h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In John McPhee's book, "Looking for a Ship", he describes the Plimsoll marks on the side of ships, which are "Load lines set by classification societies ... American Bureau of Shipping, Lloyd's Register, ... Below the summer load line is a line marked "W". It marks the depth to which the ship can be safely loaded in winter. Some distance below that is the lowest line of all. It is marked 'WNA'. To burden a ship only to that line is to give it the lightest load in the whole Plimsoll series. The WNA line marks the maximum depth to which the ship can be safely loaded in the winter North Atlantic." A merchant seaman says that if you get on a ship to Iceland in the winter, you know you're going to get creamed.

Quite true, however if read about the North Atlantic convoys of WW II the Murmansk run to Russia sailing north of Scandinavia were considered the most treacherous.

Of course the three stormy capes- Cape Horn, The Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin, Australia all claim to be the most storm tossed areas in the world.



F S

Yup, the movie "Master and Commander" did a good job of showing "Cape Sailing" - I think I'll pass.

Another rough sea is off the North slope of Alaska, dramatized in the novel "2182 KhZ", and reviewed in "Booklist":

"This first novel introduces the rugged world of (mostly) men who toil on barges, tugboats, and oil rigs in the unforgiving Arctic. Veteran deckhand Henry Seine is working away on ships above the Arctic Circle to pay off an expensive home back in the U.S. when the incipient dissolution of his marriage causes him to reconsider his choice of occupation and pine for a more normal life in a warmer climate. Then, in a freak accident, his tugboat sinks, and Henry is rescued from the freezing waters by a siren of sorts, the intrepid sailor Julia. Smitten by her, Henry sails for home anyway. But he can't resist the call of the wild for long and eventually heads back north to rejoin his old shipmates. One day, while monitoring the emergency frequency 2182 kHz, Seine picks up a distress call from a scientist trapped on a melting ice floe. When the Coast Guard is unable to help, Seine enlists his crew in a makeshift rescue. An excellent adventure tale. Ted Leventhal"



The author worked ten years on tugs and icebreakers around Alaska. And I thought my job sucked.