Waver;y retirement

[johnyoung12]

Surely the latest disaster to befall the Waverly paddle steamer.. the collision at speed with Brodick pier, September2020... means that the Waverly should be retired from active service. Every time that a well-meaning campaign is launched and millions of pounds is raised to put this vessel back in the water, something happens! Only amatter of time before there is a REAL disaster...and lives are lost. Forget the romantic notion about paddle steamers....they were phased out as sea-going travel for a reason... they were unreliable and unsafe. It's time to call a halt to commercial voyages, moor her up at a prominent and dignified location...and turn her into a museum as a celebration of what WAS a unique form of transport. This would mean that future generations could enjoy the Waverly Experience without risk to life and limb.

 

[Sandyman]

Risk to life & limb ! Hardly. Just a few bumps scratches along the way. That's life at sea, it gets in your blood.
Obviously not yours though. Suggest you go back to reading your H & S bulletins & notifications & stay clear of professional
sea going folk.

 

[LittleSister]

Forget the romantic notion about paddle steamers....they were phased out as sea-going travel for a reason... they were unreliable and unsafe.

No they weren't!

What a strange post, especially as your first on the Forum.

 

[Romeo]

My mother in law was injured in this collision. She has promised me that she was not steering the vessel at the time.

MAIB will do a report. I expect that everyone will pay more attention to that report, than they will to a first post from JohnYoung12. Welcome to the forum John. What sort of boat do you have?

 

[Biggles Wader]

My mother in law was injured in this collision. She has promised me that she was not steering the vessel at the time.

MAIB will do a report. I expect that everyone will pay more attention to that report, than they will to a first post from JohnYoung12. Welcome to the forum John. What sort of boat do you have?

A bait boat?

 

[ctva]

A snowflakey post or what. The world is unsafe, put the world in a museum! And as to paddle steamers being unsafe, only in a snowflakey world of rewritten history!

Gees... ?

 

[srm]

Surely the latest disaster to befall the Waverly paddle steamer.. the collision at speed with Brodick pier, September2020... means that the Waverly should be retired from active service. Every time that a well-meaning campaign is launched and millions of pounds is raised to put this vessel back in the water, something happens! Only amatter of time before there is a REAL disaster...and lives are lost. Forget the romantic notion about paddle steamers....they were phased out as sea-going travel for a reason... they were unreliable and unsafe. It's time to call a halt to commercial voyages, moor her up at a prominent and dignified location...and turn her into a museum as a celebration of what WAS a unique form of transport. This would mean that future generations could enjoy the Waverly Experience without risk to life and limb.

Using the same argument ALL CRUISE LINERS SHOULD BE RETIRED.

I watched a cruise ship with an elegant raked bow 'T bone' a pier in Lerwick Harbour. When the ship eventually backed off the pier the elegant raked stem had a neat 90 degree step in it where the pier had won. The steel plating had rolled back to just above the waterline below a neat horizontal cut. There were injuries to both crew and passengers as the ship went from fast maneuvering speed to dead stopped in a couple of seconds.

 

[Bajansailor]

Methinks that John Young has some sort of grudge against the Waverley, for whatever reason (a former crew member perhaps?).

I went on a trip on the Waverley once, almost 40 years ago, September 1981, from Southampton to (I think) Bournemouth, or maybe it was Poole - it was a long time ago. We were then bussed back to Southampton.
And she was a fascinating ship - you could watch the steam machinery (from behind safety screens I think?) - my only complaint was that while it was a warm day ashore, it was chilly out at sea, and I didn't bring a jacket with me

 

[Wansworth]

Museums rot ships,there have been so many examples.

 

[Rum_Pirate]

'A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for.'

John A. Shedd

 

[jamie N]

CalMac's MV Hebrides smashed up Loch Boisdale's marina (a few days after I'd left!) because a grub screw hadn't been loctited in place.
Was the Waverley something similar, or was it wind effect overcoming the crew as they get up to speed, or along those lines?

 

[Keith 66]

I have been on her many times, she always comes alonside at a good clip & relies heavily on the steam winches to drag her in sideways.
But common sense would indicate a bow thruster would be a damn good idea.

 

[Sandy]

Surely the latest disaster to befall the Waverly paddle steamer.. the collision at speed with Brodick pier, September2020... means that the Waverly should be retired from active service. Every time that a well-meaning campaign is launched and millions of pounds is raised to put this vessel back in the water, something happens! Only amatter of time before there is a REAL disaster...and lives are lost. Forget the romantic notion about paddle steamers....they were phased out as sea-going travel for a reason... they were unreliable and unsafe. It's time to call a halt to commercial voyages, moor her up at a prominent and dignified location...and turn her into a museum as a celebration of what WAS a unique form of transport. This would mean that future generations could enjoy the Waverly Experience without risk to life and limb.

I understand you do not come from a long line of cynical Scottish engineers.

 

[jamie N]

I understand you do not come from a long line of cynical Scottish engineers.

Cynic......

 

[slowboat]

Surely the latest disaster to befall the Waverly paddle steamer.. the collision at speed with Brodick pier, September2020... means that the Waverly should be retired from active service. Every time that a well-meaning campaign is launched and millions of pounds is raised to put this vessel back in the water, something happens! Only amatter of time before there is a REAL disaster...and lives are lost. Forget the romantic notion about paddle steamers....they were phased out as sea-going travel for a reason... they were unreliable and unsafe. It's time to call a halt to commercial voyages, moor her up at a prominent and dignified location...and turn her into a museum as a celebration of what WAS a unique form of transport. This would mean that future generations could enjoy the Waverly Experience without risk to life and limb.

 

[slowboat]

Of course - prop driven ships never have accidents.

 

[Kukri]

We had a great long thread about this and did it to death:

Waverley has done it again.


Along comes someone new and starts a new thread.

Old aircraft crash from time to time. Sometimes people are killed.

No more air shows!

There was a boiler explosion on a steam locomotive on a preserved railroad in the USA and the driver was killed.

Close all preserved railways!

Sailing is out of date and can be dangerous - people get killed every year.

Ban all messing about in boats!

 

[penberth3]

We had a great long thread about this and did it to death:

Waverley has done it again.


Along comes someone new and starts a new thread.

Old aircraft crash from time to time. Sometimes people are killed.

No more air shows!

There was a boiler explosion on a steam locomotive on a preserved railroad in the USA and the driver was killed.

Close all preserved railways!

Sailing is out of date and can be dangerous - people get killed every year.

Ban all messing about in boats!

All of which completely misses the point.

Crashes explosions etc, shouldn't happen, if they do something's gone badly wrong. Ban if it's something unavoidable but it very rarely is.

 

[SaltIre]

I blame Arran. It is in the wrong place. If it was 50-100metres further south the collision wouldn't have happened.
Arran should be moved.

 

[LittleSister]

I blame Arran. It is in the wrong place. It it was 50-100metres further south the collision wouldn't have happened.
Arran should be moved.

When you think about it, almost all the crashes involving paddle steamers have involved land, but so have almost all those with screw propulsion, and almost all those involving sail driven vessels, and, indeed, every aircraft crash as well. I think I can see a pattern emerging.

Dangerous stuff, this land