Ship Visit

Yesterday (November 15, 2007) before going to batangas city, Capt. Gines told us first on what to do when going onboard M.V. STRAITS SUCCESS. He also told us our objectives in that trip. When arriving to port, we wait for 3hours because the ship arrived late. When the ship is berthed on starboard side alongside (means right side of the vessel is berthed to pier), I saw thousands of cars that is discharged by the ship.
When going to the ship, we first take the forward and amidships drafts of the ship but we were not able to take the draft in the aft part of the ship because it’s in discharging operation. Our group is the first one who visits the bridge. We first take a look at the map and get the variation and the heading of the ship using the wharf edge method. And then we take the tide data which is prepared by the 2nd officer before entering batangas strait. After jutting down the necessary data we need, we take a look at the critical machinery on the bridge such as MFHF (medium frequency, high frequency), GPS (global positioning system), Navtex, Gyro Compass, Navigational lights etc. After visiting the bridge Boatswain Gonzales tour us in the deck and point out different machinery and explain their function.

Basic Safety Subject

Yesterday (November 13, 2007), Boatswain Gonzales taught us about fire. He first told us about the fire triangle by which fire is created. These are oxygen, heat, fuel. He also mentioned to us that not all types of fire extinguishers can be used in all kinds of fire. There are separate fire extinguishers to be used in killing different types of fires. After our discussion about this topic, now I know what the elements of fire are and if one of these elements is absent, fire stops. And I am now aware that not all the types of fire extinguishers can be used in different kinds of fire.

Navigation subject

Last week Capt. Gines recall to us the meaning of navigation. The first topic that he discusses to us is about tides and currents. And our present lesson for this week is about compass. After he finishes discussing the tides and currents, I am now able to differentiate the tide from current. Tide is the rise and fall of ocean water in a day while current is the horizontal movement of water. And now in our present lesson which is about compass and bearings, I have learned where is the point of reference of each compass pointing to the north that is affected with deviation, variation, and compass errors.