In this photo released by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Cougar Ace maintains its position about 240 miles south of Adak in the North Pacific Ocean, Tuesday, July 25, 2006. As of noon Tuesday, the ship, hundreds of miles off Alaska's Aleutian Islands, is listing 60 degrees to port. The keel and the propeller are out of the water. It is stable, and does not appear to be sinking, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. What do you think Seacowboys?
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Twenty-three crew members rescued from an Asian cargo ship taking on water south of Aleutian Islands were delivered safely to land after a daring and difficult rescue. "People are out of harm's way, they are rescued and they are safe," said Alaska National Guard spokesman Maj. Mike Haller The rescue was conducted in "very challenging weather," said Master Sgt. Sal Provenzano with the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center. There were 10-foot seas whipping the ship, which was listed nearly on its side. All 23 crew members were hoisted into two National Guard Pave Hawk helicopters and a Coast Guard helicopter and taken to Adak Island in the Aleutians, 230 miles to the north of the Cougar Ace. "We made the decision to cram in everybody," Provenzano said. One crew member with a broken ankle was to be flown by plane to Anchorage immediately after landing in Adak, Provenzano said. There were no other injuries reported. It was not immediately known how long the other crew members, who all donned survival suits when the ship started taking on water, would remain on Adak Island. The Cougar Ace began listing in the turbulent Pacific Ocean late Sunday night, when the crew sent out an SOS. On Monday, a Coast Guard plane dropped three life rafts, but roiling waters shoved the rafts underneath the dipping port side of the 654-foot ship. Racing against an increasingly tilting ship, rescuers tossed an additional raft along the higher starboard side, but it was a 150-foot drop to the water and beyond the crew's reach. The Cougar Ace had been carrying nearly 5,000 cars from Japan to Canada when it began taking on water Sunday night. A merchant marine ship crew that had been in the area reached the vessel Monday morning. The crew of that ship tried, but failed, to rig a line to the Cougar Ace to keep it from tilting further. Near the vessel, Coast Guard officers could see a 2-mile oil sheen, though officials said it was difficult to say how much of the ship's 430 metric tons of fuel oil or 112 metric tons of diesel fuel had spilled. The ocean was choppy, with rain squalls and 8- to 10-foot seas reported. Communications between the crew and Coast Guard became increasingly difficult Monday when the batteries in the crew's hand-held radio dimmed, Coast Guard Lt. Mara Booth-Miller said. Crew members had to shout information to the merchant ship, which then relayed messages back and forth to the Coast Guard. The Singapore-flagged Cougar Ace -- owned by Tokyo-based Mitsui O.S.K. Lines -- was carrying 4,813 vehicles from Japan to Vancouver, British Columbia, said Greg Beuerman, a spokesman for the ship owner. There were no reports of any cars going overboard. Beuerman said typically vehicles are securely fastened. Early on, the Coast Guard alerted the clinic at the small town of Adak -- a former Naval air station on the island of the same name -- to gear up for treating at least one broken ankle and possible hypothermia cases. Nurse practitioner Michael Terry said residents hustled to set up cots and blankets at the community center, prepare food and coffee, gather donations of warm clothing. The clinic rounded up emergency medics and braced for action. "We actually were preparing to have an air disaster drill at the airport (Tuesday) so we moved it up a day," Terry said.
What do you think Seacowboys? - Per Quig Classic low density load shift. Worth salvage if the weather holds. - Per ghrit.
Yes, and yes. I'd like to see the stability and loading analyses before I went too far, but it looks, on the surface, like there is loose cargo. Cars are the lowest density cargo there is short of people that I can think of. From a recovery point of view, it looks like fore and aft is stable barring something not obvious. At 650 odd feet long with a crew of only 23, I'd say the engineering spaces are probably sealed and purged, and unless she is settling more, there's a good chance those spaces are still intact. Lateral stability is the open question. Single screw with all that sail area and relatively shallow draft makes her a bitch to handle in wind, and might be the reason she tipped initially, causing some if not all tiedowns to break if they were even installed at load out. Guessing all that, someone would have to go have a look, and that I'll leave for the pros. Call me chicken. Too bad this will be out of the news pretty soon, it would be interesting to see how it pans out.
Okay, I'm not even in salvage though I'll take a stab at it. Maybe it wasn't a wreck at all. Maybe it's intentional. They had to offload those cars for the new 'Underwater Car Museum' somehow. Seriously, look like there's gonna be a mess to clean up if the ship fuel hits water, which it very likely will. Too bad they can't devise a way to dock with it and offload those cars. May be able to get the ship upright again. What would be the likelihood that that floating Oil Derrick repair ship could handle that job? I've seen them doing rig recovery and repair on TV during rough seas. Might be a thought, expensive, though not impossible IMO. Who knows?
<TABLE class=maintable cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width=600 align=center><TBODY><TR><TD class=display_media noWrap align=middle></TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE class=tableb cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- BEGIN img_desc --><TABLE class=tableb cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><!-- BEGIN title --><TBODY><TR><TD class=tableb><CENTER>Cougar Ace </CENTER></TD></TR><!-- END title --><!-- BEGIN caption --><TR><TD class=tableb><CENTER>Photo / Foto: (c) Dave Medgett </CENTER></TD></TR><!-- END caption --></TBODY></TABLE><!-- END img_desc --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- End standard table --><TABLE class=maintable cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width=600 align=center><TBODY><TR><TD class=tableh2_compact colSpan=6>Rate this file (current rating : 3.5 / 5 with 57 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableb_compact align=middle width="17%"> </TD><TD class=tableb_compact align=middle width="17%"> </TD><TD class=tableb_compact align=middle width="17%"> </TD><TD class=tableb_compact align=middle width="17%"> </TD><TD class=tableb_compact align=middle width="17%"> </TD><TD class=tableb_compact align=middle width="17%"> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <!-- Start standard table --><TABLE class=maintable cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width=600 align=center><TBODY><TR><TD class=tableh2_compact colSpan=2>File information</TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableb_compact vAlign=top>Filename:</TD><TD class=tableb_compact>aut_cougar_ace.jpg</TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableb_compact vAlign=top>Album name:</TD><TD class=tableb_compact>frederic / Cougar ace</TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableb_compact vAlign=top>Rating (57 votes):</TD><TD class=tableb_compact></TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableb_compact vAlign=top>File Size:</TD><TD class=tableb_compact>246 KB</TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableb_compact vAlign=top>Date added:</TD><TD class=tableb_compact>Apr 22, 2006</TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableb_compact vAlign=top>Dimensions:</TD><TD class=tableb_compact>800 x 571 pixels</TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableb_compact vAlign=top>Displayed:</TD><TD class=tableb_compact>10192 times</TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableb_compact vAlign=top>URL:</TD><TD class=tableb_compact>http://www.ibiblio.org/maritime/photolibrary/displayimage.php?pos=-28050</TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableb_compact vAlign=top>Favorites:</TD><TD class=tableb_compact>Add to Favorites</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- End standard table --> <TABLE class=maintable cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width=600 align=center><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=tableh2_compact noWrap>Visitor_EdF </TD><TD class=tableh2_compact align=right width="100%"></TD><TD class=tableh2_compact noWrap align=right>[Jul 25, 2006 at 03:52 AM] </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableb_compact>ICHMOND, BC (May 4, 2005) – Fraser Wharves Ltd. set a new record at Fraser River Port for the greatest number of vehicles discharged from a single ship, when M.V. COUGAR ACE delivered 5,214 automobiles on May 4, 2005. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=maintable cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width=600 align=center><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=tableh2_compact noWrap>Visitor_Anon </TD><TD class=tableh2_compact align=right width="100%"></TD><TD class=tableh2_compact noWrap align=right>[Jul 25, 2006 at 01:25 PM] </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableb_compact>CNN report: Near the vessel, Coast Guard officers could see a 2-mile oil sheen, though officials said it was difficult to say how much of the ship's 430 metric tons of fuel oil or 112 metric tons of diesel fuel had spilled. The ocean was choppy, with rain squalls and 8- to 10-foot seas reported. (...) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=maintable cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width=600 align=center><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=tableh2_compact noWrap>Visitor_AlaskanJohn </TD><TD class=tableh2_compact align=right width="100%"></TD><TD class=tableh2_compact noWrap align=right>[Jul 25, 2006 at 05:23 PM] </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableb_compact>Currently there is no understanding of why she began listing in the first place beyond an SOS saying she was taking on water. We'll likely know more soon enough since the entire crew survived in good shape - they are all off the vessel now. Visitor_Sorry, not sure where you're getting your news from, but (a.) the vessel has not yet sunk; and (b.) she is nowhere near the Canadian border. Additional news and photos are available at: www.adn.com and www.ktuu.com. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=maintable cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width=600 align=center><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=tableh2_compact noWrap>Visitor_Bob </TD><TD class=tableh2_compact align=right width="100%"></TD><TD class=tableh2_compact noWrap align=right>[Jul 25, 2006 at 05:36 PM] </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableb_compact>Would be nice to see video footage of sinking. Crew is safe. Thats good. Adak is boring. Been there. Will be interesting if they ever find the cause. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
I recieved a bullitin yesterday that Titan Salvage (our competitor) had been contracted by Nippon Salvage to address this casualty. We also recieved a bullitin that one of Titan's senior naval architects fell while being helicoptored to the wreck and was killed.
