Ship named "Pope Benedict XVI" involved in Gulf spill clean-up

Geoplatform.gov ^ | June 19 2010 | me

[Brugmansian]

NOAA, the EPA and Interior have a great interactive map of the spill which shows command centers, BP claim offices, where the oil has hit and will hit and the vessels involved. Looking around, I found this ship:

Took the screen shot yesterday of an area about 100 miles south of Destin, Florida.

Anyone know more about the "Pope Benedict XVI" oil skimmer?

[Jet Jaguar]

Bump

[mlizzy]

Excellent!! Maybe the captain can lead "A Decade a Day for LA" from its deck.:)

(Thanks for the link. I'm going to search and try to find more info on the ship.)

[polishprince]

That ship must STOP NOW!!! It being here and operating in US waters violates the separation of Church and State!!! (sarc)

[ExGeeEye]

Actually, that's the Pontiff himself. He's been walking up and down the gulf, filling baskets with tar balls and occasionally refreshing himself with a glass of Riesling freshly made from Gulf Water.

/S!!

[mlizzy]

Ping!

[trisham]

Interesting. I’ve never heard of it.

[Brugmansian]

Find anything? The vessel didn’t appear earlier today because there were so many ships in the area. Right now its about 80 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi. Suspect its a local fisherman under contract.

[mlizzy]

I tried to get the map that you had and I didn’t know how to do it, so then I tried some research online but couldn’t find anything ... yet. It’s interesting though. I’d like to know more about it.

[Brugmansian]

Takes a few clicks to get to the vessels. Start here: http://www.geoplatform.gov/gulfresponse/

Scroll down and click on "View Interactive map"

A menu appears to the right of the map. Scroll down to "Charts, Surveys, Ships"

Click on the little plus sign in front of "Charts, Surveys, Ships"

That expands the menu and you will see two selections. Check "AIS Response Vessel Snapshot" and the ships will appear on the map. Zoom in and out to look for ships. Ship names only appear when zoomed in close but you will see the vessels.

Its easier to do than describe...sorta addictive too...watching the ships cluster here and there. If the "Pope Benedict XVI" does not appear, it is because an area is too full of vessels and only some labels are displayed. Wait awhile and try again.

[mlizzy]

Thanks for the info. There’s a fair amount of ships there now ... I can see where it could be “sorta addictive” as well ...

[dr_who]

...either that a good cross-promotion.