The Efficacy of Weather Routing in Reducing Damage

Extract

M.V. Geestport of the Geestline left the island of Dominica on 1 February 1970. She arrived at Barry on 10 February 1970. Between these dates the ship underwent a considerable ordeal, seldom experiencing a wind-force less than 7, while all the time she was pitching heavily, thereby shipping great amounts of water owing to the heavy swell and rough seas. From the 2 February the barometer pressure dropped about 1 millibar per hour and then, from 04.00 G.M.T. on the 3rd until 12.00 G.M.T. on 5 February, a slow rise was observed, finally steadying at 1034.6 mb. From the latter date the pressure began to fall at a slow rate and on arrival at Barry the barometer reading was 1002.8 mb. During these ten difficult days the speed of the vessel was varied continuously between 120 r.p.m. (about 20 knots) and 50 r.p.m. depending on the circumstances.