Posted on 12/01/2010 4:33:12 PM PST by Cecily
A drunk cruise ship passenger has been arrested after dropping the anchor on a moving liner. Rick Ehlert, 44, went into a restricted area, put on work gloves and released the anchor of the 1,260-passenger ship in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, said the FBI. For good measure he also threw a life buoy overboard as the liner made its way from Costa Maya on the Caribbean coast of Mexico to Tampa, Florida. The sailing enthusiast is now in custody and faces charges of attempting to damage a vessel and endangering a ship's safe navigation. If found guilty he could have to pay a $250,000 (£160,000) fine and be imprisoned for up to 20 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Well for starters one drunk will likely never drop an anchor on a carrier alone. It's not an entirely push button operation. The anchor is locked in place with a huge pin though a link which must me driven out with a big sledge hammer first. Most drunks would lack the coordination to accomplish the task. The task takes several men maybe even up to a dozen to do it safely. IOW you go pounding on that link and about 100 angry Deck Apes nearby are gonna hear it and deal with that person themselves then let the Marines lock him up. There's no excusing what the drunk did but the ship should have had secured the anchor better.
I doubt it I’m more of a “pro-defense, pro-space exploration libertarian”.
Im sure there are some. But there are also some who want to get back to work.
Full employment can be between 3 and 5%, depending on how much inflation you are comfortable with. That 3-5% is generally frictional and structural unemployment, which is people looking for work when either the individual is seeking a new career or the market cannot support those jobs. So, conservatively, at least 30% of the unemployed would prefer work.
Yeah, when his new cellmate Rufus drops anchor he’s sure gonna’ wish he was back sailing.
Being drunk is no defense.
At one time I was a restaurant manager, and I did hire people with college degrees (mostly teachers). I hired people who wanted to work. If people actually want to work there is a job for them. Again, the jobs may not be dream jobs, but there are jobs that will get a person, (who actually wants a job) through until they find the job they want. I know, I have been through it. I did not like the restaurant business.
I was asking out of curiosity.
If someone took an action, that jeopardized the lives of the entire crew, and the battle worthiness of a Naval ship - what would the punishment be? After the “Deck Apes” got done explaining the error of his ways.
The act WAS deliberate - what other intent do you suppose he thought would happen - and does it matter?
If he thought that the anchor would skip along the wake of the ship, throwing up beautiful rainbows of Skittles - I don't care.
Being drunk is no excuse ..... ever ..... for anything.
What could have happened, could have been catastropic - people could have been hurt of killed. This was done with complete disregard for anyone else - for kicks. I simply want him rewarded with the full consequences allowed by law.
Most ships are delivered from the builder’s yard with an extra anchor, and chain and fittings are available worldwide. The container ships I manage have an extra one stored on the deck just forward of hatch #1.
In one case last year we had to just cut one loose from the ship while off of Singapore because the hydraulic motor driving the windlass broke and couldn’t be replaced quickly.
In the end it was a business decision as the cost of an anchor was less than the loss of two or three days charter time waiting on a replacement hydraulic motor.
Unlikely a cruise ship will have a spare anchor aboard but the ship’s management company will likely have one available.
You can’t stop there!
That makes perfect sense. Thanks for the insight.
If no on was hurt and minimal damage? My guesstimate following a Court Martial conviction would be 3-5 in Leavenworth and a BCD. Doing something stupid like lighting off a Hi-Cap {The AFFF system} with planes on board likely the same. Without the planes? NJP. Setting off the General Alarm? That would get you NJP meaning likely either three days Bread and Water or a week or so brig time. Doing a deliberate malicious hazard that resulted in death or severe damage to the ship? You be a long time in Kansas and possibly death.
The main reason things don't happen like that is because you are never alone and sailors can't drink at sea except on rare occasions where they can have one maybe two beers if Liberty has been a long time or not practical.
The truth? You could endanger a ship many ways both innocent unintentional and deliberate to do harm and damage acts. INTENT carries a lot of weight in the punishment and it should. I know how to put a carrier {the conventional ones} D.I.W. and not go below the second deck to do it. Every Machinist Mate and most other Snipes plus fire fighters were taught it. Woe unto someone doing it as a stupid prank though. You were messing with a 1200 PSI system. It was a procedure to save the ship and lives. Thankfully I only heard of it possibly being used on time on our ship while I was on it and it was an emergency act.
Keel hauling comes to mind.
Of course, if the anchor had landed on a N Korean submarine trailing them, en route to torpedo off shore deep ocean oil platforms, then he would be a hero.
Sounds like a fluke to me.
I’ve worked a bit on 350 psi Hydraulic systems, and only a couple of times on the 1,500 psi systems. Doing what you are suggesting is certainly a very, very dangerous thing to do - both to the ship, as well as the sailor.
I honestly don’t know what scares me more, electricity or hydraulics. So, what do I do? I’m an engineer and work with both. Let’s just say that I have a HUGE amount of respect for those who work with Hydraulics.
You may search high and low; I doubt you’ll find a more safety conscious engineer in the Hydraulics area than me. I get shivers just thinking about that. Ewwww, nasty, nasty, nasty.
C'mon, don't leave us hanging!
The chain itself would not snap. However, the last link would give way and at most part of the chain locker where the chain is secured would give way. The hull may or may not get dented. As far as the windlass goes, it is most like OK - the chain runs over the windlass and the windlass would just spin - may ruin the bearings. The ship was most likely built to ABS or LLyods ship classification standards. They all require that the anchor can run like that without a lot of damage to the rest of the ship.
Oh, by the way, I’m writing this from my office on a ship right now - Chief Engineer’s office, so I do have some knowledge/experience dealing with ships.
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