Floating containers - ever seen one?

[oldmanofthehills]

One factor to consider it that containers if randomly lost in bad weather, may not end up randomly distributed. Logs and debris in tidal estuaries and channels gather at the top of the tide and are fairly intrusive if you then punch the incoming tide though happily the worse I hit was a railway sleeper in poor light. Certain bays and areas such as the pacific swirls and the Sargasso sea collect debris though that at least is predictable.

Probably more worrying however is that most containers will be lost in major shipping routes and until they sink or get dispersed and thats just where yachts and other ships travel and thus risk colliding with then.

 

[Daydream believer]

Mr Swain does not claim to have hit one yet.
So the chances of hitting one must be very low. After all he claims to have hit just about everything else

Of course not. He sails one

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Just updating my opinion on this: not a threat as they all sink, and mostly fast. Some might float for a bit if they contain timber or flatscreen TVs with a lot of polystyrene packaging; but they all go down in the end.

Anyone ever seen one or heard of one?

Thanks in advance.

Curious why do you need to update your opinion on it? If your opinion is different now that the thread has run its course, what will you do differently now?

 

[webcraft]

Came across this 300 miles offshore between the Azores and Spain:

- W

 

[Kukri]

Thanks for posting that. When I first saw it I thought it was a tank container. It’s hard to get a sense of scale, but looking again I don’t think it is, because I can’t see ISO corner castings.

 

[jimi]

I saw one midchannel between the Needles and Cherbourg a few years ago. There had been a rough week previously in the Channel and a Container ship had reported losing several near the Casquets filled with fridges etc. All that was visible was a corner poking out the waves.

 

[Neeves]

I have not read the thread but this might be slightly pertinent

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...one-mystery-solved-in-brittany-35-years-later

 

[Gwylan]

No, but I ran into a partially submerged chest freezer in the Bristol Channel.

Made a frightful thump and scared the crap out of me.

Called the Coastguards, could I get it on board and bring it to a harbour?

I am a 24foot sailing boat, single handed and the freezer is nearly as big as my boat!

Oh! Wait 5

Could you sink it?

No,how might i do that?

Better leave it then.



Had to reglass one of the keels next time it came out of the watef

 

[webcraft]

Thanks for posting that. When I first saw it I thought it was a tank container. It’s hard to get a sense of scale, but looking again I don’t think it is, because I can’t see ISO corner castings.

It's round about the same size as a standard shipping container.

- W

 

[Kukri]

It's round about the same size as a standard shipping container.

- W

That must be what it is, then. Thanks again.

 

[RolyGate]

Curious why do you need to update your opinion on it? If your opinion is different now that the thread has run its course, what will you do differently now?

Good question. Things I'm not sure about: sometimes it seems a good idea to get an update.
Also, people ask about this issue, and I like to be sure of the facts before I answer. For example:
https://www.quora.com/unanswered/Ho...s-are-attributed-to-lost-containers-annually?
Quora is a site where if your appreciation of the facts is a bit flaky, the locals attack

 

[Channel Sailor]

Never seen a container but last week 30 miles south of the IOW in daylight I came across a floating standard wooden pallet with seaweed on top. In the same week came very close to a submerged orange round pot buoy on the La Foraine side of the Alderney Race, several pot buoys in the inshore back eddy route from Cherbourg to Cap de la Hague, many on the entry sector to Dielette close to the harbour entrance over the rocky bits (enough to put me off entering at night unless full moon and stay on the south side of the chart marked entry route), a fair number on the direct line from Dielette to north end of Little Russel, a few on the east side of the Little Russel near to Tautenay (another good reason to stay in the deeper water at night and if needed for the Race put more west into the course later when well clear into deeper water). Finally and annoyingly, some in the approaches to Chichester just silly little 5 litre white cans. It is a worry when sailing at night, deciding whether to sail at night at all and has to be taken into consideration with passage planning in these relatively shallow waters or close to fishing fleet ports. I notice the first across the line monohull in the RTI picked up a pot buoy on its way around. If they had flags on at least we might be able to see them if enough moon light. As I recall the French pot buoys around Normandy all used to have flags, but this year they plainly did not.

Also found a dinghy oar floating in the Alderney Race which I litter picked up.

 

[KellysEye]

All containers float and I have heard coastguard warnings of where they are in the English channel. The only thing we had to was avoid was large tree trunks off Grenada after hurricane Ivan.

 

[RichardS]

All containers float .....

..... but only some turds.

Richard

 

[Kukri]

All containers float and I have heard coastguard warnings of where they are in the English channel. The only thing we had to was avoid was large tree trunks off Grenada after hurricane Ivan.

Sorry, but a twenty footer with 26 tons of floor tiles inside is not going to float at all.

A container with electronics in expanded polystyrene packaging will float, an empty reefer box will float on its insulation may float for a while, but since an ISO container is not watertight most other containers will flood and sink, usually quite quickly, whether empty or full.

 

[andsarkit]

Archimedes had something to say about this. Volume of a 20ft container is 39m3 so it would float (for a short while) with 26 tons inside.
I hope I never meet anything like this as it would stop me dead in the water.

 

[Kukri]

Archimedes had something to say about this. Volume of a 20ft container is 39m3 so it would float (for a short while) with 26 tons inside.
I hope I never meet anything like this as it would stop me dead in the water.

Take another look at Archimedes, but think like a naval architect. How much of that 39 cubic metres is air, with 26 tons of tiles inside?

 

[rogerthebodger]

Take another look at Archimedes, but think like a naval architect. How much of that 39 cubic metres is air, with 26 tons of tiles inside?

Its not the air inside its the weight of the water that is displaced. 39 cu meters is approx 39 tons of buoyancy that will easy support the 26 tons inside plus the weight of the container.

 

[RichardS]

Its not the air inside its the weight of the water that is displaced. 39 cu meters is approx 39 tons of buoyancy that will easy support the 26 tons inside plus the weight of the container.

If it's not the weight of the air that's important, surely that means that when all the air leaks out the container will still float?

Richard

 

[Kukri]

Its not the air inside its the weight of the water that is displaced. 39 cu meters is approx 39 tons of buoyancy that will easy support the 26 tons inside plus the weight of the container.

Think about it please. As I said earlier, the doors on a container are weathertight not watertight. How much air has to be displaced by water, which is entering via the door seals at say 2 metres head, before the container sinks?