BARQUE PAMIR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26442, 22 April 1947, Page 3

BARQUE PAMIR

Sir, —I note that it has been suggested and that the Harbour Board agrees, that the barque Pamir should be used as a training ship. There can be no doubt that this vessel would be admirably suited for the training of officers for sailing vessels. However, the requirements of sailing vessels under the British flag at present are small. As it seems improbable that sailing vessels will replace steam vessel in the future, there seems little point in training officers for these ships. The training of officers in sail for subsequent service in steam is, of course, ridiculous. Suggestions of this nature are the product of an outlook similar to that which prior to tlie war demanded that officers for tank regiments be trained as lancers and swordsmen.

The duties of an officer in a modern vessel are twofold. At sea he is a navigator, and in port is required to supervise ,the stowage and discharge of the cargo. He is further required to have some knowledge of the construction of his ship, so that he can arrange repairs where necessary and supervise the maintenance work.

The question thus becomes: Can these duties be successfully carried out by a man trained in an antiquated vessel such as the Pamir? The science of navigation has developed rapidly in the past 20 years. First, if we consider the standard method of ocean navigation we find that a candidate for a second mate’s certificate to-day is required to have as much knowledge of nautical astronomy as an extra master in the days when sail was at its prime. In addition, new instruments are in ' use—such as echo sounding apparatus, radio direction finding gear, and gyro-compasses. None of these would be found in a sailing vessel. In addition, radar and loran as adjuncts to navigation are now in the late experimental stage, and will shortly be in wide use. Even were it possible to fit such apparatus in the Pamir, it would be difficult and probably impossible to find officers qualified to serve in a sailing ship who would have sufficient knowledge of them to operate them and instruct the cadets in their use. The result of training boys in a sailing ship will be that they will have no knowledge of the latest methods of navigation, and but little of the methods in , use during the past 20 years. Every navigator knows tlie horlor with which a true old "shell-back” regards stellar observations—which is the only reliable method of position-finding at sea. .

In a modern ship the cargo is loaded and discharged partly at least by rrfeans of the ship’s winches and derricks. These are absent in a sailing vessel. Consequently boys in the Pamir would be ignorant of this most important part of modern seamanship. The construction of a sailing vessel is radically different from that of a modern steamer. .The former has what are known as “ open floors,” the latter has as a rule a cellular doublebottom throughout. This results in an entirely different base upon which cargo is stowed and a different method of stowage. Also, cargoes of a perishable or valuable nature are not carried in sailing vessels. Here is another branch of the profession of which the sail-trained man will be ignorant. From the above it will be seen that officers trained in Pamir will be unfitted for the future careers in its two chief branches.—l am, etc., Nemo.