Where's that?

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Where\'s that?

Why do tabloid newspapers and the BBC say 'English Channel', when what they mean is Dover Strait. Today a car carrying freighter (nearly 3000 cars!) has gone down '30 miles east of Ramsgate'. This sounds like the vicinity of the West Hinder.
It is just about in the North Sea and maybe can be described as Dover Strait.
But, oh no, the announcement on BBC services and on BBC web is 'English Channel'!
 
Re: Ships that go bump in the Fog

Ships that go bump in the Fog
The <A target="_blank" HREF=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2575009.stm> BBC </A> ended the report with "An inquiry will be launched by the French authorities into the cause of the accident, but immediate investigations are being hampered by the thick fog."
So much for RADAR, at least there was no loss of life.
 
Re: BBC details

What do you recon they do with a wreck that size? I'd imagine its too big to salvage, so are they just going to leave it there? If so, better add it to your charts, as its only just below the surface- wouldn't want to sail into it!

I guess the alternative is to dismantle it somehow, but how do you go about doing that?
 
Re: Where\'s that?

So nice down here, there should be a entrance fee as well,

mike
the one with the Sabre
 
Re: Where\'s that?

France Inter (radio) at least got it right: their report said the collision took
place in the Pas de Calais (Strait). Pas de Calais is roughly Cap Gris Nez/
Dungeness on the South and Dunkerque/N. Foreland on the North. Dover
Strait? C'est oû, ça??
 
Re: Ships that go bump in the Fog

If big ships cant see each other then a yachy has no chance.

Seems that there is more concern for the value of the cars on board than fuel spill.
 
Re: Where\'s that?

You're dead right of course, but the Petit Robert de noms propres has Pas de Calais as meaning straights of Dover AND English Channel, written in English. This despite the fact that the Fench also have a translation for 'English Channel'. Is the problem just ontology? Is the straight of Dover just a sub-set of the English channel? Just as the Solent and Pevensey Bay would be?
 
Wreck removal

Speaking as one of "they"....

No, it's not too hard to cut up and remove a wreck like this - it is done quite regularly, in fact, when ships sink and block harbours. The wreck is cut into sections using a wire rope coated with abrasive, then each section is parbuckled up using sheerlegs and dumped onto the deck of a barge and removed. Expensive, of course.

The KURSK was raised by this means from a great depth last summer at a cost of US$60M.

The Herald of Free Enterprise was removed in another way - parbuckled upright and compressed air used on the ballast tanks after the fuel oil was removed.

A third different way - even more expensive - where the ballast tanks are filled with compressed air or sometimes expanded polystyrene balls until the ship floats - can also be used - usually where the ship is in deeper water.
 
Re: Where\'s that?

The newspaers are written for the general public and most of those know at least roughly where the English Channel is, so thats why they say what they do. Most of them also know its very narrow, so that helps in their perception. The BBC are just pillocks, we all know that!
 
Re: Where\'s that?

The BBC TV news last night reported it as being "off Dunkirk" and later in the same item as "off Margate". Near enough I suppose?
 
Re: BBC details

Apparently someone did sail into it last night. A 90 meter ship called Nicola. It got pulled off and is currently limping back to port.
 
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