On Christmas day the Wilson Garston ran aground outside Helsingborg in Sweden. The stretch of water between Helsingborg and Helsingör on the Danish side is thick with ferries back and forth between Sweden and Denmark, a place where the traffic heading North and South has to be on full concentration for any eventual manouvres that may be required to give way for a ferry and vice versa.
The mate on the bridge of the Wilson Garston was asleep due to the effects of alcohol, so the ship was running out of control in one of the busiest waterways in the region. Several ships tried in vain to make contact with the ship but to no avail, in the end he ran aground. Fortunately there was not much damage to the ship or the environment, the sleeping watchkeeper got a rude awakening and was arrested suspected for being drunk in charge of a ship, the court case to be held in a week, while he dries off in remand.
The consequences could have been disastrous but this case will go largely unnoticed because of the lack of damage, some Christmas present for the shipping company and the drunken sailor who is cooling his jets in a Swedish prison for the holidays.
It also casts a smear on the trade and gives the general public the image of jolly jack tar the drunkard, sad really because it is not the case.
Archive for December, 2007
We were leaving port the other day, or evening as the small video clips will show when we had a visit from a very loud and bright flying object, they started flashing searchlights across the deck and it was all very noisy. I went to the port bridge window and there was a big Helicopter of type unidentifiable about 10 metres from me the co-pilot had a number board with “69″ on it and he was gesticulating vigorously with a flashlight at the number, the penny finally dropped inside my head and I lifted the VHF tuned to channel 69 (nothing to do with any other purported uses of this cipher combination), as I tuned in an extremely efficient British voice crackled across the airwaves, “Coastguard helicopter Whiskey Delta, on exercise, permission to place a man on deck, OVER” I gave the OK “Whiskey Delta, permission granted” thinking to myself these are the boys that could make the difference on a dark and dirty night in the North Sea, so practice away lads.
My cameraman missed the first part of the operation we were all fairly awestruck at the proximity, noise and presence of such a big machine flying a few feet overhead. There are four small sequences showing the winchman exercise with a stretcher basket and finally fly off into the murk.
The last clip is a few seconds of the Dunkirk pilot making his entrance, there was too much wind for a launch so he had to arrive by chopper. I took a photo as they flew past the bridge and blogged previously under Flying Pilots
Murphy’s law of bridges and road blocks came into effect as I was returning from a cycle tour in Le Havre , just as I was approaching the bridge the alarm bells started to ring, and a barge started to line up to make her pass as soon as the bridge opened. There was nothing to do only enjoy the view and make a small video recording of the event.
Later there was a road block with lots of big French police with big mustaches on motorbikes who didn’t like the look of my camera so I put it away, a base of one of those huge windmills was passing another bridge, complete traffic stop. Good job I wasn’t in a real hurry.
Reading a great book about polar explorers from the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th, probably not a book to be reading when on a ship because of the amount of shipwrecks and all the disasters that happen to the various explorers, great read all the same.
I was working at a chart agents in Sweden a few years ago and had to organise charts for the Icebreaker Odens expedition to the North Pole, seen below doing icebreaking in the Gulf of Bothnia last year. The charts were Canadian and US charts, but the area around the pole doesn’t really have a detailed sea chart, theres no point, or there is the North Pole, but apart from that it’s just ice. So they use a plotting chart. Oden’s and a US icebreaker called Healy’s expedition is well documented on a few sites like…..HOTRAX05 and ARCTIC EXPLORERS and SCIENCE DAILY and there are tons more. Oden was the first non nuke ice breaker to reach the pole. It is also a sign of the decrease in ice thickness at the pole that such an expedition was possible.
Sign of the times? Going ashore was once one of the perks of the job, something everyone looked forward to but now with ISPS and Security it has become difficult but on top of that you may have to deal with being the possibility of being attacked! The following is an example of what I mean.
We arrived in port yesterday evening, to an oil terminal beside a small village beside a big city that shall remain nameless to protect the innocent . On arrival we had the usual paperwork with the officials, agents, surveyors and loading masters. As the paperwork was drawing to a close the agent asked me if any of the crew wanted to go ashore. I replied that I’m sure there are a few of the lads that would like to do some shopping see the sights etc., his face changed into a grim expression and he handed me a piece of paper from the local law enforcement agency, unsigned and with no header in fact nothing to determine it’s origin except the name of the local constabulary was mentioned in the text.
Advice to sailors….it started, Police are warning sailors especially foreign nationals are being subjected to physical and verbal abuse by a small minority of local youths…….
It went on to say that you should travel in groups, avoid short cuts, stay in well lit areas etc., then it said that police resources are limited and that if you were subjected to any abuse you should run away shouting and not fight, but you are allowed to use REASONABLE FORCE in self defence with something you might be carrying anyway for example a torch or bunch of keys…..Maglite orders will be on the increase….(What if you “happened” to be carrying a piece of 2″ by 4″?)
So much for a nice run up the road. Better to stay onboard and watch satellite TV and surf the net than go ashore and be beaten up by a bunch of skinheaded hooligans.
The German Brotherhood of Elbe SWATH Döse at the mouth of the river Elbe approaching with the river pilot for our approach to the Kiel Canal.
Netherlands Loodswezen SWATH boats Perseus (a constellation and Greek mythical figure who killed Medusa) and Cetus ( another constellation and Greek for Whale, the one that swallowed Jonah….) in action off Rotterdam (Perseus) and Amsterdam (Cetus)
One of the famous Grimaldi Line Ships, seen here leaving Le Havre on her way to Bilbao, then Casablanca, Dakar, Conakry, Rio de Janerio, Santos, Montevideo, Zarate, Buenos Aires, Paranagua, Santos, Rio and Dakar. Talk about a fantastic trip.
She will be back in Dakar for the second time on the 17th of January, and New Year will be celebrated between Santos and Montevideo. You can take a cruise as a passenger and enjoy a more robust and realistic cruise, seeing the working end of a port instead of the normal shoebox cruisers with thousands of passengers. A round trip can cost from €2500 up to €5000.
There is a full rundown on their homepage Grimaldi Freighter Cruises
, one of the interesting is that you can take your own car or bike, and then go for a spin around in the country you visit. It is a fairly unique type of trip. They must be fully booked all the time. This particular vessel could do with a lick of white paint in places, the disadvantage of white, the rust shows up so well.
Originally uploaded by kristian gos
Stoc Regina, Stockholm seen at Karlstad on lake Vänern, Sweden. Photo taken by Kristian Gos 20th December 2006.
Fantastic mirror image, hard to believe it is late December.
Thysdrus is the latin name for El Djem, whose amphitheater was built in the 2nd century AD, 800 years later some guy called “J.Montl” among others while on a visit there decided to carve his name into the stone. In 1914, the same year the “Great War” broke out and 2 years before the Easter Rising. I thought that the Gladiator film was filmed here but apparently not.
J.Montl from somewhere on earth semi-immortalized in the stone of El Djem.
Best Roman ruins in Africa say the tourist blurb, and better preserved than the Coliseum, never been there so I couldn’t tell you.
The same year the Panama Canal was opened and the first ship to sail through was the SS Ancon seen below puffing out a load of black smoke.
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