Kukri
Well-known member
I have been reading up; it seems they are in. But have been under water for a couple of years.
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At least useful ballast then....I have been reading up; it seems they are in. But have been under water for a couple of years,
What engines were they?
The modern two stroke diesels in commercial shipping are interesting, as they use the old Messerschmitt bubble car technique of stopping the engine and restarting in opposite rotation for astern which much to TG's chagrin is run by the electronic engine controls... There was a particularly interesting MAIB report about one such ship going into Fawley. The ship was very new, and the Asian engineers had been playing with valves. Unfortunately as they approached the mooring dolphins, they'd run out of air due to those engineers screwing up and did lots of damage
I was going from memory, that was the one!I cannot think of an MAIB report to this effect (loss of start air, at Fawley) but there is one which I do remember which deals with the failure of the main engine of the then new container ship “Savannah Express” to go astern whilst approaching the berth at Southampton. The main engine was a B&W 12 -98 ME. These ME engines don’t have a camshaft - that’s where the electronics come in.
The problem lay in the electro-hydraulic valve actuation system. The ship did run out of start air, eventually, after repeated attempts to start the engine from the local control at the platform but that wasn’t the cause of the failure; it was an effect.
The Chief Engineer was German and the second engineer was Ukrainian.
Is this the report that you are thinking of? It’s quite an interesting one:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/547c708fe5274a428d0000ab/Savannah_Express.pdf
I was going from memory, that was the one!
Wasn't there a similar fault that led to the felling of a number of container cranes at Felixtowe?
Hello, I’m part of the Llys Helig team. My brother Howard is the crazy person who bought her.Hi David,
Seems the Barke brothers (Essex marina), having done a great job of righting her, have moved on leaving just a large Boats.co.uk baner on the port side to mark their success. Another firm seems to have moved in now and have erected a larfe access jetty with a front door and letterbox. The key evidence is a pontoon alongside on which a yellow rubbish skip sits, so I guess their role will be to get more rubbish out from down below and perhaps to put more patches on her plating so she can survive the tow to whatever yard on the Thames she will go to or restoration. At present, although upright, she still sinks on every tide.
Could be a while yet before she's ready to move, but her current owner is certainly showing serious determination, backed by deep pockets in tis recovery and restoration project. If he hacks off that horrible additional deck and steelwork, some of which was bent in the righting exercise, and restores her to her original design, she will look great, but it will be a very expensive operation.
Peter.