Ship aground in North Wales!

[tom_sail]

Another stone carrier vessel is in touble. The ship is aground near Colwyn Bay on the Quarry jetty. A55 closed eastbound.

Not a nice place to be with this Northerly Wind

 

[phantom18]

Whats with all these ship problems recently or is it common but we don't get to hear about them?

 

[Searush]

The jetty is VERY exposed to Northerlies & he had a part load on, so I presume he was trying to reverse off the jetty (into the wind) to run for safety in the Straits. I suspect he left it just a little too late.

How well does your boat reverse into the wind from stationary?

A55 is closed & no sign of any salvage attempts yet.

 

[electrosys]

Another stone carrier vessel is in touble.

Dubious reporting from the BBC (?): "The grounding comes after another vessel - the Swanland - got into difficulties and sank on 27 November after loading with limestone at the same Raynes Jetty."

So - obviously a similar situation which needs looking into - except that the Swanland was sunk by a giant wave some 10 miles west of the Lleyn peninsula.

 

[tom_sail]

I'm afraid it was just a coincidence that two ships got into trouble from the same place. The swanland hit a rock in Cornwall a year ago which weakened her.

I'm lucky enough to work in that quarry although I don't work on the limestone side. I work on the landfill side. As the rock is mined out the space is filled with rubbish.

 

[oldharry]

Whats with all these ship problems recently or is it common but we don't get to hear about them?

Nothing unusual going on except this one is a bit more high profile - i.e. you can go and look at it! Have a look round http://www.maib.gov.uk/home/index.cfm and you will find all kinds of interesting reports ranging from ship detentions on safety grounds through to total losses in all classes of vessels, including private yachts where there has been loss of life or serious injury. There are various links.


According to a recent TV report on average one ship a week is lost without trace on ocean passages. This figure does not include local incidents like this one.

 

[tom_sail]

After 2 weeks off work over Easter I went back today. Speaking to the boys who were on shift when the incident happened I now know how it happened.

The boat was ment to load 4000 tonnes of limestone, after 2000 the captain announce he didn't feel comfortable with the large breaking waves so decided to abandon the loading and head out to sea for safety.

The mooring lines were released and the captain started backing his way out into a force 8 gusting 9 wind with steep breaking waves. He was obviously confident it was possible.

As he was backing out the captain felt the propeller vibrate, almost instantly the shore team on the jetty radioed staying a mooring line was in the water. The captain instinctively put the two things together, that the vibrating was caused by a mooring line around the prop. He shut the engine down and instantly the stern blew of course broad side to the waves where she drifted onto the rocks.

The mooring line hadn't gone through the prop, the vibration was thought to be caused by the prop leaving the water in the troughs.

 

[peteK]

The ships at this jetty always tie up bows pointing landward,might be better reversing in to make for a safer departure if the weather turns nasty.

 

[Searush]

Ouch, talk about an unhappy co-incidence.

 

[tom_sail]

The ships at this jetty always tie up bows pointing landward,might be better reversing in to make for a safer departure if the weather turns nasty.

The way the pier is designed doesn't allow for this although it would be a good idea. The ships superstructure take to much room at the stern and the pier isn't long enough to fill the bow. The conveyor belt runs on rails but wouldnt be able to load the bow unless the ships stern was on the rocks. Poor design really I guess it was designed for prevailing conditions.

 

[Skylark]

Thanks for the explanation, Tom. It's a forlorn sight, parked on the beach, parallel to the water line. A salutary lesson for those who use the pier, although I'm not honestly sure what anyone would have done differently.

I heard she's a total loss and will be cut-up and scrapped on site. Is this true?

 

[tom_sail]

I heard she's a total loss and will be cut-up and scrapped on site. Is this true?

Yes that's true, the 24000 litres of fuel has been pumped off and a demolition company won the contract. They started last Wednesday cutting it up at LW. I think the plan is to cut it up into sizeable chunks and send it off to be recycled on lorries.