ot..nasty accident nearby

[Daveroo]

i was listening to my scanner yesterday morning...heard calfire dispatch calstar medical helo to nevada city for a flight..but they canceled soon after..was a 11-44..passed away...was a chipper accident...man had been caught somehow with a tree limb and a rope and had been decapitated i know thats harsh...but this sort of thing doesnt happen often and is sort of a "freak accident" and sort of wanted to share..

[SSI01]

Everyone knows working on a carrier's deck, especially around the arresting gear, can be quite dangerous, even for experienced hands. But, I'll bet you didn't know one of the most dangerous places on any ship is around the capstans when the slack in the mooring lines is taken up after a ship docks. I witnessed many USN vessels make port and berth, and the line handling crews were pretty carefully supervised when this phase of the berthing process was occurring - they were sent under cover except for minimal manning around the capstan. What happens is the mooring line is wrapped around the capstan which is then turned to take up the slack in the mooring line going to the dock - but not too much slack, or it becomes like a bowstring even before the rise and fall of the tide are taken into account. These lines are made out of nylon, I think, and are about as big around as your wrist. I had a friend on the Coral Sea, back when it was in commission, that saw one of these lines part during mooring when tension was put on it. It whipped around at an incredible speed and bisected one of the officers on the dock. Another freak accident.