The only specialised marine publication in Oceania that focuses on the maritime industry, from super yachts to small craft to large commercial ships, including coastal shipping, tugs, tow boats, barges, ferries, tourist, sport-fishing craft
Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/48969
BEYOND THE HORIZON THE GOOD OIL? BY HUGH WARE M icrobes residing within the surface oil slick remaining after the massive Gulf of Mexico spill more than a year ago ate the oil five times more effectively than microbes outside the slick. A report on the slick said the wee beasties did not seem to require nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous, elements scarce in the spilled oil. In addition, the microbes' respiration produced carbon dioxide and energy but they did not seem to use it, at least not for replication! Scientists are puzzled, but it's reassuring when unexpected friends show up to help us humans. THIN PLACES AND HARD KNOCKS A Pakistani dhow carrying petroleum products from Sharjah to Somalia caught fire and seven died, while nine others were rescued. At Shanghai, a cleaning lady died from head injuries when a runaway barge struck her after it climbed over five smaller vessels and onto a pier. In Alaskan waters, the Coast Guard oceangoing buoy tender USCGC Spar transferred a crewmember off the 25m Maverick, a star of the television series Deadliest Catch. The tender carried him more than 200 miles to St Paul Island, where he was flown to Anchorage for further treatment. Britain's biggest oil port, Sullom Voe, was forced to close when employee cutbacks meant no vessel traffic services were available after one employee called in sick and no replacement was on the payroll. In the southern Philippines, the Bulk Carrier 1 sank after coming into violent contact with the HS Puccini. Two engineers of the bulker died when trapped below. A SWAT team of police boarded the tanker Al Mahboobah off the coast of Portugal after the master radioed to say his crew had mutinied and threatened to kill him. The SWAT team took the ship to Lisbon to sort out what had happened. GREY FLEETS The United States Navy relieved the skipper of the destroyer The Sullivans of his command after he mistook a fishing boat for a towed gunnery target off North Carolina. Luckily, the warship's gunnery crew was not up to hitting the fishing boat. A panel of three US Navy admirals ruled the former commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise had committed misconduct and demonstrated substandard performance when he showed raunchy movies, but decided he could continue his naval career. A Royal Marine aged 37 died in Portsmouth during a night- time training exercise involving boarding a moving ship. Although he was attached to the vessel by a safety line, he had failed to secure the crotch strap of his utility vest and it rode up and strangled him. Fatigue was thought to be a factor. After three decades, Canada's Maritime Command and Air Command will revert to their earlier names of the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Gone are the days when every military member wore the same green uniform and admirals were generals. The Land Force Command is now the (non-royal) Canadian Army. The subject of sex arose again on the Royal Australian Navy supply ship HMAS Success when a female crewmember claimed she had been ambushed in a storeroom and sexually assaulted. She reported the incident to Navy officials, then went ashore and told Sydney police. The assault comes a few months after a report revealed a predatory culture of sexual misconduct fueled by alcohol and drugs on the Success. The Chinese Navy's first aircraft carrier, formerly the Soviet carrier Varyag, went to sea recently for a short trial. Her commanding officer is Li Xiaoyan, a top-rated naval pilot. Elsewhere in China, the former Soviet carrier Kiev is due to open as a luxury hotel later this year. The carrier was previously moored at a theme park and was 33rd in a list of 158 attractions in or near Tianjin. THOSE THAT GO BACK AND FORTH In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a ferry carrying at least 200 passengers on the Tshuapa River sank after colliding with a wooden cargo vessel. Both craft were operating without lights and the cargo boat was not allowed to operate at night. At least 80 people died. Nearly 200 people died in Tanzania after the overloaded ferry Spice Islanders capsized. At least 192 bodies were recovered, while more than 600 passengers survived the accident. The ferry was bound for the island of Pemba in the Indian Ocean, near Zanzibar. 38 Professional Skipper November/December 2011 VIP.S84