Who has run into a floating container

[billdomb]

Originally Posted by freshalaska

Steel shipping containers ...but how about who has hit a shipping container and what kind of damage did incur?
Just wondering.

Why not create some legislation that requires all containers to auto-SINK themselves if exposed to water at pressure for some length of time? Just some vents that can pop open and flood.

SOUNDS easy enough to create, I'd think.

[spsell]

How much fun would that be!!! Sorta like shooting at Pirates off the coast of Somalia. Wouldn't that make a festive New Year's Eve, if you had one of those on the bow of your Catalina MK I?! I think people would not second guess you when you ask them to move when they are dropping the hook to close in a tight anchorage. "Whatever you say sir!" You wouldn't even have to yell, just say please!

[spsell]

Originally Posted by Jahwork

Hola,

Although I have not heard of a credible report of a container strike by a vessel, I can assure you they can be found adrift now and again. When I was in The USCG in the early 90’s, on two separate occasions we had an opportunity to deal with reports of shipping containers adrift in the Bering Sea. We were able to locate them from the reports given by commercial vessels in the area and we then used them for target practice with several deck mounted 50 caliber weapons. We were able to fill them full of holes until they sank, thus eliminating the navigational hazard. I was in the Coast Guard from 1989-1993 so I am not sure if this practice is still in use today but I can vouch for it’s existence back then as I will never forget the opportunity to discharge hundreds of 50 cal rounds at taxpayers expense.

Safe Journeys!
~Jake

How much fun would it be to go around blowing up shipping containers! Sorta like shooting pirates off the coast of Somalia. Wouldn't it be fun to have one of these bolted down on the bow of a Catalina 400? It would make for a very festive New Year's Eve, even if you were just shooting blanks!! "Sir, I think you dropped anchor a little close, would you consider finding another location?" With that thing on the bow and one little glance, the response would be. "No problem, Sir," "Whatever you say, sir!"

[GPatron]

We were our second day sailing out of the Azores and 500 miles from our destination, Lisbon, when we felt a strong jolt.

You can read the whole story in my book, "The Accidental Captain" but the short version is that a fist sized hole had been punched into bow at the water line.We scrambled, pumped and patched and were able to empty the boat and continue.

Hauled in Lisbon we could see a long gouge back to about half way. All present at the yard were sure it was the corner of a shipping container.

[Hasbeen]

My sons RAN, [Royal Australian Navy] ship, a 15,000 ton assault ship ran into one while steaming north up the Queensland coast.


They hit it with the bow, which was damaged, but not holed. The impact pushed the container down under the ship to enough depth for it to hole both the double hull skins when it came back up aft of midships.. This flooded an area of the double hull, & the compartment above..


As this compartment was the sewerage treatment room they then had no toilets for the 2 days it took for them to return to Sydney at reduced speed. He assured the whole ship stank by the end of the voyage.


They expected to go into the dry dock, but it was booked solid with other urgent work. They were told to fix the thing themselves. To do this they fitted a large box with an inflatable rubber seal over the hole, which sealed well enough to pump most of the water out of the compartment & the double hull space.


They then pushed the hull back into shape somewhat with large hydraulic jacks, welled it together as well as possible, then patched it on the inside in the double hull space. They patched the floor of the sewerage space, & went back on duty for 9 months before getting into a dock.


This ship was originally designed as a tank landing ship, which would be beached to unload. My son who actually did the welding said it was a very strong ship. This & the double hull is what made her survival reasonably easy. He reckoned other ships would have had to be beached, as they would not have sufficient pumping capacity, or the small water tight compartments of a war ship.


A friend hit something very hard one dark night off port Moresby, New Guinea, that near sunk his Trimaran. He thought it was a container, but there are many very large logs, from timber cutters in the area at times.

[FilBrown]

[QUOTE=Pete7;2885064]Not a shipping container but whilst anchored over a wreck and diving off the Northern Ireland coast a large white fridge went past in the tide, a little too close for comfort. Easily seen in the evening twilight but an hour later in the breaking waves as we headed home it would have been a different matter.

The fridge being lined with foam insulation floated very well.

Pete


Chilling.......

[FilBrown]

Not an actual as it happened strike but it removed the rudder.
They are out there.... ��
https://youtu.be/cvRJ2qEX79g

[D.C.Y.]

I saw a BBC documentary last night that said about 40 year year fall off and are left behind

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by D.C.Y.

I saw a BBC documentary last night that said about 40 year year fall off and are left behind

Unless they mean 40 per year off one ship I find that hard to believe. I've seen photos of several ships that lost more than 40 just off that one ship.

[sailorboy1]

5 pages of responses, not sounding like there is a lot of chances to hit one

time to go back to worrying about things that I have hope to control

[Rowmance]

In 1971, while in the Navy aboard the USS Harder (SS568), we were just North of San Francisco about 0200 cruising slowly (about 5kts) on the surface charging batteries. We heard a loud bang. The collision alarm was sounded. After a thorough integrity check no damage was reported. At first light the diver was sent over. He reported a gash in the fuel ballast tank (fortunately fill with water at the time) about 3' below the waterline 6' to 7' long. We returned to the Mare Island shipyard, immediately into drydock. The gash looked like a giant can opener was used to rip it open. The tank was made of 3/4" steel. An aerial search was conducted, but nothing was reported.

Thoughts of that night still haunt me every time I take the boat out on the ocean.

[Silverbullet]

OMG, never! Who did you notify?

[cytre]

Here is an article that Yacht World had about the danger:

https://www.yachtingworld.com/news/c...magined-107508

[Rowmance]

I'm sure the Navy notified everyone.

[Horus]

Originally Posted by billknny

Think about this for just a second...

If the ocean was as full of shipping containers as some people try to tell you, why have you NEVER seen one wash up on the beach?

I have sailed the Atlantic, and the Pacific, and been along thousands of miles of coast line and I have never seen one. I have never heard a credible report of anyone actually hitting one. There are lots of stories, but when you dive into them you find out that they hit SOMETHING and assumed it must have been one of those evil containers they had heard so much about.

I know firsthand of many boats who have hit whales. One that sunk. I have hit a whale (and not sunk!) Not one that hit a verified container.

It's always some version of "I have been told that many hit them." Nonsense. Doesn't happen. People who actually are out sailing in the real ocean know that containers are not something to worry about, or at least are way, way, way down the list.

This winter a vessel lost over 300 containers in the German Bight. On the shores in the Netherlands a lot of them! Many of these are picked up/; but also still there are many containers lost.