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Thursday, October 7. 2021

Anchoring, and an oil spill

The Coasties suspect that an anchor might have popped a hole in a pipeline, and created a minor oil leak. Could be.


Unlike real seamen, I do not trust anchors in bigger water other than daytime lunch hooks. There are too many things that can disrupt an anchor, such as wind shifts, big waves, condition of the bottom, etc. It is not unusual for recreational boaters to dive down and check the bottom situation of their anchor. Commercial fishermen use 2 anchors, but the olde time Cape Cod fishermen would often prefer to run up on a beach than sleep on anchor on a bad night when they could not reach harbor.


For large vessels, there are now global positioning systems which will keep you precisely in place without anchor or mooring. 


Posted by Bird Dog in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 17:02 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

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Do you really think that Mexifornia would tolerate ships offshore that were NOT anchored???
#1 Mark Matis on 2021-10-07 20:06 (Reply)
Anchoring can lead to adventure.

As the Command Duty Officer of a USN aircraft carrier at anchor in a foreign port, I thought I was going to become the senior officer aboard underway one night--at least for a short time. During a squall it was thought that the anchor was not holding. After several tense minutes, it was concluded through multiple radar fixes that we were not moving from our anchorage at all--just swinging about periodically. At that time we did not have satnav, and inertial was inconclusive.

On another occasion the ship lost its anchor. I was not involved, thankfully. The anchor chain is not secured to the ship on a carrier --and maybe not on other large ships-- because if the brake failed it could not be stopped and would cause severe damage when ripped out. In this case, the anchor was inadvertently let go with weigh on, the brake did not hold, and there it went. Happily, a salvage ship was brought in and its divers secured the bitter end and the little fellow was able to hoist it back to the carrier.

Ol late, at any one time there are as many as 70 ships anchored in the outer LA/Long Beach harbors. Clearly, there are not enough desirable anchorage points for that many ships. Reports today are that a container ship was moving about for some reason with its anchor dragging. That seems like lazy seamanship; but, what do I know? I flew airplanes.
#2 Oldflyer on 2021-10-07 22:34 (Reply)
WRT my previous comment. I did not make clear that as better anchorages come available the ships off of LA/Long Beach no doubt move to the better locations as they come available. I fish on the bays in the area, and each time that I go the chess board of ships has changed..

So, the story of a ship moving in the area; and possibly not bothering to bring up its anchor for a short transit does not actually surprise me. It is also possible that they keep skeleton crews on board when anchored for extended periods--that I do not know.
#3 Oldflyer on 2021-10-07 22:51 (Reply)
I've been involved with this kind of incident before, but with a high pressure gas pipeline. It was marked on every marine chart, paper or electronic, and still the tanker dropped anchor and backed down, paying out chain, leaving it draped across the line. It took us a few days to mobilize a credentialed master and insurers to resolve the problem without further incident.

Most pipelines aren't buried unless there's a good reason to. Sediments shift a lot more than one might expect, leaving free spans, as well. Normally an ROV is sent down once every couple of years to traverse the entire line, note the free-spans, and work up any necessary corrective work.

If the breach was caused by a vessel's anchor, they'll quickly work out who was responsible - ships are tracked all the time now, and it's illegal to turn off the transponder that identifies the ship.

Here's the region right now:
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-118.6/centery:33.8/zoom:8
if you hover over a vessel icon, it will give you more information. I see the USS President Eisenhower is out on sea trials right now, center screen.

BD you may find this site interesting and useful, if you aren't already aware of it. Kind of like FlightRadar24, except for boats not planes.
#4 Aggie on 2021-10-07 23:16 (Reply)
Incidentally, the area of Marine Law is a fascinating one when it comes to disputes like this one will become. The few times that I've been involved with a maritime legal matter: Good Lord. There is something about the mentality and character of sailors and the merchants who operate the ships - it must be the long voyages, bored out of your skull, and the high levels of risk or something. But when there's a maritime incident, it takes real skill, really hardened, sharp, focused and methodical questioning, to get to the bottom of it. I've never come across more bold, determined, and accomplished liars as the ones I've encountered in maritime disputes.
#4.1 Aggie on 2021-10-07 23:25 (Reply)

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