Thomson Majesty

[happy daze john in oz]

I have to date only seen a few sketchy details on the news here but from what I have heard it appears to me this may be another Concordia report.
The facts are not relevant, just get the story out it might sell copy!
Until such time as a full enquiry is held into this matter, there is no way in which we, or any other body, can comment as to the cause.
we may speculate as to what may have gone wrong putting forward our own ideas, condemning the company for insufficient training etc, or blaming forgieng owned shipping companies for cutting corners. But in every walk of life on each and every day some poor worker dies as a result of an accident. Sometimes it is the fault of the company and some times the worker. We are not in control of enough facts to judge at this point.
But hey, don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.

[Tony Wilding]

volendam.jpg.jpegNOT THE FIRST TIME ITS HAPPENED, DUTCH SHIP VOLENDAM SOME TIME AGO HAD A FALL BREAK, DUTCH SHIPS ARE WELL MAINTAINED,

[Keith Tindell]

I saw the main news on the TV, not a mention of the five lives of seaman(of whatever nationality) lost on the cruise ship lifeboat drill. However there was a full six minutes of the BAFTA awards, consisting of a lot of overdressed spoilt` people KT

[j.sabourn]

Has there been any mention of a quick release system to the failure of the boat launching exercise. Although never saw this fitted to ships lifeboats, was the norm in FRCs and DOTI boats on smaller vessels. ( fast rescue craft and Dept. of trade and industry) for those not understanding the abbreviations. Cheers John Sabourn.

[John Pruden]

thanks for that john i see every day thees orange life craft tilted on the stern of the grain carriers in seaforth terminal my question if a bulk carrier is sinking by the head how high can a quick release life craft be launched from what is the safety height?jp

[vic mcclymont]

Aren't we being a tad hypocritical on these posts? The Daily Mail and the media gets blamed for cherry picking items of news and we post blaming all and sundry.
The only facts that we know are ;
1) Five crew men were tragically killed.
2) A Lifeboat broke free whilst being tested.
No other facts are known yet we speculate was it crew fault, whilst crticising the media for doing the same thing.
On the BBC News last night they posted a picture from a passenger showing a broken hawser which suggests equipment failure.

Another item of maritime news which has slipped under the radar, was that the Carnival Triumph suffered an engine room blase 150 miles of the coast of the USA no crew or passengers were hurt but the main engines were out of action.
Now to me (speculation I know) I believe that there is an inherent design problem with these ships, that is the third or fourth that has suffered serious engine room fires in the last few years.
Each fire has rendered the vessel without power from a number of days to a number of months. But nothing seems to be done about it.
Vic

[j.sabourn]

John the quick release I was referring to was not the launching of the boat from a free fall position. The type I was referring to was when the boat was in the water to release the fall from the boat. Supposedly can only work when the boat is afloat, although there are different types of release mechanism, some better than others I suppose. Never saw any problems with the type I was with. These free fall boats I have reservations about, but suppose in a real emergency would use anything I suppose. Cheers John Sabourn

[j.sabourn]

I see no one blaming anyone on these posts, least of all the dead. All I see is people trying to surmise what could have gone wrong, until the facts are known. Unlike the master of the Costa Concordia who was immediately guilty, and accused of God knows what within hours of the event mainly by the Press. Cheers John Sabourn

[John Pruden]

j s yes i understand john but looking at some of the carriers and the length of them if it was to start going down fast is there a safety height that the can launch from after a certain angle were as the normal slung lifeboats may be safer? just a thought.jp

[robpage]

Without blaming anyone or anything , I have an idea in my mind that in the " Good Old Days " with BoT inspected equipment and BoT trained crews where certified AB s manned the boats , if a fall or its winch failed catastrophically , I feel that the chances of loss of life would b less than today's ships and crews working with foreign Insurers , I wonder if the Insurer is Italian