01 October 2007, Boston.

Weather predicting is always a gamble but this time I was correct. The air was crisp and clear and so the sky line of Boston could be seen 25 miles away. With our pilot time of 08.00, everybody on board had the chance to see the ship sailing into Boston harbor while the sun slowly rose behind us.

Normally we are docked in Boston by 8 am.; however our arrival was adjusted to 09.30 due to the Right Whales. In one of my previous blogs, I discussed the Right whales and one of the actions taken to protect their habitat, is that the shipping lanes have been moved further out. So we had to sail a longer route, around the Right Whale area, to get to Boston pilot station. The idea is that in this way, the ship will stay away from the area where there is normally the highest concentration of Right Whales. As all ships are to report sightings of right whales, the controlling body can monitor to see if this really works. If not maybe the shipping lanes will need to be adjusted again. This time we did not see a single Right Whale. Not that strange as there are only about 300 left.

We docked in Boston at the Black Falcon terminal. The terminal is named after a Norwegian Merchant vessel that caught fire more the half a century ago. The name has nothing to do in anyway with Boston. This time we were by ourselves so we could park where ever I wanted. Which was of course as close as possible to the exit. During the docking sequence, the pilot does the approach. By rule and regulations he has to have the conn (e.g. conning the ship) when the ship is moving through the port and when there is safe navigation involved. As soon as the navigating is finished the captain takes over and brings the ship alongside. If it is good weather I alternate docking with the chief officer, it gives him the chance to gain the necessary experience before he gets his own command. When things are tricky I do the maneuver myself. Mostly high winds or when there is very little space. The pilot will only get involved when there are tugboats present. Then it is often a joint venture between pilot and captain, combining expertise. The pilot with his tugboat knowledge and communication and the captain with his own ship maneuvering experience.

Today we had to dock “on the inch” as we were using a shore side gangway that was fixed in position. If I guess the ships speed right and the security officer at the gangway gives a correct count down, then I can often stop the ship “on the spot” and the only thing the chief has to do, is to tighten up the lines for and aft. If the chief is doing the maneuver then I take care of the lines. For and aft is a deck officer standby for communication and there are 5 or 6 sailors who handle the ropes.

It depends on the weather how many ropes (we call them lines) go out. With good weather it is 4 and 2. Which means four lines leading away from the ship and two lines leading along the ship. Forward these are called head lines and they lead forward away from the ship. Aft these are called stern lines and they lead at and away from the ship. The spring lines are lines that lead along the ship towards the stern from the bow and towards the bow from the stern. These last lines are used to bring the ship into the exact position in relation to the dock, while bow and stern lines are used keep the ship alongside the dock. If you have a well trained team doing the docking (this is called standby for fore and aft) then the whole evolution is done,as quickly as the line handlers can pull the lines ashore.

But line handlers are a different story and the source of much bad language spoken on the bridge. But that is for another day.

We left Boston on time and after being hampered in our departure maneuver by yet another “Sunday sailor”, we headed out to open sea towards Bar Harbor. Tomorrow we are in port together with the QE2, although she will be at the outer anchorage.