In Tallinn a few kilometers from Muuga there were riots going on about the Estonian Governments decision to uproot the grave of the unknown soldier, meanwhile in the port of Muuga it was business as usual. Of course we were oblivious at the time, only afterwards did we hear the news. It maybe explained the tense atmosphere between the ethnic Russian loading master and the Estonian surveyor, who kept shutting the other guy up.
The Flagman 3 seen here approaching her jetty, a few dents in the hull testament to the hard career she has had, she started life as a Shell Coastal tanker around the UK coast, and has had several different names over the years, I couldn’t make out the last name under Flagman 3 as there were so many names removed and new ones welded on, Shell was still visible and “ity” also the Everards flag symbol was still visible on the funnel and London could be clearly seen under the cyrillic Flagman 3 St.Petersburg on her stern. I would have taken more photos but the security guard was eyeing me suspiciously as I moved around the jetty, supposedly inspecting our hull paintwork. He wasn’t going to be fooled for long.
During the stay she had a minor spill, which caused a small panic on the deck with clean up taking place swiftly. Later on her entire crew changed, with the offsigners looking as motley as any merchant navy crew could, dressed in regulation track suit bottoms and army surplus with merchant navy suitcases i.e. black plastic bags and cardboard boxes covered in tape, they marched up the jetty single file all looking happy as released convicts.
The bunker barge Keila of Tallinn on a mission to bunker, she was moving about the harbour all day.
The original passenger list from the RMS Titanic have been published digitally and are available to view online at Findmypast.com
You have to register to see the lists and it is free at the moment but will cost money later, so if you are interested get over there soon.
Released just in time for the 95th anniversary of the most famous shipping disaster of our time. The sinking of the Titanic brought about the adoption of SOLAS in 1914 or International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, which in it’s updated form is still the bible on board every ship.
In Belfast an entire area called Titanic Quarter is being developed in time for the Centenary in 2012. It is expected that thousands of tourists will come to Belfast for this event, and the city should benefit from the peace dividend as long as the politicians keep it together for the next 5 years.
I wrote a Post the other day about Independence for Scotland, and today to my delight there was a report item on Sky News about how English people who were polled support the idea of Independence for Scotland.
56% in England said they thought it was time to break up the Union
41% of Scots were in favour of independence.
If the SNP get a majority in the elections they plan to hold a referendum on the issue.
Will the UK flag look like this in the future?
Of course the level of interest in Scottish independence must raise the issue of the total dissolution of the Act of Union, it becomes irrelevant, and thus does the status of Northern Ireland, which will be hard pushed to exist on its own, so maybe the prospect of a re union with the rest of it’s geographical and cultural island can take place, of course this will have to be done with full consent from all parties, and some sort of federal or Irish act of Union will have to take place perhaps, a new name even…..like the United Island of Ireland?
After browsing the Norwegian newspaper sites I have made a brief account of the court hearing in Ålesund Norway 25th April about the capsize of the Bourbon Dolphin.
The court heard from several witnesses including the off duty Master and one of the Officers who was rescued from the scene. Geir Syversen (32) described how the sequence of events started when another vessel the Highland Valour failed to retrieve the heavy anchor cable from the Bourbon Dolphin which was apparently too small for the job. The Highland Valour during seven attempts to take the chain caught it twice but dropped it both times, increasing the strain on the Bourbon Dolphin.
There was also a near collision between the two vessels which meant that the Bourbon Dolphin had to go full ahead on her engines to avoid a collision, calling into question the seamanship and shiphandling of the Highland Valour.
Then the Valour pushed the Dolphin in the wrong direction and the Dolphin was pushed out of position which meant that her bow thruster got overheated and the Chief Engineer asked him to reduce the load on the thruster.
The Domino effect was in full swing and problems stared mounting for the Bourbon Dolphin, when the Master decided that emergency measures were required, he asked the Chief Officer to use the quick release system to get rid of the anchor chain, but it was not so quick and by then the Chief Engineer called up to say that the engines had stopped.
By this stage hope was out for the ship and it had listed over on its side 90 degrees port side down.
Some of the crew managed to get off before she turned completely around. Then the survivors managed to climb into a raft and others were plucked out of the water.
The Master and his 14 year old son were among 8 crew lost in the accident.
The Norwegian Goverment has set up a Committee to investigate further into the accident.
Norwegian Maritime Directorate
My good old hit counter tells me that my top 5 countries of visitors are the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark & Sweden. The first two have the word United as a prefix and not the third although it is only a matter of time before the “reintegration of the national territory” takes place to quote a bit of the old article 2 of the Irish Constitution which a few of Unionists in the north got all upset about, it didn’t matter about their repressive tactics over the centuries but a few words out of place from the papist taigs was not on.
This word United in front of Kingdom is an interesting one these days, how united is the Kingdom and why isn’t called a Queendom?
The Scottish Independence question is getting more and more time in the media and speculation about “Independence by Christmas” was being spoken about by some commentators. So what becomes of the United Kingdom when Scotland wants out? The raison d’etre of the Union hangs on Scotland really, the Unionists in Norn Iron all point to Scotland as their ancestral home, what if all of a sudden they find that Bonny Scotland is the Republic of Scotland?
What happens to all the oil money England sucks out of Scotland and the military and Balmoral?
On the SNP’s home page they cite the sucess stories of Ireland and Norway as independent and near neighbours. Their slogan is It’s time.
Norway has oil like Scotland and the Irish are culturally aligned with the Scots, we showed them how to make Whiskey they pulled out an e and the world of Whisky is more well known and successful than the Irish stuff.
There is another site called Scottish Independance with Saor Alba and Failte on the first page. Citing James Connolly as a great Scottish politician, which is true, however he is more well known in Ireland as hero and martyr of the 1916 Rising being shot dead by firing squad propped up in a chair as he was too weak to stand. Whatever about the ownership of James Connolly in history this site gives plenty of links and interesting information about the campaign for independence.
In fact there are tons of sites about Scottish Independence, another interesting one is Siol nan Gaidheal with more links there.
Now all this pro-independence is all very well and good, but there has to be an anti-independence movement? Must be the Labour Party and the Scottish Unionists, and the Conservatives?
Will there be partition, and what flag will the Rangers fans use when the Union Jack becomes defunct?
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