Bridge destroyed by a containership

#104 A ship that size would carry way for at least 3 to 4 miles. The only thing that might have saved him would have been getting an anchor or even both down. There again the charted area would probably be signposted ashore and on the ships charts No Anchoring cables on bottom, usually on such river transits there was a man stationed on the forecastle to act as carpenter for such eventualities. Whatever the master thought he had to be quick and lucky. It could happen to anyone . Also the ships headway would be on the strength and whether flooding or ebbing , has anyone come out with the tidal rate yet.? JS

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Originally Posted by Des Taff Jenkins

Hi Tony.
They seem to have an exrorinary number of gas, oil or chemical spills in the States, only the other day a train was moving along with some of the wagons on fire, could have been a new way of sharing the heat in the winter, plus saving on fuel.
Des

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I know its a long time ago now, but even as 2nd trip apprentice in mid 60s the state of some installations in New Jersey was shockingly poor. Scroll forward early 70s in same location, second mate calls down the ER and says do you fancy a bit longer alongside (we knew a good local bar), how can we do that? I asked, he says, have you seen the state of the shoreside pipework?
So next thing, cargo pumps slow down then are whacked up to max, few minutes later, all shut down, due to a shoreside pipe failure. Quite a few hours more alongside, no delay down to ship.

Yes crews have been reduced for sure. I would be very surprised if the engineers or electronic officers onboard to get things up and running again, to at least make port. Only reason they may not be able to is a MAJOR failure in the engine room.
As regards deck side that I am not qualified to comment on.
Perhaps things have changed since I retired in 2013. There are still plenty of older tonnage vessels trading today.

James
Apparently all crew are still on board according to the gcaptain web site, most likely coastguard and FBI? Won't allow anyone off until investigation and interviews completed.
Rgds
J.A

It seems overlooked in the discussion, the Master clearly told the pilot everything was in good order.
So whilst elecrical issues occurred earlier, that statement will be the starting point for finger pointing.
From the limited info we have, it appears, that a comment to the pilot MAY have brought a different outcome.
It is very sad that many Masters, that I meet as a surveyor, still think that being untruthful, to protect their owners is part of the job.
So I am afraid it is more than likely it will be a very long time before he goes home.
The Yanks are blaming lack of US Visas, as the reason for them being kept onboard. Which may be partially correct, but I am sure that could be overcome, if they(US goverment) wanted to.
But it (as apparent to all on this forum) is very convenient to have the crew there.
I am very sure there are some very clever minds working to deflect all blame away from anything vaguely American.

Given the poor standard of reporting by BBC and others about maritime stories, we do not know what the crew have in way of Phones & Sims, but one would have thought, that arrangements could be made to allow them decent communication with home. A bit of Humanity towards seafarers every now and again, is not too much to ask.
Kev

After removing most of the debris from the focsle, they have removed the Dali from the collision site and moved her to a berth where further work will continue.
Regards Michael

When the Unified Command (The US love these titles) blew the bridge with charges off the bow of the ship, they wouldn't let the crew off the ship, told to stay below! They previously had confiscated all the crews mobile phones, so no contact with their families, only after pressure from sailors organisations did they get basic mobiles, apparently with little use.

I did notice in the background during the move, a ACL ship tied up at a dock.

I read that all personal crew phones were confiscated as evidence and new phones given to replace them.

The NTSB have issued a preliminary report - DCA24MM031. It's largely written for landlubbers so don't get excited by its content. 24 pages , mostly interesting but irrelevant stuff.There's a long way to go before they actually work out what happened.

This forum reminds me of the Hobart ( Tasmania ) Bridge being destored by an ANL ship, way back.
That accident had a great affect on many of the crew, some at least not going back to sea again.
Fred Saunders