Dibblee Industries
Marine Hardware Circa 1960s Canada

W.J. Keating Ship-to-Ship Transfer Blocks

Bob Dibblee

W.J. Keating naval ship-to-ship transfer block swivel hook trunnion ears brass plate 1960s
W.J. Keating transfer block with swivel hook and trunnion ears. The rings on either side are the attachment points for the inhaul and outhaul lines.

These are W.J. Keating blocks built for ship-to-ship transfer — the operation of moving cargo, fuel, or personnel between two vessels moving in parallel at sea. The hardware is no longer in service. These photographs were taken for a supply catalogue, sometime in the 1960s.

The detail that distinguishes these from ordinary blocks is the pair of small rings — the trunnion ears — fixed to the body just below the swivel. Those rings are what made the system work. An inhaul line from one ship and an outhaul line from the other both attached there, so the block could be pulled back and forth along the highline strung between the two vessels without ever getting stranded in the middle.

W.J. Keating naval transfer block pear hook underway replenishment highline 1960s
A second block variant with open pear hook at the bottom. The rounded shell rides the highline; the hook carries the load below.

The block rides the highline inverted — sheave up, load hanging below — which is what allows it to travel. The swivel at the top lets it rotate freely as it goes. The brass plate carries the specification data: working load, part number, maker. This hardware is obsolete. The systems that replaced it are different in form, though not entirely different in principle.

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