RickB
Scraping Paint
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2007
- Messages
- 3,804
- Vessel Make
- CHB 48 Zodiac YL 4.2
*There was no steering to be done.* By the looks of the picture that boat didn't go 20 yards before coming to a dead halt.* She was in shallow water it seems.* That's what they call it when the bottom hits your boat.* When that boat was up right that rock was ten to fifteen*feet higher than the bottom of the keel if not more.* Someone on that bridge*screwed up big time.markpierce wrote:
"The cruise liner's captain, Paolillo said, then tried to steer his ship toward shallow waters, near Giglio's small port, to make evacuation by lifeboat easier. But after the ship started listing badly, lifeboat evacuation was no longer feasible, Paolillo said."
Indeed Marin, never a truer word said.* This incident puts me in mind of the following inexplicable loss of the Rusian cruise liner the Mikhail Lermontov, which even with a harbour pilot on board who knew Cook Straight like the back of his hand, took a hazardous course inside the Cape Jackson lighthouse, as they left Queen Charlotte sound on the northern end of New Zealand's South Island, when leaving Picton heading for Milford Sound, and heading west through the straight.* The unofficial theory which seems the only likely one is that the pilot allowed himself to be pressured by the Russian Captain to take a large liner through this "shortcut" to save some time, (how often is that the cause of a disaster..?)* Unsurprisingly they caught the one rock pillars of the reef the lighthouse was there to warn of, and, rather like this latest incident, the rescue was chaotic in the way the Russian crew behaved, but fortunately the locals ignored their reassurances that they did not need help, which incredibly was their initial response...once the original mayday, no doubt sent by someone more junior and unhindered by the politcs of it all...was responded to.* The rescue ships and smaller boats kept going in anyway, thank goodness.* Only one life was lost.* After everyone was off, the ship drifted into a nearby cove and finally sank.** At the official enquiry the poor pilot was apparently made the fall guy - again political reasons I suspect.* The following sites make for some interesting reading.* I will be very keen to hear the details regarding this latest disaster if and when they ever come out.Marin wrote:
The term "captain" is not always synonymous with "knows what he's doing."
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*I'm having trouble understanding this.* If they hit the rock off shore how it it that the picture that is on line has said rock still into the hull and the size of the hole looks to have been made by the rock that is sticking out of it?* It looks like it hit the rock just a 1/4 mile off shore and it sunk right there.charles wrote:In one report the captain said that the rock was hit and he BEACHED the ship to prevent a sinking. NOTE a report from the captain's attorney.
*Arctic Traveller wrote:
I always look at these situations and try to learn something.* Aside from avoiding the rocks, how would I handle a grounding once it had happened? Reportedly when the abandon ship order came many folks ended up jumping into the water, or hanging suspended in the life boats, unable to reach the water. If the ship was already on the bottom, or hard aground, would there be less chance of loss of life by ordering everyone off the ship, or would it be better to let the passengers work their way to the high side to wait for rescue while remaining dry?* Clearly, as the ship listed, it was very difficult to launch the lifeboats on either side.* Would it be possible in the heat of the moment to estimate the odds of the ship going completely under?* Most likely there would be no way, but if you knew the depth of the water one might guess she would not sink.*
So, were the passengers better off getting off the ship by jumping in the waterI doubt it, but then again, I'm at home sitting in my comfy chair, not in the wheelhouse facing the worst day of my life.* I guess the take away for me is to always be thinking "What if?"* What would my next move be?* How could I minimize the possible loss of life?* As a professional mariner, it's a fear I live with every time I climb up to the wheelhouse, but it's a healthy fear that keeps me alert at all times.*It's far too easy to make a simple mistake that could end in disaster. ....................Arctic Traveller
Trawler training at www.arctictraveller.com
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*Looking at the angle the ship settled at, the thought of a couple of thousand passengers clinging to the*port rail on a 45 degree angle conjures up the scene out of the movie Titanic where the frantic passengers climbed higher and higher to get away from the water, till they couldn't hold on any longer.Arctic Traveller wrote:
.If the ship was already on the bottom, or hard aground, would there be less chance of loss of life by ordering everyone off the ship, or would it be better to let the passengers work their way to the high side to wait for rescue while remaining dry?*
*$450 millionAndy G wrote:
No idea what that ship cost, ...*