NAUTICAL LOG

Continuing our series with Alert 10(b) -10 Simple failures render CO2 system inoperative. However before doing so we should like to draw your attention to the Supplement Note from TSB Canada in the previous post of this series. It refers to another incident all too similar to the incident we are covering here. On further investigation of the MS Carnival Splendor CO2 system the following points saw the light of day. Clearly for the first time by either the ships Safety Officers or the USCG Marine Safety Officers. We quote from Alert 10(b)-10: "Numerous piping and hose connections leaked extensively. When the system was activated, on scene video taken by the firefighters showed numerous leakages into the CO2 room. Post casualty while the pressure was still on the system, some of the leaks continued even after the connections were tightened." "The zone valve for the aft machinery space which admits CO2 from the bottle bank manifold to the space failed. Specifically the b...

NZ ferry Superflyte - see Supplement Note below. Continuing our Postings on passenger ship safety NAUTICAL LOG will address the two Marine Safety Alerts from USCG. We shall quote sections of them and then comment from our perspective as a former cruise line Safety Officer. Alert 10(a) - 10 "Wrong directions: A recipe for failure" states that it is based on concerns uncovered during an abroad investigation in a passenger vessel after a machinery space fire. It is clear that the vessel involved is the MS Carnival Splendor though that vessel is never named in the Report. Frankly we are not sure why because there are considerable conversations and writings about that major event in the maritime industry. Perhaps the reason is that the Investigation is ongoing and the USCG has Port State control rather than Flag State control which is the responsibility of the Republic of Panama. The first responders to the engineroom fire alarm were the vessels quick response team which f...

Looking through the various maritime blogs yesterday NAUTICAL LOG found in our favorite blog - other than our own!! - OLD SALT BLOG an article about the tragic 1963 Christmas fire in TSS Lakonia. As it happened that year we had a rare Christmas at home prior to going off on a two year voyage. In a comment made to the post NAUTICAL LOG stated that we would be addressing the safety issues in cruise ships in 2011. From contacts with serving Officers it appears there are serious issues to be addressed and judging from the perspective of a former cruise ship Safety Officer little reason for many of them. A major event usually results from a series of small incidents all leading up to the major event. One is reminded of the MS Carnival Splendor event this year which was supposed by Company spin to be all sorted out in a few days and now of course will take many months, a serious drydock, vast expense to repair or replace most of the engineroom concerned and the peripheral damages. The P...

SS Irish Elm 1953 Well here we are approaching the end of the year and the end of the Year of the Seafarer. Many times when looking at the NAUTICAL LOG list of visitors on SITEMETER we see maritime inquires. Please feel free to e-mail boucp@hotmail.com if you have questions pertaining to maritime affairs or think that NAUTICAL LOG may have the answer to your general questions. December 29, 2010 will be the 57th. Anniversary of joining our first ship SS Irish Elm as a Deck Apprentice. We sailed until 2003 some 50 years later during that time having visted many countries, ports and places perhaps learning a few things along those courses steered. As in those past times we enjoy meeting new persons, exchanging viewpoints and look forward to hearing from y'all. Good Watch.

When the Press Release folder brings in some good things about difficult people NAUTICAL LOG feels they should be posted as well as the non-good things - fair and balanced opinions. So it was that over the Christmas Holiday when SSCS reported that their ship MS Bob Barker while cruising in the Southern Ocean had come across fishing gear consisting of longlines supported by buoys. On examining them they found no markings or identification numbers on the buoys as required by international maritime laws. It is illegal to set buoys, lines or nets without being tagged with identification numbers or the vessels name. Nearby was a 70 metre fishing vessel which left the area as soon as she was called, some four times, on the VHF. Clearly this was a poacher targeting Patagonian toothfish sold as Chilean sea bass in your local supermarkets seafood section. All told the MS Bob Barker recovered 12 orange buoys and several kilometers of relatively new line plus the entire net. Now this is somet...

"Adoration of the Shepherds" by Francois Boucher 1703-1770 MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011 BEANNACHTAI NA NOLLAG AGUS NA hATHHLIANA 2011 'N ARAB NADOLIG A'N DDEDWYDD 'N GRAI BLWYDDYN 2011 NADELIK LOWEN HA BLYDHEN NOWYDH DA 2011 JOYEAUX NOEL ET BONNE ANNEE 2011 NEDELEG LAOUEN HA BLOAVEZH MAT 2011 FELIZ NAVIDAD Y UN PROSPERO ANO NUEVO 2011 FELIZ NATAL E BOM ANO NOVO 2011 ZORIONAK ETA URTE BERRI ON 2011 BON NATAL I FELIC ANY NOV 2011 BUON NATALE E BUON ANNO NUEVO 2011 SRETAN BOZIC, SRETNA NOVA GODINA 2011 FROLICHES WEINACHTEN UND GUTES NEUES JAHR 2011 GOD JUL OCH GOTT NYTT AR 2011 MELE KALIKIMAKA HAU'OLI MAKAHIKI HOU 2011 MALIGAYANG PASKO, MANIGONG BAGONG TAON 2011 GESEENDE KERSFEES EN'N VOORSPOEDIGE NUWE JAAR 2011 SINIGWENELELA IKRISIMESI EMNANDI NONYAKA OMTSHA OZELE 2011 HAG MOLAD SAMEACH V' SHANAH TOVA 2011 NAYE SAL KI HARDIK SUBHKAMNAYEN 2011 SELAMAT HARI NATAL DAN TAHUN BARU 2011 Good Watch. Greetings in English, Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Fr...

JCC Survey Ship HL 01 Shoyo PL 62 Hakata (armed vessel) PL 51 Hida (armed vessel) Once again the Whale Wars violence has been declared this time it appears by both the Japanese Whaling Fleet and the Sea Shepherds. In an editorial on Tuesday December 14, 2010 there is a report that a journalist in Japan reported the Whaling Fleet fully intends to kill whales if necessary in front of the Sea Shepherds rather than follow the tactics of previous seasons. Instead of running from the Sea Shepherd vessels to kill whales away from them they will carry on whaling regardless of the presence of Sea Shepherd vessels. Fearless leader 'Wats-his-name' has stated in response: "I would strongly advise the Japanese crewmembers to be very careful in implementing such a strategy-----I will not abide by a whale being killed in our presence------I would without hesitation place my ship in harm's way to save the life of a whale." This is of course a clear and direct threat to the Japa...

HMNZS Wellington HMNZS Hawea Today in the NAUTICAL LOG Press Release folder came news which confirmed private sources information received some months ago. At that time it was thought that the Japanese Whaling Fleet would be protected by an armed force during the 2010-2011 Southern Ocean whaling season. We were given to understand that a private maritime security company would be the most likely possibility. Today it was announced that armed Japan Coast Guard personnel would be aboard each vessel for the duration of whaling operations. As a result the Government of New Zealand is taking a particular interest and this may well result in New Zealand Naval patrols being in the area of responsibility of New Zealand. NAUTICAL LOG has shown this area in a previous Post. To quote the Foreign Affairs Minister of NZ: "Anyone who looks at what happened last year has got to be fearful that there will be loss of human life under those circumstances and again I take this opportunity of app...

Looking around the maritime blogs this morning as usual NAUTICAL LOG came across a Post in BITTER END Blog. Rather amazed by its content we rushed to comment, which really is not always fair and balanced when one could write opinions in NAUTICAL LOG - so her goes!! With the continuing urge to offer protection to its citizens our government is increasing security and frankly is making rather a mess of it. Many of us know that flying has become a most unpleasant experience. Most airlines could care less about the passengers, which is strange since we are the ones that pay them to take us from airport "A" to airport "B". No longer to they feed us, even if its just a stale bun and a piece of mystery meat, now they charge us a second airfare for our bags. So much so that one airline uses some reverse advertising to lure us into taking their airline by offering "free" baggage transport as if this was the manna from heaven that saved the Israelites. Which remi...

This year the Southern Ocean whaling season has got off to a slower start usually they leave around the middle of November however this year they left in December. The Japanese Whaling Fleet are reported to have left Japan about a week ago and will be in the Southern Ocean in about another three weeks. On making inquires about the apparent delay NAUTICAL LOG was referred to a Japanese report by the National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries, Yokohama, Japan. The abstract translated from Japanese to English as received: "A systematic cetacean sighting survey for abundance estimation is planed in the Antarctic in the 2010/2011 season as a part of the Japanese Whale Research Program under special permit in the Antarctic (JARPA II). The research area is south of 60S in the Antarctic Areas V and western part of VI, between 130E and 145W including the Ross Sea during December 2010 and February 2011. Two dedicated sighting vessels, Shonan-maru No.2 and Yushin-maru No.3 will ...

There are three principal flags, known as Ensigns, hoisted by Australian registered vessels. They are as seen above, the Australian White Ensign flown by the Australian Navy vessels, the Australian Blue Ensign flown by Australian Government vessels which are not entitled to hoist the Australian White Ensign, and the Australian Red Ensign flown by merchant navy vessels, non-government vessels and private craft such as yachts. Australian vessels may be allowed to hoist the Australian Blue Ensign while under Australian Government Orders which would be issued in writing, known as a Warrant, to an individual ship. Individual Masters may also hoist the Australian Blue Ensign if they have been issued an individual Warrant by the Australian Government for the period of their command of that individual vessel. On that Masters departure from the vessel that vessel would resume flying the Australian Red Ensign. These differences are important at sea because the vessels status may be instantly see...

After several centuries there have been trials for piracy. The Maritime Law that covers piracy is written as "Robbery on the High Seas" and has not been applied for hundreds of years in some European countries. In should be noted that in those days decapitation was the sentence for piracy in the Hanseatic Port of Hamburg. In 2010 there were or are three trials, The Netherlands had convictions on June 18, 2010, the United States convicted on November 24, 2010 and Germany opened its trial on November 23, 2010, the first in hundreds of years. The last previous trial for piracy in the United States was during the War Between the States 1861-1865, also known as the Civil War after the Cessation of the Southern States to form The Confederacy. Under United States Code Title 18-1651 the last conviction for Piracy was in 1819. This year by November 2010 there have been 164 piracy incidents, 37 hijackings, 700 people taken hostage and 12 killed or injured. There are reports now of me...

On December 07, 1941 at 0755 Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawai'i was attacked by aerial bombardment by the Naval Forces of the Empire of Japan. A "Day that shall live in Infamy" and while it is noble and honourable to forgive we should not equate that with forgetting. NAUTICAL LOG has visited both USS Arizona BB 39 and USS Missouri BB 63 Memorials when in Hawai'i. It is an extremely moving experience to see after all this time the tiny droplets of oil coming up to the surface from the sunken USS Arizona. It is interesting to note that some of the most respectful visitors to the USS Arizona Memorial are the older Japanese men. Good Watch.

Crikey!! Now this is an interesting photo which arrived on the NAUTICAL LOG desk this morning. It shows the Australian National Ensign being flown inferior to the Sea Shepherd Society Flag. Now NAUTICAL LOG knows that the Australians live upside down near the bottom of the World and one makes allowances for the blood rushing to their heads but really this is overly topsy-turvy even for them - mate. It is considered an act of conquest and capture when vessels hoist flags in this manner. Which on second thoughts of course may be correct since the SSCS seems to be able to do as it likes in Australia having captured the ports of Fremantle,WA and Hobart,TAS. Good Watch.

Now the Players must arrive to play their parts once again in the annual Southern Ocean drama of man and mammal. On Thursday from ports in Japan came the departure of the Japanese Whaling Fleet. On Thursday from ports in Australia came the departure of the Sea Shepherds. But it seems that this year there may be some differences in the drama. The leader of the Greens in Australia says a court injunction should be taken against the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean. In June 2010 Australia filed a complaint against the Japanese Whaling Fleet in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. The case and any possible decision will not be addressed until 2013, two Southern Ocean whaling seasons in the future. The differences referred to above are, on the Japanese side, a possibly reduced whaling fleet since their supply ship will have to be replaced. However as NAUTICAL LOG mentioned in a previous Post the Japanese are understood to have made some arrangements for...