NAUTICAL LOG

A driving force Underway A "tender" Lifeboat This has been quite an interesting day already. It started out this morning with my first cup of coffee and the morning paper here at NAUTICAL LOG. So far so good, then reading the paper, which in our case is "The Miami Herald", I get to Section C the Business section and headline 'World's Largest Cruise Ship'. Here we go again I thought and turned to page 3C, - well I have to admit the thing is huge! In this latest case the thing is MS "Oasis of the Seas" and she really is the largest. Before NAUTICAL LOG gets to its concerns about this vessel and they are many, lets have a look at her. Owned by Royal Caribbean International, Flag State Bahamas, trading in the Caribbean, cost US$ 1.4 billion - sounds like a bailout check/cheque - the first passenger ship over 200,000 GRT. Length: 361.8 metres, 1187 feet. Beam: 63.4 metres, 208 feet. Height: 72 metres, 236 feet above the waterline. Draft: 9.1

The photographs above are revealing in several ways, lets have a look. Clearly the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) vessel JS "Kurama" impacted the Korean container ship MS "Carina Star" just aft of the turn of the fo'cs'le on the Starboard side. Please note that's the Starboard side, thus it appears JS "Kurama" would have shown "Carina Star" the red port sidelight and "Carina Star" would have shown JS "Kurama" the green starboard sidelight. This impact point would tend to suggest that JS "Kurama" was the 'stand-on' vessel and the MS "Carina Star" is the 'giving-way' vessel. Until there is a complete plot of the tracks made good of both these vessels and the position in the Kanmon Strait of the point of collision no determination can actually be made. As a result of this impact there was severe bow damage to JS "Kurama" and in addition a massive f

The following -M- Notices came out recently from the United Kingdom to assist mariners, they are obtainable from the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency. MSN 1821 (M) MGN 401 (M+F) MIN 357 (M) It appears linking to the MCA to obtain the Notices is not exactly user-friendly. If you need the message try www.mcga.gov.uk/ for a PDF download. MSN 1821 is particularly useful it is a worldwide list of MCA approved medical facilities for pre-employment medical examinations. Good Watch.

NAUTICAL LOG has now reached a milestone of sorts. We changed the appearance of our 'Site Meter' logo to show the total number of visitors - just over 4500. Also our Operating System is now Windows 7 which was launched on October 22nd. 2009. While this may not be a particularly large number of visitors we are excited by the diversity of countries and organizations. Our audience ranges from the just curious to students researching papers and professionals requiring information. At this time we would like to draw your attention to our 'PUBLICATIONS' listing. It contains data of both interest and professional usage. Most important is the 'PASSAGE PLANNING GUIDE' which is an International Maritime Organization (IMO) requirement now for all vessels to prepare before proceeding to sea. By sending an e-mail to boucp@hotmail.com we can reply immediately with the data you require. NAUTICAL LOG looks forward to your visits, opinions and requests for Posts on subjects

The nautical world is indeed surprisingly small and remarkably interconnected. I have been offline for a week due to a virus eating up my operating system and crashing it. Knowing the importance of NAUTICAL LOG to everyone - right - I decided that a new PC was called for. As a cost effective solution to my problem I decided to await the launch of Windows 7 on Thursday 22nd. So it was I purchased a new PC loaded with Windows 7 and here we are underway once again. While checking on visitors to the Blog in my absence I noticed one from Hong Kong who was looking for information about "The Lady Gwendolen Law". Those of you used to keeping a good lookout on watch know this is one of the ships in the photo below "All Three In". As the result of a collision between MV "The Lady Gwendolen" and the coastal tanker MV "Freshfield" in the River Mersey in fog in November 1961 things ended up in Admiralty Court. During the application to 'Limit Liabi

There has been an Amendment to the "Rules of the Nautical Road" which addresses DISTRESS SIGNALS . NAUTICAL LOG has posted the exact MIN 1781 (M+F) as received just now from MCA in UK. MCA has a new distribution system for its M Notices as of OCTOBER 01, 2009. These can now be received from mnotices@ecgroup.co.uk as described in MSN 362 (M+F). Once registered the M Notices are sent as each is issued so that you are always up-to-date as required by IMO Regulations. As a result of requests for explanation of the meaning of (M+F) This indicates; "Notice to all Owners, Masters, Skippers, Officers and Crews of Merchant Ships, Fishing Vessels, Pleasure Vessels, Yachts and Other Seagoing Craft." Good Watch