Tims Times

The Maltese flagged Bulk Carrier Warrior built in 1984.

The skipper of this rust bucket must have been a bit mad, or maybe on medication when he decided to cross the Atlantic from the US to Europe. There are two reasons for this assumption,

1. The ship had two metre long cracks in the hull, which were covered in silver tape and painted, to match the rest of the hull.
2. The United States Coastguard (mentioned previously in post 131) had discovered the damage, and had said the ship was not to put to sea until a proper repair had been carried out. The coastguard had recieved a tip off from a crew member,( who gets a reward under a whistle blowers scheme.)(and could have been the Captain himself)

So not only is he putting his life and his crews life at risk, he risks losing his ship and cargo, polluting the environment and getting on the wrong side of the Americans. Professional seafarers? Commercial pressure from the owners maybe is a large factor, it is probably cheaper to let the ship sink, allow the crew to drown then just collect on the insurance than to repair the ship properly. Or maybe I’m being a bit cynical? 
Trying to cover up cracks in the hull shows a total lack of competence and complete disregard for their own safety and to those that would have to go and rescue them in their open lifeboats on a dark and dirty night somewhere in the Atlantic.

The owners are now being charged by the US Coastguard for failing to carry out repairs prior to sailing, if you consider the state of the lifeboat and the general appearance of the ship, you would want to be mad to work in such a ship, added to the fact that the damage sustained could get worse and the ship sink. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

Obviously she is still trading away these photos were taken at Flushing, the Netherlands by GeertvanKesteren-”Zappa” whose photos appear in Shipspotting.com The photo was taken in February, the cracks were found last November by the Coastguard.

Thanks to Geert for the photos, his website is on the sidebar and here http://home.hetnet.nl/~kobad/index.html .