No, the crewman is not holding a meteor hammer readying for battle. It’s a monkey’s fist, evidence that centuries’ old tools retain their usefulness.
How? you ask. Let’s back up four minutes. BW Hudson was making its final approach with Joan Turecamo and Laura K Moran assisting. Note the crewman outlined up on the bridge of the tanker.
You and I can afford the distraction way up by Manhattan: it’s Duncan Island bound for sea and Europe. It left Ecuador just over a week ago and spent only about eight hours in Red Hook.
Laura K was hitting the brakes hard as they approached the dock.
That was when the crewman readied the fist to
fling it up to the rail so that
the heavier line could thread the eye and
be secured to Joan so that she too could put the brakes on.
Then slowly and precisely, the tanker was
pinned to the dock. A lot more goes on in a docking, like dock line handling . . . but I’ve already covered that here.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp. If I read it right, BW Hudson arrived here directly from the Gulf, aka the Persian Gulf. If you’re wondering why an Ecuadorian reefer vessel would be called “duncan island,” here’s an explanation for a place that’s also called Pinzón Island.
Last time I recall doing a docking post was here . . . pinning Eleonora. And last time a monkey’s fist appeared was here . . . in Panama.
11 comments
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September 16, 2012 at 5:06 pm
JED
Monkey Fists appear at the end of Heaving Lines.
They can easily be tied with these directions:
http://www.igkt.net/beginners/monkeys-fist.php
September 16, 2012 at 5:08 pm
PaulB.
I was right next door at hess watching the ship when you took those pictures!
September 16, 2012 at 6:36 pm
tugster
hey paul– at the end o one of these hitches, before you hightail it back for the cmmonwealth, let’s grab a brewski . . .
September 16, 2012 at 6:15 pm
Tony A
To be more correct Wil, the crewman is holding a heaving line, used to pass larger lines. The knot at the business end is called a monkey’s fist.
September 17, 2012 at 10:47 am
Roger Prichard
So the man on deck caught the heaving line over the rail … but how did he get it through that eye?
September 17, 2012 at 11:15 am
tugster
i actually missed seeing that, but earlier there was another crewman in the opening forward/above the eye, so i’m guessing the guy at the rail flung it forward to the guy at the opening who then fed it thru the eye. good Q
September 17, 2012 at 11:35 am
JED
The two crewman who handled the heaving line are further forward in a following picture which leads one to believe that they passed the heaving line through the closed chock and are heaving on the tug’s headline
September 17, 2012 at 1:50 pm
Roger Prichard
Thanks, JED, but I’m still confused. I see the two catching the heaving line over the rail, maybe 10-15 feet aft of the fairlead … but that heaving line then has to go thru the hole from outboard, right? If I’m standing there with the line, how do I reach it around to lead it inboard through that hole? It looks like a magic trick, to me. Is there some way he can swing the monkeyfist around, like a bolo?
September 17, 2012 at 8:58 pm
Dwntm
The fella with the line takes two or three coils in his hand while the other fella sticks his arm out the chock. Then the fella with the line tosses it parallel to the ship and over the arm that is sticking out the chock. Done.
September 18, 2012 at 2:58 am
PaulB.
Will, I usually crew change out on a Tuesday around dinnertime- if you’re up for a field trip to Red Hook I’d be happy to meet up for a pint!
September 18, 2012 at 6:27 am
Roger Prichard
@Dwntm – fella sticks his ARM thru the chock! Got it! Thanks – sometimes the solution is too obvious (like any good magic trick).