Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Old oar propelled life boats had, fitted in the sea anchor, a comical galvanized tank with a petcock that was used to distribute oil (vegetable or mineral oil iirc), through the open end of the sea anchor to reduce spray and breaking seas.

Thanks so much for that information and the links! I'll check this out.

Storm oil

It was very much a thing
Has been since ancient times.

Just search the term “storm oil”

Theres a ton of pages and videos talking about it.

All the ships i was on still had well marked storm oil tanks up in the bow.

Not sure the veracity of the statement but on my first ship the bo’sun said they used veg oil now if they got used at all.

Check out: https://www.scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/1 ... cible.html

In my work aboard a 1923-built laker's chain locker, I've traced small-diameter piping leading from the lower lip of the anchor pocket up to the windlass room and have come to the conclusion that this piping was used to apply storm oil from a now-missing tank. The wash water for the chain and anchors was supplied by larger diameter piping to the upper end of the anchor pockets, near the hawse pipe openings, so there's no confusing the two different utilities.

As for the effectiveness of storm oil, see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RST_ylwVrUw

Look up storm oil.

So the sea oil did stop the waves from breaking over rafts and lifeboats, but it did nothing to the height of the waves and spray for obvious reasons. There was a period of time from the 1890s to the 1980s that there were special canisters and drums for the sea oil. Dennis Hale wrote that in his situation, the sea oil did little to stop the spray, but may have prevented his raft from capsizing outright. Others in the Arlington and Steel Vendor sinkings say that the oil helped.

My father in law who worked in Exxon from 1959-2002 said his tankers were trained to release oil in sinking situations dealing with intense sea conditions.

I'm curious about the old ships spreading oil to calm the waves. Was that effective? Did they carry oil just for this purpose? Special oil? Etc.
I tried Google but naturally I found only info about oil spills.
Thanks!