Steering, engine and communication equipment
Equipment means the tools and machines a ship carries to do its work.
The wheelhouse (also called the bridge) is the room from where the captain steers. It has the wheel, a compass, a radar and a chart. The rudder at the back turns the ship. The engine turns the propeller, and the propeller pushes the ship forward. For talking, the ship has a radio with an aerial on the mast. It also has a satellite phone and a GPS that shows where the ship is.
Why do we need all this? At sea nobody can see the road. The captain needs to know direction, position and danger, and must be able to call for help.
Mooring and cargo-handling equipment
Mooring means holding the ship in one place. At a port the ship is tied to the shore with strong ropes. Away from the shore it drops an anchor, a heavy metal hook that digs into the sea floor.
The winch is a drum turned by a motor. It pulls in ropes and the anchor chain. A windlass is the winch for the anchor.
For cargo, ships use a boom or crane (an arm that lifts) and a derrick. On a fishing ship the same gear lifts boxes of fish and ice.
Ship's stores
Ship's stores are the things the ship uses up on the trip: food, drinking water, fuel, lamp oil, ropes, paint and spare parts.
The crew must count how much is needed for the whole trip plus extra for delay. Fuel is kept in tanks low in the ship. Food that spoils is kept in a fridge. Spare parts are kept because there is no workshop in the middle of the sea.
Safety and sanitary facilities
Safety equipment protects life. It has three parts. Life-saving: lifeboat, life raft, life jacket, lifebuoy (a ring that floats). Fire-fighting: fire extinguishers, hoses and fire pumps. Signals: flares, lights and a horn.
Sanitary facilities keep people healthy: toilets, showers, clean drinking-water tanks, and a place to wash clothes and dishes. Dirty conditions in a small crowded ship make diseases spread fast.
Fishing equipment
Different fishing methods need different gear. A trawler drags a net. A purse seiner circles fish with a long net and closes it like a purse. A longliner uses a long rope with many hooks.
Common fishing gear on board: net drum (to store and roll the net), winch (to pull it), fish finder (an echo machine that shows fish under the ship), floats and weights. A fish finder sends sound down and listens for echoes from fish.
Freezing and cold-storage facilities
Fish go bad quickly because germs grow in warm flesh. Cold slows the germs. So fishing ships keep the catch cold.
There are three ways. Ice: fish are packed between layers of crushed ice (about 0 degrees). Refrigerated sea water: fish sit in chilled sea water. Freezer and cold store: fish are frozen hard, often at minus 20 degrees or colder, and stored in an insulated fish hold. A compressor and pipes carry heat out of the room, like in a home fridge.
Try it
In the 3D: pick each group from the list. First guess which part belongs to the group, then read the label. At home: put a bowl of water in the freezer and one in the fridge. See which one turns to ice. This is why a ship has a freezer and not just a cold room.
Key formulas and definitions
- Key words: wheelhouse (steering room), rudder (turns the ship), winch (pulls rope), boom (lifting arm), lifebuoy (floating ring).
- Fish store temperatures: ice about 0 degrees C; frozen storage about -20 degrees C or lower.
- Fuel for a trip = fuel used per day x days + extra reserve.
Worked examples
1. A fishing boat uses 150 litres of fuel a day. The trip is 12 days. The owner wants 20% extra. How much fuel should be loaded?
Fuel needed = 150 x 12 = 1800 litres. Extra 20% = 1800 x 0.20 = 360 litres. Total = 1800 + 360 = 2160 litres.
2. A crew of 10 drinks 3 litres of water each per day. How much drinking water for 8 days?
Per day = 10 x 3 = 30 litres. For 8 days = 30 x 8 = 240 litres.
3. A ship's fish hold must cool fish from 25 degrees C down to -20 degrees C. By how many degrees must the temperature fall?
Fall = 25 - (-20) = 25 + 20 = 45 degrees C.
Common mistakes
- Thinking the anchor is for stopping a moving ship. It holds a ship in one place; stopping is done by the engine.
- Mixing up ship's stores (food, fuel, spares used up on the trip) with cargo (what the ship carries for customers).
- Thinking ice and a freezer are the same. Ice is about 0 degrees C; a freezer reaches -20 degrees C or lower and keeps fish much longer.
- Forgetting that sanitary equipment is also safety. Dirty water and bad toilets cause disease at sea.