Maritime Navigation, Geology, Containerisation & Cell Biology – Comprehensive Study Notes

Britannia ruled the waves
- Britain was the technological powerhouse of its era; naval dominance enabled the movement of people, goods, and military forces.
Great Western Railway vs. Great Western Land-mass?
- Speaker references “Great Western” as a very old portion of continental crust that has experienced volcanism.
Early speed measurement at sea
- Sailors used a long rope with evenly spaced knots; by letting it trail astern for a known number of seconds they could measure speed in “knots.”
- Example procedure: count the knots that pass overboard during a fixed time-interval to calculate speed.
Longitude problem
- Latitude had been solvable for centuries, but longitude required accurate timekeeping.
- Solution: keep a clock set to the time at a known reference point (Greenwich, England) and compare it to local solar noon.
- Establishment of 0^\circ longitude at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich ➜ “Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).”
- Reference to pre-digital era: people rang the BBC phone line for the exact time signal.
- Modern satellites now give instantaneous position fixes, reducing shipwrecks and navigational errors.

Shield volcanoes
- Broad, gently sloping, formed by low-viscosity basaltic lava that oozes rather than explodes.
- Hawaii presented as the archetype.
- Classroom metaphor: “like a blood-pluk” (thick, slow-moving fluid).
Stratovolcanoes (explosive type)
- High viscosity magmas ➜ gas pressure builds ➜ violent eruptions (“does it squirt like a volcano?”).
Importance
- Volcanic outgassing contributed to early atmosphere & climate regulation.
- Ancient landmass (“Great Western”) is extremely old and shows evidence of long-extinct volcanoes.

Pre-1950s brake-bulk shipping
- Cargo handled piece-by-piece (“grate bulk”): \approx 8 days loading + \approx 8 days unloading per voyage.
- Labour-intensive, high damage/loss risk; relied on stevedores (dock workers who load/unload ships).
Malcolm McLean’s 1937 idea
- As a frustrated truck driver, envisioned lifting his entire trailer onto the ship intact ➜ standardised shipping container.
Ideal X – first container ship
- Sailed with 58 containers; demonstration that cargo could remain sealed from origin to destination.
Impact of containerisation
- Dramatically cut port time ➜ lower costs ➜ explosion of global trade & consumer choice.
- Modern ports (e.g.
  Fremantle) now dominated by container cranes; bulk wheat terminals exist but most general cargo is containerised.

Stevedore = dock worker loading/unloading ships.
GMT / UTC still maintained by atomic clocks at Greenwich.
Satellite navigation solved “Where are we?” quickly & accurately; still doesn’t eliminate every maritime accident but greatly reduces them.