Extract
Ships Radio Licence Course
Chapter 40
1995
During the 1990s my wife and I regularly navigated our 32 ft Cabin Cruiser from its mooring near York, along the upper reaches of the non-tidal Yorkshire Ouse.
However, once a year we joined a flotilla of two or three boats to navigate downstream into the lower and challenging tidal reaches of the Rivers Ouse, Humber and the Trent.
These cruises would take us away from York for periods of two to three weeks, mooring for a few days at Kingston upon Hull on the huge River Humber, Lincoln and Boston on the River Witham and Gainsborough, Newark and Nottingham on the river Trent.
Naturally the lower tidal reaches of these rivers are considerably more hazardous than the upper non-tidal reaches, due not only to the speed of current and varying depths of tidal channel, but also because of the constantly changing air-draft available below road and rail bridge soffits spanning these rivers.
Such hazards required Pleasure Cruiser Skippers to be in radio contact with swing or lifting bridge operators well in advance, in order for their operators to decide, depending on tide levels, whether or not the bridge should be lifted or swung, depending on its mechanism.
Similarly, radio contact was also necessary with all commercial Lock Keepers bordering the river, where ocean going cargo ships could be released without warning into a high tidal stream, and posing thereby considerable hazards to small pleasure cruisers. Selby Docks being a typical example.
In addition to these hazards, heavy laden barges still worked the rivers in those days, carrying up to 400 tons of sand, cement and aggregates, mostly from Newark on-Trent to upstream locations.
These commercial barge skippers had supreme right of way over all pleasure boat cruisers in all navigation channels, due to their very deep draught and inability to ‘heave to’ at short notice. It was therefore necessary, when approaching or overtaking such a barge to make radio contact with the skipper in order to establish the manoeuvre. For instance if overtaking: ‘Should it be Port to Starboard or Starboard to Port?’ Or if passing, ‘Port to Port or Starboard to Starboard?’ Until this radio contact and decision was made, it was basically illegal to pass. The final decision was always the Barge Skipper’s prerogative.
Although I had qualified as a ‘Radio User’ in the regular Army many years earlier, the marine radio procedures were obviously different. So in 1995 I decided that I really should attend a Ships Radio course, one of which I discovered was shortly due to take place at a RYA Training School in Kingston-upon-Hull Dockyard.
The course took place over a full weekend with an early Saturday start at 09:00 hrs in the Ancient Dockyard. We were undoubtedly a motley crew of students, aged mostly around 50 to 60 years, with considerable maritime experience, but mostly lacking the necessary radio qualifications to comply with updated marine regulations.
We were promptly directed to seats in a bare echoing classroom overlooking the Marina.
Our male receptionist took a note of those attending the course, ticking names off one by one, and then covering various course admin points plus the inevitable H & S requirements; informing us then that our instructor would join us in a few minutes.
Well; we all anticipated the instructor to be a white bearded old sea salt, such as Captain Birds Eye, but were somewhat taken back when a young and attractive girl of about 18 years of age appeared and announced that she was Ellen, and would be a our instructor for the whole course. “The whole course?” muttered someone as this announcement was met with some considerable shock, other comments followed such as “What does she know about radio at her age?” or “Bet I was using Radio before she was even born, maybe even before her mum!”
Anyway we settled down to the course and although Ellen was initially nervous with students mostly old enough to be her granddad, she managed to cope very well considering, and we soon grew to like her and realize that she knew her stuff!
We were issued with various Admiralty pamphlets on radio procedure at sea, and taken through the Mayday and other maritime voice procedures. It was also drilled into us that the initial radio contact with any ship at sea, regardless of size was always established on channel 16 then another channel unanimously agreed between both vessels to execute the radio messages.
As lunch time neared, Ellen informed us that we had an hour and a half for lunch, and if anyone was interested, she was off to the Anchor Public House adjacent to the wharf and marina. Of course there was a 100% response to this invitation and we all trooped off behind Ellen as she led the way to the Pub.
Once inside she was naturally inundated with offers of a drink, but refused all except an orange juice, explaining that she had had a rough night, and had to remain sober, of course, for the afternoon session.
Naturally everyone was eager to know what she had been up to the night before, and at first she was not telling, but on being good-heartedly pressed by so many old codgers, she finally informed an incredulous or maybe disappointed audience, that she had been taking her Night Skippers Offshore Navigation Certificate. Of course, everyone started asking if she had passed, but as yet she was not aware of the result, nevertheless, it was quite obvious that our Ellen was now seen in a considerably different light, and perhaps she did know quite a bit about Ships Radio Procedure, and other things.
The weekend course progressed satisfactorily as most students were pretty confident in the use of radio, but most admitted they had still learned quite a bit, and in some instances realized that they had been using very outdated or even non-standard radio procedure.
Towards the end of the Sunday afternoon, we were all issued with a massive Ships Radio Almanac and instructed in its use and especially the methods of linking up ship to shore telephone communications at sea, and the correct method of contacting a marina or harbour when requesting permission to enter and tie up.
Finally we trooped off to a specially equipped examination room, having each been issued with a head set which had to be plugged into a distribution panel in front of each student.
We were then individually and collectively tested using this closed circuit radio system by sending and receiving imaginary messages between us and the testing officer, all to the correct procedures of course. This testing was carried out by the gentleman who had first introduced us, and I must say he was very generous in his assessments, and helpful to those who stumbled.
After receiving our test results, a self-appointed spokesman thanked the course examiner and Ellen of course, accompanied by loud “Hear Hear’s” and we all dispersed home.
In due course I was proud to receive my Ships Radio Licence through the post, and for many years I religiously renewed this certificate. However, as I grow older my cruising has become much less adventuress and most communications on non-tidal rivers can now be achieved by mobile phone.
Over the years I had often thought about the pretty young Ellen, (whose surname I could never remember) who taught us marine radio procedure. I occasionally recounted this story to after dinner guests, recalling how we old timer students were somewhat initially shocked to be instructed by a teenager.
However, one evening some years or so ago, I vaguely picked up a SKY TV news story of a young woman who was attempting the world’s toughest single handed race, The Vendee Globe around the world. Unfortunately I did not see her official send off on television, and so the incident was soon forgotten, until ages later SKY TV News stage reports started coming in, therefore I started showing more interest and followed the story.
And so, when in February 2001 this young lady was welcomed back to the Finish Line at Les Sables d’Olonne in France in second place, having not only circumnavigated the globe alone in her yacht, and at the time was the youngest and fastest woman to have ever done so.
Imagine my surprise and thrill when I saw her face on my TV screen, standing triumphant on the foredeck of her yacht as it entered the harbour; she was of course my Ellen, the intrepid Radio Instructor and world sailor. I felt so proud for her.
It was later reported in the press that Ellen MacArthur had achieved her advanced Yacht Masters Certificate and Instructors Endorsement at the early age of 18! So at last we had the answer to our question of how she did on the night before our course1.
Ellen subsequently became the youngest person to be awarded an MBE and was later upgraded to a Dame and today is a legendary figure.
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1. In Ellen’s excellent book entitled “Taking on the World” she records her time teaching at the RYA School in Hull Dockyard, and the reactions of the mature students when she was introduced as their instructor which she describes as… ‘looks verging on disbelief.’
