why ships sink

[Keith Tindell]

Hi, Reminder to the guys in Uk, channel 4 tonight at 8 oclock, the program on ship design faults and sinking etc, interesting subject in light of recent accidents, regards Keith

[Neville Roberts]

I just found out why ships sink ,its when they get full of water.

[Pete Leonard (Bruno)]

Thanks for the reminder Keith, I was about to post it myself.
Another reason why ships sink is that they have captains who keep their brains in the wrong place.

Pete

[Tony Wilding]

Well the Titanic sank for 2 reasons, failing to reduce speed after being warned of icebergs, thats human error, also design faults of most important bulkheads not extending to main deck level, loss of life was because of insufficient lifeboats, none needed to lose there lives, Costa Concordia must rank as the most unessary disaster to ever happen, just sheer stupidity and bravado, i will never understand how a captain of such a ship ever put himself in that position, all modern nav aids, good visibility, calm seas, the design of cruise ships it seems is flawed, 3 serious engine room fires, i have said befor instead of being designed as a ship first they appear to favour hotel design , then build the ship around that idea. it seems all that has been learnt about ship safety and design over the years is ignored. no way would i sail on one. Concordia was lucky she ended up where she did, if in deep water with all the delays in launching lifeboats lots more would have been lost. lots of modern sinkings are due to badly maintained and operated ships, badly trained crews, Derbyshire was a bad design, the weather can never be beaten, but more are lost by human error or old ships in bad condition.

[Chris Allman]

They also sink because someone through their actions lets water get inside them

Chris

Woops missed post 2.

[Tony Wilding]

I watched a TV program today about Titanic, just facts no fiction, when she sank White Star sacked the crew and disowned them, the survivors who reached USA were given jobs in Woolworths behind the counters, whatever money they took on sales they were allowed to keep, was estimated at Harland and Woolfs at Belfast one life was lost for every ten thousand tons of ship built, some as young as 15 years old, compensation was pathetic, after Titnic , Olympic and Britannic were much modified, full depth bulkheads fwd, partially double skinned, but they never got that right , instead of sub dividing the double skin it was one continuous area, thats why Britannic sank so quickly, double skin holed a became a ballast tank. th sea can never be beaten , and design should be a ship first, not compromised for other reasons, recently some bulkers have sunk because the the cargo of chemicals liquified, if they know this can happen , why is not more care taken, ?

[Keith at Tregenna]

Why Ships Sink:

Ships and boats are made to float on top of the water, but there are quite a few things that can go wrong to turn your boat into a submarine. Taking on water is inevitable -- large waves often break over the sides, and tiny leaks are common. This water will usually find its way to the lowest point of a boat -- the bilge area. For this reason, boats are equipped with bilge pumps to usher the water back out once it's reached a certain level. Boats often sink while docked.

Common reasons a boat might sink at sea are:

Low transom -- The transom is the flat vertical surface that forms the rear, or stern end, of the boat. For outboard vessels, the motor is mounted onto the transom. For larger inboard vessels, you'll find the boat's name on the transom. The idea is for the transom to be high enough that it won't take on water. Sometimes, simple design flaws can leave your transom too low. Improper weight distribution can also lower a transom to the point that waves can come over it and flood the deck. To keep this from happening, don't store all your heavy gear in the stern of the boat. Scuba gear, coolers, fishing equipment and bait should all be distributed evenly along the ship to keep the transom at a safe height. You should also never anchor from the stern side -- it could pull the transom down even further.

Missing drain plugs -- This one seems like a no-brainer, but boats sink all the time because of missing drain plugs. When a boat travels forward, the entire vessel sits higher on the water than it does at rest, with the front higher than the rear. Water collected from waves or sea spray is allowed to exit the boat through a drain located at the rear of the boat at about deck level. Once you're traveling forward, the boat tilts up and the water will flow toward the drain and back out. The problem arises when the captain forgets to stop the drain once the boat is at rest with a small, watertight plug. When the boat stops moving, it sinks lower and begins to take on water through the drain. Carry extra drain plugs and try keeping one near the ignition as a reminder.

Cooling system leaks -- Boat engines are water cooled, pumping about 30 gallons of water through the system per minute for a 300 horsepower engine. If a hose bursts or isn't tight enough, this water can collect in the bilge and once again, you could find yourself sinking. Check for corrosion or obvious splits and breaks in the hoses and fittings of the cooling system before you depart. Replace anything that looks suspect, and you should be fine.

Navigation error -- Simply put, this means striking an object with your boat. It could be rocks, ice, reefs, logs, or anything else large enough to do damage to the hull, or body, of your boat. The best way to combat this is by being careful. Slow down if you see debris and be especially cautious after storms, which can wash in a great deal of foreign objects. If you see something floating, there's a good chance there's more under the surface. If it sounds like you've hit something, stop the boat immediately and check outside and below for holes or leaks.

So ensure you stick that plug in the drain:

LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzsOR...eature=related

"what have we learned from a century of disasters?"

K.

[John Pruden]

having just watched why ships sink as seamen you must have thought that the cruise liners being built nowadays are1to high out of the water 2to much open large open space3 only double skin so far up from the keel4 not enough trained people in emergency situations 5 to much reliability on electronics and not enough on good old fashioned seamanship. and i am not a nautical draftsman but i do believe in common sense? well we will just have to wait for the next one 20 more experianced crew is better than 40 or 50 more barmen or dancers cruising should and could be a hell of a lot safer than it is at the moment or am i missing the point somewere? just my view.jp

[Tony Wilding]

hi John, i saw it also, they said i think 35 are being built, even bigger, how much bigger can they go
?

[John Pruden]

as i said i am not a marine architect but if they are going higher should they increase the beam on thees floating wedding cakes they are putting looks over safety in my opinion? jp