Sinkings off Lampedusa <continued>

This post is intended as a continuation of http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/stability/sinkings-off-lampedusa-48601.html in light of recent events, which, sadly, were predictable and preventable.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/19/africa/italy-migrant-boat-capsizes/

Prevention is more effective, and less expensive, than rescue, and sometimes a little information can go a long way. As the politicians meet and try to figure out what to do, let's not assume that every non-European involved is either ignorant or evil, and lets try to communicate whatever technical insights might help fewer people die at sea. My best attempt remains the post that started the previous Lampedusa thread. I'd love to see it translated into other languages and distributed. The one thing I'd edit (if I could) would be to re-emphasize in my example that the 5 second maximum role period is the boat's beam in meters. If a boat is much narrower at the waterline than on deck, the waterline beam should be used. (Full load waterline or beam a little above the lightship waterline OK.)

 

Perhaps I shouldn't be mixing these two things, but I think there is a lesson to be learned from the South Korean ferry tragedy a year ago. There are naval architects and naval architecture departments at several universities in South Korea. While there has been some shifting over time, the South Korean government has and has had a ministry charged with maritime oversight: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Maritime_Safety_Tribunal

The lesson is that non-professionals really don't understand vessel stability and maritime oversight unless they are educated about it. Often that includes vessel operators as well as policymakers, civil servants, and the press. So when an accident happens there is a lot of finger-pointing, but the finger-pointing doesn't solve anything.

A huge number of these accidents involve capsize due to simple overloading or inadequate intact static stability. It's a logical place to start.

Returning to the Med, there are groups trying to establish themselves as viable governments of Libya. They need to prove themselves by governing. If they fail, someone will eventually intercede and fill the vacuum. Whomever is in charge at any given moment needs to get control of the situation. In my view they should let it be known that they intend to police maritime trafficers, and that when they do, they are going to go after the unsafe ones first and hardest (while safe operators may be granted more lattitude initially). If prospective governmants want international credibility, the international community should make it clear that we expect them to give first priority to the safety of people who pass throught their country, including their waters, including migrants and immigrants.

 

Good topic for a political forum not a boat design forum.

 

Perhaps I shouldn't have said anything about policy. Let the policymakers address that. THIS IS THE STABILITY THREAD, however, and PEOPLE ARE DYING BECAUSE VESSEL OPERATORS (whatever the legality of what they're doing) DO NOT UNDERSTAND INTACT STABILITY. I'm concerned that the policymakers and journalists don't either. That's my point; not that we should dabble in politics, but that we should make ourselves available as advisors to those who do. And we should do that BEFORE accidents occur, not wait until we're hired as expert witnesses in lawsuits.

I was approached by a Libyan businessman wanting to buy used boats in Florida and ship them to Libya, soley on the basis of his hearing I was in the boat business. I didn't pursue it except to start my original Lampedusa thread and send him a link. So I didn't go looking for this - it found me.

Whatever we design, it's our responsibility to be clear what constitutes proper, safe operation. This responsibility extends beyond when the boat is new, so ultimately it is a responsibility of the boat industry and the boating/maritime community as a whole. That means educating ourselves. NTSB accident reports don't accomplish anything unless we read them and incorporate the lessons of past failures into our work.

One of my Landing School Yacht Design teachers, Cyrus Hamlin, was a naval architect for the UN for a period in his career. The roll period idea that began the original Lampedusa thread <http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/stability/sinkings-off-lampedusa-48601.html> came from his book: http://books.boatdesign.net/yacht_design_books_0870333917.html

 

Exactly. Naivete on display notwithstanding.

 

If I was approached by a libyan businessman I would run a mile. He is a people smuggler. You appear to have started a thread to discuss suitable dedigns for human trafficking. The mod needs to shut this down .

 

I think a discussion can occur, though some narrowing of focus might have a benefit. Ultimately, a skipper bares the responsibility and there's no avoiding this, though in many parts of the world, there's little recourse. Libya is a failed state, so take it for what it's worth. There are plenty of these, as well as other governments that just simply don't offer the protections first world countries do. It's at best difficult to discuss first world morality and responsibility, with folks whom simply have never experienced basic personal freedoms.

We see this a lot with countries around the world, where their governments, possibly their whole country, has only established itself as a free nation within the last few decades. Eastern Europe is a good example of this, where most of the countries were something else, not long ago, many busted up bits and pieces of the imperial age of empires, just to be occupied by the former USSR for half a century, now experiencing some form of free society for the first time. Having a couple of decades of experience, makes them ill suited to cope with seemingly everyday events, such as maritime law.

This situation is much worse in the far east, where similar geopolitical and humanitarian situations proliferate. These countries haven't the wealth or social maturity to bust out of the martyr syndrome mentality they seem to suffer from. "It's just the way it is . . ." and they carry on, not knowing what they're missing. You'd think with communications being what it is, this would go away, but ignorance is bliss, so you don't know the pain of a hard drive crash, if you've never owned a hard drive.

This is what makes this type of discussion difficult, because we can't imagine what it's like to be without the freedoms, we take for granted daily. There's some, likely quite small things we can do, but mostly we'll just have to wait for them to catch up politically and socially.

 

First of all, I do appreciate the comments, whatever they may be. I don't really have any desire to get this guy, the Libyan businessman (a small business owner in Massachusetts/Connecticut) in trouble; I think he may have been a bit naive himself concerning how the boats would be used, though I don't think he could be now. With some effort I could locate him again, if there is anyone who has a good reason to find smugglers, in the hope that he might cooperate. Any thoughts on who I should bring such information to?

 

A private rescue operation, worth supporting I think:
http://www.christophercatrambone.com/
http://www.npr.org/2015/05/06/40462...ts-trying-to-reach-europe-on-overpacked-boats

 

More on Catrambone's effort:
http://www.moas.eu/
http://cmsny.org/podcast-moas/

The BBC on smuggler advertising:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32707346

 

Italian Govt just needs to start housing the refugees in The Vatican.

That would reverse The Church's position on Birth Control in poor nations, as well as prompt a wonderful new Missionary movement to reach out and educate these people how to create decent societies they don't feel they need to flee.

Additionally, The Church would underwrite an ongoing investigation into any Western govt/biz shenanigans that are disrupting these nations ("Confessions of an Economic Hitman") and use their still powerful Pulpit to stymie them before they do real damage.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV from the website:
"Where will you take the migrants if you rescue them?
Our primary aim is to prevent loss of life, not to ferry migrants. However, if a situation arises where search and rescue authorities request MOAS to intervene, we will obey orders from start to finish. This includes disembarkation, the location of which will not be determined by MOAS but by the authorities according to the laws of the sea."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Here is my translation: The game is "Freedom of the Seas" which allows them to get much closer to Italy than Africa, but still be in International Waters. So when the rescue happens and of course its a big emergency with babies, etc, the closest Safe Place is the EU, not Where They Came From. I'm guessing exactly Zero rescued people have gone anywhere but to the bosom of the EU.

Kinda reminds me of a buddy who couldn't stop drinking, and knew he couldn't stop and that it was killing him, but no hospital or detox would take him, and he'd tried that and left after a day because he could.....so he goes out and finds a cop and gives him a nice kick to the groin and tops it off with a few serious verbal threats. Then he gets the nice 60 day enforced DeTox that all his Medical Insurance wasn't able to provide.


As far as the stability issue: Reminds me a recent canoe outing. Yeah, we knew we were pretty loaded but seemed quite stable on test run, so we loaded a little more and still seemed stable although there was a hint of tenderness. Tipped right over less than 50ft from the dock at the very first "big lake" (100yd fetch, 10mph winds LOL) wave.

It really sneaks up on you. I think part of it is the added weight gives an illusion of stability at the dock because of the way the boat reacts less when heavy cargo comes aboard. Then it encounters even a mild wave which has several hundred tons of moving water.

 

I heard Libya was doing pretty good under Colonel Kaddify, considering they started out not too long ago as an Italian colonial throw-away with nothing. Richest nation in Africa (not saying much but still). Decent to excellent reviews from British tourists. He was going to start issuing a pan-African GOLD BACKED currency, and even demanding only gold, not US Fed Reserve dollars, for oil. http://www.thenewamerican.com/econo...-gold-money-plan-would-have-devastated-dollar

Failed State or Orchestrated Attack by World's Superpowers?

 

I think this NPR story speaks to the point that these are human beings involved in this "trade": http://www.npr.org/2015/06/04/411917365/fisherman-by-day-human-smuggler-by-night [also: http://www.npr.org/2015/06/04/41191...-more-african-migrants-to-try-to-reach-europe]. Yes, they're profiteers, but most of them are not deliberately killing people, and would probably avoid it if they knew how. Reporters seem to be able to get to them, so let's imagine we can, too. What sort of materials, educational or otherwise, would we want to put in their hands?

 

If anyone knows where to find data on migrants in the Med, and the boats they have been utilizing, please post the information and/or the source to contact.
If you are in a position to collect or analyze such data, perhaps you'll find the attached starter spreadsheet useful.
Note that there is a recommendations tab and a data log tab.
Please feel free to improve on it and share your insights.

 

At http://www.npr.org/2015/09/26/44322...smugglers-using-tools-sharpened-against-mafia, a typical passenger loading is given:

Here, we are talking about money that is no comparison with drug [trafficking]. Just to give you an idea ... this is money that is collected in advance and without risk ... because when you put 500 people in a boat, like 20 meters long and 4 meters large, at a cost of a few thousand euros, you get something like 1 million euros [or] 800,000 euros for each boat, with a cost that is very, very low.

According to my reference guideline, persons aboad a 20m x 4m vessel should not exceed (20 x 4^2) / 6 = 53. 500 people exceeds that by a factor of 9. I would like to see this, or other reference or technical information, be utilized in prosecuting those who are killing people by dangerously overloading these boats, virtually assuring tragedy. I would also like to see specific educational information about this disseminated to prospective migrants before they board these boats.