There are reports now of Shell Mars…has broken loose and is floating freely. Edit: i see this has already been mentioned in the other thread.
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Looks like a landfall on or near Fourchon. I am not a prayerful person but I am praying for anyone left behind in that hellstorm! Grand Isle appears totally overwashed by surge.
Because nothing screams prudent mariner louder than violating your stability letter.
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The Loadline does not apply on inland waters.
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There’s a difference between knowing your vessel & knowing your stability letter. I worked with a few Masters who said screw what some computer geek drew up 5, 10 or 15 years ago & ordered to have tanks flooded or deballasted based on what the ship was doing & how she felt. If I were an OSV engineer in Port Fourchon & the Captain said flood all empty liquid mud tanks with bayou water to keep us from floating out of the channel I’d flood the liquid mud tanks without hesitation.
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Saw Achiever still at HOS Port early this morning and thought “WTF?”
Huge sail area, too many hard corners from A slip and out of Flotation yet there they sit with, most likely, men aboard. So many boats still in port…the stupidity of that business knows no bounds.
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Flooding your LM tanks with 8.55 ppg (or lighter) bayou water doesn’t strike me as being likely to submerge your Plimsoll mark. But hey, ya never know.
Gee whizz, I’m not going to argue hypothetical OSV stability scenarios with you but I did say, “all empty liquid mud tanks” implying perhaps some tanks weren’t empty. And just to let you know, some older smaller OSV’s could get to their marks solely with deck cargo. Some boats couldn’t take a full load of fuel, dry bulk, ballast water & deck cargo without sinking. Pipe was heavy.
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Because that would make as much sense as flooding or deballasting tanks based on how the vessel “feels”
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If I were an insurance adjuster, I’d want to hear a really good excuse about why those vessels didn’t steam west out of Fouchon a day or two before the storm hit, otherwise my insurance company would not be paying on the claim.
Well Jeaux Boss can’t point a finger at the national hurricane center. The track and expected major status was all but written in stone even before Ida passed the tip of Cuba.
And it’s still 145 sustained with a real well defined eye. Going to be awhile before that energy winds down.
Well how the hell did the Golden Ray fall over then? It was inside the boundary line.
Since when? There are a bunch on inland water vessels which are classed “for load line only”…
I wouldn’t know about the GOLDEN RAY, but I imagine she was complying with her Loadline. That tends to show the limitations of static stability calculations for a Loadline or stability letter.
IIRC GOLDEN RAY laid over in a turn and never came back. An example of how dynamic stability (how she feels) can be more important for a vessel underway than than static stability calculations from the letter.
Loadine and Classed are two entirely separate things. Many small vessels (0ver 79 feet or over 150 GRT) are Loadlined, but not Classed. Many small vessels are built to Class, but only the Loadline is required and maintained.
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Load lines have nothing to do with stability. Their relation to the waterline is a function of displacement and, subsequently, reserve buoyancy.
Wat
Enough of this nonsense…loadlines, shmoadlines! If a goddamned ship is tied to a dock in a hurricane and in danger of overriding the pier or being blown over, a master can flood every tank including fuel to ballast the ship down enough. Hell, I’d even flood void spaces and cargo holds to set her down on the bottom if that is what it took to save the ship…
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Rode out HUGO in Charleston Harbor back in the day. 927 mb. Town took a caning.
Serious wind but the pier never went under or at least not much. We were fine and comfortable throughout- lost the SSB antennae - never saw or heard them go. Lots of watching and tending lines. Thrusters and mains at the ready. Lots of tough guys up the river on the shrimp boats crying for the coast guard on the vhf when the eyewall hit - but no one sank. Plenty of boats in the marsh. Upright. Container cranes down, dry docks sunk, stuff busted up.
But on board … slept like a baby
If you are tied to a dock you are not underway so there is no problem to submerge your load line. The front page of your SMS says the master may take any step necessary to secure safety of the vessel. It may well be advantageous to have the vessel aground before the storm strikes. If a vessel goes aground and can not get of unaided it will generally be advised to ballast down to prevent movement and further damage.
The difference between the summer mark and the fresh water mark is your fresh water allowance.
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Some Captain Scott Timmons in Port Fourchon sent this to the NWS 149MPH with gusts 172.
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