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Alex25

Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2020
Messages
5
Location
California
Hello all,

My name is Alex and I am currently working on a film project that takes place on a trawler. I had a question that I was hoping someone on this forum could assist me with. Thank you in advance for your help and sorry for my ignorance!

I'm trying to devise a way for my characters to purposely cause an accident on the trawler-- resulting in a cable or net snapping. Is there anything that could be done, possibly to the winch or the cables/nets themsevles, that would cause an accident without being overtly suspicious? Would love any suggestions. Thanks again!
 
You're talking about a fishing trawler, actively fishing? I'm not a fisherman so can't answer your question, but there are others here who may be or have been. Most of us have recreational boats, not fishing boats.


And welcome, though I suspect your presence will be brief and participation nil.


Greg.
 
Hi Greg,

Thank you for the quick reply. Yes, I am talking about a fishing boat that is actively fishing. I appreciate you letting me join and will try and participate as much as possible.
 
Greetings,
Welcome aboard (if only temporarily). Is this "trawler" a commercial vessel? 99.9% of the boats owned and discussed on this site are "trawlers" in name only.


That being said, there ARE members who have worked on commercial vessels and might advise.


I say might because in this modern, over litigious world one could be charged with aiding and abetting. I would suggest you head over to the local commercial docks and buy some trawlermen a beer.


iu
 
Hello,

Thank you for your reply. Yes, this trawler would be a commercial vehicle. And great idea on the beer! If there is anyone on the forum who has worked on a commercial vehicle and would be able to help me out, I would be more than willing to buy or send you enough beer to make it worth your while. Thank you!
 
Alex25, I would drive to San Pedro and cruise the area where the commercial boats
are docked next to Ports o' Call Village.
You can see them up close and depending on your people skills engage a fisherman in
some convo.
Grab lunch at Utro's if you get hungry!
 
I have a better idea, what about a trawler that catch a dead body in the net but that is not really very dead and come back to life as captain zombie nemo and eat the crew? What a staggering movie it would be! Lol

L
 
On a large commercial trawler, I suppose purposely reversing while trawling the net may be a believable but sinister tactic of cutting or at least causing great damage to the net as it would tend to get caught in the propellors. If the net did not cut clean of the propellors (which would likely be the case) the net would wrap around the shafts and perhaps the rudder as well, bindIng them so they could not rotate, shutting down power and maneuverability. Unless you catch it in time, it would be major damage.

In line with the idea of a sinister purpose, a believable cable snap could come from the mast Or rigging cable stays letting go when attempting to force the boat beneath a bridge with insufficient clearance for the mast and rigging equipment of the trawler. Another believable situation would be when taking another trawler in tow, especially in tumultuous seas, the tow cable with snap.
 
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Alex25 said:
Hello all,

My name is Alex and I am currently working on a film project that takes place on a trawler. I had a question that I was hoping someone on this forum could assist me with. Thank you in advance for your help and sorry for my ignorance!

I'm trying to devise a way for my characters to purposely cause an accident on the trawler-- resulting in a cable or net snapping. Is there anything that could be done, possibly to the winch or the cables/nets themsevles, that would cause an accident without being overtly suspicious? Would love any suggestions. Thanks again!
Click to expand...

There are all sorts of things that can go wrong, with all sorts of consequences. Perhaps you could have a crane cable break and gear come crashing down either smushing someone or narrowly missing them. Is your objective to create an accident that is not clearly the result of sabotage? Do you want to put one of the characters in the position of saving the day in the nick of time? Do you want to show the act of sabotage to the audience to built tension as they wait for disaster? Or are you going to keep the audience in the dark? Why do you need the accident in the first place? Is there a victim? Does he/she need to loose consciousness? Linger? Be lost overboard and maybe be dead or someone survive but no one on board knows? Some more specificity about the parameters of the accident would help to get our collective creative juices flowing.
 
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The things you read on this forum!
 
Greetings,
Mr. MY. Wonderful questions. The ONLY people who I can see playing the leading rolls are Tom Mix and Margaret Rutherford.


iu







iu
 
RT Firefly said:
Greetings,
Mr. MY. Wonderful questions. The ONLY people who I can see playing the leading rolls are Tom Mix and Margaret Rutherford.


iu







iu
Click to expand...
But which is which?
To the OP, fishing trawlers have been known to snag a net on some object on the sea floor with disastrous consequences and or loss of net. There are whole TV series about fishing trawlers getting in all sorts of strife especially in bad weather, an English one was the eponymous "Trawlermen", but there have been others, a veritable chamber of trawler horrors to investigate.
 
If the sabateur was at the helm, he could intentionally go over a wreck so the net catches on the sunken ship ? You'd have to ask a real fisherman though if there is an intentional weak point like a shear pin in the rigging that would give way before you tore the crane off the boat. If the calamity doesn't have to involve the net, there are lots of ways to sink a boat from disconnecting a bilge pump or losening the right hose.
 
BruceK said:
But which is which?
To the OP, fishing trawlers have been known to snag a net on some object on the sea floor with disastrous consequences and or loss of net. There are whole TV series about fishing trawlers getting in all sorts of strife especially in bad weather, an English one was the eponymous "Trawlermen", but there have been others, a veritable chamber of trawler horrors to investigate.
Click to expand...


This.


I spent a few winter breaks shrimping in Fort Myers, on a small boat. We hung a net one night in a following sea and took green water into the cockpit. Probably the most scared I've ever been on a boat. Lots of chaos resulted, would have been a good time to push another crew member overboard without anyone noticing, if one were so inclined.
 
Perhaps monkeying with the point on a winch where the cable's bitter end is connected so the whole cable goes whipping out through the system.
 
Are you talking about a large vessel that would drag a large net behind the boat? Or a smaller vessel with maybe a few guys on board using fishing rods?
 
I like the "drag the net over a wreck" theme. The net snags, cables break, and mayhem ensues. It wold appear to be an accident, but actually be intentional by the captain meant as an act of sabotoge, which I think is what you are after. And if the captain is a really bad apple, it could turn out that only he knew the location of the wreck because...wait for it...he caused it in a previous act of sabotage.....
 
twistedtree said:
I like the "drag the net over a wreck" theme. The net snags, cables break, and mayhem ensues. It wold appear to be an accident, but actually be intentional by the captain meant as an act of sabotoge, which I think is what you are after. And if the captain is a really bad apple, it could turn out that only he knew the location of the wreck because...wait for it...he caused it in a previous act of sabotage.....
Click to expand...
I love this! Add a good looking female cook to the fishing trawler and you can weave any story of intrigue & murder that you can conger up! :blush:
 
You don't need an exact reason, you are assuming the commercial fisherman knows what's going on which sometimes is true, other times not so true. And you don't say where this incident takes place, if you have a choice whether true in reality or just made up choose an area that is shallower than not. But even in the open ocean you can have problems.

Scenario: The character knows of an area that has a history of catching commercial fisherman off guard with the net they are towing. [You haven't specified the location but you could say this is all going on in Washington state, which is usually filmed in British Columbia.] If you want to get real specific, you can have this take place during herring season [only lasts about two and a half weeks - early March is the usual kick off - here in BC, here is a link to a short blurb on herring fishing, you will see nets are involved: https://www.pacificherring.org/commercial-fisheries ]

Scenario two: The character involved knows of some shoals (rocks) that are covered at high tide but have been known to snag commercial nets.

Scenario three: Out in the open ocean sailors who are cruising across the Pacific or Atlantic have been known to hit something with a very loud crash. And they never know what they hit because nothing was visible on the surface. But below the surface is a container fallen off of a ship during a storm, though not visible is still close to the surface. This is the most popular guess as to what these folks have hit something out in the ocean with thousands of feet below them.

In all these scenarios your character only need say: "I don't know what caught the net, maybe a sunken container, maybe a shoal, maybe a sunken boat. I don't know what is going on."
 
I commercially fished lobster boats growing up and through college the most dangerous thing on commercial loster boats is getting caught in the lines and being dragged over board.

My job, always being the least senior, was to be in the back of the boat, taking the traps back (there are lines of 8-12 pots on each “string” of pots.) that sit on the tunnels of the boat. In between each of the pots sitting on the gunnels, there is anywhere from 50-200 feet of line attaching the posts together. Depending on the depth, there is another 250foot line on the lead and last pot on the line that runs to the surface. With a 10 pot string with 100 feet between pots, that’s 1500 feet of line flaked all over the back of the boat, with the ropes typically under a few inches of water to obscure the view. (See graphic for what a sting of pots looks like)

When you want to put the pots back in the water, the captain will “lay a course” and yell “pots in” when we are all lined up. At that point, I would throw the surface line and bouy n the water and then push the first pot over and try to stay the hell out of the other pots and lines when they naturally ripped off the deck into the water. Depending on how busy we were, or how shitty the seas were, sometimes they would be ripping off the deck fast.

Now with all that line flakes underwater on the deck, the rolling seas, and being on 15 hour shifts, it was a real joy. And I personally have known local friend who was pulled of deck and no one has seen him since. Not a godamn sound out of him. Just gone. The captain turned around and he was gone with the string. It happens and everyone is constantly thinking about it,, no matter how many years you work on the boat

That being said, you plot will certainly involve rope and the fact of how godamn dangerous it is on any boat, lmao. It could be as simple as one of the other hands simply flaking a line “behind” the stern guy without him noticing it. If you wanted to be dramatic and have them show up in the trawl net, well, that’s a plot option too. That would be a horrible way to go, get drown and battered around at 3-4 knots. And engine that knows anything about trawls realizes once your in that net, your not coming out. Game over.

Just my 2cents.
 
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Snag a small Russian submarine in the nets, in US waters. Espionage?
 
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