Opinion

Book review: Practical Ship Handling, Fourth Edition, by Malcolm C. Armstrong


by Kevin Vallance deep sea pilot and author - published on 5 June 2020 -  638 -

Some ship handlers today use electronic instruments from start to finish and these ships usually have powerful engines and thrusters and an almost unlimited number of personnel on the bridge.

So what is done on such ships if the engines or thrusters fail or if the electronic navigation instruments die? How many tugs do we need? How shall we use them? What type and power are the tugs in this port? How do we communicate with the tugs? Pilots know the answers to these questions as they are applicable to the pilot’s particular district. It takes time to become an experienced pilot and this book will help. Most ships do not have unlimited personnel, in which case the pilot is like a one man band.

Bridge Resource Management (BRM) is the catch phrase of today’s ship handling, but the Resource is often very limited. From this book, ship’s masters and officers can learn a lot about practical ship handling and how they can help the person who has the con and this will be useful knowledge for them whether or not they ever handle a ship themselves; it will certainly help with BRM.

Many of today’s ships, especially very large underpowered ships require assistance from tugs and there are some manoeuvres that are rarely or never executed or observed by some mariners, for example running moor and other anchor work or securing a ship to a single buoy and these are described in this book. There is also good advice about specific helm orders and the need for brevity especially where language is a problem.

Author of the book: Malcolm C. Armstrong, FNI, Hon. Member of IMPA
Editor's note:
Opinion pieces reflect the personal opinion of individual authors. They do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about a prevailing opinion in the respective editorial department. Opinion pieces might be deliberately formulated in a pronounced or even explicit tone and may contain biased arguments. They might be intended to polarise and stimulate discussion. In this, they deliberately differ from the factual articles you typically find on this platform, written to present facts and opinions in as balanced a manner as possible.

Join the conversation...

Login or register to write comments and join the discussion!
SN
Santosha K Nayak Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd., India
on 11 June 2020, 17:40 UTC

A new and complete book on marine pilotage has been published in June 2020.
Pls check the link. below.
https://notionpress.com/read/theory-and-practices-of-marine-pilotage
0

Read more...

Article Shiphandling at shipyards, never a dull moment...

by Marine Pilot Luis Vale, Portugal - published on 20 September 2019

Drydocking or undocking is always a difficult task, particularly with a “dead” vessel (no power/propulsion) and the wind blowing on the ship's side.

0

Article The Road Towards Autonomous Ship Handling with Tugs

by Captain Henk Hensen (Marine Consultant) - published on 5 November 2019

Currently, several means of transport are undergoing an accelerated development towards automation and automated movements. This development will also impact future ship handling with tugs. A glimpse into the future of tug boat operation.

1

Article ARMSTRONG MARINE COMPLETES NAIAD PILOT BOAT BOUND FOR MEXICO

by BRIX Marine - published on 2 January 2020

Armstrong Marine USA recently delivered Piloto VIII to support marine pilotage operations in and around the Port of Manzanillo, Mexico.

0

Article 99.9%: Canadian Pacific marine pilots’ tanker safety success

by Context - Enery examined - published on 19 May 2022

Consistently 99.9 per cent safe operation of large vessels: Marine pilots on Canada’s West Coast have an exceptional safety record in the world’s largest pilot-mandatory zone for large vessels including oil tankers.

0

Article Predicting Maritime Pilot Selection with Personality Traits

by Marine-Pilots.com - published on 7 July 2021

The purpose of this quantitative, ex post facto study was to assess P-J fit theory by examining the relationship between personality traits, as measured by Jackson’s (1984) PRF-E, and selection for a maritime pilot job.

0

Video Pilot boat goes out, Pilot Boat comes in. The saltie Cape comes in. Busy Sunday in Duluth!

published on 3 May 2020

I decided to show the typical happenings when a saltwater freighter arrives Duluth. Most of the time they go to anchor and wait for the Elevator dock. The Pilot Boat brings out the Great Lakes Pilot to sail the ship into the port and to the dock. This vessel arrived early Sunday morning, went to anchor until mid afternoon. They are loading grain at the CHS Elevator in Superor.

0

Video History: Pilot Cutter (1953)

published on 18 May 2020

Southampton, Hampshire. Various shots of Trinity House pilot cutter "Penda". M/S pilot's bridge. M/S as Second Officer Harry Goddard leaves the bridge and walks along the deck to his cabin. He takes his cap off, sits down at a table and looks at an album. C/U of his collection of matchbox labels. M/S Goddard sticking in more labels. C/U's Goddard and album. Various shots as he sticks in the labels. M/S of Pilot Knight and Captain Jolliff seated at desk. A waiter enters their cabin and...

0

Video Tanger Med Pilots in bad weather doing a great job

published on 15 December 2021

The pilots make docking mega-ships look easy despite the meteorological disturbance.
Great pictures from Morocco

0

Video Safehaven Marine: Pilot 60 & Pilot 45 rough weather sea trials

published on 20 October 2026

Sometimes we’re lucky enough to launch two pilot boats around the same time, giving us the opportunity to undertake rough weather sea trials with them together, and capture some great drone footage of them running alongside. This time we flew two drones from the boat at the same time with both Kenny and my son Jack flying them, which was pretty cool and luckily they didn’t crash into each other!

0

Video GoPro Sticker Tips: Time-lapse vessel videos with telemetry data widgets

by River Pilot Kris De Decker - published on 29 September 2021

Tips by Captain Kris.
kris@mes.de
krisdedecker

0