Early Risers.

[Chris Snowdon]

On 28/09/2024 at 21:24, jjb1970 said:

 

SOLAS V Reg 33 (mandatory requirements of the Convention) states (underline by me):

 

1 The master of a ship at sea which is in a position to be able to provide assistance, on receiving information from any source that persons are in distress at sea, is bound to proceed with all speed to their assistance, if possible informing them or the search and rescue service that the ship is doing so. This obligation to provide assistance applies regardless of the nationality or status of such persons or the circumstances in which they are found. If the ship receiving the distress alert is unable or, in the special circumstances of the case, considers it unreasonable or unnecessary to proceed to their assistance, the master must enter in the log-book the reason for failing to proceed to the assistance of the persons in distress, taking into account the recommendation of the Organization to inform the appropriate search and rescue service accordingly.

 

 1-1 Contracting Governments shall co-ordinate and co-operate to ensure that masters of ships providing assistance by embarking persons in distress at sea are released from their obligations with minimum further deviation from the ships’ intended voyage, provided that releasing the master of the ship from the obligations under the current regulation does not further endanger the safety of life at sea. The Contracting Government responsible for the search and rescue region in which such assistance is rendered shall exercise primary responsibility for ensuring such co-ordination and co-operation occurs, so that survivors assisted are disembarked from the assisting ship and delivered to a place of safety, taking into account the particular circumstances of the case and guidelines developed by the Organization. In these cases the relevant Contracting Governments shall arrange for such disembarkation to be effected as soon as reasonably practicable.

 

Therefore there is a clear, explicit requirement to render assistance to persons in distress for any ship flagged to a Party of the SOLAS Convention, regardless of any reasons why such persons might be in distress, along with obligations on disembarkation (which are ignored by many Party states, including those in Europe. 

 

Absolutely - and I use that word carefully.

To this I would add UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982 (UNCLOS), Article 98 on the Duty to render assistance, which I won't quote here in full but I will make a few points - 

1 - It took over a decade for UNCLOS to come into force, mostly because of domestic disagreements within states whether it was "new" and needed local legislation to ratify (it wasn't, as it was a compilation of several earlier separate conventions) or whether it was merely a codeification of existing customary law (it was).  There is a separate agreement in place to address that problem.  Because:-

2 - "Customary" law is not a "nice to have, but pick and choose as you like".  Rather, it's the basis of the common law (which was itself a consolidation exercise), and of the phrase "the rule of law and not of men" (to give that often-abused phrase in full).  Put simply, it's just "this is what we all do, and we consider to be correct behaviour".

3 - The duty to render assistance, and other rights and duties of ships' masters, can be traced back to about 2,000BCE, at least in documents.  I once used such an example in a lecture (gallows humour, to which the punchline was " the Torrey Canyon").

4 - No seafarer in their right mind "wants" to refuse assistance if called upon, because it could be them tomorrow.  However, penalties for diversion, late delivery, extra fuel costs, liability for risking your own crew in the assistance - all these make the job of the master bloody horrible.  Hence the need for RCCs to "comandeer" a ship - so that the master can plead force majeur, duress or whatever.

5 - The "boats" allowed onto the water on the French coast barely qualify for the name, often being glued together rather than chemically-welded or heat-seamed, and so these could and should be detained as non-compliant with the requirements of the Recreational Craft Directive.  Decathlon went to the extreme of simply not selling any inflatables at all, to make that task easier to enforce.

6 - (it is time for me to stop now...)

 

regards

cs

 

PS

6 - RNLI, Penlee crew: RIP.

7 - Rescue and slavage are not free.  The Lloyd's Open Form is standard practice (and again, in gallows humour, I once referred to pirates carrying them...).

8 - The RNLI, and many other similar organisations, ["waive" - CS edit - "Do not normally enforce"] their salvage rights.

9 - (I really must stop now...)

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Chris Snowdon
Editing point 8 - Important difference

[Coombe Barton]

... they’re all quite small and space is unlikely to be a problem … said he with a probable unreasonable degree of confidence. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/10/02/postcards-from-home-2024-35-hs2-to-euston/

[Chris Snowdon]

5 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

... they’re all quite small and space is unlikely to be a problem … said he with a probable unreasonable degree of confidence. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/10/02/postcards-from-home-2024-35-hs2-to-euston/

That panorama would make an awfully good backscene, whatever one modelled...

 

regards

cs

[polybear]

Bear here....

 

Another fun day at the W/H - three shops today, the Ebay Shop plus some general shiftin' & sorting.  That's a Tick.  The bin diving also proved to be "advantageous".....even a very small RUB** can bring a smile to a Bear's face.....

 

**NO!!  Not that  sort of rub......

 

D-Day?  No.....even better this time; today was the Birthday of one of the W/H Staff - so that meant.....

 

Cake Day!!  😁

 

Yep, the Boss had sorted a great big choccy cake (courtesy of Morrisons. no less) - but being a self-confessed chocaholic she also got a big bag of jumbo choccy buttons to stick into the top as well.  I reckon it was a very big Tick cos' it disappeared very quickly indeed.....

 

Once back at Bear Towers I wandered down the Post Office to collect the new steam iron I ordered from The Big River - the system seems to work pretty well and it certainly seems to be a better option than risking something getting nicked off the doorstep.  But......

I took a look at the original order to confirm the model sent was the one I ordered (forty-five notes) - only to discover the sterds' have dropped the price to thirty quid.....🤬  Well if they think Bear can be shafted like that then they're very much mistaken - there are "ways and means" around that one....😉Let's just say it's "in pawed...."

 

ION......

 

Another nail in the Coffin - let's hope they do continue with a Heritage Line (though Bear is unlikely to ride it, sadly - there are far too many other countries to visit without the obvious health risks):

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgn4mzn224o

 

And Finally....

 

Buddy over the road visited earlier, clutching a pile of nice shirts that are no longer required as they are too big - they're off to the W/H tomorrow; in exchange I gave him a new unused Bread Knife (mentioned yesterday) plus a mini surform that were both rescued from the scrap metal bin - he was a happy Bear as a result.

 

And Finally Finally.....

 

When I sorted Momma Bear's Wardrobe Drawers a couple of days ago I discovered a part-used bottle of Chanel No. 5 Spray that I must've bought Momma Bear many, many moons ago (over 14 at least); today I took it in for one of the very nice Warehouse Ladies (they all are) to give an opinion as to whether or not it'd "gone off" (if Google is to be believed then it should've).  Her view was that it was absolutely fine; she then went on to say how she really liked Chanel so I very much suspect she knows what's right and what isn't.  So at that point I decided it would be far better re-homed so gave it to her, which she wasn't expecting and she was both very pleased & very grateful - especially when I explained (briefly - Bear wasn't in the mood for words at that point) that it was Momma Bear's 😢.  I know it's gone to a deserving recipient and that's far better than it sitting in the drawer until it's useless.

 

BG

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by polybear

[PhilJ W]

19 minutes ago, polybear said:

Another nail in the Coffin - let's hope they do continue with a Heritage Line (though Bear is unlikely to ride it, sadly - there are far too many other countries to visit without the obvious health risks):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgn4mzn224o

Apparently they use the bogies from former London trams that are now almost 100 years old.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

My visit to the dentist was uneventful, apart from the removal of a small bit of tartar behind my 2 lower front teeth, no further work was required! I call that a result. Once back home, I made myself a muggertea and decamped to the dining room and began making some more corridor connections. I made another 20 before I ran out of end plates, so I cut another 140 ends. I suspect that I’ll need to cut some more paper sides tomorrow. 

 

Later on this afternoon, I had my ears lowered I also trimmed my beard, apparently I now look as though somebody owns me now! 

[BSW01]

Goodnight everyone 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[monkeysarefun]

The native flowers  are out around the work  place.

 

 

On the left is a grass tree which is local to around here, scattered through the bush.

The right hand one is a Gymea Lily which is restricted to the sandstone region south of Sydney down to the Illawarra, they make the springtime drive down to Wollongong quite spectacular.

Edited 11 minutes ago by monkeysarefun