South Korean ferry MV Sewol flips, 1/2 sunk in shallows, people trapped.....

Discussion in 'Stability' started by Squidly-Diddly, Apr 17, 2014.

  1. oceannavigator2

    oceannavigator2 Previous Member

    No boat should capsize or even heel appreciably making a turn and no cargo should shift. If any of that was the case, it is the company in charge of securing cargo and designing the ferry who caused this to happen, not the crew.

    Lastly, I would have made the same call the captain did at first. If he figured proximity to land meant rescue kind of soon, you don't want to send passengers into a probable watery grave by abandoning ship via lifejackets or the few rafts available. Warm,dry rescue saves lives and he was inland.

    Just a few observations....
     
  2. Pascal Warin
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    Pascal Warin Junior Member

    My two cents.
    Before abandon there is call to muster stations.

    When you do not know how things will evolve it makes sense to get people outside ready to abandon instead of letting them get trapped inside superstructure.

    Also in case of sudden turn and consequently cargo shift it is possible to have permanent list and aft door corner under water with progressive water inflow.

    I was told that securing is done on Ropax only when rough weather is expected which was not the case.
     
  3. morkisthatu
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    morkisthatu Junior Member

    Sewol

    I read some comments by a person who spoke with the Third Officer of the Sewol, she being the officer on the bridge at the time the incident began. She had given the helmsman a command for a 5 degree course adjustment required at that point of their journey. However, due to some type of malfunction in the steering system the ship continued well beyond the 5 degree turn and could not be stopped. What that led to will come out in the investigation.

    I don't buy into the reef/rock theories. It's a well traveled shipping lane used by ferries and tankers. Any reef/rock would be clearly charted and would have been pointed out in every initial report. In fact reef/rock were eliminated as a cause by the ROK Coast Guard.
     
  4. Pascal Warin
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    Pascal Warin Junior Member

    I fully agree with you regarding the raking issue.
    Moreover, I cannot see any sign of damage on hull bottom on the pitcure taken after capsizing.
     
  5. morkisthatu
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    morkisthatu Junior Member

    If there is hull damage it would be on the port side and the starboard side pics have little value.

    As with most disasters there are a chain of events which take it from an incident, to a problem, to trouble, to a catastrophe. The more complex the c-o-e is the harder it will be for us to understand. Most of those emotionally tied to the disaster will have a very hard time with a complex explanation. I suspect this will be a lengthy investigation.
     
  6. Pascal Warin
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    Pascal Warin Junior Member

    You assume that there is aside damage on port ?
     
  7. Tad
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    Tad Boat Designer

    One of the issues that came to light in the Queen Of The North investigation was that the crew had no clear instruction and did not know how to operate the autopilot.
     
  8. powerabout
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    powerabout Senior Member

    I'm thinking it had a list or a unknown problem and a turn suddenly made it worse, poor stability made it fall over as this is an altered vessel that always seem to be inthe news due to owner changing the vessel to suit themselves.
    Lets see the koreans investigate koreans..
     
  9. IEWinkle
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    IEWinkle Retired Naval Architect

    Raking Damage

    If it's there, that's where you will find it!
     
  10. IEWinkle
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    IEWinkle Retired Naval Architect

    Hit a Reef?

    One of the earliest reports was that the ship hit a reef in fog at 9.00 KST
     
  11. morkisthatu
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    morkisthatu Junior Member

    No, I assume nothing. The ship capsized to it's port side. The comment I responded to noted there was no visible damage to the hull in the pics. Only the starboard side is visible. If there is hull damage it would be on the port side. Drawing conclusions from those pics is improper.

    If you read through the forum comments there is some very informative notes by IEWinkle about flooding.
     
  12. morkisthatu
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    morkisthatu Junior Member

    That may be. The Ministry of Ocean and Fisheries released data on Tuesday (4/22) from the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
    stating the ship had been on course, cloudy but no fog, 1/2 meter swells, strong current, 122-142 foot depth of channel.
     
  13. jehardiman
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    jehardiman Senior Member

    There has been a lot of that recently; the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch has reported on several recent casualties caused by reduced manning and missuse of the autopilot. Entering an obstruction as a course change waypoint can have bad consequences, even on a clear day with proper watchstanders as the Deutsche Marine can attest.

    [​IMG]

    Also, there are also problems when the watchstanders don't understand the interaction of the helm and the dynamic stability controls, as what happened to the CROWN PRINCESS in 2006.
     
  14. IEWinkle
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    IEWinkle Retired Naval Architect

    Evidence of the Turn

    First clear evidence of SEWOL's last turn from AIS data attached below. This is a very odd manoeuvre and shows the strong current drift to the north after an apparent loss of power having turned just over 90 degrees in about 1 minute.

    http://twitter.com/pearswick/status/458575275735781376/photo/1
     
    1 person likes this.

  15. Navygate

    Navygate Previous Member

    Tad,
    I am confused as to what you're getting at here.
    Missing your call in point by 10 minutes and failing to acknowledge and select the next waypoint over the same 10 minutes resulting in the ship driving blindly into Gil Island is simply a lack of conciousness on the bridge.
    It may very well be the crew didn't know how to operate the equipment but even my six year old knows how to throttle the ship back, disengage the autopilot and call for assistance.
    I don't mean to be disrespectful towards you but I've completely missed your point.
     
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