Posted on 10/02/2015 4:50:41 PM PDT by artichokegrower
Yep especially listed
She’s old but she’s ABS classed
She’s been re skinned several times since Pennsylvania launch in 75 Id reckon?
And lengthened....now that would be my focus point
I brought a much smaller 4500 gwt Dutch built vessel from Ravenna to Mobile AL to start a pole charter to Dar Es Salaam TZ in 87.....she was classed up to date British Lloyds in Ravenna inspection before I bought her
In Mobile the German born Brit Lloyds inspector came to reinspect her because change of ownership and reflagged from Malta to Panama
He was a sadist.....and could not be bribed....trust me
I spent another 160,000 dry docked at Bender in Mobile with new skin and welds etc etc....tank tops and so forth even though she just passed inspection by another Brit Lloyd man in Ravenna just 20 days earlier
I ran Brit Lloyd two more years and switched to Hellenic class...much much less stringent
Norske Veritas and Germanischer Lloyd and British Lloyds and ABS..America....And Nippon class
Bureau Veritas....french...top notch but not punitive
Italiano Navale.....a notch further down
The main requirement for super classification societies is the cargo
The more expensive the more it’s likely required
Ditto Cruise Ships usually.....but not always
The ocean doesn’t love you, it doesn’t care, it doesn’t feel, it just is.
The ocean is always waiting for your mistake to line up with bad weather, and then it will kill you dead, sure as shit.
(Still way better than dying in an old folks home or in ICU, stuck with needles and tubes.?
200’ freefall lifeboat drop test. Great video.
I found it on this excellent CruisersForum thread:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f122/safety-of-ships-lifeboats-in-major-storms-153992-3.html
I think a freefall lifeboat is the only chance for a successful deployment in a Cat 4 hurricane.
Please see the above 4 minute video.
Thoughts?
This is a very surprising event at least to me
Very uncommon for such a well maintained ship and seasoned crew to go down like this without hitting something
It’s an amazing industry
Oil rigs and cruise ships especially for first class deck
Wonder what they cost
I’m guessing 350-600k each plus davit system
Somehow I missed this post of yours, sorry.
My thoughts on the 200” drop were what would the crew look like after that.
Previously we had discussed what a launch might look like from the El Faro. I think that busted up lifeboat they recovered was, as you described, exactly what happened when they attempted to launch. The other lifeboat stayed secured to the ship when it went down.
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