I witnessed a rare event when I saw the boys on the Adrianople from Limassol doing a lifeboat drill while alongside in Foynes, Co. Limerick. The rarity of the event was the state of her lifeboat, from what I can see in the picture it doesn’t have a motor. So in 2008 there are ships going around with sail powered lifeboats. I suppose it might have its advantages, no motor maintenance, no fuel consumption all you need is a bit of a breeze and away you go. I wouldn’t particularly like to have to be involved in a rescue attempt if God forbid they had a man overboard or if they were caught in situation where they has to abandon in bad weather. I didn’t see the boat on the other side, it might have had a motor.
The badly painted name on the stern and the paint over job on the sail of the lifeboat reveals the former name of Golden Farmer, she was discharging grain on the day in Foynes.
“Vomit Point” and “The Vomit” are two interestingly named geographic points on the chart near St. Annes Head outside Milford Haven in Wales. They may have nothing whatsoever to do with getting sick, but I’m sure there are plenty of ferry passengers who might disagree after crossing the Irish sea being bounced around. The first question asked of visitors from England was “did you have a good crossing” meaning did you have to puke or not. Nowadays Ryanair transports more visitors to Ireland than the ferries, but the puking is still the same……
The name of the port here Milford Haven has been a cause for great amusement among some of the younger guys, they have changed the letters around a bit and abbreviated it to Milf. Heaven, pathetic really. Some people are easily amused, youth these days.
Sooner or later you get caught. I thought that I had a great scam worked out, buy an article on the internet from the US and get it shipped by UPS to me. Great door to door service sign on the funny upside down screen with the electronic pen and Bob’s your aunties plumber!
Well if only life was so easy, VAT has to be paid of course on imports, now with the $US doing so poorly at the moment it is worth doing a bit of pricerunning to see whats what where, so I figured out the price and even if I got caught and how could I, with my foolproof scheme I’d still be quids in. So I clicked and clicked and 4 days later the big brown van appeared and my new camera in it in a brown box. Result.
No mention of VAT, or import duty. I opened up and still no papers relating to VAT and import duty and the days went on and my smile got bigger, YES! the scheme worked, I started telling people and showing off the flashy camera, people were impressed, dollar signs started clicking into their eyes also, I got enquiries, what website, how much did you save, etc. etc., I willingly parted with the knowledge thinking how had this scheme not been thought of before and how clever I was.
2 weeks later, a letter arrives with a bill for VAT and duty, my UPS friends had done me the favour of importing my camera and paying the VAT. Of course they had the taxman always wins. How clever was I then. My smile inverted rapidly, I had to ring frantically to all and sundry to try to stop their clicking and clicking, fortunately they had been more cautious than me.
I still saved a few Euros, thanks to the cheapness of the deal in the US and the dollar rate.
Distant shot of the ship that was lying on it’s side in Antwerp taken through a lens of a binoculars. She is in dock in Antwerp being repaired after her capsizing IMC has a detailed report. http://www.imcbrokers.com/blog/2007/11/19/repubblica-di-genova-towed-to-drydock/
I was tempted to get closer but that would have meant breaking and entering, trespassing and ISPS infringement, so cowardice being the better part of valour, I decided to stay on my bridge and use binoculars.
The Chief Officer from the Wilson Garston http://timstimes.net/2007/12/30/drunken-sailor/ that ran aground on Christmas Day received a prison sentence of 3 months for “grovsjöfylleri” as they say in Swedish. For being drunk in charge of a ship in other words. The 33 year old Russian officer was alone on the bridge at the time and was asleep due to the influence alcohol and medication. He had 0.89 per mg of alcohol in his blood, the law in Sweden states that 1,0 mg is “grovsjöfylleri” but in this case because he was asleep and the ship grounded he got that sentence.
Swedish links Sydsvenskan with photographs and here also Sydsvenskan which shows how the ship became a tourist attraction.
Back on the ship again, more work….
Found a new link to a site that gives information about Containers called Container Shipping Information Service with the nifty URL of http://www.shipsandboxes.com it’s worth a browse.
A tragic occurrence yesterday in the Baltic where 2 seafarers lost their lives and a third was badly injured in a lifeboat incident. They were apparently doing some maintenance on the boat when it released unexpectedly, the two deaths caused by injuries sustained in the fall. A report in English from the Swedish news site The Local (click here)
The Swedish police gave a statement saying that as the accident occurred in International waters they would not be carrying out an investigation. The flag state is Panama and the owner is in Switzerland. The accident will be most likely investigated by the Panamanian authorities according to their regulations (Click)
A search on “lifeboat deaths” or “lifeboat accidents” on Google spits up far too many cases where seafarers have died in drills, or during maintenance. I witnessed an accident myself as a cadet where an engineer and a deck officer were badly injured when a lifeboat released from one of the davitt arms and they fell heavily in the boat. Luckily for them none of the injuries were life threatening.
What is needed is a rethink of the design of lifeboats, a radical overhaul of the whole idea, where the lifeboat could be for example an entire deck that floats free. Something for the Naval architects and engineers to think about maybe, in the meantime routines for securing boats under drills and maintenance should be improved so that an accidental releases won’t mean accidental deaths.
A pilot getting ready to board, this sight may become a thing of the past in Sweden according to an article today from the newspaper Göteborgs Posten. An inquiry has been carried out by the Swedish Government into making pilotage more effective, one of the proposals is that ships can be piloted from land with the use of modern techniques available to navigators today. An overhaul of the pilotage legislation is also proposed as well as increased pilot dispensations for ships that are regular visitors to ports.
No surprise to read in the article that Pilots are against the idea of piloting from land by VHF and or computer, one pilot said that you have to be onboard to be able to steer a ship correctly, to be able to feel the characteristics of a ship. I agree in part with the Pilots but also feel that there are many occasions where the services of a pilot are not required, and in some ports you can be delayed because you have to wait for a pilot, to take you out on a 15 minute pilotage, you may have to wait a few hours for that 15 minutes.
The answer is not easy, but more flexibility is required in some cases and compulsory pilotage should be continued where local knowledge is important for safe berthing of ships, or ships carrying dangerous goods
The suggestions are hardly new thinking in any case, in Rotterdam you get a VHF pilot if the weather is too bad for a pilot to board, a bit of an irony really, if the weather is too bad for the pilot to board they trust the master to navigate whereas in better weather you need a pilot on the bridge? Pilotage dispensations are hardly a new idea either, ferry Masters have been getting dispensations for years, more widespread issuing of dispensations will have to be carefully thought through though, an oil spill or collision in port with no pilot on board is unwelcome to say the least.
The real reason for the inquiry is probably more likely to do with the difficulty in finding enough qualified people to do the job of pilot, a problem across the industry, than any need for using new technology. New technology didn’t help the container ship LT Cortesia from going aground in the English Channel, and you can bet your last dollar that it would never have happened had they a deep sea pilot onboard.
Lots Utredninging ( Pilotage inquiry) in Swedish
Göteborgs Posten article.in Swedish
When you travel around the world on ships you tend to come across interesting cultures and you might end up in a bar or two to taste the available culture! I personally haven’t been to Syria but one of my pals introduced me to the above drink the other night and we had to try it out, it certainly puts a different spin on the 1001 nights. However alcohol is prohibited for believers of Islam according to the Koran, not that I know this for a fact but I have heard it thousands of times in the media, so it must be true? A quick check on the trustworthy sources on the net confirm what I have heard so it must be true! ( except for medicinal purposes apparently)
The above product made by the Syrian Arab Company for Grape Processing, has no less than 51.5% alcohol!
A type of Ouzo or Pastis which is mixed with water before consumption, fairly sweet and a strong taste of aniseed, the good people at Wikipedia have a definition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arak_(distilled_beverage)
So it may be forbidden to drink the stuff but there is nothing wrong apparently with making it, and I suppose you have to taste it to make sure it is made well? On further examination the word Alcohol is actually derived from the Arabic “al-kuhl” I don’t think they invented it, but perfected the technique and there are plenty cultures that made the discovery independently, the Romans called it Aqua Vitae, and the Irish Uisce Beatha which means the same as the Latin and becomes Whiskey upon anglification…but that is another kettle of fish, or barrel of malt whichever you prefer! Cheers.
The container vessel LT Cortesia (click on the name for more info about the ship)went aground on the Varne bank in the English Channel about 9 nautical miles from Dover Harbour yesterday. The British news was full of stories about a giant container ship aground, and that later it had been refloated, and there are plenty links on the net about the when and the where of the whole story. The big questions are the how and the why of the grounding, the Varne bank is not a concealed navigation hazard, anyone who has been up and down the English channel a few times knows about it and even if you had never been there before it is well charted and there is a great big red light on top of it that can be seen for miles around. It is possible to make all sorts of assumptions about what could have happened to cause the ship to steam onto a sand bank, like was the echo sounder on and the alarm set? was there sufficient position fixing? who had the conn and did everyone know this? was there a passage plan with parallel indexing and no go areas, did they know what the draught was in relation to the available depth of water? and so on and so on. The MAIB will in due course publish a report, until then it will be speculation all over the shop.
From the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/7167666.stm
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