Bourbon Dolphin capsizes

In my understanding, all tugs are capable of some kind of transverse pull, be it active or passive (being pulled). And stability under transverse pull has to be compulsorily studied always.

 

Something else from the press:

Dr Clifford Jones, of Aberdeen University’s mechanics of materials department, said: “Bourbon Dolphin’s owners have expressed the view that the accident should have been impossible.

“However, attachment to the drilling rig introduces another dimension . . . it destabilised the Bourbon Dolphin.”

The tug was less than a year old and built to withstand the stormiest weather.

Experts last night revealed other vessels with the same specifications had an “impeccable” safety record.

"a compact and reliable AHTS for anchor handling, tug and supply services designed to meet the future demands of offshore industry".

Find attached her specs.
Here the accident at Bourbon's pages: http://bourbon-online.com/Bourbon-dolphin-En
Ande here the Bourbon AHTSs fleet: http://bourbon-online.com/AHTS,424
Message from Bourbon's CEO: http://www.bourbon-offshore.no/default.asp?menu=29&id=101
From this last:
"Hopefully soon, we will also know what occurred that made Bourbon Dolphin capsize. It will however take a long and professional investigation to understand why this unbelievable and inconceivable accident has happened."

 

may God be with our lost seaman,,,especially the young one,,,,,,,,,longliner

 

i worked on Chippy T an anchor tug North Sea 1972,
its hard to imagine, I have heard of a hauser getting wrapped , around a screw and winding a (small) ship under, But to sink a tug, first you have to flood the E/R all the bouyancy is there, so, although I hate to speculate, seems to me, the E/R flooded
i ddi 12 on and 12 off on that bloody thing, hrs on watcg that is Engine room, alone, only 6000 shp, yanks were arotton bunch to work for, I used to amuse myself by hauling up large cod, the crew loved that cos it was usually steak and steak and steak, and dry, whoever heard such a dumb law, the Dutch and Germans would chuck us a bottle or two

 

such a beautiful ship, tugs have always been my favourite,

 

And now this....

---(BBC)---
The oil rig support ship which capsized off Shetland, killing eight of the crew, has sunk.

The Bourbon Dolphin overturned in the Atlantic on Thursday and coastguards confirmed the vessel sank at 2115 BST.

Among those who lost their lives in the tragedy was a 14-year-old boy who was on work experience.
...
The ship's operator, Bourbon Offshore, had hoped to tow the vessel back to shore.

But, describing the ship as "very unstable", Shetland Coastguard watch manager Neil Cumming said: "It was released from a rig yesterday and slowly it began to sink."

(BBC Story Here): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/north_east/6558439.stm

(The Norway Post): http://www.norwaypost.no/cgi-bin/norwaypost/imaker?id=69845 The wreck of the capsized supply vessel "Bourbon Dolphin" sank to a depth of 1100 metres in the North Sea on Sunday evening, before the towing to shore could start. This means the five still missing may never be found.... (more)

(The Shipping Times): http://www.shippingtimes.co.uk/item451_bourbon_sinks.htm

(Conjecture about what may have happened): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/north_east/6551797.stm

...I just hope we eventually have a real understanding of what happened and how it happened. I wonder if the Stability Books will get an update ???

Sigh....

 

Well stabilty was not an issue through her life So fooding happened, but if the high level alarms were triggered why did not the crew come topsides>? It is such a mystery

 

I witnessed exactly such a capsizing, many years ago. A harbor tug was called in to pull a small passenger ship which was aground at pierside. The tug was pulling at 90 deg to the grounded ship, with the line led directly over the tug's stern. As the ship came free, there was a horrible miscommunication, and the ship began moving forward before the line was slipped. The tug deck crew must have thought it was slipped, as it was leading down at a sharp angle from the stern. Within seconds, the line snapped taut and swung around almost 90 deg over the port side, pulling the tug over. The 4 crew were able to either dive overboard or swim out of the hull, and all survived. Once the accident happened, a deckhand on the ship moved quickly and cut the line with an ax, or else the capsized tug would have been dragged along, probably killing some of the crew. The tug was an older, conventional prop design. The towing winch was visible above the bulwarks, so it was above the main deck. Obviously, there was very little resistance to girding forces.

The stunning thing about this incident was how rapidly things went from ordinary operations to disaster, just a matter of seconds.

In the case of Bourbon Dolphin, perhaps a large sea striking at an angle might turn the hull suddenly while it drops into the trough, which might pull the line to the anchor off to the side. Pure speculation, of course.....

A tragedy; prayers for the families of those who did not survive.

 

my North Sea days were before nozzles
But the seas here were calm
Anchors that we pulled 10 tonnes barily enough to list the ship at all,
i dunno until someone talks(they are all in shock) then we must wait
Norwegians are pros, they dont speculate, they dont gabble to the media,
they talk things through-- like their parliament, no mad scrummage and they will find out, take the Kursk tragedy they are experts
unlike the Au and Brit media, who just talk for the sake of hearing their own voices
yes God bless the men, and the boy But tugs are a way of life, they died I,ll bet doing what they loved doing
most of the living will knmow what was happening

 

Good points, Jack. I've been looking for some word of what might have happened. Found this in The Herald, in Glasgow:

"According to witnesses, as the vessel headed away from the Transocean Rather drilling rig with one of its anchors, it seemed to turn sharply and the anchor chain jumped out of the mechanism at the rear of the deck which held it. As the chain ran across the deck, the 75-metre tug lurched one way, then the other, before overturning."

I wondered about that, too. These tugs are so big and powerful (16,000 + bhp) precisely because they are designed to handle the anchor and any typical length of chain rode. Now I wonder if the chain snagged, on the rig, or on something on the bottom. That might account for both the amount of force and the sudden change of direction.

 

oh thats the first real account that we have heard, i did not know if she was winching or what, well if she had plenty of power on and the cable was tight and fixed, well was not there so I wont even write thoughts in my head
Bout 10 years or so back, maybe more tug called Lloydsman had over 17000, shp goes up and up
Have you ever seen the Lenin, Soviet, icebreaker 75000kw, Nuclear power, which facinates me, the Russian are working with the Norwegians to convert all their subs from weapons grade to a lesser grade, reason is people keeps tealing the 239
its very complex changing a reactor, I know, I had to do one yesterday) While I was trying learn CAD, my core exploded, um
I,m really very upset like all bout this accident, so was just lightening the moment

 

I worked as chief eng. onboard AHTS vessels till a couple of years ago. running anchors in deep water is more difficult due to the weight of wire/chain, its all fine when over the stern but if the vessel veers of its prescribed line it may be neccessary to turn a bit. The tow is usually captive between the tow pins. what i dont get is that even if the pins were not in use the design of this vessel shows the stops on the crash rail quite far aft. Unless a winch failure on the vessel caused an overspeed of the winch drum and the dynamic brake engaged and stayed on, that could have given a sharp load fluctuation at the wrong time. This is very sad whatever, I watched the vessel sail out the "sooth mooth" of lerwick harbour from my living room, on her way to the west side, two days before the incident.

 

\
thanks for that
can you post your lat and long, and I will zoom it up,
I love to watch and hear ships come and go, specially beat of 3 and 5 cyl engines

 

60,10'n 01,10'w

 

I worked on a ATHS boat build at Ulstein in 1975. 90tonn bolard pull and a 120tonn winch. We only did standbye since our engine capasety of 6600hp was no longer enough and our winch was not big enough annymore eather.

I think moust winches today is 250tonn and bollard pull is from 200-350tonn.
I gues the winch is 250tonn's because that is what they nead. I heard that the wire go on the side and the release mecanism failed and there is not manny boats that can stand 200+ tons hanging from it's side without geting stabilety problems.