessel is drifting towards fishing vessels or other anchored vessels, what can we do to reduce this drift.

Reducing the drift of the vessel

Again we can use the engine to dead slow ahead and put the rudder on hard to starboard. Before the vessel start to turn, stop the engine and rudder amidship. The Direction of vessel’s drift will change towards the vessel’s heading.

We can use this resistance in many ways, only limitation being your imagination.

2. Using anchor to stop the ship in emergency

Do you think we should keep anchor party standby forward when the vessel is moving at full manoeuvring ahead in a river ?

I mean, what if they are stand by in the accommodation area with walkie talkie ? In emergency, by the time we reduce the speed to the level where we can drop anchor, the crew would definitely reach forward.

This thought is based upon the assumption that even in emergency we cannot drop anchor when the ship moving at full ahead. Do you agree ?

If you agree, you would be wrong. We can drop the anchor in emergency even when ship is moving at full ahead. Only thing is we need to follow the right steps in doing so.

Want to know how we can achieve that ?

Imagine that vessel is moving at 12 knots in a river with engine full ahead. For some reason we need to stop the vessel immediately.

Here is how we can do it.

  • Put the rudder hard over to the side you can turn the ship.
  • Drop the anchor to the side of the turn. So if you are turning to starboard, drop starboard anchor. Before we drop anchor we must ensure that we are dropping the anchor in an area of suitable anchoring depths.

Turning would reduce the vessel’s speed. As the speed of the ship reduces, keep on going down on the engine movement too.

For example, let us say half ahead speed is 10 Knots and slow ahead speed is 7 knots.

  • When we have dropped the anchor and start turning, bring the engine to half ahead.
  • When the speed is just over 10 knots (say 11 knots), bring the engine to slow ahead.
  • When the speed is just over 7 knots (say 8 knots), bring the engine to dead slow ahead.
  • Whenever you can, stop the engine.

We need to be careful with stopping the engine as when we stop the engine, vessel’s rate of turn would reduce and anchor chain might get stressed.

While we have initiated this procedure, the instructions to the anchor party would be to keep pay out the cable as the weight comes. Their goal would be to not to stress the cable too much and hold the anchor until weight comes on the cable.

This procedure allows the vessel to stop with the help of three things

  • Turning reduces the speed
  • Gradual reduction of Engine movement from full ahead to stopping the engine reduces the speed
  • Controlled weight on the anchor reduces the vessel’s speed

But the question is, won’t the anchor damage in this case ? The answer would be No.

When the vessel starts to turn, it will cover distance equal to head reach in forward direction and side reach in athwartship direction.

Head reach in a turn of the vessel

In fact because of controlled load on the anchor, its maximum head reach and side reach will reduce.

The length of the anchor chain would be sufficient to stretch to this distance. In fact you may not need to pay the entire length of the anchor chain.

If you get a chance, try this exercise on the simulator to believe it.

3. Rudder Cycling to reduce the ship speed

Imagine we are moving at some speed to approach a port and suddenly we are asked to wait for the pilot. This is a common situation Masters are subjected to at many ports.

We wish we had some kind of brakes on the ship, which we could just press to stop the ship or reduce the speed. But we do not have brakes on ship, right ?

But wait, who said ship does not have brakes to stop the ship ? Rudder cycling is most effective way to stop a ship without changing the heading.

It uses the resistance of water on underwater hull area to reduce the speed of the ship.

Want to know how it is done ? Considering port side is safer than starboard side

  • Put the rudder on hard to port side
  • When the ship has turned to 20 deg from the original course, put the telegraph to half ahead
  • When the ship’s heading is 40 degrees from the original course, put the rudder on hard to starboard
  • When the ship’s heading just starts to turn to starboard side, make the engines on slow ahead
  • When the ship’s heading has returned to original course, put the rudder to hard to port
  • When the ship just starts to turn to port, put the engine to dead slow ahead
  • When the ship’s heading returned to original course, put the rudder on hard to starboard to check some of the port swing.
  • When the ship still has some rate of turn to port, put the rudder midship and go full astern on the engines to stop the ship

Rudder Cycling

This will stop the ship at considerable lesser distance. But we do not need to use rudder cycling only to stop the ship. We can also use the rudder cycling when we need to reduce the speed of the ship.

4. Turning the ship at its position

Can you think of a situation when we need to turn the ship at its position ?

We may need to turn the ship near to the berth when we arrive at the berth from down river direction and we need to berth facing upriver direction.

But turning in this situation may not be that tricky as we can use the tugs to turn the vessel.

Now consider a situation where you have anchored in a very congested anchorage and you need to pick up the anchor and turn the vessel.

In this situation if you have bow thruster fitted, it is easier to turn the vessel. But how to turn the vessel at its position if you do not have bow thruster.

For right hand fixed pitch propellers, it is always easier to turn the ship on starboard side.

So to turn the ship

  • Wheel hard to starboard and give a quick burst ahead on the engines. Ship will start to turn to starboard. Do not gather too much ahead speed. Just about when speed is around 0.5 Knots, stop the engine.
  • Wheel amidship, give a quick burst astern on the engine. As the engine goes to stern, the bow will start to move to starboard. This will help the starboard turn as well as reduce the forward speed of the ship.
  • As the ship gains some sternway (around 0.5 knots), stop the engine.
  • Repeat the above steps and keep the vessel turning to starboard.

Turning a ship at its position

Conclusion

Ship handling cannot be learned in few days or few months. Apart from learning the theory of Ship handling, we also need to practice it on board to be master of it.

Ship handling need to be learned right from the time on junior ranks. We need to observe how Masters and pilots handles the ship.

If they ordered the rudder to port 10 deg, why did they do so ? If they used the engine in astern direction, why did they do it now ?

Asking these question and then finding the answers right from the junior ranks can make us a better ship handler.

Related Blogs

Follow us Today on
our social network

Capt Rajeev Jassal

About Capt Rajeev Jassal

Capt. Rajeev Jassal has sailed for over 24 years mainly on crude oil, product and chemical tankers. He holds MBA in shipping & Logistics degree from London. He has done extensive research on quantitatively measuring Safety culture onboard and safety climate ashore which he believes is the most important element for safer shipping.

Search Blog

25 Comments

Bipul Roy
Bipul Roy
Sep 8, 2016

Hello sir.... Plz help me sir

LALATENDU MAHARANA
LALATENDU MAHARANA
Sep 17, 2016

how to study in offline

Nikolai
Nikolai
Oct 7, 2017

Rajeev, good afternoon. Thanks for the tricks, to start with. Otherwise, a couple of considerations to share. The ship is, normally, a "she", and not an "it". She is a living creature and the animated one. Another thing to share is the following expression: "A superior seaman uses his superior judgement to keep out of situations requiring his superior skills". Tks again & brgds. Nikolai.

ROCKY
ROCKY
Oct 28, 2020

EK NUMBER KE "C" HO TUM....NO DOUBT

pammodels
pammodels
Jan 10, 2018

Great information, Thanks for the different tricks I want to try these tricks. http://pammodels.com/

Tkachenko Roman
Tkachenko Roman
Mar 20, 2018

I will write here an extract from the article "Or we can also increase or decrease the resistance force by varying the rudder order (say between 5 deg-15 Deg)". Did you mean force or direction as when we change speed ? Thank you for the article and your reply in advance

Master-B
Master-B
May 17, 2018

The information is well presented however, some ilustrations do not coincide with the explanation when refering to vessel berthing port side.

Vili
Vili
Jun 21, 2018

Fantastic

Prabhu Muthu
Prabhu Muthu
May 10, 2019

Really it's excellent for those who are taking command it's simple none of the book explained like this.Thank you so much.

alo
alo
Aug 17, 2019

Nice article. I really like your post also see Doubledown codes

Ajit
Ajit
Jan 21, 2020

Great notes for help while i was on course BTRM

Brian
Brian
Sep 29, 2020

Sir your blog is not only informative but also inspiring thank you for all your effort.

Karim Aliyar
Karim Aliyar
Dec 20, 2020

Very informative

Kailash dahiya
Kailash dahiya
Jan 4, 2022

Great sir in practical way as well as exam purpose. Specially that anchor trick definately it will help me out in near future. Pls keep writting

Kobzili
Kobzili
Oct 29, 2022

Thnkx alot for this course,i would like to have an idea about emergency anchorage while berthing(inside ports). Kind regards Harbour pilot

Isabella Lucas
Isabella Lucas
Nov 11, 2022

My ex-husband and I had always managed to stay friendly after our divorce in February 2017. But I always wanted to get back together with him, All it took was a visit to this spell casters website last December, because my dream was to start a new year with my husband, and live happily with him.. This spell caster requested a specific love spell for me and my husband, and I accepted it. And this powerful spell caster began to work his magic. And 48 hours after this spell caster worked for me, my husband called me back for us to be together again, and he was remorseful for all his wrong deeds. My spell is working because guess what: My “husband” is back and we are making preparations on how to go to court and withdraw our divorce papers ASAP. This is nothing short of a miracle. Thank you Dr Emu for your powerful spells. Words are not enough. Email emutemple@gmail.com Phone/WhatsApp +2347012841542.

Gerald Muswagon
Gerald Muswagon
Feb 2, 2023

I want to genuinely thank Dr Ayoola for making my dream come through. I was on the internet when I saw people posting and talking about Dr Ayoola. On How he has help them in winning lottery. My name is Gerald Muswagon this is my story on how I win $10 million After reading the article about Dr Ayoola I contacted him I told him to help me win lottery he respond to me by saying he will help me after working with him he assured me that I will win. Which I believe. After working with Dr Ayoola he gave me a number and ask me to go and play it which I did today I’m here shearing a testimony about this same man Dr Ayoola help me to win $10 million dollars all thanks to you Dr I will keep taking about your good because you are a man of your word I hope people that really need this will come across it for you to help them as well. If you want to win big in lottery contact Dr Ayoola today and be rest assured of winning contact him via email drayoolasolutionhome@gmail. com or https://www.facebook.com/Dr-Ayoola-105640401516053/ text or call +14809032128

Katherine Griffith
Katherine Griffith
Apr 3, 2023

Hello everyone, I wish to share my testimonies with the general public about Dr Kachi for helping me to win the LOTTO MAX, i have been playing all types of lottery for the past 9years now. the only big money i have ever win was $3000 ever since things became worse to enduring because i couldn’t been able to win again, i was not happy i need help to win the lottery, until the day i was reading a newspaper online which so many people has talked good things about best lottery cast Dr Kachi who can change your life into riches. So I contacted him and he cast the spell and gave me the hot figures. I played the LOTTO MAX DRAW Behold when I went to check and to my greatest surprise my name came out as one of the winners. I won $60 Millions Dr Kachi, your spell made it wonderful to win the lottery. I can't believe it. Thank you so much sir for dedicating your time to cast the Lottery spell for me. I am eternally grateful for the lottery spell winning Dr Kachi did for me. I’m now out of debts and experiencing the most amazing good life of the lottery after I won a huge amount of money. I am more excited now than I ever have been in my life. In case you also need him to help you win, you can contact: drkachispellcast@gmail.com OR Call/WhatsApp number: +1 (209) 893-8075

andrew clark
andrew clark
Apr 15, 2023

I'm Andrew Clark from Boston, I played the lottery for about 7years and I never won anything but I never stopped playing because I have the faith that I will win someday, so I was on the internet one day when I saw someone wrote a short story about Dr Lucas on how he helped him won the lottery with his spiritual powers and I was very interested in trying Dr Lucas spell, so I contacted him on Email:: drlucasspelltemple@gmail.com and he replied and told me exactly what to do which I did without any delay, after 24hours he gave me the five numbers in the EuroMillions draw which I played on the next day, I was scared to check my ticket because I was still seeing myself as a loser until my wife put me on a pressure to check my ticket, and when I checked I realized that I won £76million. I made a promise to Dr Lucas that I will let the world know about his good work in my life. whatsApp him on +2349047943567. Dr Lucas is the only way to win the lottery

Julianna Davis
Julianna Davis
Apr 19, 2023

i want to share to the whole world how Dr Kachi the Great of all the Spell Caster, that helped me reunite my marriage back, my Ex Husband broke up with me 3months ago, I have been trying to get him back ever since then, i was worried and so confused because i love him so much. I was really going too much depressed, he left me with my kids and just ignored me constantly. I have begged him for forgiveness through text messages for him to come back home and the kids crying and miss their dad but he wont reply, I wanted him back desperately. we were in a very good couple and yet he just ignores me and get on with his life just like that, so i was looking for help after reading a post of Dr Kachi on the internet when i saw a lady name SHARRON testified that Dr Kachi cast a Pure love spell to stop divorce. and i also met with other, it was about how he brought back her Ex lover in less than 24 hours at the end of her testimony she dropped his email, I contacted Dr Kachi via email and explained my problem to Dr Kachi and he told me what went wrong with my husband and how it happen, that he will restored my marriage back, and to my greatest surprise my Ex husband came back to me, and he apologized for his mistake, and for the pain he caused me and my children. Then from that day our marriage is now stronger than how it was before, Dr Kachi you're a real spell caster, you can also get your Ex back and live with him happily: Contact Email drkachispellcast@gmail.com his Text Number and Call: +1 (209) 893-8075 his Website: https://drkachispellcaster.wixsite.com/my-site

BLANK ATM CARD
BLANK ATM CARD
Apr 22, 2023

Hello Everyone, Am George Taylor a professional blank ATM card hacker and a bitcoin trader, Have you been trying to get a blank ATM card or you want to in investment in bitcoin and it has always been a problem due to you have not gotten the right person? Then worry know more because we are here to help and make it work for you. We have special cash loaded programmed ATM cards and bitcoin for you to meet up with those needs of yours and also start up your own business. Our ATM card can be used to withdraw cash at any ATM or swipe, stores and POS. Our cards has daily withdrawal limit depending on the card balance you order. You can get from $2500 to $30,000 or more with our Programmed cards. Contact us today for your own order at : georgetaylorcards@gmail.com We deal on the following: Blank ATM Cards Bitcoin Investment Account To Up Software Hackers Removing of name from debit record and criminal ETC. Here are the price list for ATM Cards: Balance Price $2500----------$150 $5000----------$250 $10,000-------- $500 $12,000---------$750 $15,000---------$1100 $20,000 --------$1500 $30,000 --------$2000 We are the best when it come to this,So give it a try today and you we happy that you contacted us today. You can contact us by sending an email to this following email address at : georgetaylorcards@gmail.com OR you can send a message through your google chat at georgetaylorcards@gmail.com We are ready to take your orders. George Taylor.

Susan Harrington
Susan Harrington
May 13, 2023

Hello everyone out here!! My Fiancée Lesbian who left me is back, I want to share my testimony it's my happiness with you all in this site, last year my Lesbian Wife left me for another woman, she abandon me alone and I miss her, since everything was so hard for me because i really love her so much, i didn’t lose hope i try my best to get her back when i was searching online and read testimonies of Dr Kachi how he has been helping ladies in getting there Ex lover back, I had no option than to seek for help, i contacted Dr Kachi explain my problem to him, Dr Kachi Guarantee me not to worry that's going to help me cast a return love spell for me, that will bring my Lesbian Wife back and assure me within 2days, it was just like a magic my wife who left me surely return back, i couldn't believe when she live the other lady and she come back to me with so much love and caring will are together now, I will never forget this help that Dr Kachi did for me, a love spell that brought my wife back. If you are here and you need help to get your Ex Lesbian back do contact Dr Kachi through this email: drkachispellcast@gmail.com I'm proud to be on his testimony page. His Number Text and Call +1 (209) 893-8075 Visit his Website: https://drkachispellcaster.wixsite.com/my-site

Matt
Matt
May 22, 2023

My name is Matt. I'm here to say a very big thanks to Priest Salami and his great Oracle for saving my marriage. No one would have believe that I and my wife will ever come back together again as lovers. But this great spell caster reunited us in just 48hours. Priest Salami is truly a real and honest online spell caster. Contact him now on: purenaturalhealer@gmail.com. Whatsapp number: +2348143757229

Vivian Marcus
Vivian Marcus
May 28, 2023

Hello my name is Vivian Marcus from the United State, i'm so exciting writing this article to let people seek for help in any Break up Marriage and Relationship, Dr Kachi brought my Ex Boyfriend back to me, Thank you Sir Kachi for helped so many Relationship situation like mine to be restored, i was in pain until the day my aunt introduce me to Dr Kachi that she got her husband back with powerful love spell with help of Dr Kachi So i sent him an email telling him about my problem how my Boyfriend left me and cheating on me because of her boss lady at work i cry all day and night, but Dr Kachi told me my Boyfriend shall return back to me within 24hrs and to me everything he asked me to do the next day it was all like a dream when he text me and said please forgive me and accept me back exactly what i wanted, i am so happy now as we are back together again. because I never thought my Ex Boyfriend would be back to me so quickly with your spell. You are the best and the world greatest Dr Kachi. if you're having broke up Ex Lover or your husband left you and moved to another woman, You do want to get Pregnant do not feel sad anymore contact: drkachispellcast@gmail.com his Text Number Call: +1 (209) 893-8075 You can reach him Website: https://drkachispellcaster.wixsite.com/my-site

Dhananjay
Dhananjay
Jun 1, 2023

Dear Captain, Please advise on -Using anchor to stop the ship in emergency If its a VLCC then using anchor for stopping what should one do Let go or Walk back considering speed you have mentioned in above scenario "2. Using anchor to stop the ship in emergency"

Leave Comment