containers

[Delancey]

I am a little surprised no one picked up on this recent story about how Maersk accidentally "lost" over five hundred containers off a single ship! That's right more than 500, from one boat!

Ship loses more than 500 containers in heavy seas - CNN.com

I wonder where they went? I could have sworn they were there a minute ago! Oh, I guess we accidentally lost them, oops.

A heinous act IMO. Oh sure, they have insurance. Whatever, doesn't make it not littering in the ocean.

Below is a photo of the type of twist lock lashing bars used to secure containers.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Blue Crab

How's this for a nightmare?

But the worst incident in the history of container shipping occurred in 1998 when APL China lost 406 containers in the north Pacific. The ship somehow managed to survive 70-foot waves stirred up by Typhoon Babs though photographs suggest just barely. Three other containerships also fell victim, resulting in more than 1,000 containers lost overboard. And these were just the ones we know about.

A legendary offshore danger - Ocean Navigator - March/April 2013

Not so bad when they are that bouyant. I'm more concerned about running into one of the nearly submerged ones that are hard to spot.

[casual]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Anybody ever seen one floating in the ocean? I don't think floaters are very common.

Yes. 20 or so years ago leaving the Little Bahama Bank in the am. Mostly submerged but only a foot or so under the surface. Got the port side of my boat just a scrape .Still gave me a good fright.

[pistarckle]

I once found a square grouper floating of the east end of St John , V.I. . We hid it in the bushes as we did not want to bring it aboard . When we went back to get it ten days later it had all been eaten by bugs and crabs and maybe some off the guys working in the boat yard behind Crazy Legs bar !
I have sailed many thousand miles and ain't never seen a floating container to" lute ", do ya think the OP meant to say" loot " or maybe its some weird Kiwi sexual practice that ain't got here yet !

[Safari38LH]

We were in the Florida Keys one year near "the Toilet Bowl" and a low flying plane went over and dropped a LL Bean type duffle out over the mangroves. That evening we were at a nearby bar and mentioned it. Everyone who heard and overheard us got up and left. The bar got pretty empty fast.

[Blue Crab]

I have heard many low flying aircraft in the early a.m. from Key Biscayne on down over the years. Gotta admire the entrepreneurial efforts.

[ravinracin]

I was in the U.S. Navy stationed in Homestead, FL in the early 70's. We would often be sent to an area to retrieve these square shaped burlap bags from the mangrove roots. The bags had drifted in.We always had a Coast Guard armed petty officer with us and when the bags got back up to the road, the CG would always take them. Cuban cigars?

[Blackie Swart]

The ski-boat fisherman towed a container from their fishing grounds to shore here on the South African east Coast. It was full of household fridges. A company paid a salvage fee to get them back but did not want the container. It now houses some equipment at the Ski-boat Club.

On the same "container" subject. - At the time of the loss of the S?V Maquini, there was a number of containers that were lost overboard by a ship and the salvage company and other powers that be, failed to inform the race organisers just in case.

UGLY THINGS at sea...............

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Seen lots of whales.... we should start culling them.... did you know they go to sleep on the surface and don't show lights or keep a watch!!

And they pong.....but not as bad as seals....

My office mate manned the gun director on the Galveston, 'Nam era light missile cruiser; 10,000 tons. The boat was prematurely scrapped when a collision with a whale bent and cracked a rudder post. Since the boat was built around this huge shaft, cost to repair was prohibitive. He said not much was left of the animal after processing by the props. I wonder how common this sort of thing is?

https://www.google.com/search?q=uss+...w=1089&bih=684

[s/v Beth]

I have read of whales sinking ships- I wonder if this happens frequently? How would a whale mistake a boat for something else and hit it? Do whales see that as a way of committing suicide?
While I have heard of quite a few boats sunk/mangled by whales, is there even one documented case of containers sinking a ship? I mean one like "All is lost" where the owner pulls the container loose from the hole in the boat. I think it could happen, but how often does it?

[s/v Beth]

Update: I just found one, there may be others. But I think it is much rarer than whale damage.
Sail-World.com : New container collision incident off South Africa

[Wonderinlost]

Newt totally agree the odds are rare even so rare many may never come across one.

In that article pictured is not a container tho. That there is a shipping tanker. Not something I'd ever want to strike. Some carry real nasty things in there. May have more air inside and has a better seal. Now those I would not mind if they fell off as long as it's floating that high. It's the containers that water seeps in and then you can see it.

I guess just go slow in the end if hitting a container is your biggest concern and is always keeping you worried. Inertia is not your friend if this scares you.

wondering around with no destionation

[Nicholson58]

We've certainly not considered this a show stopper. I wonder if there is enough data to suggest the survivability of different types of vessel. Our integral full keel, long traditional lines and thick, solid hull with Kevlar layers ought to fare better than a cored ultralight hull, one would think. When we put a new bottom on 4 years back we noticed a line of 2" to 10" patches along the water line on stbd. We also have a spare blade for the prop. The spare has obvious repair inches deep form the tip. The other blades are not damaged. With the feathered position, the blades are rotated in line with the shaft so an object might have been able to whack only a single blade tip.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

We've certainly not considered this a show stopper. I wonder if there is enough data to suggest the survivability of different types of vessel. Our integral full keel, long traditional lines and thick, solid hull with Kevlar layers ought to fare better than a cored ultralight hull, one would think. When we put a new bottom on 4 years back we noticed a line of 2" to 10" patches along the water line on stbd. We also have a spare blade for the prop. The spare has obvious repair inches deep form the tip. The other blades are not damaged. With the feathered position, the blades are rotated in line with the shaft so an object might have been able to whack only a single blade tip.

Impact resistance cannot be necessarily assumed purely by thickness

Dave

[SkiprJohn]

I've got a couple of containers up on my farm lot. I've studied them pretty closely to see if they would float if empty. They have vents near the top of the container and wooden floors with cracks between the floor planks. If whatever was inside floats then the container floats but I don't think an empty one would stay afloat very long. I could see why one that left a ship with refrigerators in it would stay afloat a very long time.

Only one end opens. If you could cut the locks on the mechanism that keeps them shut and sealed then whatever floatable was inside would float to the surface and the rest would sink pretty quickly. It would be quite a dangerous operation and of course anything inside would have been pretty much damaged by seawater.