Another Accident at Sea

[John Arton]

Static charges were/are built up during tank cleaning when either fixed or portable tank cleaning machines are used. These static charges will dissipate in a relatively short time but if an ungrounded piece of equipment is introduced into the tank atmosphere then the static charge will go of, causing an explosion in the tank if the tanks atmosphere is within the explosive range.
All portable and fixed tank cleaning machines have grounding wires attached, either wound into the flexible hose in the case of the portable machines or by a separate copper wire. Fixed machines are naturally grounded but at any bolted joint in the system either a ground wire if fitted over the flanges of the joint or special grounding nuts and bolts can be used. The same grounding principle applies to the cargo vapour systems.
On crude oil and product tankers inert gas either from the main engine exhausts, or a dedicated inert gas generator, is used to inert the tanks so that they contain little or no oxygen is present in the cargo tank atmosphere. On Chemical tankers you cannot use inert gas from main engine exhausts as this will affect the cargo so nitrogen is used and nitrogen generating plants are fitted, either that or bottled nitrogen is carried to top up shore supplied nitrogen when loading the cargo.
The theory that someone on board this ship was using a grinder to remove rust is viable as grinding off rust is the best way, unless shot blasting, and when I was sailing and in Japan you would see this happening often. Why, in this case, they would carry out this task when the ship was not gas free and especially so if they were doing it on the tank deck, can only be explained by the surviving crew members but ignorance does seem to be a common factor.
rgds
JA

[Captain Kong]

Another invention I did about 25 years ago was A.R.S.E.
Aspinall Rescue System for Escape..
.
I went down a tank, not gas free, the valve spindle had snapped off at the valve on the bottom of the tank, and had just completed discharging petrol.
I had my BA set on, usually 20 minutes of air in the tank. [depending on the physical exertion,]
I took a shifter and went down and struggled for a time trying to shut the valve, Job completed , I was just on the ladder to climb up and the air supply ended, I was sucking on a vacuum. It was one hell of a climb to get out of the tank before I collapsed on deck.
If it had been a deeper tank I would not have survived,
So I inveNted A.R.S.E.
It is a plastic cylinder with compressed air blowing into it so if a man runs out of air at the bottom of the tank he could climb into it and breath air whilst awaiting someone to deliver a new air tank.
Here it is, ,, I have just done a rough sketch havent got the original plans now.
Cheers
Brian

[j.sabourn]

#10... How many times did the bloke on the safety line shout "come out of it Brian and stop A.R.S.E. ing around." I went down the after pump room on the second tanker I was on thinking I could get down and back holding my breath. Came to on deck, finished the last 3 steps going down on my nose. The chinese crew pulled me out, pleased I was on good terms with them. John S

[John Arton]

On all the tankers I was on, if it was necessary to enter any space that was not gas free, apart from having to wear a lifeline attached to a rescue harness, instead of using a standard B.A. set we had a trolley set consisting of two bottles attached to the face mask by a very long hose on a reel. The trolley stayed on deck and as one bottle became empty the standby man would switch the supply to the second bottle. The first bottle could then be removed for recharging and a full bottle replacing it. The whole set up gave you as long as time as was necessary in a unsafe atmosphere to carry out any repair or inspection and you were not encumbered by having a B.A. bottle and harness strapped to your back, giving you greater freedom of movement. Modern B.A. sets bottles can be made of carbon fibre to save weight but even if they are steel construction they operate at much greater pressure storing around 2000 litres of air. Having said that anyone who thinks they can get much more than 20 minutes of working air out of a B.A. set could be in for a nasty surprise in the middle of a dangerous situation when the warning whistle goes off telling them they only have minutes of air left and this assumes a reasonable level of fitness.
rgds
JA
rgds
JA

[Captain Kong]

I agree John, but this event was in the early 80s I guess things have improved over the years and for the better. That is why I designed a back up system as we had no other way.
The idea was taken from the Diving bell
Cheers
Brian.

[robpage]

With Gulf hey had a small escape thingie that gave you about a minute to get out of the pump-room , only had one in the room so nobody ever practiced with it or knew how to use it , I think it was called a minuteman , but the first minute would be taken trying to read the instructions , i was a demand valve with a pair of small bottles attached . Probably American

[Keith Tindell]

The sets we used in the Fire Service had 35 min working duration, depending on effort, and 10 min warning whistle, the quickest i saw a set from full to time of whistle was 18 min, KT

[mmmmerchant]

Another accident along the Beetham Highway near Sea Lots sends a contractor employed by the water and sewerage authority to hospital.

[John Arton]

Brian
your #15, we had those trolley sets in 1967 on my first trip to sea.
Nowadays every crew member on tankers have to be provided with there own 15 minute Personal Escape set, just a bottle attached to a plastic hood. There also has to be a number of the sets situated around the ship in case you cannot get to your cabin. We had 2 on the bridge, 2 in the Engine Room and 2 in the main alleyway.
Keith
Your #17
35 mins for a fireman I can well believe. The brutes who took in Shields for our advanced fire fighting would laugh like crazy at us when we came out gasping after 15 minutes, still not having discovered the dummy or put out the fire. I'm sure the bleeders went round after you re-igniting any fire that you had just extinguished.
They certainly instilled in me a respect for them and also a respect and fear of fire.
rgds
JA

[Captain Kong]

Hi John I never saw those trolly sets with two air bottles on the ships I sailed on. tho` maybe in the engine room, tho` again cannot remember, long time ago now.
We seemed to be sadly lacking in that department.
I remember when I was on a VLCC, 256,000 dwt. in Cape Town for repairs. 1976,
All the BA sets were in a locker on the outside of the Poop Deck on the after bulkhead.
We had many African workmen on board from Globe Engineering,
The accommodation alleyways were filling up with smoke. I was on watch, 3rd Mate, and most of the officers and crew were ashore, only one or two who were on watch on board. but we didnt know who was ashore.
So I went to put on a BA set from the after locker, so I could check out the cabins, There were ten BA sets in the locker, on every one the Air Hoses had been cut off. the BA Sets were useless. The African labour had cut them off and stole them.
I crawled on my hands and knees under the smoke through the accommodation checking the cabins to see if anyone was turned in and had not heard the alarms. All OK . The two engineers on watch extinguished the fire.
But I was coughing my lungs up for a while after. Must admit it was a little chaotic and not text book stuff.
Fortunately not a big fire, more from oily deposits in the engine room exhausts that had not been cleaned adequatly. and producing more smoke that flames.
It was more than badly organised whilst there. A very very senior officer was ashore with the 3rd Engs, wife, another very senior officer was horse riding with his girl new friend and so on. I was almost on my own to sort it out with the help of a couple of engineers.
Afterwards the Super, from head Office arrived by plane , I was transferred to Court Helicopters to re write the Helicopter/Ship Operating Manual. A wonderful appointment that I really enjoyed, flying for three months., and on the ship a there was a big reorganisation of certain Safety proceedures.
I was glad to get off that ship, known as `Big Geordie`.
Cheers
Brian.