Skip to main content

NOT ON MY BOAT

Non-cruise ship soot happens!!
When NAUTICAL LOG first came to America in the 1950's we were greatly impressed at how Americans dealt with life in general.  Capable and self-reliant when something went wrong there was a short period of being 'pissed-off', then they things got sorted out, solved the problem and moved on with their lives.  Eventually some 45 years ago NAUTICAL LOG came to live in The United States, settled in to raise a family and now grandchildren - all Americans with that 'can-do' spirit. 


But how things have changed over the years.  These days with creeping and creepy socialism there must be 'Rules' for every little thing, if the slightest thing goes wrong the 'Authorities' must be informed, someone blamed for the incident - even punished - and one perhaps will be compensated (oh joy!).  This attitude seems now to be well established in the boating community.  Just today on reading another maritime Blog there was a Post about - horrors - soot on MY boat.  Now one of our treasured American Freedoms is the Right to write and publish as we see fit, thank goodness we have it.   That Right however puts the responsibility on us to edit ourselves.  Do we really want to write about that subject? Is it perhaps just too petty?


It appears the seafarer involved is quite well known in his area and currently working with the Coast Guard so it may be that some of that para-military attitude rubbed off.  According to his own report he returned aboard his vessel to find soot all over his deck.  Now that is very annoying but then as we seafarers know - soot happens!  


He then published a story about the incident titled with a cruise ships name, which NAUTICAL LOG most certainly will not repeat, this without any proof whatsoever that the vessel was in anyway involved.  This is most improper and very probably illegal as a false accusation for the cause of the incident. 


Again, according to his own story, the Marina Office was contacted about the soot, which in turn led to the Cruise Division of the Port being contacted, which led to the Captain of a cruise ship in Port being contacted, which led to the Master's report 'not us'.  It is common practice to try and blame cruise ships for every little thing that happens even as they are busy bringing considerable business to the Port involved.  Finally the seafarer's Marina suggested he contact the Port website, which NAUTICAL LOG understands he did, so far he has not received any reply - why are we not surprised?


So after all that fuss contacting the 'Authorities' about very little, one is back to getting a cold water hose, flushing the soot off the boat with the help of some liquid soap, making a cup of coffee and saying to oneself  - oh well SOOT HAPPENS.


Good Watch

Please remember our 800 fellow seafarers, who have much more than a little soot to worry about, held captive by pirates off Somalia.  Also in West Africa whose Ports are again suffering acts of piracy.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PAINT LOCKER FIRES

The photographs above are revealing in several ways, lets have a look. Clearly the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) vessel JS "Kurama" impacted the Korean container ship MS "Carina Star" just aft of the turn of the fo'cs'le on the Starboard side. Please note that's the Starboard side, thus it appears JS "Kurama" would have shown "Carina Star" the red port sidelight and "Carina Star" would have shown JS "Kurama" the green starboard sidelight. This impact point would tend to suggest that JS "Kurama" was the 'stand-on' vessel and the MS "Carina Star" is the 'giving-way' vessel. Until there is a complete plot of the tracks made good of both these vessels and the position in the Kanmon Strait of the point of collision no determination can actually be made. As a result of this impact there was severe bow damage to JS "Kurama" and in addition a massive f

HOW TO WEAR A LIFEJACKET

A popular U.S.-based cruise ship style A popular European ferry style Several times during the year NAUTICAL LOG has had visitors searching for lifejacket instructions. With two just over Christmas we decided to publish something for everybody to see and read. Choose a Coast Guard approved life-jacket and make sure it is undamaged. Make sure life-jackets are readily accessible, never locked away. Check the fit, there are adult, child and infant sizes, the correct one MUST be used. Choose bright colour life-jackets so as to be seen easily by Search and Rescue (SAR). Put your life-jacket ON BEFORE you leave the berth. Make sure you have a light and whistle attached AND they BOTH WORK. Good Watch

BOUILLABAISSE

TAAF Service vessel operated by CMA CGM TAAF Regional flag Well now let us see if here at NAUTICAL LOG we have got a grasp on things simmering in the pot. It seems that when the anti-whaling campaign started out some years ago it was between Greenpeace, the Sea Shepherds and the Japanese whaling fleet. The Australians came down to their own Southern Ocean Territory in a chartered civilian vessel one year. Beyond taking photographs and returning some Sea Shepherds to their ship the MS "Steve Irwin" not much was accomplished. The Greenpeace crowd then dropped out and Animal Planet boarded the MS "Steve Irwin" to shoot 'reality TV' and so Whale Wars came into being. This resulted in some deplorable behaviour on all sides and some appalling exhibitions of seamanship - or rather total lack of seamanship by the Sea Shepherds. But now there was money coming in which could be spent on - well nobody really knows what the money is spent on. New Zealand made it q