Yeah, she's a drop boat... Strap your ass in, it's a long ways down! The seats face aft and there's 5 point harnesses. Ever see Captain Phillips? Same life boat.
Self unloading bulker. It was trading around Africa and was bought by a Algoma, a Canadian outfit. She's Panamax so she will never travel west of Montreal as she's about 30' wider than the St. Lawrence seaway locks. Main Cargos are going to be iron ore pellets and rock for use as aggregates. I think she can load almost 60,000 metric ton at maximum draft but our load sheet is for 40,000 probably due to draft restrictions in port.
If it were up to me, in high risk areas we'd be armed to the teeth! Canadians are sissy like that though, "Oh my god, I hate guns" hear that all too often. That said, we don't have any issues in Canadian/American waters. Worst I can recall is a few years ago green peace boarded a Canadian laker crossing Lake Huron. They got half way through spray painting "no nukes" down the ship side and the rest handcuffed themselves to the deck rails. The crew cut the cuffs and brought them all into the mess hall under guard to the next port where they were all arrested. Damn hippies.
No guns on the boat?? Man...that don't make no sense at all .....Yeah in North America I can see not being armed but off the coast of Africa...I'm like you get some F*&^%$#$ guns on board!!
No guns on the boat?? Man...that don't make no sense at all .....Yeah in North America I can see not being armed but off the coast of Africa...I'm like you get some F*&^%$#$ guns on board!!
At the very least you would think the captain would have a safe with a few but it doesn't happen. There are security companies that travel with ships in these areas though. I was reading about this last night and it's pretty effed up. Many ports allow no guns aboard so they buy bulk surplus rifles and toss them overboard before entering port. Then buy more at a gun friendly port before transiting high risk areas. I Remember seeing episodes of "deadliest catch" and those guys were armed, it just doesn't seem to be the case on cargo ships. The Canary Islands were easy going, I'm glad we picked her up there and not in Sierra Leone! There were Ebola prevention safety posters everywhere and malaria medication in every cabin. I Sure am glad to be sailing around North America!
I forgot the best part about those green peace hippies... They cut them free from the deck as it was going to be night/bad weather and I think it was another 36hrs or so to port so they had to feed these idiots. They all complained that the cook wouldn't/couldn't accommodate them with "vegan" and "gluten free" meals! WTF you're lucky you're not being beat senseless and thrown overboard!!!!!
Yup. These type seem to come from the shallow end of the gene pool! They clearly didn't think this through as lake ship a don't have much freeboard when loaded and Lake Huron can easily get bad enough to send rollers over the deck. The thing I don't get is the "no nukes" deal!? If anything they should have been protesting coal power plants as that's a major cargo on the Great Lakes.
There is actually talk about nuke power. I can't see it though because of accident potential and easier access to nuclear material. LNG is the next fuel coming, tankers are already burning off gases to run generators and even main engines are being developed for LNG. I really miss some of the older ships and their simple systems though. Everything is getting to the point where you have to be very computer savvy AND a figgin mechanic. I sailed on one steam turbine ship and it was amazing How clean the engine room was. The bilges were painted white and not a drop of oil anywhere. Diesel/HFO ships can be an oily mess. Very little oil required for a turbine. The reason they're not used is fuel consumption. A turbine ship will burn 60ton/day sailing and 30ton/day in port to keep steam up and turbine genny's running. A diesel ship will burn 30ton/day sailing and 2ton/day in port to run genny's.
It's possible, I mean God damn a man built it in the first place, it can be done again!
Seems it's a dying art and my hand isn't steady enough (yet)... I've been talking to some learned old hands and will let you all know as anything happens. I've been a slave to the high seas for far too long and it's good to be back on matter that's firmly attached to the earths crust!
Here's an Arial pic of my ship making port in Contrecouer Quebec loaded with 40,000mt of iron ore for the steel mill in Sorel. Shecan be a crotchety old lady, but she's got 16,000 nasty horses pushing us along!
Here's an Arial pic of my ship making port in Contrecouer Quebec loaded with 40,000mt of iron ore for the steel mill in Sorel. Shecan be a crotchety old lady, but she's got 16,000 nasty horses pushing us along!