600 Foot drydock goes missing in the GoM

Just got word that a 600x200 foot drydock went missing in Atwater Valley block 135 on Monday night while it was being towed by the Michael J. McAllister, and that it just now turned up in Mississippi Canyon 743, which is the same area as the BP Atlantis installation.

A number of questions come to mind such as:

How does something like this just disappear for 5 days?
What was it doing way out there?
Who’s drydock was it?

Anyone have any details on this?

I saw this awhile back that McAllister was towing a dry dock from Canada. Below is a link about it.

What’s more interesting is when Katrina hit an a few DP drill rigs went missing for a week.

It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last.

[QUOTE=Jemplayer;80738]What’s more interesting is when Katrina hit an a few DP drill rigs went missing for a week.

It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last.[/QUOTE]

ENSCO7500 abandoned with engines running and hold position engaged. Found still afloat a week later 85 miles from well center and didn’t hit a thing!

And who said that miracles don’t happen anymore?

Go figure. A McAllister tug towing a dry dock to get scrapped through a hurricane. I worked for the on early 2000’s and trust me you wouldn’t want to be caught in heavy weather on any of there offshore tugs.

Yah pretty sure you know when you break a tow wire in shitty wx. When that gps jumps from 1kt to 6kt you might want to take a peek out those windows behind you…

Correction, BP Atlantis is located in Green Canyon 743 vice Mississippi Canyon 743. My mistake.

[QUOTE=c.captain;80744]ENSCO7500 abandoned with engines running and hold position engaged. Found still afloat a week later 85 miles from well center and didn’t hit a thing!

And who said that miracles don’t happen anymore?[/QUOTE]

Interesting piece of trivia - the 7500 was ENSCO’s first DP rig, so there wasn’t a lot by way of guidance or emergency procedures in terms of how DP went into play in the event a hurricane / cyclone coming in. The issue came about largely because they couldn’t demonstrate sufficient speed to evade a cyclone in the same way a vessel or drillship can (fully secured in transit draft she could do just under 5kn, but her drive off speed is around 1.5kn with jewellery attached).

To make a long story short, they called the USCG and asked what they should do with the rig. The Coast Guard didn’t have much advice beyond:

a.) Downman nonessential personnel (NEPs)
b.) Secure MODU as best able
c.) Point MODU in a given direction at full power
d.) Abandon rig
e.) Let MODU go till it runs out of fuel
f.) Recover MODU post-hurricane.

[QUOTE=c.captain;80744]ENSCO7500 abandoned with engines running and hold position engaged. Found still afloat a week later 85 miles from well center and didn’t hit a thing!

And who said that miracles don’t happen anymore?[/QUOTE]

Yep, that thing sailed right past our ship. Our captain at the time called transocean HQ to request permission to come alongside her and board the vessel. They replied “No F’n way!” and the idea was dropped but that didn’t stop rumors of big $$$ crew payouts on salvage rights. That rumor lasted for days.

Would likely have been over $1 million for the skipper alone … oh well. Better luck next time.

Don’t believe it? Read this. http://www.wcslaw.com/publications.asp?artID=118

Thanks for posting the link to that excellent Canadian website.