Cruise ship hits bridge?

Thanks for sharing. I think the funny part was the language mistakes! On a British news site one would assume the grammar should be perfect but here it was not! Not to mention that the ship had a "chimney" and a "tunnel" on its top!

There is something missing in the story though, there were tugs tied on before the accident and you notice that the ship was not centered to the bridge (I take that back, just noticed it was!), wonder if there is another site with a better perspective.

Thanks for sharing again.

Cheers,

Thank you very much for the update.

4 Tugs and a captain on board with a good possibility of a harbor pilot on board also! I think, from the looks of the ship, it was floating light, maybe they miscalculated the clearance because it was above its load line. Anyway, they have few month's before October opening to fix it!

Funny how the video says passengers were on board!

Cheers,

I would like to ask you Captains out there...
If you where planing a trip where there is bridges along the way,
and you are on a boat that you are new to, how do you go about getting the proper information so you know weather or not your vessel can fit under the bridges?
And that is before you set off on your course of course, not as you get there and having a deck hand telling you yes or no via radio as I have unfortunately been that guy before, the guy telling the capt yes or no that is.

It has to be measured by dock side and far ahead from getting under sail, since the area is reachable, then someone should go up, dangle a line or better yet a fishing line from a rod hanging to the side until it touches the water, or use a measuring gizmo or so, it is easier on yachts because all that is above the mast has measurements on the manuals and the data is accessible, so measuring the mast it self then the decks, would be easy. Another thing that makes it easy for yachts is that you get that measurement before hand, but now that such accidents are frequent it think it should be measured every now and then, specially if the boat at some point will be running lite for some reason.

A dock side crane would also be handy. Good to hear executable ideas from everyone, specially whom had a first hand dealing with this issue.

Regards,

Hi,

You can also measure the air draught off the GA if you have one showing a side profile making allowances for your current loading condition and any changes since the drawing was made IWO masts, antennas etc

Yes, You are going to look through your General Arrangement drawings and hope you find the numbers to tell you your air draft height. What if you don't find them there by chance?
Next, How do you learn the bridge heights along the way to know if you are able to complete your mission or not?

US waters try the United States Coast Pilot published by NOAA

Hi,

Your GA should be drawn to scale if it is a proper drawing so the measurement can be found using a scale rule.

As for bridge height, they are often shown on Amiralty Charts or can be found in the Pilot Book for the area as suggested above

Exactly. With the GA drawings, we can take a ruler (or dividers) and take measurement of the numbers running along the bottom of the drawing and use the measurements to discover the vessels air draft.
Then with the proper charts you will have the bridge height info and then you should be ready for accomplishing your journey while clearing bridges with out issue, in good theory at least.

Chain saw for bridge clearance...

The "go / no-go" routine was taken to a new level by a friend, he was crewing on the Bounty replica which was transiting the Erie canal (the only tall ship to do so, or so I'm told...). The sticks were all pulled and shipped by flatbed, and they were pumping/flooding the bilges to get over the shallows and under the bridges. The anchor bitts were the highest point, and were due for replacement at the next major hauling. So, at the lowest bridge of the transit there was a question if the anchor bitts would clear. My friend and another crew member were both stationed next to the bitts... each with a chain saw, and as they approached the bridge the captain sighted the potential clearance from the stern of the boat. Sure enough, he didn't think they'd make it and made the call... "cut em down!", and they quickly stumped them each. He said it was one of the more surreal things he's down over the years....

Hi,

Those numbers along the bottom will probably be your frame spacing.

The drawing should have a scale on it you can use instead of counting the frames, if it isn't drawn to scale using your method could produce a fairly good error value.

It is also important to remember that air draft starts at the waterline in the loading condition at the time you calculate the airdraft. If you are at he end of a long journey and light on fuel and water you might have a few hundred millimetres difference on the average yacht.

Those numbers along the bottom read 1 through 37 (you cant read them in the picture) and I know the vessel is a 38 meter build. I was thinking that those numbers were reading the meters but then they might be reading the frames.
But then the frames might be spaced every meter so then it is doing both.
How would we know for sure?

Hi,

Personally I wouldn't be surprised to find 1m or 39 inch spacing on a vessel that size.

Use a scale rule, if you can find a scale that matches the numbers you are in business.

Drawings can sometimes be produced by pasting various images onto a page, the paster could stretch the image a bit and then your errors begin.

A proper drawing should have a box in the lower right hand car that shows, drawing name, scale, revision and date of revision, shipyard name etc.

When using one that you are not sure of the pedigree of always take the cautious route and measure the drawing yourself,especially if it was printed at Office Depot or similar, this doesn't just apply to GA's.

There have been a few disasters over the years where scales have been mixed up, mm and inches mixed. The Hubble Telescope is one that springs to mind.

The accident itself could have been easily avoided if all parties did there jobs correctly . instead what you see is 100 proof of gross negligance .

1 - Communication breakdown on all levels ?

2 -The vessels owners were they given a garuntee she would be able to pass under the bridge unscathed ? Or did the yard take on a job that was more than they could chew ? .

3 - Surely when the plans for the vessel was first seen they must have had to have known she had little chance of clearing the Bridge or was it completely overlooked because bagging the job and money was more of a priority ..

Don't call me the smart ass, but if the captain doesn't know the height of his vessel from the waterline, he doesn't qualify IMO for a license. I ran 18 wheelers to get thru school. If I mashed a corner of that 13' 6" on an overpass I would be gone! And so would any future driving prospects....

Good theory, indeed.
You are hoping that they built what was drawn.

Hi Capt
I would have to guess if your drawings are not what they built then you have the wrong drawings to be trying to calculate your air draft with. How do you figure out what your air draft is?
I do know these Docking Plans here have been used by shipyards so they could place there gear accordingly for haul out (the actual paper drawing, not this cut and paste copy). K1W1 mentioned about cut and paste being a potential error causing issue with stretching to make calculated measurements with so I would use the conventional paper drawings and not this example below.
Please keep in mind, I do not know how Captains know there air draft, I just know a lot of times they do not. Just recently there was some articles floating around where a sail yacht hit the 17st bridge in FT Lauderdale. And if you do not know that bridge, it is the bridge that every yacht has to clear to enter or leave FT Lauderdale. And if you do not cross that one properly... I would just quit, you wouldn't have to fire me or anything.