Imagine a flat sea with the mountains reflected into it. A Bridge back lit by a red sky of the rising sun. A cargo ship slowly moving into port in the distance ahead. Not a sound to be heard. That was the scene that greeted me, when I arrived on the bridge at 05.30 for arrival into Vancouver. The city had been blessed with a number of early summer days and this was one of them, accompanied by near windless weather. It was a beautiful morning and it was going to be a great day.
When we approach the port, we prepare the ship for docking. That means that an anchor party is woken up and will be in position about 2 miles before we reach the Lions Gate Bridge. First we have the anchor party normally consists out of two deck hands for operating the winchlass and an officer. This in case we have to stop at once in case of an un-expected development. Then the anchors can act as brakes and slow the ships speed down very quickly. Furtheron we switch on the thrusters in case we suddenly have to wait and hover in position and we will need them later for docking as they are our built in tugboats. The engine room goes on standby, which means that the chief engineer will be in the engine control room, in case I suddenly need to make an emergency stop or a rough maneuver on the engines. It would not do if that would cause a black out, so the chief is at hand to push the necessary buttons to prevent the computers from making decisions based on in correct information. Traffic in Vancouver harbor is very well regulated but something can un-expectedly happen to another ship and then drastic action might be necessary.
There can be a lot of current under the bridge depending on the ebb or flood time. This morning we had about 3 knots of ebb coming out of the harbor so we made sure that the ships speed is around 12 knots on the engines and that gives the pilot good steerage when he makes the turn under the bridge. The approach course is about 80o and the line up course under the bridge around 130o and the turn is made just before we pass the first pillar of the bridge. This means that I watch both the pilot and the helms man closely as there is no room for error here. One mistake and the current grabs the ship and flushes it back to open waters, or even worse straight onto the rocks under the bridge pillars.
As soon as we are past the bridge, speed is reduced to about six knots to make sure that we do not create a surge along the docked Cargo ships on our port side. Just before we make the turn to Canada Place the mooring parties arrive, forward and aft. This means that all the sailors are now in position and there is also an officer aft on station. The chief officer is on the bridge and he controls the mooring lines to bring the ship in position and to hold it alongside.
After the pilot had made the general turn into the direction of Canada Place he handed “the conn of the ship” over to me for the actual docking. If a ship uses tugboats the pilot will do the docking but if a ship has thrusters then he normally leaves it to the captain as he knows his ship best. Upon request of Shore operations I docked the ship starboard side alongside the terminal that meant with the stern towards the city. I personally prefer portside alongside as it is a more natural approach but the other way around works better for the disembarkation flow.
With 3 knots of ebb flowing through the port, there is a considerable current off the dock as well and that means that I swing the ship around at a fair distance. Close to the dock there is normally a back eddy running and if you swing the ship to close to the dock you can suddenly be set upon the dock. The dock at Canada place is bending with a knuckle halfway and it is not the idea to get an “imprint” of that knuckle in the side of the ship. Thus we swing a little bit further away and then come sideways towards the dock and slowly astern to line the ship up with the gangway.
The gangways at Canada place are fixed, they only go up and down with the tide and that means that there is only a 2 inch margin. The break door of the ship has to be exactly in line with the gangway bridge. It depends on the correct count down of the security officer at the gangway and the reaction of the officer aft with tightening the spring line, whether I can stop the ship exactly on time. This time it worked perfectly without having to move the ship with the ropes; 720 feet of ship came to a standstill on the inch. By 7.15 am. the gangway was in and just before 8 am. the disem- barkation started. As the guests go off in groups, depending on when their transport is ready, the last ones were off the ship by 09.30.
In the mean time the ships crew was gearing up for our annual Port State inspection by the Canadian Authorities. More about that tomorrow.
May 17, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Dear Captain Albert,
Your accounts are fascinating and throw a whole new light onto cruising. We have been through the Narrows and to Juneau and Skagway on an Alaskan cruisetour with the Zuiderdam so we can imagine it all.
We are signed up to come with you to the Amazon in October. From your tentative schedule it looks like you will be joining the ship at Grenada. I wonder if you have any overlap days with the other captain or does he leave the ship immediately?
May 17, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Amazing! I’ve been in and out of Vancouver a number of times without any idea! I know 90% of cruisers are just interested in what time the Lido opens and when their number will be called . . . but this is fascinating stuff! Thanks!
May 18, 2008 at 4:13 am
I agree with Richard. I never realized how complicated it is the captain a ship. Thank you for sharing these details with your readers. I know that I will be much more appreciative of the captain and crew and their expertise. Your blog has hightened my excitement about my 14 day cruise beginning May 30th. I will be eagerly waiting for each post next week and the next. I hope the weather is more cooperative.
May 18, 2008 at 10:59 am
Thank you so much for your informative, interesting and entertaining commentary. I have shared the information about your Weblog with many people; long time cruisers, new cruisers and people who just like to know how things work.
May 19, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I have just returned from a 7 day cruise on the Valor..110,000 tons – the largest we have cruised on. I am 3rd generation in a family business that supplies vent valves and deck equipment for the marine industry. I just discovered this website, and I love it !! Thank-you so much Captain for sharing your log online…it is awesome !!!