Williamson Circles

Tower of Winds: Greece

(Excerpts from the ship's librarian: Photo by Joe Williams)

June 9:
I found out today is that one cannot simply stop a ship like a car. In order to stop a ship, you need to have about 2 miles (or more depending on your speed). So if something comes up in your way, you can’t simply hit the brakes so to speak. Rather, you need to maneuver the ship around the obstacle. That is why among other reasons you need to have watches, and you need to keep ships at a safe distance. The larger the vessel, the harder it is to stop it. And how do you stop it? By reversing the engines, yet you can imagine how much power it would take to stop something as big as an oil tanker. Now, imagine this situation and somebody goes overboard. The best you can do is throw them one of those life rings and execute a circle (called a Williamson circle). The person in the water has to wait until the ship can complete the circle and hopefully they can fish you out.