Freighter At Sea (1948)

this is a vessel of the American Merchant Marine this ocean-going freighter is putting out to sea from the harbor of San Francisco the ship rides deep in the water because she is fully loaded with valuable cargo for South America the tugboat helps the freighter until she is out of the harbour freighters carry their cargoes all over the world some ocean routes are more traveled than others this map shows the most important routes of ocean freighters the busiest ocean route is the North Atlantic route it connects eastern United States with Western Europe nearly half of the world's shipping is carried on this route other routes connect Western Europe with Asia through the Suez Canal Western Europe and South America North America and South America through the Panama Canal and western United States and Asia the freighter carries a crew of 40 men ten of these men are officers some freighters also carry a few passengers this freighter carries 12 passengers this is a stateroom for passengers one of the passengers is Ralph he is going to South America with his mother and father it is late and Ralph is going to bed while the passengers sleep the ship's crew is busy this man is called the helmsman he steers the big ship he watches this dial this is the rudder indicator the rudder steers the ship the dial shows the angle of the rudder the helmsman also watches the ship's compass this gyro compass indicates True North modern ships use many kinds of aids to navigation to ensure the safety of the ship the officer is operating the radio direction finder radio stations on land send out powerful radio beams the ship's radio antenna picks up these beams the antenna is turned until the strongest beam is found the operator reads the direction of the beam then he finds the direction of another radio beam he can locate his ship's position on the ocean by finding where these two beams cross day and night in good weather or bad the officers and men are responsible for the safety of the ship they use every safety device known atop the mast of this modern freighter is located the newest safety device a radar for navigation the radar antenna rotates continuously searching the surface of the ocean for any object that may be in the path of the ship in the wheelhouse of the ship one of the ship's officers watches the radar screen any object that comes near the ship shows up on the screen radar works at night or in heavy fog to protect the from coalition even ships which have radar maintained a lookout on the bow to watch for other ships especially when it is foggy there is often a heavy fog over the sea in the morning notice the big chain it raises and lowers the anchor the lookout has sighted a ship this ship is a tanker which carries oil and gasoline when the lookout sites a ship earrings this Bell to signal the watch officer on the bridge [Music] [Applause] two rings means a ship on the port side while some of the crew work others sleep the men who have worked all night must awaken those who will take their places on watch sleep in double-deck beds called bunks they sleep with part of their clothes on so they can dress quickly the crews room is called his quarters there is a wash basin in the crew's quarters the men washed their hands and faces before going to work this is the crews mess room they eat all their meals here now it is time for the passengers to get up Ralph is still asleep but his father will awake him the passenger's stateroom has a round window with thick heavy glass called a porthole Ralph's father opens the porthole so that Ralph can see out this is how the porthole looks from the outside Ralph sees many things happening on the ship he sees the bosun and seaman washing down the decks of the ship a modern freighter is kept very clean the men who washed the decks wear high rubber boots they scrub the decks every day there are many ropes or lines on a ship these are used in operating the working gear of the vessel the bosun is aloft replacing a part of the ship's rigging he is replacing the steel cargo block on one of the ships booms the man is riding a bosun's chair as he comes down he adjusts the block the other two men are called seamen they have raised and lowered him with a block and tackle there are many kinds of work to be done on a freighter these men spend all of their time preparing food for the passengers and crew members the place where they work is called the galley the galley is kept spotlessly clean they are going to have corned beef and cabbage at the next meal this man is the ship's chief cook he is in charge of the galley is a big job to feed over 50 people three times a day the cook is proud of the way his corned beef tastes the cook has several helpers or assistants one of his helpers is making a big cake he is adding eggs to the cake the man uses a large mixing machine the chief cook must season the food to make it taste good the food is cooking on a large electric range this small elevator is called a dumbwaiter when the food is ready one of the cooks puts the food on the dumbwaiter then he raises the elevator to the next deck above another man called a mess man removes the food from the dumbwaiter he puts it into steam tables to keep it warm very soon he will serve the food this is the main dining room the ship's officers and passengers eat here this room is also called the officers mess waiters bring in the food Ralph has already made friends with the captain and the chief engineer the captain is the man on the right the chief engineer is having lunch with the captain the captain has invited Ralph to eat at his table the captain likes Ralph because Ralph reminds him of his own grandson the sea-air has made Ralph very hungry he is ready for the corned beef and cabbage the captain has promised to show Ralph around the ship after lunch first he takes Ralph to the chart room a chart is the sailors map of the sea the captain takes a chart out of the drawer and puts it on the chart table the ship carries a complete set of charts covering all the oceans of the entire world the chart shows the coastline the location of lighthouses harbours and many other things it shows the depth of water near the harbours and coastlines the captain draws lines on the chart with a parallel ruler to show where the ship will go the course of the ship is carefully plotted the stripes on the captain's sleeve indicate his rank a captain has four stripes this is called the open bridge it is high up on the ship it is on the roof of the wheelhouse one of the officers is going to use the bearing circle the bearing circle is used to get the ship's bearing on a fixed land object such as a lighthouse or on other ships freighters going from North America to South America often sail close to the coast line objects along the coast are used to take bearings lighthouses like this are located at danger points along the coast and near harbors the position of all lighthouses is marked on the Charts the man sites through a narrow slit he reads the bearing of the lighthouse on the compass dial under the bearing circle the captain is also on the open bridge he has a sextant in his hands he uses the sextant to measure the angle of the Sun above the horizon now the captain is showing Ralph how to sight through the sextant at night the sextant can be used to sight the Stars or the moon the ship's latitude on the ocean can be determined with the help of the sextant this is the radio room every freighter has a radio operator the captain has asked Ralph to take a message to the radio operator the operator can send messages to other ships and to radio men on land he can also receive messages from anywhere radio has made ocean travel safer the radio warns the ship of danger or bad weather in the early evening the captain invites Ralph to visit the wheelhouse the helmsman is at the wheel steering the ship the helmsman asks Ralph if he would like to steer the ship the helmsman tells Ralph which way to turn the wheel Ralph likes to steer the ship the wheelhouse is sometimes called the pilot house several decks below the wheelhouse is the engine room the big engines are controlled from this panel there are many gauges which tell the engineer how the engines and machinery are working the huge boilers are located in the boiler room oil is burned in these boilers to May steam steam runs the ships engines most freighters have two boilers this man is lighting off another burner in the port boiler with a torch back in the wheelhouse Ralph is learning how the speed of the ship is controlled this is the ship's Telegraph there is one telegraph in the wheelhouse there is another Telegraph in the engine room the captain uses the Telegraph to tell the engineer what speed he wants the captain gives the order stand by the officer on duty pulls the handle to move the pointer then the pointer in the engine room moves the engineer answers by moving the outer handle to match the pointer in the center the captain orders half a head which means half speed forward the engine room Telegraph answers and the engineer on duty closes the throttle on the main engine to slow down the ship now the captain orders slow ahead again the engine-room Telegraph answers and the engineer closes the throttle more this is the big propeller shaft this shaft connects the ship's engines with the propeller the propeller is at the stern of the ship it is far under the water the shaft turns slowly the propeller makes the ship goal as the ship moves through the water it leaves a long Stern wake behind it the ocean freighter is well on its way to South America