How NOT to go UNDER a bridge!

[High Cotton]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRC31YQqrBY

[Brandywine]

OUCH..... I wonder if the bridge cleared him through or if just thought he would clear...

[High Cotton]

Looks like the span was coming DOWN!

[jdoe71]

the story about this incident and subsequent inquiry is here:

Probe raises Welland Canal safety concerns

[knottybuoyz]

M/V Windoc IIRC the bridge operator was drunk. TSB recommendations here....

TSB - Communiqués

[senormechanico]

We used keep our boat in Lake Washington in Seattle. To go anywhere, we had to have to go through 4 bridges, the Ballard Locks and a railroad bridge to get to salt water.

More than once we had good reason not to trust the bridge operators. The one that we remember the most was when we had asked the Fremont Bridge to lift. That was back in the days before the blithering idiots in the Seattle City Council banned the use of the VHF for bridge to pleasure boat communication but that's another story.

The operator told us to wait until a tug towing a HUGE logjam was close enough to let us all through at the same time. We waited, but there was a significant current toward the bridge as it had been raining a lot in the previous weeks. The tug and its huge load was bearing down on us pretty rapidly and there was no place to go if I had to dodge the tug, so I called the bridge again. He seemed pretty nonchalant about the whole thing and didn't even bother to respond, so I called the tug. I said, 'This is Grey Max, the sailboat next to the bridge and I'm feeling kinda like a grape about to be squeezed!" The tug responded, "This is the tug back to the "Grape". You could hear laughter in the background. He assured me I was in no danger, and just about then the bridge started to open. I wasted no time dashing through the crack in the center of the roadway.

Steve B.

[MarkJ]

There were no serious injuries

How?

I thought everyone on the bridge would have been wiped out. Just incredable!

[shadow]

WOW, really amazing to see stuff like that!! Thanks for sharing!

[hallie]

WOW. that is nuts!

of course, it begs the question, 'if only canadians carried guns everywhere, this sort of thing might never have happened, right?'*

bwahahahahahahha!









*i'm kidding. really. gun-toting, flag waving lunatics, please do not rant incoherently until the thread's shut down. thank you.

[Seeratlas]

Originally Posted by hallie

WOW. that is nuts!

of course, it begs the question, 'if only canadians carried guns everywhere, this sort of thing might never have happened, right?'*

bwahahahahahahha!


here hallie,

you might read up a bit on this site.

Reports

you might specially enjoy the rape and molestation reports..or maybe the machete attacks, not quiet botox, but a machete will sure change your look.

let me know how the 'smile and talk your way out of it" defense works out.

seer






*i'm kidding. really. gun-toting, flag waving lunatics, please do not rant incoherently until the thread's shut down. thank you.

kidding, really? oh, i couldn't tell....

[hallie]

*tips hat*
nicetameetcha.

[GordMay]

Striking and Subsequent Fire on Board on Bulk carrier “Windoc”
Goto: Windoc Accident

The Windoc had been declared a total constructive loss and ownership had been transferred to the vessel’s insurers who, in turn, offered the hull for sale at auction. The vessel was bought back by Paterson who subsequently sold the hull “as is” in the spring of 2002 to Le Groupe Ocean for delivery to Montreal, QC. Le Groupe Ocean was exploring the possibilities of converting the hull to a tug/barge combination, using it as a storage barge, or selling the hull as scrap.
Misfortune was not through with the Windoc yet. On March 9, 2002; high winds caused the vessel to break free of its moorings at Pier 8, Hamilton, ON and drift out into Hamilton harbor, grounding on the other side of the harbor just off of the Eastport Expressway. Again, 4 McKeil tugs pulled the vessel free on March 12, 2002 returning the hull back to Pier 8. On September 3, 2002; McKeil tugs Bonnie B III and Progress towed the Windoc from Hamilton harbor for delivery to Le Groupe Ocean in Montreal, arriving September 6, 2002.

In late April of 2006, Algoma Central Corp. of St. Catharines, ON and Upper Lakes Group, Inc. of Toronto, ON acquired the Windoc from Le Group Ocean. Both new buyers hold equal shares in the vessel. Having remained tied up in Montreal since her arrival there in 2002, the future of the Windoc is unknown.

After the Collision & Fire (Left) and Loading Grain in Thunder Bay (Right)

[jdoe71]

What a fascinating story. I read the link in Gord's post and other links contained in it, this ship was actually Windoc (2). This shipping company had a Windoc (1) that in 1938 while passing under a bridge on the Welland Canal had the bridge prematurely come down on it. What are the odds of that? Anyone know what eventually happened to this ship?

[David M]

Here is the condition of the bridge operator:

The lift bridge operator was probably impaired, according to the board's report.
He had been asked to work on a scheduled day off, and had finished two 12-hour shifts during the previous two days. Before being asked to work overtime that night, he took some pills to relieve back pain. He also had between two and four glasses of wine around lunch.


And here are the board recommendations:

The board issued five recommendations:

• Introduce checks to make sure employees in 'safety-sensitive positions' are fit for duty;
• Have the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) conduct drills so that it is prepared for any future emergencies;
• Install new technology, such as infrared detectors, so that bridges can detect nearby craft and reduce the likelihood of crashes;
• Make sure fire departments on shore have more information about ships' safety features;
• Install sprinkler systems on older ships.

Good grief...the board kind of missed the real reason for the accident. The poor guy had been working WAY too much.