During our journey to Southampton I had a tour of the ship’s bridge.
Unsurprisingly, the ships wheel wasn’t a large wooden spoked device, it was small and insignificant.
Actually, during our tour it wasn’t functional anyway as the ship was on “automatic pilot” and it’s heading could be changed by touching a small joystick with one little finger.
The GPS showed that the ship had travelled 19,611 nautical miles (22,568 miles) since we left Portsmouth. (We still had more than 1,000 miles to travel.)
Balmoral was built in 1988 and Jack demonstrated one of it’s original compasses which could be used if necessary to calculate the exact position of the ship by taking bearings off stars and planets etc.
Thankfully it’s not required in these days of global positioning systems, but Jack assured us that he could do the calculations if it ever became necessary.
The ship’s speed is mainly controlled by changing the pitch of the propeller blades.
Engine speed, propeller pitch, movement of ballast water and operation of the ships stabilisers can all be controlled directly from the bridge.
The Global Maritime Distress Safety System, an international requirement, constantly listens for calls on radio channel 16 and sounds a loud alarm if one is received. Using other radio channels, the equipment also facilitates routine ship to ship or ship to shore communications, although Jack mentioned that mobile phones also come in handy these days.
A full set of controls is located on each of the external bridge wings.
Our Last Evening at Sea
On the last evening a message was secretly passed around that we should sing Auld Lang Syne at exactly 7:40pm followed by a cheer for our waiters and waitresses.
Imagine the look on their faces when the entire restaurant, 300 or more guests, suddenly stood up linked arms and sang in unison and then cheered and clapped the staff for their excellent service throughout the voyage.
It was sung from the heart, and the applause was well deserved.
But early on Friday morning we awoke to find ourselves back in Blighty, ready to depart, to bid farewell to the many friends made during the voyage and finally leave what had effectively been our homes for nearly three months.
So that was it. Ben and Tanya arrived on time and soon we were heading up the motorway back to Cheshire.
Now I’m at home with lot’s of happy memories and nearly 3,000 photos and video clips to sort out!
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