Posted by Dave uss Norris on 1/27/2009, 7:03 pm, in reply to "Re: CHIT CHAT"
74.74.142.28
I don't remember the Captains Mom passing, but I sure remember the Hurricane!! When you talk about walking on the
bulkhead, that was some serious rolling; at least a few 50 degrees or so. I opened the outside hatch and all I saw was a wall of water...
scared the crap out of me! What your thinking of is the Salt-Water Evaporators we had; one in each engine room and smelly as hell
when it came time to open and clean them out.........fish guts and all kinds of creepy critters.
No salt/pepper shakers.........took a piece of bread.....put some water on it and stuck your tray to the table to keep it from sliding
around. Fun stuff!! Recall operating in the Red Sea. Sooooo hot!! Had to hold your breath while sliding down the
ladder, else your lungs would burn from the intense heat. Tell you what, for the most part, no matter what your rank or rate was,
Tin-Canners were a tough bunch. Actually, my favorite part was some of the Engineering Drills we had. LOSS OF LUBE OIL,
STOP THE SHAFT! Ole Bill Roth would run around to the propeller shaft and do one of his finger exercises (up, down, meaning
more steam, less steam to just get the shaft to stop just long enuf for him to engage the jacking gear. The shaft was painted with
red & white stripes, making it easier to see which was it was spinning. We had some fantastic stop times, but something I never
to this day told Roth.................I never looked at his finger motions.....Watching the shaft in the angled mirror we had, I could
always 'feel' the ship, the propeller movement, and sense just how much and which direction (more or less turbine steam) I needed
to stop it. Just like an airplane prop, it will windmill backwards even though your going forward, so you need to apply
reverse to stop the forward motion. Like Chevy Chase said in the movie Caddy-Shack.........feel the shaft.......see the shaft....
be one with the shaft......
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