ship and boat parts Identification

[Shipwreckscanada]

I made this posting in the "Boats and Boating"section but got only one replay. I think I asked the question in the wrong section, so I am asking it again.



I am looking for a good book with many detailed Illustrations on ship and boat parts. I think this will help me to identify what I am looking at when I dive on a wreck.

Does anyone have a good suggestion for a good book or a website? I prefer abook.

 

[Gilldiver]

You are getting into the area of wreck diving that most wreck divers have no clue on. All they talk about is how to dive a wreck, never on what to see and look for on a wreck.

Unfortunately, there are very few books that work as a guide to the wreck diver, so you have to work things out for yourself. But one book to look for is "
[h=1]The wreck diver's guide to sailing ship artifacts of the 19th Century. Published by Underwater Archaeological Society of British Columbia.[/h]
For steam ships, there are any number of books about ships, but not much on the individual items and technology on the ships. One place to start are the books by Dr. Denis Griffiths, in particular "Steam At Sea." and some of the Conway's History of the Ship books like "The Advent of Steam; The Merchant Steamship before 1900." All of these books are out of print but look around the used book web sites and you should be able to find a few.

To get really into the technology, start looking for some of the Marine Engineering periodicals from 1880-1920 like "International Marine Engineering." I find that the adds are sometimes more informative than the articles as they show the pieces of equipment (mostly as drawings) and give a brief description of what they do. After a while, you may find that you start to understand the equipment layouts of a wreck and will start to be able to say "If this is right here, than that should be right over there..." and find that it is.

Pete Johnson

 

[gnominic]

One book you can try is also very cheap, because it's been in print for so long and any older copy will do. Chapman's Piloting and Small Boat Seamanship.

A similar book, The Annapolis Book of Seamanship also covers a lot of boating nomenclature.

Moving up in the world of shipping you can get an old copy of Cornell Maritime Press' American Merchant Seaman's Manual.

You can also browse the Coast Guard license exam questions for quite a few boat part illustrations (though they are hard to find now since the coast guard recently made them secret, after long years of them not being secret).

All three of the books above should be on ebay or alibris for cheap. If you have specific questions feel free to drop me a line. I've been a merchant officer for longer than I'd like to admit.

Good luck down there.

-dennis

 

[Shipwreckscanada]

Thank you for your suggestions. I will look up the recommended readings.

Just one unrelated question for gnominic, why don't you log dives? Does it not cause trouble when going on dive excursions? And do you sign other diver's logbooks?

 

[Thalassamania]

Any of the Royce books, esp. "Royce's Sailing Illustrated, Vol. 1: Tall Ship Edition."

 

[gnominic]

Thank you for your suggestions. I will look up the recommended readings.

Just one unrelated question for gnominic, why don't you log dives? Does it not cause trouble when going on dive excursions? And do you sign other diver's logbooks?

I just hate paperwork. Plus, paperwork and wet gear and such, the book just gets trashed. I don't see a compelling reason to log dives. I'm much more focused on the next dive rather than the last dive. I do occasionally make notes of where I find things (gold coins, fossils, flounders), and like any boat operator I have a book of "numbers."

I have never, ever been asked for my dive log. I have three cards (the only three any sport diver needs: open water, nitrox and solo) I carry and that's all operators have ever wanted to see. I'm curious though; it sounds like someone has asked for your logbook? what for?

But I don't go on particularly ambitious diving, no overheads, no swim throughs, nothing technical at all (though I did a deco stop once recovering my spear gun I dropped). Though I do solo dive, I abort dives if anything doesn't seem right. But the point is, I don't think I do the kind of diving that someone would really question my dive creds. I do work occasionally on a liveaboard and I could get those guys to vouch if it was ever needed.

And, sure, if someone wants my autograph I'm happy to help them out. (But about 70% of my diving is solo.)

Stay safe out there.

-dennis

 

[Shipwreckscanada]

I can see your point. Being a new diver, I have done most of my dives in training. We make a lot of fuss on logging all are dives. Now that I passed my 50 dives and received my MSD card, this was my goal when I started diving, I can see how logging might not be so important. Something to think about.