El Faro Has Likely Sunk

[wmenorr67]

In a storm like that the best place to be probably would be under it in a sub.

[HankB]

I remember my Dad told me about riding out a typhoon during WWII on a troop ship - I think he said it was the Boschfontein. He told me he remembered looking up at the waves.

Some of the officers - Dutch, I believe - were peeved with him, since he wasn't seasick - unlike so many of their sailors. This was unacceptable, since he wasn't even Navy, but Army Air Corps.

[230RN]

This one lost power due to lousy maintenance of the lubricating system... filters not changed, water in the oil sump, etc.  Backup lube system just as bad, both failed, engine shut itself down while ship was in a critical maneuver.  Hence no steering system, crunched into a shopping mall.

http://www.cnn.com/US/9612/15/freighter.update/index.html?_s=PM:US

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UnL3JvEpTl4

I saw a whole TV program somewhere on the investigation.  Quite a bit of investigative engineering.  I'm sure less lazy Google-ers can find it.

Point being, engines will shut themselves off if not maintained properly...  I guess they don't have a "Check Engine" light on the dashboard.

Terry

[RoadKingLarry]

In a storm like that the best place to be probably would be under it in a sub.

You knew I'd have to chime in didn't you?

In 1991 we were on a transit heading North to go visit very cold places for extended periods of time. We had the good fortune to travel right through a particularly nasty Nor'easter of notable infamy. (The Perfect Storm).
At a depth of 400' we were still taking 10 degree rolls and experiencing 100'+ depth excursions do to topside wave action.

Our Captain, in is infinite wisdom, decided we absolutely had to come up to periscope depth so we could copy the broadcast and get the scores to some sportsgame thing he was interested in. That was fun.

In 1983 my first boat finished an overhaul and as we left SF Bay to do our initial test dive our safety boat couldn't come out with us because it was too rough for them (sea going tug of some kind) they never even made it past the gate. We had the pleasure of spending the day and night on the surface in a sea state 7 (30'+ waves/swells). Taking my turn as look out in the bridge was actually a relief. Partly because it was kind of exciting and partly because it got me away from the overwhelming stench of puke. First the horizon would be waaaaay up there... then it would be waaaaaay down there... then we would take green water over the top of the sail.
Fun times were had by all.

[230RN]

^"green water over the top of the sail."

On a sub?  You mean masts?  Is there another meaning of "sail?"

[HeroHog]

On a sub the sail is the conning tower.

[Angel Eyes]

Green water over the top of the sail would be . . . sporty.

[RoadKingLarry]

On a sub the sail is the conning tower.

"Conning tower" is now obsolete, the current term is sail.

[HeroHog]

"Conning tower" is now obsolete, the current term is sail.

Which is why I explained it for other old farts like myself who grew up calling it the Conning Tower.
My 1st sea duty station: The USS Tringa ASR-16, Sub Rescue and Salvage ship.

[Brad Johnson]

I remember my Dad told me about riding out a typhoon during WWII on a troop ship - I think he said it was the Boschfontein. He told me he remembered looking up at the waves.

Some of the officers - Dutch, I believe - were peeved with him, since he wasn't seasick - unlike so many of their sailors. This was unacceptable, since he wasn't even Navy, but Army Air Corps.

Boschfontein was the ship Pappy Boyington sailed in on his way to Burma with the AVG.

Brad

[HeroHog]

My ship above was stationed out of New London/Groton, CT at the Nuke Sub Base there. It got plenty rough in the waters (North Atlantic) we sailed and we took a 50 degree roll once. We thought we were toast. The ship was basically a shallow draft ocean going single screw tug with a canoe like keel so it rocked easy and a LOT. We went through some seas that had the screw completely out of the water every wave we hit. The decks were awash up to the second level as we plowed through the bigger waves. Sailing in a hurricane is NOT fun!

[230RN]

HeroHog, what are those slanted tube-looking affairs amidships?

I can't imagine the etymological background involved in calling the conning tower the  "sail."  But there it is, right in Merriam-Webster:

"3: Something that resembles a sail; especially :  a streamlined conning tower on a submarine"

I guess if they can call a bathroom the "head....."

Fin?  Even Topside fin?  That I can understand.

Terry, landlubber, 230RN

[Firethorn]

I guess if they can call a bathroom the "head....."

Calling it the head is easy to explain.

Go back to the age of actual sails, and no plumbing.  People still have to do their business.  Now, do you piss INTO the wind, or with it?  Not to mention other excretement.

Now, think about how a sailing vessel moves.  Do you put the shitter at the front or the back of the ship?

[230RN]

(Terry attempts nautical lingo.)

I guess if tacking, lee amidships... No?  I'd have to figure that out.

(And no wonder wimminses aboard ship is considered bad luck, now that I think about it.)  

[RoadKingLarry]

Calling it the head is easy to explain.

Go back to the age of actual sails, and no plumbing.  People still have to do their business.  Now, do you piss INTO the wind, or with it?  Not to mention other excretement.

Now, think about how a sailing vessel moves.  Do you put the shitter at the front or the back of the ship?

And the waves breaking on the bow tended to keep the area cleaner.

[HankB]

Boschfontein was the ship Pappy Boyington sailed in on his way to Burma with the AVG.

Brad

Thanks - I remember reading that in Boyington's book, Baa Baa Black Sheep . . . it's been a number of years, but I think it was spelled Bosch Fontein in his book rather than Boschfontein.

I'm pretty sure my Dad was on the ship some years after Boyington was. 

[HeroHog]

HeroHog, what are those slanted tube-looking affairs amidships?

They are giant "floats" used in a "4 point moor." The ship has anchors at all 4 corners. When doing a salvage/rescue operation, the ship drops the anchors and floats in the 4 corners of a large square then moors itself to the floats providing a stable and precisely located working platform. The ship is also equipped with a compliment of divers, 2 large decompression chambers and a rescue diving bell.

[HeroHog]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Tringa_(ASR-16)

[230RN]

Thanks again, HeroHog !  Boat bumpers, eh?  A bit bigger than the boat bumpers I used to train my retrieving dogs with. :)

Terry

[RoadKingLarry]

They are giant "floats" used in a "4 point moor." The ship has anchors at all 4 corners. When doing a salvage/rescue operation, the ship drops the anchors and floats in the 4 corners of a large square then moors itself to the floats providing a stable and precisely located working platform. The ship is also equipped with a compliment of divers, 2 large decompression chambers and a rescue diving bell.

That rescue bell or one like it used to be sitting off in a corner of Subbase Groton when I was there in the late '80s.

[HeroHog]

Very well could be/have been the one off the Tringa... Our sister ship, ASR-15, The Sunbird was there as well.

[Angel Eyes]

CNN is reporting El Faro had a lot of problems prior to sinking:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/08/us/el-faro-missing-ship/index.html

Apropos of nothing: am I the only one who thinks "The Lighthouse" is an odd name for a ship?

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/10/09/doomed-cargo-ship-reportedly-left-normal-course-sailed-into-track-hurricane/

Unless I missed it. This article suggests something odd.

[Fly320s]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/10/09/doomed-cargo-ship-reportedly-left-normal-course-sailed-into-track-hurricane/

Unless I missed it. This article suggests something odd.

Hillary's server was on that ship.

[Battle Monkey of Zardoz]

Hillary's server was on that ship.

Could be.

Now the article says it left it normal course. Not it drifted, it left. It sailed at near top speed TOWARDS the storm. The Capt mentioned engine trouble, but gave no description of same. So, this article suggests, at least to me, this was either a deliberate act or a boat load of stupid folks