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  • Continued
    Diver Louis narrowly avoided serious injury
    Deep sea diver, Louis O’Leary, avoided serious injuries as he was setting up a drill for a hot-tap procedure, to suck out the oil on the submerged vessel.
    It was a dangerous location to dive, he said, due to strong surges.
    “There was a little lip, about an inch wide,*along*the edge of the ship and it was causing a surge,” said Mr O’Leary. “As I was setting up the drill, a surge took me straight over the ship and, as it did, it flipped my weight belt.
    “I was wearing a dry suit, which was semi-inflated, and I just managed to grab the weight belt, before it fell to the seabed — otherwise, I would have floated to the surface.”
    He escaped decompression, or the ‘bends’.
    He had been engaged with Celtic Sea divers, examining the possibility of the vessel being towed off the rocks and, also,*salvage*company, Smith Tak, tasked with removing the 2,000 tonnes of working fuel oil
    The doors of the ship’s wells were open, he said, and water was bellowing in through hatches, creating a pump action. “It was frightening to get sucked in, but if you waited and didn’t panic, the pump action would blow you out again.”
    He also aided owner, Shaun Kent, for several days, in removing anti-fouling paint.
    “Any anti-fouling paint is poisonous to marine life and Mr Kent possibly believed he would find favour with local*environmentalists,*if it was removed,” said Mr O’Leary.
    Having examined the ship for a department of*marine*structural engineer, Clonakilty-born Mr O’Leary said it was obvious,*from*first glance, that the ship was on its last legs
    “The ship was reportedly in trouble with its power, but the first thing I landed on was a huge generator, almost the size of a normal kitchen,” he said. “We were asked to check steering pipes, but the damage was extensive — it’s hard to say if they had been interfered with, but the damage looked as if a sledge hammer had been taken to them.”
    Ex-fisherman, Colin Barnes, now a whale-watch expert, had observed the vessel drifting, the night before it grounded on the Stags.
    “I was with the late Joe Barry and I remember saying: ‘You know where she’s going.’ We watched until 11pm and, at 5am, we went to Toe Head and there she was on the rocks, as expected. We went out at first light and, thinking it was going to sink within hours, Joe and another crewman jumped on*board*first.

    “What amazed me, everything was so bloody big and it was obvious the crew had left in a hurry.
    “We picked up a few bits, souvenirs. I recovered the compass, which I later gave to the captain, and a nice pair of binoculars, which were returned to me after a year and a day by the receiver [of wrecks].”

    Government’s lack of interest after spill ‘disappointing’
    Furious at the disinterest by the government of the time, voluntary organisation*Earthwatch*arrived outside Dáil Éireann with 100 dead sea birds.
    Mary Jordan, a leading light in the group, said: “Thousands of birds, covered in oil, had died and the impact on seals or other wildlife was immeasurable.
    “After the initial drama of a disabled ship circling the sea and finally being grounded, the government and much of the media became disinterested, which was very disappointing.
    “No department was prepared to accept responsibility for what was happening and no solutions had been forthcoming.
    “The gardaí outside the Dáil were very shocked by the sight of dead oiled birds and kindly stopped many politicians in their cars as they emerged from Leinster House to give us an opportunity to hand out leaflets demanding action.
    “I saw Jim Mitchell, the minister, take another exit and run to his office on the other side of the road.
    “I ran after him with two dead guillemots, but I didn’t catch him.
    “After the February election in 1987, Mr Haughey as Taoiseach arrived in Baltimore.
    “Along with others, we had a meeting with him and he asked us what we wanted.
    “We requested a department of marine be established and he agreed. We also demanded the remaining oil be removed.
    “He set up the department but, unfortunately, in governments since, there has been no dedicated department of marine with it being attached to other departments.”
    Care centres for injured birds had been set up at two locations, but just after the release of birds, wintered at Rory Jackson’s home at Toe Head and recovering from being oiled and cleaned, a major spill from the wreck immediately killed them.
    Ms Jordan said council workers and scores of volunteers put in a super-human effort to clean beaches and bag oily sand.
    She said many people in a fledgeling tourism industry were annoyed the disaster had been kept in the public eye in the early months of 1987 was negative publicity.
    “It was a nightmare time on several fronts — there was the reality of seeing all the dead seals and birds, wildlife struggling for survival, covered in oil. No one knew when the oil leaks were going to stop.
    “There were rumours about toxic materials on board along with the realisation an important spawning ground could be permanently damaged.
    “In the meantime, people with B+Bs and other tourism interests wanted the negative publicity to stop.”
    30 years on from the Kowloon Bridge disaster, we look back at the how 900ft long ship had the south-west of Ireland in a grip of terror.
    For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

    Comment


    • Last part.

      Station chief disputes ‘playing down’ extent of damage
      Sherkin Island Marine Station, at its own expense, published three bulletins in January, March, and April of 1997, to assess the pollution damage, mainly at tourist locations, and put forward suggestions to have the shipwreck’s remaining oil removed.
      Research director with the UK’s Field Studies Council, Jenny Baker, led the inspections and, at times, visited 58 locations along the west Cork shoreline.
      At many sites where county council clean-ups had taken place, she found there were no obvious areas of serious shore pollution, but tar spots that would be a nuisance to tourists.
      Wildlife and environmental groups such as Earthwatch strongly disagreed with some of the findings and they said that the marine station was ‘playing down the scale’ of the disaster.
      Matt Murphy, 81, the founder of Sherkin Island Marine Station, who is still residing and running his station on*Skerkin*Island, said last week: “I wasn’t going to exaggerate, I still don’t believe in that.
      “There were tales of West Cork beaches being destroyed at a time when people were making summertime plans to visit the region. There were horror stories being relayed.
      “The pollution didn’t even reach Bantry. It was there in spots, but the damage, at the time, condemned the region to total pollution.
      “At the time, Jenny Baker had two decades experience behind her in oil pollution research and responding to oil spoils from an ecological viewpoint. She had worked in Britain, Nigeria, Indonesia and South America in Panama and Chile.
      “She offered recommendations about the clean-up and the necessity to remove the oil from the ship.
      “I think if something like that ever happens again, I hope there will be extensive monitoring like the marine station did.
      “Two years after the incident, there was hardly a trace of oil. Nature had completed the clean-up.”
      However, Mr Murphy said the unsung heroes of the clean-up had been the county council outdoor staff.
      “Under Ted Murphy (a now retired senior executive engineer in West Cork), the efforts by council staff stunned me at the time.
      “On one occasion, they were on Ownahincha strand, with a south-east wind hammering them, and they were armed with small scrubbing brushes, cleaning rocks.
      “They never got the credit they deserved.
      “There were lots of people wanting to blame everyone. What more could they have done?
      “They had plastic bags... brought them over the rocks on makeshift stretchers.
      “Jenny Baker was, and remains, one of the most honourable people in the scientific world.
      “There was no-one else at the time examining our rocky shores. After her third visit to West Cork to survey the shorelines, she said: ‘You’re seeing what I see’ indicating that by April there was little evidence of any pollution.
      “If I had said that, I would have been accused by some of having an agenda.”
      Mr Murphy said birds did not die on the beaches all over West Cork, as was strongly suggested.
      “I never saw dead birds.”
      He was accused, he said, of being a disgrace and losing the respect of environmentalists.
      “I said to one person, ‘do you want me to lie?’ I’m wasn’t in the business of lying.
      “I always stated the facts, in the 40 years I have been running the marine station, we keep to the facts I have never exaggerated”
      “The grounding was a wake-up call of what could*happened*— I still believe a national grouping should meet every six months, at least, to revise plans and examine legislation for any major emergency.”
      30 years on from the Kowloon Bridge disaster, we look back at the how 900ft long ship had the south-west of Ireland in a grip of terror.
      For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

      Comment


      • The Coast Gaurd has located a stricken fishing trawler around 150km off the Kerry coast after communications were lost yesterday afternoon.


        Tug on the way from Castletownbere

        Comment


        • There is a fine ocean going tug based there. Often assists on the west coast when large ships lose power. They normally support the whiddy terminal.

          All our vessel are fully certified and operated by competent certified crew and backed up by a highly experienced onshore management team.
          Last edited by na grohmiti; 28 March 2018, 20:53.
          For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

          Comment


          • Belgian/Dutch MCMV Competition Winner

            Given the sheer size of the winning MCM 'Mothership' it would appear that expeditionary capacity is a priority.



            https://www.belgium-naval-and-robotics.be/

            In the region of 3,000 tonnes, this is not a contender for our upcoming CPV/Corvette/MCMV programme, as defined by the most recent Defence White Paper.



            http://www.kership.com/en/vessels/lspv-90

            However a vessel derived from this, and associated designs, could produce a very capable OPV/ETV/Expeditionary MCMV.



            http://www.kership.com/en/vessels/multi-purpose-vessels

            Comment


            • Originally posted on >Navy & Naval Reserve >CPV Replacement (Edited here for relevance and clarity)

              If the best possible direct replacements for Órla & Ciara in their primary roles are, actually, Róisín & Niamh.


              P40 Class (LÉ Órla)

              P50 Class (LÉ Róisín)

              Then the best possible replacements-in-turn for Róisín & Niamh would be OPV/ETV hybrid vessels along the lines of ICGV Thor & NoCGV Harstad.


              ICGV Thor

              NoCGV Harstad

              Both vessels are derived from Rolls-Royce's UT512 Coastguard Vessel design and are tasked with the primary duties of our Samuel Beckett class. Aditionally they act as Emergency Towing Vessels, Pollution Control Craft, and Submariner Rescue Platforms. The importance of a national ETV capability has been to the fore in Naval Service thinking for at least the last two decades, however given the small size of the NS, some form of OPV/ETV hybrid was always going to be our only practicable option. We hope we can trust that some form of capability can be put in place before, either a supertanker incident in the Celtic Sea or, a reactor fire on the Porcupine Bank.



              UT512 Coastguard Vessel

              Comment


              • Originally posted on >Navy & Naval Reserve >CPV Replacement (Edited here for relevance and clarity)

                A multi-purpose offshore patrol vessel, albeit with very high capital
                costs, can make savings across government by increased efficiency ..

                .. and the ability to flex an otherwise costly emergency towing
                capability at short notice ..

                Experience elsewhere in Europe suggests that the likeliest vessel
                requiring assistance is small enough to require a relatively modest
                tug with a 100–150t bollard pull.. - From conclusions (PDF Pages 63/64)


                2012 IRCG study into provision for an ETV - Full Document (PDF)

                The example vessels shown in the post above meet the quoted technical requirements and the very high capital costs refered to would be reduced substantially to marginal costs because we need two new Naval Vessels, of some description, anyway. Delve deeper into the IRCG report and, in the relatively inert language beloved of consultants everywhere, the Naval Service recieve; a furtive glance, heavy breathing, and following an awkward approach, the tang of unrequited disappointment.

                The moving of liability for the operation away from the
                State, by outsourcing some or all of the operation of the ETV carries a
                premium in terms of contractual fees. These may not be offset by
                preventing an increase in the size of the directly employed workforce, and
                may be unnecessary if greater efficiency can be leveraged from other state
                agencies such as the Irish Naval Service or Irish Lights. - PDF Page 7

                There may be the potential to reduce research, development and design costs
                by relying upon technical support from other nations already operating such ships.
                One likely partner, the Irish Naval Service, already possesses sufficiently trained and qualified
                personnel to crew and operate such a vessel which could offset some running costs. - PDF Page 34

                A telephone discussion was had with.. ..at the Department of Defence, who
                intimated that in the event that the State wished to pursue the procurement
                of an offshore multi-purpose vessel capable of emergency towing, the Flag Officer
                would be open for holding discussions with the IRCG with regard to the possibility
                of a joint service provision and funding. - PDF Page 47

                Comment


                • And the report recommended a time charter from a suitable contractor

                  Comment


                  • Neither of which has been done, by the way...
                    For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

                    Comment


                    • 1998 to 2000 - Report recommences the State having an ETV, the most cost effective means being for it to have a secondary role of fisheries protection. Government decided to acquire an ETV. DoM given approval to conduct further studies. Key issues how and who to provide it.

                      2002 - recommendation that ETV service be contracted out

                      2006 - situation under review

                      2012 - best value for money option is a time charter from a competent contractor. A bollard tow of 100-150 tonnes would be sufficient to mitigate the vast majority of incidents. In the context of a MPV, a BP of 80-100 tonnes would still provide considerable utility


                      Sources:






                      Comment


                      • Nice reports. Where are the Tugs?
                        For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by na grohmiti View Post
                          Nice reports. Where are the Tugs?
                          Like all things maritime they are buried in the reports and awaiting outcome of bilateral discussions. The progenitors of the reports is a control agency with little sea-going capability. The density of ship transits around the Irish Coast as tracked and identified by Long range Tracking system is food for thought and begs the question- what happens if a 4000 person ship declares an emergency, or a laden tanker is about to hit the beaches. ILV have a 60 tonne BP and P31 can manage 35/40 tonne. We do not consciously develop Maritime capability in a sustained way but are prepared to bury it in reports. The Navy through the Department of Defence could manage a civilian manned ETV and require them, with Naval support, to assist naval operations similar to RFA.

                          Comment


                          • From wiki regarding the UK ETV situation:

                            In 2010, the Government announced as part of the Department for Transport's share of cuts in the Comprehensive Spending Review, that the ETV fleet would be no longer be funded by the MCA from September 2011, saving £32.5m over the Spending Review period. The Department stated that "state provision of ETVs does not represent a correct use of taxpayers money and that ship salvage should be a commercial matter between a ship's operator and the salvor"

                            It would seem that a dedicated ETV here would simply not be a feasible state funded asset unless the vessel was dual purpose, like the Icelandic model.

                            Comment


                            • However cleaning up lost containers from the scottish coastline is considered a correct use of taxpayers money?
                              For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.

                              Comment

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