The Costa Concordia’s Fatal Salute – “Inexplicable Error” or “Nice Tradition”?

Posted on by January 17, 2012

The Costa Concordia “Saluting” Giglio Last August

In a recent press conference, Costa Crociere chairman and CEO Pier Luigi Foschi blamed the grounding of the Costa Concordia on an “inexplicable” error by the captain.  Mr Foschi said: “This route was put in correctly. The fact that it left from this course is due solely to a manoeuvre by the commander that was unapproved, unauthorised and unknown to Costa.”  He went on to say that the captain had sailed close to land to “show the ship to the port” and to “make a salute“.

It is unusual for a corporation to assign blame to one of its own personnel so quickly after a casualty and before the formal investigation has even begun.  The company appears to wish to characterize Captain Francesco Schettino’s actions as those of one man acting “inexplicably.”  But were his actions “inexplicable” or were they part on a what amounted to an ongoing tradition of Costa ships sailing perilously close to the island of Giglio to deliver a “salute”?

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A New Brigantine for San Francisco?

Posted on by January 17, 2012

Alan Olson, a Sausalito boat builder and founder of the educational sailing nonprofit Call of the Sea,  has some ambitious plans.  He wants to build a new 140-foot wood long brigantine to be used as a sail training ship for the San Francisco Bay area and he would like to see it completely to coincide with the San Francisco America’s Cup during the summer of 2013.  His new project has been named, Educational Tall Ship for San Francisco Bay.

Sailing in Marin: Sausalito boat builder out to construct tall ship by America’s Cup
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Update: Costa Concordia – Why Did the Ship Roll and is She Slipping into Deeper Water?

Posted on by January 16, 2012

One of the more alarming aspects of the sinking of the Costa Concordia was the dramatic roll that the ship took after the grounding.  She is now sitting with a list of roughly 80 degrees with almost half of the ship flooded.  Passenger ships have been designed to avoid listing when damaged since at least the Lusitania in 1915, when longitudinal bulkheads which allowed flooding only on one side of the ship, accelerated the capsize and sinking.  The Costa Concordia however is in a different situation. She is resting on a rock ledge.  Once the ship was no longer floating but supported on rocks, she lost stability and rolled on the uneven bottom.

There is now concern that in deteriorating weather, the ship might slip off the ledge into deeper water.  Rescue efforts on the ship were suspended indefinitely today when divers heard noises suggesting movement.  Thus far, the recorded movements of the ship have been small but if the ship does sink in deeper water the environmental impact from the leaking of the ship’s fuel tanks could be significant.  The Dutch salvage company, Smit Tak, has been contracted to pump fuel from the ship and begin salvage operations.

Cruise disaster: Costa Concordia slipping into the sea
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Korean Tanker Doola No. 3 Explodes, 5 dead, 6 missing

Posted on by January 16, 2012

Doola No. 3 Photo: Yonhap

On Sunday, the 6535 dwt  South Korean tanker, Doola No. 3, exploded in the Yellow Sea near the port of Incheon.  Of the crew of 16, 5 are confirmed dead while 6 are missing.  The explosion ripped the tanker in half.  The ship was traveling in ballast after discharging a cargo of gasoline.  The Doola No. 3 typically transports diesel fuel.  The cause is still undermined but an ignition of gasoline fumes is suspected to have caused the explosion.

Doola 3
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USCG Icebreaking Cutter Healy – A Fleet of One

Posted on by January 16, 2012

USCGC Healy - the US Icebreaker Fleet

The United States has something like eleven aircraft carriers, fifty nine destroyers, thirty frigates, seventy nine submarines, thirty amphibious assault ships as well as numerous minesweepers patrol craft and supply ships.  The navy’s battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined.   Quite a few ships.  In a perfect world we would never use any of them, though we are obviously far from a perfect world.

So how many operational icebreakers does the US have? We have an Arctic coast, after all.  As events of the last week or two have shown, we have a need for ice breaking.   The answer is –  one. The US has only one medium icebreaker – the USCG Healy.  The Coast Guard has two other aging heavy icebreakers, the Polar Sea and the Polar Star, but neither are in service. The Polar Sea broke down in 2010 and the Coast Guard has decommissioned her, while the Polar Star is being refit and may be available by 2013.

Icebreaker POLAR SEA sidelined by engine troubles

AS an update on the mission to provide emergency fuel to icebound Nome, Alaska, in which the USCG Cutter Healy escorted the Russian tanker through the ice, the transfer of fuel is expected to start today. It is unclear how long the transfer will take.  For safety, the transfer will only take place during the daylight which in Nome is currently 5 hours per day.

Tanker carrying fuel arrives at iced-in Alaska city

Update: Costa Concordia – Three More Bodies Found, Death Toll Rises to Six (Updated 1/16/12)

Posted on by January 16, 2012

The Italian Coast Guard announced that the bodies of two elderly people were found in a flooded restaurant and the body of one passenger was located in a passageway on the Costa Concordia, raising the confirmed deaths from the grounding and sinking of the ship to six. There are still 15 passengers or crew missing following the casualty.

Costa Concordia: Death Toll Rises to Six

Costa Concordia – Steering towards Disaster, What Happened?

Posted on by January 16, 2012

The question being asked by almost everyone is “how could this have happened to a modern cruise ship?”   The Costa Concordia was a modern ship, operating in well charted waters, in good weather and calm seas. Obviously, despite a wide range of speculation, no one currently has the answer.  What is known is often contradictory or simply mystifying.  The captain maintains that the ship hit an uncharted rock and implies that there was nothing wrong with their course.  If however AIS plots from various sources are accurate, the ship was steered very close to the island of Giglio and specifically cut through a passage near the popular dive spot, Le Scole, between two large rocks which was suitable only for vessels much smaller than the almost 1,000 foot long cruise ship.  (Update: More recent AIS plots are showing a passage to the east of the islands, but still extremely close.)

Costa Concordia: A major navigational error, or what?
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Update: Costa Concordia – Three Survivors Found Aboard, Missing Down to 17, Captain Detained

Posted on by January 15, 2012

A Korean couple on their honeymoon, who had been trapped below decks on the cruise ship Costa Concordia for over 24 hours after the ship ran aground and sank in shallow water near the island of Giglio, off Italy’s Tuscan coast, were rescued yesterday.  A third survivor; reportedly a member of the ship’s crew, suffering from a broken leg; was also found and taken by helicopter this morning to a hospital ashore.  Italian officials now say that six crew members and 11 passengers are still missing out of the more than 4,200 people on board the cruise ship when she was evacuated.  There are three confirmed dead among the passengers and crew.

The ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, 52, has been arrested, and is being detained in the nearby town of Grosseto on charges of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship.  The captain claims that the ship was on course but had hit uncharted rocks, an assertion vigorously denied by local authorities.

Thousands Evacuated as Cruise Ship Costa Concordia Strikes Reef Off Italy – At Least Three Dead

Posted on by January 14, 2012

Just two hours after leaving port in Civitavecchia, the cruise ship Costa Concordia hit a reef near the island of Giglio, off Italy’s Tuscan coast, reportedly ripping a 165-foot gash in its hull.  The ship began flooding and rolled on its side.  3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew were evacuated in a nightime rescue by lifeboats, local craft and helicopters. While there have been reports of six deaths, thus far only three bodies have been recovered. Divers have been brought in to search the flooded portions of the ship while the decks above water are being searched for missing passengers.  Over 50 passengers are reported to be unaccounted for.

Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio
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Civil War Confederate Submarine H.L. Hunley Unveiled

Posted on by January 14, 2012

The Confederate Navy submarine H.L. Hunley was unveiled yesterday for the first time since it was recovered  from the ocean floor near Charleston more than a decade ago.  The vessel, a 42 feet long iron cylinder,  is credited as the first “successful” submarine in that it sank the USS Housatonic on February 17, 1864 during the US Civil War.  It was not a particular success in any other regard, as the Hunley sank before reaching port, killing her crew of eight.   Prior to her first and only attack, the Hunley had sunk twice before, killing an additional 13 crew, including her inventor and namesake, Horace L. Hunley.  The wreckage of the Hunley was discovered in 1970 by  the archaeologist E. Lee Spence.  The wreck was raised on August 8, 2000 and transported to the Charleston Navy Yard where it has undergone over a decade of research and restoration.

Complete Civil War submarine unveiled for first time

Update: Waiting for the Dawn – Tanker Renda and USCG Icebreaker Healy Six Miles From Nome

Posted on by January 13, 2012

The Russian tanker Renda, carrying 1.3 million gallons of emergency fuel, escorted by the USCG icebreaker Healy are within 6 NM of Nome, Alaska  on Friday morning.  They are waiting for sunrise before advancing closer. Daylight will make moving though the ice safer and will help to pinpoint the staging area from whence they can start discharging the cargo of diesel oil and gasoline.  Dawn in Nome today arrives at Nome at around 11:30 AM local time  (9:30 PM GMT.)

Fuel-bearing ship just 6 miles from Nome

Laura Dekker, Mark Twain, the Internet and the Media

Posted on by January 13, 2012

We recently posted about a minor kerfuffle involving Dutch bureaucrats who were unhappy over 16 year old Laura Dekker not keeping up with her school work while sailing alone around the world.   It brought to mind the old adage from Mark Twain, “Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.”   Laura recently seemed to be making almost the same point, without directly addressing schooling:

“I am looking forward to my arrival and officially end my journey even though I feel like I already accomplished what I had set out to do a long time ago,” Dekker writes. “I have learned very much about myself along the way and I also have learned very much from all the different places and the many different people that I came in contact with in so many different countries.”

I wonder if the distraught bureaucrats can understand the scope of  what Laura has learned as it compares to their incomplete lesson plans.
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Update: Tracking the USCG Icebreaker Healy

Posted on by January 12, 2012

The internet  is a wonderful thing. I am sitting in my office, which is around 70 degrees F (21 degrees C), drinking a hot cup of coffee, while tracking the painfully slow progress of the USCG Icebreaker Healy as it escorts the Russian tanker Renda through sea ice in the Bering Sea in an attempt to deliver emergency fuel supplies to the Alaskan town of Nome. On the decks of the Healy, the temperature is -11 degrees F (-24 degress C.) In the last 12 hours, the ships have averaged less than 3 knots.  They are currently about 70 NM from Nome.

Thanks to Wendy for pointing out the Sailwx.org page – USCGC Healy — NEPP — position and weather.

The Treacherous Antarctic Fisheries – Sinking, Flooding and Fire

Posted on by January 11, 2012

3 sailors died in fire on Jung Woo Photo: CCAMLR, Natasha/Associated Press

The Patagonian toothfish, better known on Western restaurant menus as Chilean sea bass, is in high demand.  Living in the colder waters of the southern oceans, including  Antarctica’s Ross Sea, fishing for the toothfish can be hazardous.  Within the last 30 days, 25 sailors on fishing vessels in the Ross Sea have died. On December 13th, the Korean fishing boat, No.1 In Sung, sank in the Ross Sea with a loss of 22 dead or missing. 20 sailors survived and were picked up by other fishing vessels. The ship sank in light winds and a relatively mild 3-foot swell. The cause of the sinking has not been determined.

Three days later, the Russian fishing vessel Sparta was holed by sea ice and came perilously close to sinking off the Ross ice shelf. In addition to the damage to the ship, it became trapped in ice and was ultimately had to be rescued by the Korean icebreaker Araon.  The Sparta was able to make temporary repairs and there was no loss of life.

At 3AM Wednesday, New Zealand time, a fire broke out on the Korean fishing vessel, Jung Woo 2, in the Ross Sea off Antarctica, killing three and seriously injuring two others. 37 sailors were rescued from the burning ship. which reportedly continues to burn and appears to be sinking.
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Update: Tanker Renda and USCG Icebreaker Healy Making Slow Progress to Nome

Posted on by January 11, 2012

Tanker Renda in the Ice

When the sled dog, Balto, arrived with emergency supplies for the icebound town of Nome in 1926, a statue was erected in his honor in New York City’s Central park.  When the Russian ice strengthened tanker Renda, escorted by the USCG’s icebreaker Healy arrive in Nome with emergency fuel for the winter, they will most likely be greeted by lawsuits.  That is, if, they finally arrive. Yesterday, there were reports that shifting ice had effectively stopped their progress.  Today, however, conditions have improved and the ships are less than 100 NM from Nome, the Western Alaskan town which will run out of fuel before spring unless new supplies arrive.  If the Healy and the Renda, with 1.3 million gallons of oil, makes it through the ice, they will be the first ships ever to resupply the icebound town in the winter. There are no through roads to Nome. If the Renda fails to reach the town, delivery of fuel by plane could cost two to three times more than by water. If all goes well the Renda and the Healy could arrive in Nome by Thursday.

Tanker carrying fuel less than 100 miles from Nome
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The Return of the Bureaucrats – Laura Dekker Strikes the Dutch Flag

Posted on by January 11, 2012

A Dutch flag no more, Laura now flies the flag of New Zealand

Laura Dekker’s sailboat, Guppy, now flies a New Zealand flag from her stern.  Laura has struck the Dutch colors as the bureaucrats who tried and initially succeeded in stopping her solo voyage have returned to pester her and her family once more. They are now complaining that Laura has not kept up with her school work.  In 2009, a Dutch court blocked Dekker’s planned voyage and put her under the custody of the Council for Child Protection, the Dutch government’s umbrella childcare agency.  That order was reversed in July of 2010. One of the conditions of lifting the ban on her sailing was that she would continue her secondary-school education through an online teaching programme set up for Dutch-speaking children abroad.  Now Dutch truant officers are upset that Laura has not been doing  her homework.
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Chilean Navy Rescues 84 Year Old Sailor on Seventh Attempt to Round Cape Horn

Posted on by January 10, 2012

Bulk carrier White Kingdom approaching Corogin's damaged sailboat Photo:EPA

The good news is that the Chilean Navy, assisted by the Japanese merchant ship, White Kingdom, have rescued Thomas Louis Corogin, an 84-year-old American sailor, after his seventh failed attempt to round Cape Horn, single handed.  Corogin is now safely ashore after the mast on his Westsail 32 sailboat cracked when the backstay failed. The bad news is that Mr. Corogin is not ruling out another try.  He has been quoted as saying on his arrival onshore, “Age means nothing. What is important is that you are alive, so I don’t worry about numbers. I worry about life. That, I think, is more important.’’

After a search by the Chilean Navy,  Corogin was ultimately picked up by the Japanese merchant vessel White Kingdom, a 53,400 DWT bulk carrier. A  Chilean Navy frigate with a helicopter and medical team then picked him up for transport to shore.  The Chilean government is paying for the entire cost of the rescue.

This may be an example of when persistence is not necessarily a virtue.  Thanks to Phil Leon for passing the story along.

Stranded U.S. sailor, 84, found by Chilean navy

USS Narcissus, Civil War Shipwreck off Egmont Key, May Become Florida’s 12th Underwater Preserve

Posted on by January 10, 2012

Wreckage of the USS Narcissus

When I was in high school in Flordia, before I learned the error of my ways and become a sailor, I ran all over Boca Ciega Bay and the around the mouth of Tampa Bay in an outboard motor powered skiff.  One place I was particularly fond of was Egmont Key, just off the shipping channel into Tampa Bay. At one end of the island was the lighthouse and the pilot’s station where the harbor pilots waited for ships entering from the Gulf of Mexico.  Along the Gulf-side beach were old gun emplacements from the Spanish-American war as well as lumbering gopher tortoises and waters full of pods of dolphins, black fin sharks and schools of rays.

Just off Egmont Key is also the wreck of the Civil War wooden steam tug, USS Narcissus, which has emerged from the Gulf sands that swallowed her after she sank in 1866.  The wreck is about 2 miles off the northern end of the island in only 15 feet of water.  State officials have proposed making the shipwreck site Florida’s 12th underwater archaeological preserve.

USS Narcissus, Civil War shipwreck off Egmont Key, could become Florida’s 12th underwater preserve
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China to Open Luxury Hotel on Soviet Aircraft Carrier Kiev

Posted on by January 9, 2012

Hotel Kiev?

The Chinese are opening a 148 room luxury hotel in the refurbished Russian aircraft carrier Kiev.  Since 2004, the aircraft carrier has been part  of what is billed as “the world’s biggest military theme park” in Tianjin, a municipality close to Beijing.   The Chinese also own the Russian aircraft carrier Minsk, a sister vessel to the Kiev, which is the centerpiece of Minsk World,  a military theme park in Shenzhen, China.  The Chinese military owns a third Russian carrier, the Varyag, whose keel was laid in 1985 but which was never finished.  The Chinese have been working to finish the ship as an aircraft carrier for roughly the last decade. The ship returned from a second round of sea trials in mid-December and is said to be near completion but is not yet capable of landing planes on its deck.
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