Things that go bump in the night.

jon hansen · Mar 9, 2018

10,000 a year ave.

Rick486 · Mar 9, 2018

I remember some years ago a well found Little Harbor 60 something was lost off North Carolina, believed to have collided with a container. They oughta require aviation style flashers on these things that turn on when immersed.

Rick486 · Mar 9, 2018

ifmdalvey said:
What you dont want to meet when out on the water, i believe a lot of containers are neutrally buoyant and sit just below the surface. This one washed up on the Australian coast. I also heard that 50 containers were recently lost of North Carolina.
How many of theses are floating about? do shipping companies report their loss? does the USCG keep a log of losses? What about a chemical plug that would dissolve and allow them to sink?
View attachment 147470

Great idea.

Capt Robbie · Mar 9, 2018

Great idea about chemical plug.
10,000 plugs per year average at marine store prices I retire on that!!!!!

Whatsit · Mar 9, 2018

It reminds me of the movie “all is lost”

Gunni · Mar 9, 2018

This stuff really chaps my butt. Over 70 containers were lost off Maersk Shanghai when someone decided that transiting Hatteras during a full-on Nor'easter was a good idea. 30ft sq waves and 100mph winds. The USCG is tracking over a dozen of their containers off Diamond Shoals and Ocracoke. I spoke with the CG District 5 public affairs officer as well as the relevant watch commander. Made a public comment to the effect:

Maersk shipping needs to present a plan to get their debris out of the water. While the Coast Guard rightfully monitors the hazard to navigation, it is not the responsibility of the Coast Guard, or the taxpayers to clean up after Maersk. This is a transit route for small vessels traveling at night and in reduced visibility. Hitting one of these containers will take down a small vessel. I will be watching to see that Maersk is held responsible for removing the hazard.

Talked to the watch commander, he was very knowledgeable. Shanghai is now quarantined off Charleston while she is inspected and it is assured that they don't dump more of their stuff in the harbor. I thanked him for making sure that Maersk was held responsible for this incident. They never should have had that vessel off the graveyard.

markwbird · Mar 10, 2018

The chemical plug idea would be partially effective in causing the containers to sink. Only partially because the contents of those containers are often, themselves, buoyant. For example: electronics are usually packed in Styrofoam.

Roland5048 · Mar 10, 2018

Some years ago sailing south on the West Coast of Fl., I spotted what looked like a boat's bow sitting vertically about a nm away as the sun rose. As I got closer I saw that it was the corner of a smaller type shipping container. Seems it had broken free from a commercial boat in a storm a couple of days ago. What made this scary was that if I had been about a quarter nm further east and the sun had not risen, there's a good chance I would have hit it. And I was only about 5 miles off shore in less than twenty feet.

Capt Robbie · Mar 10, 2018

Still like the chemical plug. May link it to a stick of C4 with remote detonator. THAT SHOULD DO THE TRICK

njlarry · Mar 10, 2018

Does WM carry torpedoes?
DIY install?

markwbird · Mar 10, 2018

I believe we should go farther and require that the containers have AIS beacons and/or be made so they completely come apart when they go overboard. The shipping companies should be held responsible to picking them up. That is only reasonable.

RussC · Mar 10, 2018

Sinking the container might seem like a good idea.... depending on it's contents. lead-acid batteries, etc. Even just the idea of 10K empty containers a year scattered about on the sea floor doesn't thrill me. I'm no tree hugger, but still.....

Will Gilmore · Mar 10, 2018

Maybe there is a commercial opportunity here for a private salvage ship, a catamaran with forward looking sonar, radar to hunt down lost cargo and claim it for profit.

They could double dip by getting state, federal and international funding to clean up the oceans. Power the ship with a plasma furnace to render all useless junk useful in some way.

- Will (Dragonfly)

ggrizzard · Mar 10, 2018

I like the torpedo idea!

Solarfry · Mar 10, 2018

Gunni: "This stuff really chaps my butt."

I hated picturing that. Too digital..

JimInPB · Mar 10, 2018

Will Gilmore said:
Maybe there is a commercial opportunity here for a private salvage ship, a catamaran with forward looking sonar, radar to hunt down lost cargo and claim it for profit.
They could double dip by getting state, federal and international funding to clean up the oceans. Power the ship with a plasma furnace to render all useless junk useful in some way.

- Will (Dragonfly)

+1
I think that encouraging private salvage as a profitable venture is the most realistic way of getting the best possible percentage of these hazards removed from our waterways. Sadly, I am not sufficiently knowledgeable in maritime law to know what the current legal status of a salvage claim on a lost container might be.

WayneH · Mar 10, 2018

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/flotsam-jetsam.html
Flotsam may be claimed by the original owner. (Container owner or ship owner?)
Jetsam belongs to the finder.
You would wonder whether the shipper would call the containers flotsam because they fell off. They should then be liable for the cost to recover or mitigate the damages caused. So they may call them jetsam and it's yours.

Admiralty law is different than law of the land. Under Admiralty law, even tho the container was awash and difficult to see, you failed to have a proper lookout if you ran over the container. So both parties are at fault with percentages of fault being awarded. For instance, 95% shipper vs 5% sailboat, you get 5% of your damages dismissed but get the other 95%.

I'm not a lawyer but I have slept in a Motel 6 before.

agprice22 · Mar 10, 2018

Haha.. but salve. Silky smooth... no more chapping.

SG · Mar 10, 2018

I’ve contemplated containers, whales, locks or dead heads, and the like on moonless nights while charging along at 8 or close to 10 knots. With only the bow running lights, or less if I’m using our masthead Tri-color while sailing.

I assume it’s kind of like flying on IFR (instrument flight rules) through the clouds. You just hope there is no one that you encounter.

I don’t fixate on it, but the thought is there.

I have run into a several hundred pound sunfish lounging just below the surface when ghosting along with asymmetric chute a hour after dawn in the Gulf of Maine. We were both shocked. The kids goodness I was only doing 3 knots or so. We were low on two things: fuel and wind ;^)))). The crew member I had with me was a semi pro. Normally I won’t set a chute in the dark. But what the Hell, we had to get from outside Cape Cod to Southwest Harbor in a little over a day.

Anyway, the bump was pretty startling. Nothing like ripping into a sharp confiner which is probably like hitting a sharp rock.

I’ve come to simply accept that when you can’t see, you just charge forward and unless you know something is likely there, it’s either your time to see what an 8 person Avon raft looks like, or it’s not. ;^))).