DIRECTION AND LOCATION

Just as there are specialized terms for describing the different parts of a ship, there are also terms for describing direction and location. The front part of the ship is the bow, the rear part is the stern. When you are standing in the middle of the ship, you are standing amidships. Facing the bow, everything to your right is on the starboard side and everything to the left is on the port side. Equipment and parts of the ship take the name of the side on which they are located; for example, the port anchor, the starboard gangway. A ship is divided by an imaginary line running full length down the middle. This imaginary line is called the centerline. If you move from the center toward the hull of the ship, you move outboard. If you are near the hull and move toward the centerline, you move inboard. It is important that you use the correct term when you describe the location of an object or a compartment. As you walk toward the bow, you go forward. If you walk to the stern, you go aft. An object hanging against the side, bow, or stern is over the side, bow, or stern. An object in the water but not touching the ship is outboard of or off the ship (off the starboard side, off the port bow, and so on). An object in front of a ship is ahead of it. An object to the rear is astern, never in back of. You do not get in a ship, you board a ship. You live and work on board a ship. All ships must have supplies of fresh water and food for the people on board. Fuel and other supplies are needed to operate the ship. These supplies are called stores. Once the stores are taken aboard, they must be put in their proper place. They are stored or stowed, usually below deck. All stores taken aboard must be stowed in the correct stowage compartment. Complete the following sentences with the term board or a compound word containing board: 1. The ship sails at noon, but we must at 0800 hours. 2. The stores were taken the ship last night. 3. When you go away from the center of a ship, you go 4. All sailors ship have been assigned cabins. 5. When you go toward the center of a ship, you go 6. The right side of the ship is the 7. A man fell during a bad storm, but the sailors pulled him out of the water and back the ship. 8. The fuel stowage is near the hull in an compartment.

SHIP CONSTRUCTION
SEAGOING QUALITIES AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA Major factors to be considered in the construction of any ship are seaworthiness, strength, stability, maneuverability and cruising range. Seaworthiness is the term used to describe a ships ability to operate in all kinds of wind, weather and seas. Stability, size and freeboard are controlling factors. Stability concerns the ability of the ship to return to an upright position when heeled over by an external force. This is a partial measure of the ships ability to absorb punishment involving underwater damage and flooding. In addition, stability has an important influence on the period of roll. Maneuverability is the characteristic which permits rapid changes of course and speed and includes the ability to turn in a small radius. The need for maneuverability varies

considerably for the various types of ships. The way a ship handles, her maneuverability in turning, making course changes, or backing down, could all be critical under various circumstances. Speed is determined by the displacement of the ship, her underwater shape, and the power and efficiency of the propulsion plant. Cruising range, also called endurance, is the unsupported distance capability of a ship measured in nautical miles at various speeds. It is determined by fuel capacity, freshwater capacity, evaporator capacity, efficiency of the propulsion plant with respect to fuel consumption, and provision capacity (dependent on storage space and refrigeration). Obviously these qualities are not independent of each other. For example, a change in speed requirements affects considerably the cruising range. The designer of a ship tries to incorporate as many favourable features as possible, in keeping with the general use to which the ship will be put. All ships represent a compromise in which some factors must dominate others. The seagoing qualities of a ship are important for you to know, but it is also important that you know the descriptive data of a ship as well. Often ships are classified by their weight. The weight of a ship is referred to as the displacement, the weight of water that a ship displaces or pushes away when afloat. The length of a ship is given in feet. A ships length overall is measured in feet and inches from the extreme forward end of the bow to the extreme aft end of the stern. Watercraft operators must be familiar with this and similar dimensions to safely manoeuvre the ship. The dimension is commonly found in lists of ships data for each vessel.Along with the length, it is important to know how wide the ship is. This measurement is the beam, a measurement taken at the widest part of a ship. In addition to the beam measurement, you should also know the draft. The relation between the length of the draft and the bow and stern is called the trim. The ship in the figure below is horizontal, so we say its in trim. Sometimes either the bow or stern is lower in the water than it should be. Then we say the ship is out of trim. When this happens we say that the ship is trimmed by the head or trimmed by the stern/down by the head or down by the stern. If the ship is out of balance from left to right, she is said to have a list. The ship may have a list to port/starboard of.degrees. In order to upright the ship you have to transfer fuel/ ballast water/ fresh water/oil from one tank to another to correct the list. If cargo is not properly lashed, it may shift and cause a list of the ship to port or starboard. In this case you have to move the cargo to correct the list.