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All content copyright HKSPS 2003 |
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Humber Keel & Sloop Preservation Society |
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Here is an extract from our society mag Slabline, from time to time I will be adding interesting accounts from it, & if you have been on one of our ships please send an e-mail to us describing your day. |
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The Romans Had A Name For It! |
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Every four years the Society ships have to have a full ‘out of water ‘ survey to enable them to operate & to obtain insurance. The last time Comrade was surveyed was 2001 at Paull ship yard (Hepworths) where a fair amount of bottom plating was doubled. This year it was decided to dry-dock her in Beverley, much nearer as the dock is only across the Beck from her winter moorings. Having docked the ship, we small band of brothers pressure washed her (in some cases each other), to remove four years of marine growth. Mostly weed but, surprisingly, quite a few barnacles which prove that the Humber is getting cleaner. The surveyor, a very friendly sort of chap who did the previous survey, duly arrived on the appointed day complete with overall, electronic ‘thicknessometer’, notebook, hammer & a very nice flat trolly the kind motor mechanics use to enable them to work under cars. ‘Chuck’ (the surveyor) proceeded to inspect the ship’s bottom from a prone position on his trolly stopping at regular intervals to use the ‘ometer’ to check the plating. He progressed along the starboard side making notes & pointing out important objects of interest for me to take notes for the future. By lunchtime, the starboard side was done with recommendations as to what was needed to pass the survey. we then had lunch, (packed, each brought his own), in Comrade’s cabin & brought Chuck up to date about what we’d been doing over the last four years. Lunch completed, we started on the port side from forward. Now all dry docks have a sump at the lowest end of the dock near the gates so as that any leakage from the gate (& they all leak) drains into the sump & is automatically pumped out. The one in Beverley is about 12” deep when full!! The surveyor chap had worked his way slowly towards Comrade’s stern, still laid on his trolly making notes using his ‘ometer’, & chatting to me as I made my notes & chalked on the hull. It was a warm & pleasant day & I followed Chuck along the dock I daydreamed about the coming season & the distance between us increased. Suddenly I was brought back to reality be a loud cry & a sort of splashing sound!! Chuck had found the sump!! I scrambled on all fours & hauled him, his trolly & ‘ometer’ out of about 8” of water for which he seemed very grateful!! Anyway we laughed about it, ( me more than him as I was dry!), & he completed the survey. The repairs, some four doubling plates & about a dozen rivets welded were done by John Martin & his sidekick Chris, & they were real artists, the plates needed were under the ships quarters (for more nautical readers that’s were the ship’s buttocks would be). John arrived with some sheets of cardboard, lengths of 1” x1/8” black bar & made patterns. Three days later he arrived with the plates, rolled & bent to shape & they fitted perfectly A real artist. After the repairs were complete, Comrade got three coats of black varnish plus all the rest of the paint work done. some minor repair work was done by the ex-plane maker. Along with painting, the Humber pilot & chippy got stuck in, the postman did his best, (he is the only person in the crew who can paint a ceiling & a floor at the same time). The electrician (retired) who had appeared regularly through the winter to chip, paint & black varnish came on the last day in dry dock & asked, what’s next? As virtually everything was done & he had worked hard, I said to him, “ paint in the draught marks on the stem & stern posts for three & four feet, but use Roman numerals as they did when the ship was first built”. A smile on his face told me this was to his liking. I left him with pencil & rule marking off the figures on the orange patches fore & aft. Some time later (perhaps an hour or so) I came out of the engine room, crossed to the dock side & walked up the dock to the ship’s bow. I looked down at the stem & admired the precision with which the ‘lecky’ had executed his markings. Feeling warm & pleased I walked aft were the ‘Lecky’ was just finishing the last strokes of his brush on the four foot mark. I looked down at his satisfied smile! I want cold! Plucking up courage, I asked him, “Why have you put IV on the stem & VI on the stern? His answer was drowned out by the clatter as his paint brush & pot hit the dock side!!! By Deadeyes
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