It was 27' long with twin turbo-diesel jet drives. I could do 360 spins in place.
I could also get it to balance on its nose.
It did 40 knots at top speed. Holy cow were those things fun!
Looks like these:
Posted on 07/19/2006 7:49:50 PM PDT by MindBender26
There is a strong but previously undisclosed undercurrent running through the Coast Guard’s investigation of yesterday’s cruise ship accident that left 92 passengers seriously injured, two of them critically. The questions are being whispered, but there is no denying them; “Was this a terrorist attempt to sink the ship?”
This much is known. The 3000 passenger 22-knot floating hotel "Crown Princess" was 11 miles south of Port Canaveral, heading out on a Western Caribbean cruise when suddenly, everything turned topsy-turvy. According to passengers, the ship listed somewhere between 20 and 40 degrees as the vessel made a violent and unnecessary turn to the left.
I’ll leave the passengers descriptions of down becoming up, merchandise sliding earthquake-like off shelves and people flying everywhere with a force that was so strong the water cascaded out of the ship’s four swimming pools to other accounts.
Here is the understory.
So far there is absolutely no explanation of why the ship executed the vicious turn to port and everything not tied down slipped to starboard. It had been to sea before, recently docking in Florida on a trip down from New York. The weather was fine, the sea calm and clear and no other vessels in the area. They can find no mechanical problem…. and ships weighting 226,000,000 pounds don’t just turn like that by accident.
The current question then is; was it attempted sabotage?
Two factors are on everyone in the federal law enforcement and news media fields minds tonight. These ultra modern cruise ships (the ship was launched in 2003) are nothing more than top heavy, barely seaworthy floating Miami Beach-like art deco hotels. Many experienced seamen think they are an accident waiting to happen with their huge sail-like sides ready to catch a freak wind or wave and little natural stability. More than one marine architect thinks it’s just a matter of time until one capsizes.
Add to that the composition of the crews. Cruise lines “rent” their ship’s crews. The dining room staff, from waiters and busboys to the overly gracious matre-d are supplied from one agency, the cabin stewards from another, while another company supplies the deck department, (the traditional “sailors.”)
On one ship I was on last year, the only direct employees of the cruise line were the Master, the Chief Engineer, the Purser (who is really a nautical hotel manager) and the Social Director with the bad toupee. Everyone else, from head pastry chef to hull painter to helmsman were all “rented” from a Ships Chandler (supplier) service.
Remember that word; “helmsman.” He’s the one who steers the ship. Too fast a turn and perhaps a huge ship turns over and becomes huge permanent underwater monument to wretched excess.
Many of these rented crews, especially the “sailors” are from Indonesia. Indonesia has a huge and increasingly violent and fundamentalist Moslem population.
The questions being asked tonight, as I said, quietly, here in Florida are, was there a radical Moslem at the wheel and did he try to capsize the Crown Princess and thereby take 3000 infidels to the bottom with her?
Think about the Moslem mind. 3000 scantily clad, alcohol drinking, pork eating Christians and Jews drowned in a flash. What a great way to guarantee a madly hyper-focused helmsman his 76 virgins! No need to get a shoe bomb on a Trans-Atlantic airplane. Just take a hard left and they’re all dead, in time and in range of the cameras for the evening news.
(We all hope) It will probably turn out to not be the case, but in the Islam’s war on America, stranger tales have turned out to be true.
>So why don't they hire Americans or Hispanics?
$
>Great Harbor Cay
Wordl's greatest combination airport, beech bar and lagoon wrapped up into one!
I thought it was a rather well written, well reported dirty, paranoid vanity.
In war, paranoia keeps you alive.
lol.. I'll never forget a return leg from San Juan back to Miami, the Captain said he had to make up time (which we later found out he didn't) , so he pulled the stabilizers in and went for it in fairly rough seas, at least for land lubbers like me. Oh man, I have never been so sick .. That was my worst experience in the Bermuda Triangle and cruising in general. :-)
"Many experienced seamen think they are an accident waiting to happen with their huge sail-like sides ready to catch a freak wind or wave and little natural stability."
There's a lot of cruise ships out there and has been for a while. I haven't heard of any capsizing due to sharp turns or instability.
Didn't we hear something like that with bin Laden and Sadam? When there's a common enemy you have to wonder. They're both varying degrees of evil.
Thanks for the info.
It was 27' long with twin turbo-diesel jet drives. I could do 360 spins in place.
I could also get it to balance on its nose.
It did 40 knots at top speed. Holy cow were those things fun!
Looks like these:
I concur with MB26.
I love well-reported, dirty paranoid vanities...
especially if they are well written.
;o)
Not surprising at all when we find ourselves in a nation full of people that wonder whether or not Halloween Trick-or-Treaters might be terrorists and that willingly disrobe at airports in order to be gawked at and ordered about by government employees.
Turn Wheel Hard to the starboard (right for those in rio linda) full steam ahead starboard engine depress cluch, shift in reverse port engine, full throttle and drop the clutch. turns on a dime every time. (in the cartoons)
Nice theory, but I highly doubt there was a conspiracy! This was only the third voyage for this ship. Although you mentioned a build date of 2003, I believe the ship is newer than that. There are a multitude of reasons why this was most likely a mechanical malfunction.
As to the Indonesian crew -- I recently went on an Alaskan cruise (Holland America .. one of the finer cruise lines. Not cruddy old Princess or Carnival) that was almost entirely staffed with an Indonesian crew. These were the hardest working, kindest, most gentle crew I have ever seen. It is easy to say "Indonesia .. don't they have a lot of Muslims?," but you can't say that because many Indonesians are Muslims, the ship crews must be therefore be militants.
While I am not naive and think everyone should remain vigilant, I also know that the majority of these Indonesian crews are made up of wonderful, hard working people.
Do some folks think that Cynthia McKinney designs today's cruise ships?
Leni
LOL bump!
Cruise ships are skinny at the top,
and heavy on the bottom.
Kinda like some wimmen...;o)
LOL
Leni
Do you mean....
cankles?
ROTFLOL!
Don't even get me started on her butt. ;o)
Could have been a sulfuring gas bubble rushing up from a crevice in the earth's crust under the sea.
bin Laden and Saddam are both Sunnis.
Amen. It was a steering gear problem. Probably faulty maintenance. The first thing that popped into my mind when I heard this was there was at least one engineer who would soon be looking for work.
I'm not sure I understand the propensity of some to see terrorism where an accident is the probable cause. If terrorists were to attack a cruise ship, it would be with something spectacular like a bomb or a rocket, not something as tepid as faulty steering.
22 knots? Man I can ski behind this bus.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
