Cargo Ship Runs Aground In Sound Mull

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I wonder how this came about? They had to be well off the normal routes North to hit this bit of land. Anyone know exactly where they ran aground, it looks to just south of Calve Island? There is a local magnetic anomaly just after a port hand buoy where they would have turned more North to miss the Mull coast line.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-22904560
http://rnli.org/NewsCentre/Pages/Tobermory-RNLI-lifeboat-assists-cargo-ship-on-rocks.aspx

The RNLI crew look as if they have their lifejacket crotch straps too tight.

While they have a right to navigate here, I wonder if through traffic of this size really needs to transit these crinkly bits of coast line. The vessel was from Belfast and heading to Norway, so it could have went south of Islay, south of Tiree and then up The Minch, much more space.
 
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BlowingOldBoots said:
While they have a right to navigate here, I wonder if through traffic of this size really needs to transit these crinkly bits of coast line. The vessel was from Belfast and heading to Norway, so it could have went south of Islay, south of Tiree and then up The Minch, much more space.
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The Fri Ocean is a smaller vessel in terms of both length and tonnage (though of deeper draught) than the MV Clansman, which plies these waters daily. The transit of the Sound presents no difficulties for a vessel her size, other than the requirement for a qualified and awake person on the bridge. Very much larger vessels from Glensanda quarry such as the Yeoman Bridge regularly transit the sound without incident.

There are some pictures in a thread on BlueMoment.

- W
 
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Unless I am mistaken the vessel was en-route from Corpach to Sweden:
http://www.shipais.com/shiptrail.php?mmsi=309467000&date=20130614
which explains the passage through the Sound of Mull...

EDIT:
FriOcean.jpg

Passage north in the sound was during the night. The blue track is part of the passage to Oban after she was refloated.
 
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That would make sense for the route taken, however from the BBC, that bastion of accurate reporting: -

The ship, which is carrying wood, is understood to be travelling from Belfast to Varberg in Sweden.
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No, the track is from when she was re-floated, headed north and then turned around in more open water and taken back down the sound to Oban.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
No, the track is from when she was re-floated, headed north and then turned around in more open water and taken back down the sound to Oban.
Click to expand...

OK - agreed. Either ShipAIS is wrong, or the report is wrong, or I have lost it completely! Probably the latter... :confused:
http://www.shipais.com/shiptrail.php?map=TobermoryBay&mmsi=309467000&date=20130614 suggests she was north east of Tobermory on the evening of (Fri) 14th June, while the (RNLI) report states she was to be refloated on Saturday, which was 15th June! She was probably refloated Friday afternoon/evening, having grounded earlier in the day:
FriOcean2.jpg
 
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Seatrout said:
We export wood to Sweden and Finland because its wet and hence good for making glossy paper. Their wood is dry and good for IKEA furniture! At least someone makes some money out of all our wet weather.
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Thanks for the info. I hear also that hardly any wood gets wasted - the bits that can't be used as timber get pulped, and the bark used as bark!
 
Very similar recent event in Northern Spain where the chief officer acting as Officer of the watch fell asleep and the ship carried on at 12 knots for an hour until it T boned the land. The only person not to have awakened when it hit was said officer of watch! and no he was not pissed.
 
A1Sailor said:
OK - agreed. Either ShipAIS is wrong, or the report is wrong, or I have lost it completely! Probably the latter... :confused:
http://www.shipais.com/shiptrail.php?map=TobermoryBay&mmsi=309467000&date=20130614 suggests she was north east of Tobermory on the evening of (Fri) 14th June, while the (RNLI) report states she was to be refloated on Saturday, which was 15th June! She was probably refloated Friday afternoon/evening, having grounded earlier in the day:
FriOcean2.jpg
Click to expand...

She was already anchored in Oban when I got there Saturday evening and they hadn't come past me (I was slowly tacking my way down the sound saturday) so I'm guessing it was refloated friday night.
 
Paddingtonbear said:
Very similar recent event in Northern Spain where the chief officer acting as Officer of the watch fell asleep and the ship carried on at 12 knots for an hour until it T boned the land. The only person not to have awakened when it hit was said officer of watch! and no he was not pissed.
Click to expand...

That's modern shipping! Consumers demand minimum prices which mean minimum crewing levels. The Chief Mate is responsible for cargo ops so he very well may have done the 4-8 in the evening then spent several hours organising port papers, manifests and stowage plans then got up at 0330 for the morning 4-8, then spent all day dealing with port officials, agents, stevedores etc then done the 4-8 at night? Everyone at sea these days does in the region of 70-86 hours every week at least. There's a lovely little suffix on the IMO hours of work and rest regulations for watchkeepers which states, "Unless the safety and safe operation of the vessel requires it." In other words all the time so the regulations are useless. Hollywood still likes to portray Merchant Seamen as hard drinking gangsters who inhabit dock bars for weeks on end but the truth today is that the commercial shipping world is full of very tired and often very lonely people who are now breathalysed if they walk past a pub. Social life on ships is virtually zero now and many watchkeepers stand a watch alone and only see other humans at watch changes or if in port. If your lucky you'll work for a Northern European company as at least then you will probably be paid, those forced to work at the lower end of the scale are lucky to get fed never mind paid.
 
A1Sailor said:
OK - agreed. Either ShipAIS is wrong, or the report is wrong, or I have lost it completely! Probably the latter... :confused:
http://www.shipais.com/shiptrail.php?map=TobermoryBay&mmsi=309467000&date=20130614 suggests she was north east of Tobermory on the evening of (Fri) 14th June, while the (RNLI) report states she was to be refloated on Saturday, which was 15th June! She was probably refloated Friday afternoon/evening, having grounded earlier in the day:
FriOcean2.jpg
Click to expand...


On your link to the ais it can be seen from the times of the points on the green/yelloy/orange track that she was refloated and then headed out of the sound on the NE most track then turned to south to port and headed back in the sound crossing her outward track, obviously heading back to Oban.
Think they were trying to cut in behind Calve island?
C_W
 
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Clyde_Wanderer said:
On your link to the ais it can be seen from the times of the points on the green/yelloy/orange track that she was refloated and then headed out of the sound on the NE most track then turned to south to port and headed back in the sound crossing her outward track, obviously heading back to Oban.
Think they were trying to cut in behind Calve island?
C_W
Click to expand...

It was the RNLI report saying she was due to be refloated on Saturday, that confused me!!!
Perhaps they had a table booked at The Mishnish for breakfast! :p
 
Looks like Fri Ocean is now out of Oban harbour, heading for Corpach.
As that's where she loaded timber, I wonder if she will now unload?
 
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