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The preliminary report on the Empress Of The North grounding and subsequent abandonment (no fatalities) was released by the NTSB today. The BBC reports;

Marino Cattiotti was put in charge for four hours because another navigator was ill, the National Transportation Safety Board report said.

More than 200 people were evacuated when the Empress of the North hit a rock 25 miles (40km) from Juneau.

The report called the designation of Mr Cattiotti as navigator “imprudent”.

Hull ripped

Mr Cattiotti was fresh out of a maritime academy, the National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report said.

It was his first voyage on the ship.

The report said instructors believed that “placing a recent graduate of the school with no watch experience outside of a training environment, on watch, at night, in pilotage waters, in an unfamiliar vessel, without any additional preparation and/or supervision, was imprudent”.

Mr Cattiotti had said he had not taken part in any drills or had any training on the Empress of the North.

Not that this is a surprise to gCaptain readers as we reported such in gCaptain’s 16th ever post, “Alaska Cruise Ship - New Mate, Wrong Turn” and also HERE back in May. What’s surprising is we have received insider knowledge that the Coast Guard had asked the young mate to voluntarily hand over his license and “find a new profession”. While this is standard operating procedure following an incident it is worrisome in cases like this. We are, however, happy to report that the young mate made the right choice in not handing over his license and is looking (or has found) a new job. No word on the Captain’s state of employment though.

With over nine years of planning completed Texas A&M’s training ship the Texas Clipper was prepared to start her new life as an artificial reef. Texas Parks and Wildlife writes; “A small armada of boats carried curious visitors to the site as officials from the USCG and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service observed the reefing. A helicopter hovered overhead to capture an aerial view of the event for the media and those who could not venture onto the Gulf waters. A number of former crew members of the ship made it through the rough seas aboard chartered and private vessels to witness the transition to her fourth and final life as home to sea life and a destination for divers and anglers.”

Only there was a problem…

Today’s Houston Chronicle tells us;

A World War II ship purposely sunk in the Gulf of Mexico to create an artificial reef has tipped onto its side, blocking access to the interior for fish and divers.

The sinking capped years of problems, including an unplanned sinking near Beaumont and a $600,000 cleanup of hazardous chemicals.

State officials were hoping the Clipper would become a destination for divers and boost local tourism by an estimated $30 million per year. It was meant to stand upright so divers and fish could explore the 80-foot high, 473-foot long ship by swimming through decks and cabins.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesman Aaron Reed said it was unclear what caused the ship to tip. The sinking of the ship has already cost the state about $4 million.

Tim O’Leary, owner of a dive shop on the coast, had expected the wreck to keep his business busy into December. But the ship is on its side now, more suited for skilled cave divers. Continue Reading…

Links:

Sea-Fever has Video footage of the Texas Clipper Sinking

Texas Clipper Ship Project Homepage

Texas Clipper - Online Tour

Ships2Reefs Program

Our friend Peter Mello at Sea-Fever, a must read maritime blog, brings us the model building obsession of William Terra. This one stopped me cold for a number of reasons. First Battleships have been a personal obsession of mine since childhood and were the subject of the weapons presentation during my plebe year at Annapolis. Second, these “manned models” are an excellent (some say superior) alternative to simulators for shiphandling training. Last, if it comes from Sea-Fever it’s bound to be interesting.

In the post titled “The Germans are coming! The Germans are coming! (by pickup and trailer)” Sea-Fever writes;

Four years in the making and a few more needed to “complete” the project, Mr. Terra built a 1:20 scale, 30′, navigating model of the World War II German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee. (Wikipedia entry) Per Bizmark & Tirpitz:

• The model is scratch built like a canoe using 2,54 - 10,16 cm (1 - 4 in) bass wood strips and then covered with fiberglass.
• Estimated weight 318 kg (700 lbs).
• The beam is 1,32 meter (52 in).
• The length is about 9,1 meter (30 foot).
• It can carry 2 persons.
• The model is powered by a 15 hp (11,2 kw) outboard engine under rear gun turret.
• It can sail 24 kilometer per hour (15 mph).
• Furthermore the model has a music system build in.
• While William Terra cruise the lakes of Maine he enjoys listening to Wagner.
• The Commander-in-Chief in the photographs is William Terra.
• William Terra would like to see more models build in this scale

Click HERE for photos and related links.

For those who are unaware, Port Revel in France and Massachusetts Maritime Academy both host shiphandling classes aboard diminutive versions of real life vessels. These classes are for Marine Pilots and senior maritime officers. BBC News tells us;

To the casual onlooker, it may look like a group of overgrown children sailing in rather extravagant model boats.

But, in fact, they are some of the shipping industry’s most experienced sea captains on one of the world’s most unusual safety training courses.

The lake in Marchwood, near Southampton, Hampshire, boasts a fleet of seven scaled-down model cargo ships on which veteran captains, pilots and senior deck officers can hone their skills.

The ships, which are big enough for two people to sit in, behave exactly like the real thing as they negotiate the 13-acre lake’s artificial channels and tides.

They range from a scaled version of a 300,000 tonne vessel that itself weighs in at six tonnes to a radio-controlled model tug.

So is this simply an excuse for taking some time off work to muck about on the water?

Having taken the class myself I can honestly say the answer is no.

Upon first arrival at the academy I was skeptical of the ability to learn advanced shiphandling techniques on a model that is a fraction the size and weight of the original, however, during my first “test drive” I quickly realized the value of this class. The reason it’s the best option for this type of training is two fold. First the alternative, bridge simulators, do not give you the “feel” of the water and fail to project the sense of emergency when things start to go wrong. This class however, uses real boats that happen to be very expensive and rare… knock one of these against pier and real damage will occur that you will feel it both in the seat of your pants and in your gut.

Second this training is valuable since, as Captain Clarke tells the BBC: “You cannot turn up at Fawley oil refinery in a ‘150,000-tonner’ and say I just want to do a few practice turns.”

To be honest with our readers I originally took the class because Advanced Shiphandling Training was a U.S. Coast Guard requirement for receiving my Unlimited Master’s (captain of large ships) License and Mass Maritime provided the training in half the time (just 5 days) required by the simulator based schools. I learned to love the class because it provides a unique hands on experience that allows you to test shiphandling theory at in accelerated and valuable way.

John Konrad is a USCG licensed Master Mariner of Unlimited Tonnage and the captain of this project. Since graduating from SUNY Maritime College he has sailed 4 of the world’s oceans and reports from his ship via satellite.

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