Does the Jones Act have anything to do with crew size?
There is talk on CNN of "black-box" voyage recorder(s). Is this the norm for ships like this, especially old repurposed ones?
I see no reports of EPIRB signals. Am I wrong to expect at least one of these to self-deploy when the ship went down?
...
Here's an interesting read from 1945 regarding a loss of warships in a Pacific typhoon. Some parallels to this incident. I also like Adm Nimitz's writing style. First rate guy on many levels.
Admiral Nimitz's Pacific Fleet Confidential Letter on Lessons of Damage in Typhoon
In conclusion, both seniors and juniors alike must realize that in bad weather, as in most other situations, safety and fatal hazard are not separated by any sharp boundary line, but shade gradually from one into the other. There is no little red light which is going to flash on and inform commanding officers or higher commanders that from then on there is extreme danger from the weather, and that measures for ships' safety must now take precedence over further efforts to keep up with the formation or to execute the assigned task. This time will always be a matter of personal judgment. Naturally no commander is going to cut thin the margin between staying afloat and foundering, but he may nevertheless unwittingly pass the danger point even though no ship is yet in extremis. Ships that keep on going as long as the severity of wind and sea has not yet come close to capsizing them or breaking them in two, may nevertheless become helpless to avoid these catastrophes later if things get worse. By then they may be unable to steer any heading but in the trough of the sea, or may have their steering control, lighting , communications, and main propulsion disabled, or may be helpless to secure things on deck or to jettison topside weights.
The time for taking all measures for a ship's safety is while still able to do so. Nothing is more dangerous than for a seaman to be grudging in taking precautions lest they turn out to have been unnecessary. Safety at sea for a thousand years has depended on exactly the opposite philosophy.
10. It is possible that too much reliance is being placed on outside sources for warnings of dangerous weather, and on the ability of our splendid ships to come through anything that wind and wave can do. If this be so, there is need for a revival of the age-old habits of self-reliance and caution in regard to the hazard from storms, and for officers in all echelons of command to take their personal responsibilities in this respect more seriously.
I underlined the sentence about Bowditch...9. Seamen of the present day should be better at forecasting weather at sea, independently of the radio, than were their predecessors. The general laws of storms and the weather expectancy for all months of the year in all parts of the world are now more thoroughly understood, more completely catalogued, and more readily available in various publications. An intensive study of typhoons and Western Pacific weather was made over a period of many years by Father Depperman at the Manila observatory, and his conclusions have been embodied in the material available to all aerologists. What Knight and Bowditch have to say on the subject is exactly as true during this war as it was in time of peace or before the days of the radio. Familiarity with these authorities is something that no captain or navigator can do without. The monthly pilot charts, issued to all ships, give excellent information as to the probable incidence and movements of typhoons. Stress on the foregoing is no belittlement of our aerological centers and weather broadcasts. But just as a navigator is held culpable if he neglects "Log, Lead, and Lookout" through blind faith in his radio fixes, so is the seaman culpable who regards personal weather estimates as obsolete and assumes that if no radio storm warning has been received, then all is well, and no local weather signs need cause him concern.
No, the Jones Act has nothing to do with crew size, the USCG does when they issue the COI.
No, the Jones Act has nothing to do with crew size, the USCG does when they issue the COI.
Thanks on the Jones Act. COI?
Certificate of inspection.
I see no reports of EPIRB signals. Am I wrong to expect at least one of these to self-deploy when the ship went down?
My head keeps going to places I don't like, when thinking about those poor souls and what they may have gone through. Perhaps for hours.BandB said:"Winds are super bad," she said. "Love to everyone."
And, from CNN
One crew member wrote her mother an email saying the crew was heading directly into Hurricane Joaquin. "Winds are super bad," she said. "Love to everyone."
That email can be interpreted in several ways. My guess is she did not mean they were literally heading directly in to a hurricane. But heading into the area where the storm might be.
If it was a yacht, there would be many more. A 280' yacht for charter has a crew of 29.
Perhaps it's recreational thinking, but I think of 33 for a ship that size and type, if anything, to be a small crew. Just thinking of all the cargo being carried that they must keep an eye on. Everything being done 24/7 so that means at any time you only have 11 crew working. A lot of ship and a lot of area for 11 people to handle.
Edit...with only 29 crew then only 10 on duty at a time.
There is talk on CNN of "black-box" voyage recorder(s). Is this the norm for ships like this, especially old repurposed ones?
I see no reports of EPIRB signals. Am I wrong to expect at least one of these to self-deploy when the ship went down?
Yes I believe all ships must have VDR's.
...I believe they do have a VDR. I hope the do and it's found, it would really help us put things together.
She makes it sound easy but how do you locate and recover a small item, 3 miles down, on a 790 foot ship with "391 shipping containers and about 294 trailers of cars."?Data recorder
Remotely operated underwater vehicles will be able to retrieve the recorder once it's located, she said
She makes it sound easy but how do you locate and recover a small item, 3 miles down, on a 790 foot ship with "391 shipping containers and about 294 trailers...
She makes it sound easy but how do you locate and recover a small item, 3 miles down, on a 790 foot ship with "391 shipping containers and about 294 trailers of cars."?
The US Navy found the missing Russian Golf class submarine in 18000 ft back in 1972. It can be done with unmanned submersibles.
Where would a VDR typically be located on a ship?
The US Navy found the missing Russian Golf class submarine in 18000 ft back in 1972. It can be done with unmanned submersibles.
It's not finding the ship that is the issue. It's finding the VDR.
Capt.Bill said:Some place like this.