Interesting Ship News!

If you've been on here recently, and checked in with the "Interesting Links" Section, then you already know about the RMS Titanic Memorial Cruise.

And this is what I am talking about today. This cruise will take place in April of 2012, Which is 100 years from the sad loss of the "Unsinkable" ship. This cruise will, like I just said, take place in April of 2012, on the M/S Balmoral. This luxury mini-cruise will be around five nights. For more information on the M/S Balmoral, go to http://www.titanicmemorialcruise.co.uk/our-ship.php, http://www.fredolsencruises.com/Our-Ships/Balmoral/Welcome-aboard-Balmoral,-the-largest-of-our-fleet, or Google information about M/S Balmoral or Fred.Olsen cruises. This 5-day mini-cruise will have two options;

Option 1

Southampton – Cobh – Titanic Site – Halifax – New York – Fly to London

Option 2

Southampton – Cobh – Titanic Site – Halifax – New York – Martha’s Vineyard – St Pierre & Miquelon – Southampton

It's probably more expensive, but I'd choose Option 2. It would bring me to more and interesting points of interest. But either way, you're going to the Titanic Wreck Site. I'd want to go there the most, although you're not getting to see anything.

Thanks for reading and being patient with my lack of posting. I hope everybody looks into the website. I don't have the price of the cruise in our currency (USD) but I'll give you the price in pounds. The British price of the cruise is £499

Thanks for reading!

Sorry for no stories!

Hi

I'm very very sorry for not posting any articles in a while. I hope you understand that I've been very busy lately. Once again thanks for understanding.

The TSS Normandie

In January of 1931, another great ship was created. The TSS Normandie was a ship made for French Line. It was one of their largest ships. And it won the award for Largest Passenger ship, Blue Riband Atlantic Eastbound, and Blue Riband Atlantic Westbound for the years 1935 and 1936.

The Normandie was sold from French Line to the US Navy in December of 1941, and renamed USS LaFayette(AP-53). For the US Navy, she only served for four years. In 1945, while she was headed for New York, she suddenly caught fire.

What was sad about this fire was that it happened right when the LaFayette was next to New York Harbor. When the fire was put out enough, she was dragged into the harbor. She then capsized unexpectedly.

After the disaster, she sat in the harbor a few days. After that, she was sold to Lipsett, INC. for scrapping. She was completely gone by 1947.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Many of you in the United States know this, but those of you in other parts of the world may not.

In the Gulf of Mexico, close to Louisiana, is the Oil Rig Deepwater Horizon. The Deepwater Horizon had a very large explosion on April 21st, 2010. This explosion caused a very large and as yet, ongoing oil spill, too.

There have been attempts so far to fix it, but none of them have been successful. There was one suggestion that was to send down a special kind of robot. This was because no human was going to want to dive nearly a mile down, not that that is even possible. This one sadly failed. A contraption being called a 'top hat' was placed on top of the leak as a possible band-aid, yet not considered a long term fix, but with ice formation hindering its success, the top hat is not longer an option. Another plan was to drop a bunch of junk, including golf balls and tires, down to clog the leak. That didn't go through either.

Because of the oil spreading and killing wild life, there are also workers going and putting up barriers for keeping the oil off of the Louisiana shore. Extenuating effects of this leak impact all the the fisherman making their livelihood in the once fertile Gulf of Mexico, as well as the tourism industry. Whatever health effects that lay ahead for the workers involved in the clean-up effort may be detrimental for them, too. So far, at least for those living on the coast, fumes in the air are merely a nuisance.

Most sources say that the oil has passed these barriers, and will probably get as far as the Virginia coast as the current carries it. It is approaching Florida, and there are recent reports of globs of the stuff coming ashore in the Florida Keys, and even as far north as Miami. So, if you live on the east coast of the United States, then get to the beach when you can! The oil is getting closer and closer day by day.

What we don't want is for the oil to get to the west coast, or even down to the Caribbean. For roughly the past month now, BP and other companies are trying to come up with a way to fix the spill.

The Story of the RMS Empress of Ireland

The great ship Empress of Ireland was one of Canadian Pacific Line's most-recognized ships. She was a sister ship to the Empress of Britain. She began service in July of 1906.

For her entire career, she went back and forth from Canada to Liverpool. She served eight successful years for Canadian Pacific Line. But in just 15 minutes, she was lost in a dense fog.

May 29, 1914: Empress of Ireland was traveling through St. Lawrence River, on her way to Quebec, When she encountered a very dense fog. The SS Storstad was heading in the opposite direction. Captain Henry Kendall, Captain of the Empress of Ireland, saw the lights from the Storstad, but he said it had to be at least eight miles away. But not a minute later, neither of the ships could see a thing. Within five minutes, the Storstad rammed the Empress of Ireland. The Storstad was damaged, but not as bad as the Empress. The impact was so hard, the water tight doors on the Empress wouldn't close.

It was bad enough that the water tight doors wouldn't close, but the power was out. Captain Kendall tried to run the ship aground, but he wasn't able to do that, because there wasn't power. In only 15 minutes, the ship was completely under water.

Only four of the many lifeboats were launched. Over 1,000 people were lost in the wreck.

Many people have gone diving to the wreck, which was possible without a submarine. Where the Empress of Ireland was in St. Lawrence River was only 130 feet deep.

"Lost Liners- Empress of Ireland." PBS.org. PBS, Web. 15 May 2010. <http://www.pbs.org/lostliners/book.html>.

Innocent Target: The Story of the HMHS Britannic

One of the great sisters of the RMS Titanic. The HMHS Britannic was laid down by Harland and Wolff, Belfast. Her official launch did not occur until February of 1914. She was a Hospital Ship, though her livery was planned to look like the Titanic, Under the name of Gigantic.

She served two successful years for White Star Line, but in 1916, She has her last voyage. She was sailing from Southampton to Lemnos. She made a stop around midnight, then kept on going. She took another stop at Naples. A storm kept the ship at Naples for the day. Captain Bartlett decided that they could make it. He once again left port. By November 21st, she was in the Kea Channel, between the Greek Island of Kea and Cape Sounion.

November 21st, 1916, 8:12 am. A very loud explosion shook the ship. It was believed to be from a mine or a torpedo. Not many took notice of the explosion. The reaction in the dining room though was different. Everybody in the dining room took notice of the explosion immediately. The explosion has damaged a few water tight bulkheads. They were quickly filling with water, and one of the boiler rooms had also been flooded. The Britannic was not the same as the Titanic. The Titanic could stay afloat with four bulkheads filled, the Britannic could not do that.

Near a half-hour later, the stewards started lowering lifeboats. After all of the lifeboats were loaded, Bartlett walked right into the ocean. He swam to a life boat to give coordinates for the survivors. Around 9:00 am, the ship collapsed on its starboard side, throwing over the funnels. Within the next few minutes, she was under water.

At 10:00 am, the lifeboats were spotted by a war ship, the HMS Scourge. There were 30 lives lost that day, About 600 less people than the Titanic wreck.

She is currently nearly completely crushed. It is said to be the largest shipwreck of its time.

"Hospital Ship Britannic - History." Hospital Ship Britannic. 2000. Web. 14 May 2010. <http://www.hospitalshipbritannic.com/history.htm>.

"HMHS Britannic." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, inc, Web. 14 May 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMHS_Britannic>.

Loss of the S.S. American Star

Some of you may have heard of the American Star. Most of you, though, are probably more familiar with the Australis, America, Italis, Noga, Alferdoss, and USS West Point. The great ship was ordered, laid down and built by Newport News Shipbuilders in August of 1938. Its official test launch had taken place in the 31st of August 1939. The following year it was finally ready for passenger Transatlantic service.

She began United States Military service under the name of USS West Point. She served for US troops from 1941 through 1946. 1946 was her last year in service for United States Line.

In 1964, she was sold to Chandris Group. She was then refitted and entered service as the SS Australis for around 14 years. In 1978, she took on the name SS America for that year.

Over the next 20 years, she took on other names. The names were SS Italis, SS Noga, and SS Alferdoss. She was sold yet again in 1993.

She was berthed in Phuket, Thailand. She was a Five-Star Hotel for most of 1993. She was then once again renamed the American Star. She then had her propellers removed, and her funnel and deck were re-painted red.

She left Thailand in December of 1993. Then a one hundred day tow began. She was tugged away by a Ukrainian tug, Neftegaz 67. Into the Atlantic Ocean, American Star and Neftegaz 67 encountered a thunder storm. During the storm, the tow lines snapped. About 6 men from the tug were sent to connect the emergency tow lines. It wasn't successful. Two tugs came to assist the Neftegaz 67. A helicopter rescued the crew of the American Star on January 17, 1994.

The ship drifted away, and struck a sandbar in the Canary Islands at Fuerteventura. After about 48 hours of sitting on the sandbar, she broke in two near the funnel. It was declared total loss in July of 1994.

To this day, the wreck lies in the Canary Islands. In 2005, her bow was still in tact. By 2006, it started to lean even further over toward the ocean. In 2007, she is just a heap of scrap metal lying in the Canary Islands. That is still the condition she's in now.

"SS America (1940)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, inc, 2010. Web. 13 May 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_America_(1940)

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