LEGAL MATTERS
In an unpublished decision, a US Appeals Court confirmed the manufacturers of a recreational vessel and its engine were liable for injuries if a propeller blade cut and severely injured a swimmer. A Macedonian court has jailed two men for a year because of a boating accident on Lake Ohrid in 2009 in which 15 Bulgarian tourists died. Their offences were allowing overcrowding and issuing false safety certificates.
NATURE
In New Zealand, a young humpback whale swam into a Tory Channel mussel farm and became entangled in ropes and gear. The mussel farmers moved a barge alongside the whale and it was utterly passive during the 45 minutes it took to cut it free with the help of a crane on the barge. Southern California has the world's first hybrid tugs, the purpose-built Carolyn Dorothy and a converted sister, the Campbell Foss. European designers have also been developing a hybrid design. The tugs basically use electric power and only start the main engines when the crew requires extra power for high-speed transits or ship assists.
METAL BASHING
The tanker Wenjiang, launched in 1960 as the British Curlew and abandoned in 1980 during the Iran/Iraq War, managed to end up at Bandar Abbas in Iran. Someone took over ownership, a tug appeared and they headed for Pakistan and scrapping. The real owners are unhappy. China's largest shipyard will expand into green recycling by erecting the world's largest dismantling plant. It will dismantle about 75 ships a year ranging in size up to 300,000dwt.
ODD BITS …
Last summer, Canadian government searchers discovered the Arctic exploration ship HMS Investigator, which sank in 1854 off Banks Island. This summer, the same group hopes to find HMS Terror and Erebus, the heart of Sir John Franklin's abortive 1854 expedition to discover the Northwest Passage. The vessels are Canada's only national historic sites with no known location. Shippers regularly mislabel the weight or contents of containers, causing a number of accidents. The major shipping companies are organising a Cargo Incident Notifications Network called Cinsnet (Sinsnet?) to help identify potentially dangerous containers and industry-wide trends.
The British Coast Guard heard an electronic emergency signal one night, launched a lifeboat and searched the Welsh coast for three hours before they realised the signal came from a BMW parked on the ferry European Endeavour. Many new BMWs and Volvos now have emergency telematic anti-theft devices.
… AND HEADSHAKERS
The North Atlantic island of Rockall is a mere 25m wide, 31m long, 21m high and 187 miles from the nearest land. The highest waves in the world (29m) were measured nearby. Nevertheless, a Yorkshireman plans to spend a night on the tiny island to replace a brass plaque left there in 1955 and re-establish Britain's ownership. (There is a four-way dispute between the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands over ownership.) By the way, his name is Strangeway. In May, the bulker Double Prosperity departed Australia for India with 65,351 tonnes of coal when she ran aground on Bacud Reef along Sarangani Bay in the Philippines. Her captain admitted he had moved his ship closer to the mainland merely to establish solid cellphone signals.
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September/October 2011 Professional Skipper 37
Parker Racor Fuel Filter
VIP.S79
