Life as we know it now.

Beautiful X
But as I see, no-one is around.

 

That may not be entirely true. We are still importing large quantities of items, particularly food, so the docks have to be kept open and shipping lanes clear.
Their are simply not enough berths to accommodate all our cruise ships at the same time, so some of them are having to anchor in secluded off shore locations.

 

Yes, I agree with that, but the cruise berths were empty in Southampton. So I presumed then asked why.

 

Their are endless reasons to consider, money being only one of them.
When a ship is berthed, crew are maintained both on the deck and in the engine rooms in order to move it quickly in an emergency, the main one being fire. The engines on these ships run on heavy fuel which has to be heated above boiling point to keep it liquid. Once fully shut down, it can take up to 4 hours to start the engines, since their is neither an electric motor in the world powerful enough to crank them, or the electricity available on a ship to power it. Prior to starting ports on every cylinder have to be opened and the engine cranked through 360 degrees to purge any water that may have accumulated. Failure to do this could would result in a rising cylinder hitting non compressible water, blowing the engine apart and possibly blowing a hole in the side of the ship. Then to start the engine, one cylinder is positioned a few degrees after TDC, a tank filled with compressed air, (which takes about an hour to compress, the opposite cylinder set to inject fuel at the precise moment and the air released into the first cylinder, pushing it down. If the fuel does not ignite and the other cylinders take over, the whole process has to start again.
With a large multiple engine ship, having to start the whole lot up takes at least 6 hours. It needs a full team of engineers.

Apart from costs imposed by the port authority, the insurance cost of keeping a ship berthed are eye watering and calculated by the minute. Without a full crew maintained on board, they would make both your eyes water.
The ship is also exposed to unlawful boarding, including by terrorists.
I could spend all day explaining all the possibilities of what could go wrong and how Southampton docks could end up like Pearl Harbor..

 

I thought that you may like to see how the engines work for when you buy your Candy Cruise Liner.
This is a very economical engine, only burning 55,200 gallons a day.

 

Nice. I have been down one engine room in Poole, I forget the name of the ship.

But I have also tried to virtually steer the Titanic, in the Titanic museum in Southampton. I ran aground. Lol

 

But at least you missed the iceberg LOL.

When I am on a ship or ferry, I head straight for the engine rooms and it is always fun.
The MV connaught suffered serious shudders that had confused the owners since it's launch. Built in Cork, the designers had used too many computers and ended up with a vessel that could go into simple harmonic motion along it's main drives, due to bad placement of the engines at the front of the ship. I drew them several solutions for offsetting the bearings, but with the huge cost and no guarantee that the offset would be sufficient, they never bothered.
The vessel was sold after less than 10 years. It was a horrible tub, with design faults everywhere you looked.

 

No problem with that, Candy. I was just answering Rainbow's question based on what I know. I like the pics you posted. I think I'll take my camera to the beach today and share that here so you can compare the difference over here in Ohio, otherwise known as "The Land of Useless Nuts" (buckeye is our state tree/nut).

 

Bless. My beach was deserted earlier as we had rain.

 

I remembered the ship that I went to the engine room.


SS Shieldhall

 

It's a crazy world out there!!!

 

It is part of our history now.

 

I remember those boats well. In my younger days they used to run from Putney to Westminster and commuters used them daily. They were known as steamers because the engine, unlike larger ships that used a steam turbine, had a reciprocating engine that worked exactly the same way as a steam train. Unlike a diesel engine, their was no casing and the long stroke, small bore piston sleeves were completely in the open. Also, unlike an engine that burnt fuel, their was no ignition, so they were almost silent. They were so simple and almost maintenance free, but their were boilers producing the steam that needed stoking and looking after. Like a steam train, the boilers burnt coal.
Very few of them exist in the UK today, but I was told that they are still quite common in India.

 

I think maybe they may have some in Windsor???
I will look next time I visit my birth place.

 

It's a scary reflection in the window

 

hahahaha

 

Good eye!
The scooter lady? hehe Yeah that's a little scary to think about. But that hot bod about center? That looks dreamy. Kinda freaks me out that it's so cold out there still, though.

 

I tried to take some more photos yesterday. But this rather large lady told me off. lol

 

Some people think I am taking photos of them, not the general changes we now have. I guess queueing makes us all frustrated at times.

 

I will try again today. The sun is out, which helps lift spirits.
Oops, I owe you a photo of my rings and a PM about the missing child.