MV Explorer sinks

[stvfishy]

www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071123/Antarctic_waters_071123/20071123?hub=TopStories
www.mytelus.com/ncp_news/article.en.do?pn=home&articleID=2827863

[Mill Bay]

That's crazy! I heard about it on the news this morning.

It's a cruise-ship in the Antarctic and hit some ice. All it is is a hole the size of a fist and the ship is just gonna sink... must've been the size of a pretty huge fist.

[Kam]

How the hell does a hole the size of a fist in a double hull ship cause it to sink?!

[queenofcowichan]

So it did sink after all, this shows you how carefull you have to be when navigating those waters. I was thinking when I first saw this on CBC around 9am this morning that the ship's passengers and crew could have been "Screwed" if there was no other ships around.

[Curtis]

This is quite crazy. So What, The Ship Just was left to sink? Hole the Size of a Fist??

[Retrovision]

prqueenkid16 said:

This is quite crazy. So What, The Ship Just was left to sink? Hole the Size of a Fist??

According to most news agencies, including the authoritative BBC, yes, she will be left to sink and is expected to do so "in the next few hours" and "with little environmental impact" (as of BBC World's 3pm PST broadcast)

Shipping Times has some particularly interesting details, btw...
(Found Here: www.shippingtimes.co.uk/item947_explorer_sinking.htm)

MV EXPLORER Cruise Ship Sinking In South Atlantic
All passengers and crew safe after listing ship holed, iceberg suspected...

One of the world's most popular and famous exploration cruise vessels, the aptly named mv EXPLORER, is currently sinking in the South Atlantic.

The ship is believed to have struck part of an iceberg which punched a hole 'no bigger than a fist' according to many reports. Despite the small amount of damage water poured into the vessel and she developed an alarming list.

All passengers and most of the crew were safely evacuated, taking to lifeboats in the freezing seas, whilst her Swedish captain and the mate stayed aboard to try and rescue the vessel by pumping out water. This proved to be a fruitless task as the ship heeled over ever further and they too had to abandon ship.

The incident is said to have happened in the Bransfield Strait, where the depth is about 2000 feet, at 5.45 am (GMT), 26 miles from King George Island in the South Shetlands.

Another vessel in the vicinity, the cruise ship NORDNORGE rescued the ships passengers and crew.

The 2398 grt Liberian registered vessel was built in 1969 in Finland and is owned by GAP Shipping Co Ltd, Bahamas and operated by GAP Adventures based in Toronto. Her ISM managers are V Ships Leisure of Monaco

All 100 passengers and her complement of crew are reported to be safe and well.

The incident has of course sparked many questions as the vessel is designed to cope with icy seas (it is claimed she was the first cruise ship to negotiate the dreaded Northwest Passage) and although she is an elderly vessel, an MCA spokesman is reported to have said that she was in very good condition. She had failed inspections at Greenock in May of this year, according to Equasis, on five counts:

Deficiencies recorded were: two on fire safety measures; one on life saving appliances; one for ship's certificates and documents, and one deficiency recorded for structural safety. She was seen at the time in Greenock's JWD dock for repairs.

Alarming as this sounds, the MCA said all were rectified satisfactorily and she would never have been allowed to leave port if this had not been the case.

Copyright 2007 Shipping Times UK

[Kam]

I dont get it.. CBC radio is reporting that she has NOT gone down...

[Curtis]

Just Thought I'd Randomly Point Out She was Built in 1969. (Points at Queen of the North)

[Mirrlees]

This sounds like the Explorer also had a single-compartment hull as did Queen of The North. I say this because Explorer's hull, while not [apparently] dammaged too badly still threw her CG out meaning no watertight doors to contain the flood.

Granted, this was fairly slow intake as it took her 20 hours to sink while, QoTN was slashed down her length sinking in 1 1/2 hours.

[Barnacle]

She finally sunk last night or early this morning. I'd still like to know why a little damage control couldn't have stopped or sufficiently slowed the flooding from a fist-sized hole.

[Political Incorrectness]

Well what I was hearing was that was initial size damage when it was actually much worse, my question would be, what about all the oil onboard the ship?

[Nick]

ferrymaniac101 said:

Well what I was hearing was that was initial size damage when it was actually much worse, my question would be, what about all the oil onboard the ship?

Same as the QotN, it'll seep to the surface over the next few years and dissipate from there. If anybody says that there will be no environmental impact from this, they are sorely mistaken/lying.

It will be very difficult to clean up the oil as well, as I believe that that ship used bunker fuel. For those who don't know, bunker fuel is a fuel that has had very little refining done to it, and is therefore very cheap, so most large ships use it. The downside is it needs to be heated to around 40 degrees before it is liquid enough to be piped to the engine. In antarctic temperatures, that oil will be like a thick goo, and will stick to everything.

The reason the Sonia (now NorAd) had to have engine modifications done was because before BC ferries got her she ran on bunker fuel, so the engines had to have the injectors changed and some exhaust modifications.

[Mill Bay]

Strange world we live in...

The MS Explorer was built in Finland in 1969 registered in Liberia and owned by a Canadian cruise agency. (One news report I heard wrongly stated she had been built in Canada).

Apparently a ship of quite historical significance.

As the article on wikipedia states...

Being the first cruise ship ever built specifically to ply the frigid waters of the Antarctic Ocean, the Explorer became the first ever to sink there.

The Explorer was first reported to be sinking at a position of:
62 degrees 24 minute South and 57 degrees 16 minutes west, between South Shetlands and Grahams Land, in the Bransfield Strait.

It is a little odd that it actually would sink from apparently slight damage, but we don't know for sure yet all that took place during the sinking, or what deficiencies might have been present in the design that might have made sinking inevitable.

In that regard, here's a salute to the brave ship, Explorer.

[Barnacle]

Bunker fuel has actually been refined quite heavily. It's the gunk that's left over from refining, so that all the good bits are out and it's a barely flammable sludge.

[Nick]

Yes, you are right. What I meant, was that it is not refined into a product, rather it is what is left from refining other products. Poor articulating on my part.

[WettCoast]

I would like to point out yet again that the QotNorth had multiple water-tight compartments as, I would hope, the Explorer had. Had the QotN holed only one compartment the ship would very likely still be in service now.

And that leads to my question... If the Explorer had only a fist sized hole in one compartment how did it sink? I suspect that the damage was very likely much more severe than first reported.

[D'Elete BC in NJ]

I had originally heard there was significant cracking of the hull, though the actual penetration of the hull was small (10cmx30cm).

A 2007 inspection noted issues with the watertight doors, but one would think this had been corrected.

[Kam]

A very good page at:

www.cargolaw.com/2007nightmare_explorer.html

first and seccond hand accounts with lots of pictures

[D'Elete BC in NJ]

It appears the British Royal Navy has located the remains of the MV Explorer. HMS Endurance located the wreck using sonar. The story can be found here.