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I WOULD IMAGINE CRUISE SHIPS LIFEBOATS ARE USED MORE THAN ANT OTHER TYPES OF SHIPS, SO THE WEAR WILL BE GREATER, MAYBE RENEWALS SHOULD BE SOONER ON CRUISE SHIPS, WOULD IMAGINE ALL ABOARD THAT SHIP NEED RENEWING, THOSE ARE HEAVY BOATS PUT A LOT OF STRAIN ON THE GEAR.
Tony ref. the picture of the broken wire. I have already mentioned from my point of view the past maintainace which occured under the BOT regs. It would certainly clear the air a bit re the accident if the wire certificate was made available to the public, which would state the date of manufacture and fitting, SWL and various other information. Also on the back of the LSA ( Life Saving Appliances) certificate it used to be normal practice to have record of wires, when changed etc. This would under circumstances of old be checked by a BOT surveyor on a yearly basis. Just out of nosiness would be nice to know if such standards are kept to what they used to be. The changing of wires etc. used to come under general maintainance by ships personel. I often wondered when crew sizes were diminshed what happened to ships maintainance, I brought this up several times with various owners, and was always assured that shore staff would do any necessary work. I know from experience that in a lot of cases this was just wishful thinking. I know there are a lot of Lifeboats on a Passenger vessel and a lot of wires, and probably has a department to themselves for such records, if they havent then they should have this delegated to some authority, whether ashore or on board. Regards John Sabourn
Looking at the photo of the wire it would appear to be in bad condition. From it I can see no eveidence of any grease so wonder just how much care has been taken on this one.
I didn't come across too many wires parting under strain but the few I did showed more signs of stranding. The break in the picture seems very short and looks as though the wire was already weakened in one area possibly by kinking.
Regards
Calvin
If I remember boat falls were specially constucted self lubricating wire were not like an ordinary wire one could splice. Might be thinking of something else but dont think so. Were more like a plaited rope and made specifically for what they were designed for. Cheers John Sabourn.
Very true John. I was able to syudy at close range the ones on our last cruise ship, the boat deck was one below us and I often watched the lifeboats used as tenders being lowered. Yes it did appear the wires were in some form of grease pan as there was evidence of plenty of it. The one in the photo looks very dry and almost rusted.
Thought you were going to say fenders for a moment and not tenders. Cheers John Sabourn
Hi John.
You are right the wires on the lifeboat falls that I remember were not splicable, even the old rope falls had to be a continous run any fraying and the whole rope was replaced.
Cheers Des
Thanks Des, thought after writing I might have been getting mixed up with the wire on the Patent Sounding Machine which believe was piano wire. However see no reports yet on any suggestion on the age of wires in question. I dont know how old the vessel is, but it shouldnt be too hard for any investigative reporter to find out the age of the wires etc. when they were last replaced etc. As said it used to be every 3 years they had to be replaced, the third year on an end for ended wire, to my knowledge. For the peace of mind of the victims familys this should be done if for nothing else. All the other wires on boats would I have thought also be checked for age etc. or is this too hard a job for our Press. Maybe not enough sellage of newspapers with such reporting. However even for those people who do cruising their minds should be put at rest that maintainance is being carried out on these vessels. It is not a big job and could nearly be done by phoning around, and sighting the actual wire certificates. Regards John Sabourn
Looking at that cable that seems to me to be quite a catastrophic failure , To have snapped like that I would think that the whole thing was shocked very severely an had corrosion present . Out of Interest the Ship is Greek , registered in Malta in a Spanish Port with various other nationalities who died , Is the investigation under the jurisdictional of the Spanish courts , and to see justice for the crewmen who tragically lost their lives does their own country hold an inquest or is it all like yesterdays news just swept aside