Rag, Rag, Rag your boat, gently down the stream…
I have always had a bit of a strange infatuation with a good quality rag. It always makes life much easier for an engineer, to have a good, absorbing rag. But I am pretty sure that no matter how good the absorbing quality of a rag might be, it don’t think it would be reasonable to expect to repair hull cracks with one.
But last week, the UK’s Maritime and Coast Guard Agency (MCA) detained one Russian ship with a rag plugging a crack on the vessel’s hull. The MCA released the following details and picture.
Marititme & Coast Guard Agency detain ship with cracked hull blocked by a rag.
Friday, February 19, 2010, Posted 15:35 GMT, By: Fred Caygill
The Russian registered cargo vessel Baltiyskiy 110 has been issued with a Detention Notice due to failure to comply with merchant legislation in Fowey, Cornwall.
A port state control inspector visited the vessel and after a preliminary inspection detained the vessel due to the ship having a hole in the port side hull plating into the number 2 water ballast tank. The vessel also has 2 major conformities recorded against the International Safety Management Code
The vessel had sailed from two previous ports with this hull damage with the company instructing the master to continue its voyages.
Tony Heslop, Area Operations Manager, South West of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said:
This is a very serious breach of International Maritime Legislation and the vessel after inspection was detained. Our inspector will carry out a further detailed inspection of this with a surveyor from the classification society.
The vessel will not be released from detention until all items found are rectified to the required International Standards.
Jeeze, I don;t know whether to laugh or shake me head. That is right up there with the ship that called into Halifax with wooden wedges in the hull. Maybe Class inspectors should be paying fines!!