thanks -got a better idea of what your talking about
gf.

"Joe" wrote in message
om...
"gonefishiing" wrote in message
...
maybe i don't have the experience to pass judgement on this, but
shouldn't
the capt. have exercised some prudence in positioning his ship in
relation
to a beam sea?

Well this was a drilling rig and they were shut down due to having no
drill water. There is usually only one side of the rig to pump off on.
The gulf in that area is to deep to anchor.. 380ft, so you attach your
bow to whats called a backdown bouy and then stern lines from each
side of the stern go to the rig, dropped down by a crane, its a 3
point mooring system. Takes around 5 hours to pump off all the fluids
and remove drill pipe and other gear. In 11 foot seas to try to just
hold 500 tons of boat for that long is just to dangerious, you risk
going side seas into the rig and knocking it over and killing everyone
onboard. This was a Jack up rig.

Here is what a supply boat looks like
http://www.hibernia.ca/images/pg_12.jpg
As you can see the deck when loaded are usually awash.

Here is a small supply boat offloading at a production platform
http://www.moc.noaa.gov/gu/visitor/gu0303/rigboat.jpg

Not a tricky as a Jack Up Rig.

Joe






"Joe" wrote in message
om...
"gonefishiing" wrote in message
...
A 220 foot supply vessel the Point Barrow.
Working off Port Mansfield TX. We were backing up to a drilling rig
with side seas. A wave came over deck and took me over the side. It
was in a real cold time of the year. I had on a Navy P coat,T shirt,
flannel **** and foul weather suit and shorts. All the air trapped in
my clothes kept me bouyant.
Luckly the Capt saw me go over and took the engines out of gear. I
clawed myself back to the side and grabbed the deck. My lungs were
full of water so I could not yell. The boat was rocking so much it
would yank me out of the water about 12 ffet then dunk me again. That
went on a few time until the others on deck saw me hanging there. The
pulled me up on deck and we finished tying up to the rig. As soon as I
started walking back to the cabin both the 4" samson braid hausers off
the stern going to the rig broke. On the way back to the dock in the
jetties of Port Mansfield the waves were so bad that we slammed bottom
on a sandbar. When we got back to the dock I quit. Did not go back
offshore in the oilfield until I had my 100 ton ocean operators
ticket. I'd had enough of working on deck.

Joe




"Joe" wrote in message
om...
"Bart Senior"

Anyone else have any good falling in stories?


I fell of a 50 ft utility boat once while it was underway, nothing
hurt and the water was warm.

A bad falling over story, before I meet my wife she worked on
shrimp
boats.
Two boats were tied together about 100 miles offshore. One of the
crew
members fell between the boats and had his leg squished off. USCG
flew
him in and he lived...

I got washed over once in the gulf. 11 ft seas. First thing I
knew I
was slamming into the strut just in front of a 72" propellor. My
life
flashed before my eyes!


Joe