Meanwhile, at sea...

[addjunkie]

Great view from the bottom of the hold which is about 30' below sea level.

The scale is totally mind boggling!

Suspect it will be more than 30 feet below sea level, that's probably only 4 boxes below deck level.

As for scale, its all relative to what your used too. Any ship, even little ones look huge when your down in the bottom of a dry dock, or a hold/cargo tank. The real truth is how many times you need to stop for a rest climbing back up the ladders to get out.

 

[James1979]

Suspect it will be more than 30 feet below sea level, that's probably only 4 boxes below deck level.

As for scale, its all relative to what your used too. Any ship, even little ones look huge when your down in the bottom of a dry dock, or a hold/cargo tank. The real truth is how many times you need to stop for a rest climbing back up the ladders to get out.

Even the small workboats get tedious climbing in and out when you’re working from your truck and forget something for he hundredth time that day!

up from the engine room, down the dive platform, down the scaffold. Up steps to the truck. Repeat in reverse. Keeps you fit! At least on the big ones you can get kit lifted up to you!

 

[Mick Annick]

On of our customers containers is on board that ship so I found out some time ago. Insurance should be fun!
Biggest loss in recent times - God help a vessel hitting one. Most will sink but some containing buoyant material could float around for years - just lying flush with the surface

I read somewhere yesterday that the US navy shoot to sink them

 

[James1979]

I read somewhere yesterday that the US navy shoot to sink them

That’s most things they don’t recognise!!

 

[brightspark]

At some point they must end up with loads of empties........is that correct

I always wondered if those on the top were empty........

I havent a clue really....just a thought

if they didnt they would have to ballast the ship to compensate and supose it depends where they all have to go otherwise they would have to unload stacks of them to get to the loads below and then reload them which is hardly likely cost and time wise

 

[Brad93]

Calculations are only any good if what’s on the BOL Is actually the true weight of the container.

 

[addjunkie]

Even the small workboats get tedious climbing in and out when you’re working from your truck and forget something for he hundredth time that day!

up from the engine room, down the dive platform, down the scaffold. Up steps to the truck. Repeat in reverse. Keeps you fit! At least on the big ones you can get kit lifted up to you!

Funny I was just talking to someone I was an apprentice with about this the other day. How fit we were running about in baking hot engine rooms full of stairs, for

months on end.

Calculations are only any good if what’s on the BOL Is actually the true weight of the container.

That's very true, suspect these days some of the cranes will check this, with their load cells.

 

[fizzy]

Funny I was just talking to someone I was an apprentice with about this the other day. How fit we were running about in baking hot engine rooms full of stairs, for

months on end.


That's very true, suspect these days some of the cranes will check this, with their load cells.

Yes they are all checked weighed automatically and loaded in accordance.
One of the biggest risks to container ships now is fire due to mis-declared dangerous goods.
Been some nasty fires in the past few years with a few deaths.

 

[James1979]

On that vessel I’d think the lifeboats were astern where the seat of the fire is

 

[Brad93]

Funny I was just talking to someone I was an apprentice with about this the other day. How fit we were running about in baking hot engine rooms full of stairs, for

months on end.


That's very true, suspect these days some of the cranes will check this, with their load cells.

Who polices the drivers though. Mrs does marine insurance and cargo. Guess how often the cargo lot have under declared. Then the marine lot find out the containers were overweight. Lots of fun.

 

[Brad93]

Yes they are all checked weighed automatically and loaded in accordance.
One of the biggest risks to container ships now is fire due to mis-declared dangerous goods.
Been some nasty fires in the past few years with a few deaths.

I can tell you right now they’re not

 

[addjunkie]

Yes they are all checked weighed automatically and loaded in accordance.
One of the biggest risks to container ships now is fire due to mis-declared dangerous goods.
Been some nasty fires in the past few years with a few deaths.

Fire when you cant run away is a very scary thing! If in doubt bail out doesnt work, if there is no one to bail you out!
.

 

[fizzy]

I can tell you right now they’re not

Depends on the port and the size of the vessel. The huge vessels need huge ports where they have the latest technology.
Obviously a few containers being loaded onto a smaller vessel in somewhere like Banjul may be overlooked!

 

[4String.]

The very one
Have a read about the true story Whiskey Galore was based on , its not half as twee as the movie, its quite an interesting story .

https://scotchwhisky.com/magazine/features/8384/the-true-story-behind-whisky-galore/

Occasionally someone asks on one of the diving forums about going to Eriskay to see if they can find a bottle, but after being dynamited and nigh-on 80 years of Mother Natures wrath, I suspect there'll be few if any still intact.

Never come across any bottles of whisky while underwater but I have all sorts of maritime junk on the shelves in my man room, along with empty whisky bottles full of sand which make great book ends . There's a couple of lumps of coal that came out of the hold of the Shuna in the Sound of Mull, some paper, (cotton fibre to be exact), that was destined to be 5 and 10 Rupee notes that came from the Breda in Ardmucknish Bay just north of Oban, old bottles dating back to about 1820 that came from a dumping ground off the west coast of Skye, and part of a valve that I found by one of the German wrecks in Scapa Flow.

 

[tom2207]

Brass truly is divers gold.

 

[octo0072000]

Calculations are only any good if what’s on the BOL Is actually the true weight of the container.

used to get that all the time on wagens. OH it's only 20ton more like 25ton
1 potato bulker i picked from a farm loaded to the gunnels thought this is heavy we the uk was running at 32 ton then on 4 axles got to weighbridge had to drop trailer on bridge because 40ton scale maxed out would not weigh it as over 40 ton so had to weigh trailer separate at 39 ton plus unit at 6.5 ton so 45.5 ton so 13.5 ton over weight good job it was only 2 miles to weighbridge

 

[Turbo]

During a recent news report on 8r3x17 it reported that due to worldwide port delays there is a severe shortage of empty shipping containers in the far east.

 

[4String.]

Brass truly is divers gold.

In the Sound of Mull is the wreck of the Rondo.

Originally built as a liberty ship she ran aground on a small islet during a winter storm and after being declared a total loss was salvaged to the waterline. The inevitable happened and more storms sent her back into the water where she sunk on an almost vertical wall, the bow hitting the bottom at about 50 metres and the stern at about 10. The first thing you get to when diving her is the stern post which still has the main phosphor bronze prop shaft bearing in place, and it shines brightly due to the generations of scuba divers who've scratched it with their dive knives, and presumably wondered how to get it out .

And it's a very weird dive. Most wrecks are sat on a fairly even keel, so when you drop on one that's almost vertical it's mildly disorienting .

 

[Rannsachair]

In the Sound of Mull is the wreck of the Rondo.

Originally built as a liberty ship she ran aground on a small islet during a winter storm and after being declared a total loss was salvaged to the waterline. The inevitable happened and more storms sent her back into the water where she sunk on an almost vertical wall, the bow hitting the bottom at about 50 metres and the stern at about 10. The first thing you get to when diving her is the stern post which still has the main phosphor bronze prop shaft bearing in place, and it shines brightly due to the generations of scuba divers who've scratched it with their dive knives, and presumably wondered how to get it out .

And it's a very weird dive. Most wrecks are sat on a fairly even keel, so when you drop on one that's almost vertical it's mildly disorienting .

I have always been intrigued by the number of wrecks off Argyll, I bought https://www.scottishshipwrecks.com/argyll-shipwrecks/ when it came out, though now I know the waters, I can appreciate how difficult it was in the past to accurately navigate through a storm in rock strewn waters pre chartplotters.

 

[addjunkie]

I have always been intrigued by the number of wrecks off Argyll, I bought https://www.scottishshipwrecks.com/argyll-shipwrecks/ when it came out, though now I know the waters, I can appreciate how difficult it was in the past to accurately navigate through a storm in rock strewn waters pre chartplotters.

How right you are. GPS navigation has probably been one of the greatest developments in our life times. Knowing where you are in a boat certainly removes a fair amount of stress, till it goes off!