Posted on 03/02/2021 9:12:45 AM PST by rktman
The sea has been indispensable to the growth and development of human civilization. Simply put, it is among the roots of our modern economy, and there is no way we could live without it.
However, the sea has always been an erstwhile ally, at best.
From the Odyssey to Moby-Dick, humanity has captured the majesty, power and sometimes cruelty of the Earth's waters in our culture and literature.
A recent tragedy in the Black Sea, off the coast of Turkey, serves as another reminder.
According to the Maritime Executive, the MV Arvin, a 46-year-old Turkish freighter en route from the country of Georgia to Bulgaria, sought shelter from a powerful storm at the Bartin, Turkey, anchorage on Jan. 15.
As bad weather continued on Jan. 17, heavy waves snapped the Arvin's hull in half, causing the ship to sink.
You can see video of the accident here, via the Turkish Ministry of Transport:
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
We took a Black Sea cruise on the old Pacific Princess in ‘98. Embarked in Istanbul, sailed up the Bosphorus into the Black Sea.
Made port in Yalta and Odessa in the Ukraine, Varna Bulgaria and Volos Greece. Then exited the Black Sea and made 6 more ports before disembarking at Civitevecchia (Rome).
The Black Sea was not very rough, but it lived up to its name. We didn’t see much wildlife and the water was extremely dark, and seemed deep and ominous.
That wasn’t a Beaufort 3 (slight) The seas were described as rough (2.5m to 4m). Looked bigger than that to me.
Actually you can load a ship wrong and break it alongside the dock.
And all that remains is the faces and the names of the wives and the sons and the daughters
We made that trip in the summer of 87 on Nimitz. Our escort (USS Texas) had to return to Rio for sonar dome rubber window repairs. We’d spent a week in Rio and Texas got an extra three weeks there.
We hit Rio too...great liberty, mucho bongo bucks for the dollar. Did you hit the “Termas”? Seemed like all the ladies were hot until they hit 30 LOL
That’s right. The story I read is that he saw the sign for it while he was traveling on I-17 and it triggered the idea for the song.
Also made it to Venezuela before it turned into a shithole. Stayed at a great hotel on the beach off the beaten path; 15 bucks a night, poolside bar, 50 cent beers, and the best sangria ever. And hot women. Never seen blonde hair blue eyed Hispanics til then.
The two roughest anchorages I recall were Izmir, Turkey and Alexandria, Egypt.
I wonder who did the voice on that one...sounded a lot like lightfoot.
I heard they call that “action”....some speculate that the ed. Fitz. Had lots of that in the years prior to its wreck...cause it couldn’t take those heavy seas with a weakened hull.
“I swear all of them, ALL of them were puking. I was sooo bad the puke was sloshing around on the mess deck.”
My dad said the same thing about crossing the N. Atlantic on an English troop ship (heading to D-Day staging). He said it was so crowded that the mess line never stopped (last guy for breakfast was followed by the first guy for lunch).
“The Black Sea connects to the Med through a small inlet....”
Uh, no. The Black Sea is connected to the Sea of Marmara via the narrow Bosphorus Strait, and the Sea of Marmara is connected to the Aegean Sea via the Dardanelles Strait, and the Aegean Sea merges with the Mediterranean Sea way to the south.
I spent a lot of time on the Sea of Marmara some 50 years ago.
“In all the waters of the world there is not one drop of mercy.”
There is some truth to that.
Hmmm.. I thought the Black Sea connects to the Mediterranean through Istanbul and some other straits. I suppose the Marmara and Aegean lie between them but are those waters really distinct from the Med?
Then again, the Med connects to the Atlantic and I was told many years ago during a cruise to the eastern Med coast cities (including Istanbul and Athens and Haifa) that the Med recirculates almost entirely every 7 years into/from the Atlantic.
“Hmmm.. I thought the Black Sea connects to the Mediterranean through Istanbul and some other straits. I suppose the Marmara and Aegean lie between them but are those waters really distinct from the Med?”
Istanbul is about 650 miles north of the Mediterranean Sea. If the Black Sea is distinct from the Med, so is the Sea of Marmara, because they are both pretty much “land-locked,” with only narrow straits connecting them to other bodies of water. The Aegean Sean does abut the Med, but only to the south, and the southern end of the Aegean Sea ends at Crete (the Aegean is a “captive” Sea in that its western, northern, and eastern borders are land, and its southern border is dotted liberally with islands).
That’s what I’ve read about it. I think the EF was almost instantaneously catastrophic.
The Med can get real nasty real quick.Just ask the Persians.
USS Pittsburgh (CA-72) enters harbor after being damaged by a typhoon in the Chin...HD Stock Footage (Lost focsle)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=giSpI5JUgDM
I was also ported at Mayport, but on a CVA, around 1962. Squadrons and most of ship’s crew were ashore. We were ordered to depart, as Hurricane Donna was coming.
Had to go straight at Donna, since a side run would expose the ship to the heaviest winds and waves. We were strapping ourselves into our racks with ropes and only food was coffee and crackers.
Sea was really rough and the carrier felt like a little row boat, as it was being bounced around. Afterward, the railings along the catwalks on the fwd flight deck were bent over. That’s about 60 feet about the ocean, so the waves were higher than that.
LOL! Good times eh? On my first ship we lost a ladder and a porthole on the front of the bridge structure in the North Atlantic in rough seas.
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