Sally ship

[Jentine]

Old idea, current use

Sally Ship was not a ship but a method of loosening a vessel that ran aground from the mud holding her fast. In the days before sophisticated navigation equipment, ships ran aground much more often than today. A grounded ship could be freed with little or no hull damage if she could be rocked out of her muddy predicament. To free her, the order was given to "sally ship". The crew gathered in a line along one side and then ran from port to starboard and back and forth until the vessel began to roll. Often the rolling broke the mud's suction and she could be pulled free and gotten underway. Another tidbit of Naval lore.

[knottybuoyz]

Icebreakers still do that today. Some have "heeling" tanks that pump large amounts of water very quickly from wing tank to wing tank. The smaller icebreakers with buoy handling equipment (booms) will swing 10K or 15K lb buoy anchors from side to side. First time I wheeled the Griffon in Georgian Bay in the ice I managed to run us up on a pressure ridge. We ran hard astern for over an hour before we got off. They swung the stones (anchors) the whole time!