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5 blasts of the ships horn

12K views 23 replies 21 participants last post by  Teton 
#1 ·
I mean no disrespect to the owner of this blue boat. Please understand that they <u>did</u> yield.

I just thought this picture illustrates a good point.

5 blasts on the ship's horn means danger!

This ship was had to signal multiple times to get all the boats out of the way.
 
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#4 ·
How fast was that big boat moving? I don't see a wake or water hitting the bow. Might be camera angle. Speaking of angle, for that small boat to be point on, the camera would have to be straight ahead. It's off to the side a bit. Just a thought. I still would have move though. :bigshock: :cheers:
 
#6 ·
I watched that ship roll thru the St. Helens reach from the bank. It may have doing 5-10 knots up stream. Never saw one like it before. Wonder what was under the covered stern?

looks like the little guy was out of the way, or soon to be as he wasn't anchored..............

Don't get me wrong. Good pic to illustrate a point. I get blasted a lot during fall salmon. I usually am moving before the horn blows the first time
 
#7 ·
Hey Guys,

Boats O2 is right. I was out there today and experienced the whole thing first hand. I was further up river, heard the warnings blow at least 3 or 4 times before we decided it would be too close to call and weighed anchor and called it a day. There were boats down river and much closer to the immediate path of the big beast and they waited until they may have been in a pickle if their boat didn't fire right up. No kidding, we were thinking we may be fishing some fellow fishermen out of the river it was such a close call from our perspective.

Anyway, I've certainly had my share of too close of calls and 5 blasts on a horn certainly gets me to looking up and down the river. :cheers:
 
#8 ·
All are correct. The ship wasn't putting out much of a wake, but was moving steadily upstream. The boat in the picture had just pulled anchor when I took the picture. They would not have been hit, but if they'd held anchor it would have been pretty close.

I noticed the anchor as well. I've never seen a ship underway with the anchor adrift like that.
I thought about trying to raise the captain on the VHF to advise. Sounded like they were having enough trouble.
 
#14 ·
We were in the area when that ship entered the Willie. Before he rounded the corner heading into the Willie he gave 5 toots. Those in that area should have been paying attention.

Anybody know what kind of ship that was? Looked like a covered wagon..

Another good reason to be listening in on your VHF if you have one. Almost all ships, and commercial traffic pushing or pulling barges in that area will announce departures, and entrances to the Columbia or Willamette Rivers.

Mark
 
#15 ·
I saw the ship again on Sunday. It's down at the Port of Portland. Looks like it is from Alaska.

The anchor has been stowed. Still not sure why it was adrift. Maybe for safety. In an emergency, they drop anchor in the channel? :shrug:

In any event. Everyone just be safe out there. Don't want the word "Wake" to take on a new meaning around here. :flowered:
 
#17 ·
Fishtales lol
I don't think Capt. Ron. could come up with enough money for an alum boat :grin:

PS. One place I've seen it get real bad is at Bonneville Dam. A few times up there I had my heart racing, thinking that I was about to see a boat get creamed by one of them big ships coming out of the locks heading down stream.
 
#18 ·
This was at Longview last fall. There were 4 boats outside the one closest to the ship. Two of them pulled late or dropped of anchor and were talked to by the CG and Sheriff.

This was closer than it looks in the pic.
 
#20 ·
huh...pretty obvious bow wake on that boat. it wasn't moving fast, but it is sure moving. being unloaded, it isn't displacing alot of water and therefore isn't creating a big wake. they pass all the time when i am out taking the dog for a swim..most of ships don't send a big wake to the shore..but the loaded down ones you could surf on! lol.
 
#21 ·
How many lifejackets do you see in that picture!


If you look close at the first picture you can see the anchor hanging at the top of the bottom paint. It looks to me like the ship had just broke the anchor free and was starting to manuver. They are very vulerable in his situation because they are gaining froward momentum but have very little steerage until they pick up speed. Not a safet place to be.

The rule of thumb to use is that if you hear the 5 short blasts of the horn you should get moving and clear the channel for the ship. They cover a lot of ground in a short period of time and it also takes forever for them to stop

Dan
 
#23 ·
What is the difference between 5 short horn blasts and 5 long horn blasts? I was out on the water the day of the first pic and the ship had definately two differnt series of horn blasts. For that matter is there a difference between 3 blasts and 5 blasts?

Let me see if I can get my honorary Coastie merit patch (or perhaps a free Do-Not-Go-To-Federal-Prison card)...

A Short Blast is defined as about one (1) second duration; a Prolonged Blast is defined as 4-6 seconds in duration.

<font color="red">the DANGER SIGNAL is five or more SHORT and rapid blasts</font> .

Chapman Piloting and Seamanship mentions several situations for the Danger Signal, including; "A skipper uses this signal to indicate that he considers the actions of the other vessel dangerous to either vessel..."

Regarding the 3 short blasts mentioned, power driven vessels use various blast signals to indicate to other vessels their manuver intentions, such as passing or reversing. One blast means one thing ("I intend to leave you on my port side"), two blasts another ("I intend to leave you on my starboard side"), and 3 blasts yet a third manuver (reversing). The other vessel will, if she agrees, sound (repeat) the same signal. If the other vessel does not think the manuver safe, it will sound the Danger Signal. The vessels will continue to "talk" until they are both in agreement.
 
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