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[justboatonic]

After being hit by a freak wave that has shifted its cargo, The Riverdance cargo ship has listed up to 60 degress and run aground off Blackpool!

Passengers and crew being taken off by helicopters. Been flying over our house all night.

[DavieTait]

Current situation : She is ashore between Norbreck Hydro and Clevleys , they managed to reduce the list to 23-25' before she went ashore. She was hit by a large wave which shifted her cargo at 8pm tonight 8nm West of Blackpool and gave her the 60' list. 15 crew have been airlifted off 9 remaining onboard to assess situation. Rescue 122 ( SAR Helicopter ) on ground standby at Blackpool Airport , Lythem and Fleetwood RNLI Lifeboats still on scene as of 30 minutes ago. 50-70knot winds 7m/23ft waves.

[DavieTait]

Current sit-rep : 9 crew will stay onboard and will attempt , with the help of tugs , to refloat her at 0600hrs Friday 1st February

On the attached map the red blob marks her position

[malcolmfrary]

Local radio station website has a report and "picture"
http://www.wave965.com/article.php?article=2074

[justboatonic]

Current sit-rep : 9 crew will stay onboard and will attempt , with the help of tugs , to refloat her at 0600hrs Friday 1st February

On the attached map the red blob marks her position

Not a chance of refloating her tonight or anytime soon. The weather here is very bad although not as bad as last night. She's about 400 metres off shore on a bank tilted to starboard. They'll have to sort the cargo of trucks out first otherwise she'll possibly heel over when floated.

The air sea rescue choppers were over our gaffe last night so I knew something was up. Special praise must go to the brave lads and lasses of the ASR and RNLI last night. It wasnt weather you'd want to go for a walk in never mind have to go out to sea.

[Faraday's Cage]

I found the site below tonight. Shows shipping movements in the vicinity of the grounded ship.

Page can be refreshed every 2 minutes or longer if required by setting up from left hand side of page.

http://www.shipais.com/currentmap.php?refresh=2&count=1&map=Fleetwood

Placing cursor over ship opens a pop up with more information.  "Riverdance" shown as moored 

[Bryan Young]

WHY oh WHY do the newspapers bang on about "freak waves". No such animal off Blackpool. A simple grounding. Happens all the time.

[andywright]

You have to be out there to know what happens, I used to work the Irish Sea in Trawlers and Tugs, and believe me there are freak waves every where, I have been on the receiving end of a few in 36 years of seafaring, both coastal and on the North Atlantic run on container ships.  so don't under estimate the Irish Sea. Why were there wagons hanging over the side of this vessel BEFORE she beached, the crews of these vessels are very experienced and just to run one of these things aground like that would be beyond a joke, I think they were very professional in beaching this vessel after the FREAK wave to save her rolling over and causing more pollution. It is very likely the vessel will be refloated without causing a major pollution incident. 

[Colin Bishop]

Andy is right. Recent research has shown that "freak" waves are much more common than previously thought. Lots of info if you Google the phrase such as http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3917539.stm

It even happens on a smaller scale. You can be plugging along in your yacht and suddenly you are almost flung out by a wave that seems to appear from nowhere. Wave interaction is very complex but it seems that they can reinforce each oither to create the occasional monster. That's why people get swept into the sea off promenades and we've all experienced walking along the beach just clear of the waves only to be caught out when a "big one" comes in and fills your shoes.

[justboatonic]

WHY oh WHY do the newspapers bang on about "freak waves". No such animal off Blackpool. A simple grounding. Happens all the time.

Its not a simple grounding. The wave caused the cargo to shift causing the list. Im not certain if that caused the ultimate loss of power. The ship was heading to Heysham and is now pointing in the totally oposite direction.

[justboatonic]

I found the site below tonight. Shows shipping movements in the vicinity of the grounded ship.

Page can be refreshed every 2 minutes or longer if required by setting up from left hand side of page.

http://www.shipais.com/currentmap.php?refresh=2&count=1&map=Fleetwood

Placing cursor over ship opens a pop up with more information.  "Riverdance" shown as moored 

Yep, I found that site as well! Been all around the UK! HMS Daring is shown as being moored in the Clyde! Take a look at the english channel! The paths and tracks of the ships make you wonder how they avoid collisions (not to scale, obviously!)

[andywright]

This is another AIS site, shows more shipping and covers most of Europe, but not the same detail as the UK one above.

http://aisfree.aislive.com/Influx.aspx

[Bryan Young]

OK, I agree with the mariners.....BUT my point was that everything that appears in the popular press is due to a "freak wave". Patently not true. Stuff happens.

[DickyD]

OK, I agree with the mariners.....BUT my point was that everything that appears in the popular press is due to a "freak wave". Patently not true. Stuff happens.

I would have thought that a seaman like yourself would liked to have had all the facts before you accused the master of the ferry of running his ship aground.

[Bunkerbarge]

I have to say that bearing in mind the weather on the night in question and the fact that many other ferries and ports around the country were limiting thier services I was very surprised that it sailed and I would be first questioning not freak waves, cargo lashings or any other issues but I would question the whole issue of whether she should have left in the first place.

I am 60 odd miles inland but the wind was atrocious that night so I can't imagine what it was like in the Irish sea.  I also think the waves, be they freak or otherwise, can be a whole different story when you have gale force winds combined with them.  A good blow and a large wave giving you a severe list and as soon as any cargo breaks free you are suddenly in serious trouble.

From what I could gather from the news, which I remain a bit sceptical of, she was supposed to be at 60 degrees.  No marine engine can continue to run at such an angle for very long so she would soon loose engines and power.

[Colin Bishop]

From what I could gather from the news, which I remain a bit sceptical of, she was supposed to be at 60 degrees.  No marine engine can continue to run at such an angle for very long so she would soon loose engines and power.

The infrared pictures taken by the rescue helicopter clearly show her listing right over on her side with what appears to be a very heavy water discharge coming from around the proper waterline amidships on the high side - pumping out maybe? One report I saw did seem to confirm that the ship lost power which may have been what prompted the second Mayday transmitted. Latest reports say that they won't try and refloat her before Monday but if the freight is still shifted over to one side she will still be listing heavily if they do. Presumably they are waiting for the weather to die down which will make it easier to tow the vessel to a place of safety even if she still has a bad list.

[Peter Fitness]

Shades of the "Pasha Bulker" off Newcastle NSW last year. The skipper in that case stupidly ignored warnings to move further off shore, and consequently ran aground.
Peter.

[Colin Bishop]

Some good pictures of Riverdance here: http://forums.bfenthusiasts.com/showthread.php?t=5623

[malcolmfrary]

The ship was heading to Heysham and is now pointing in the totally opposite direction.

Having lost power, the ship would tend to act like a weathercock.  Looking at the pictures, the "big end" as far as wind is concerned is toward the bow, so that would end up downwind.  It was blowing from the north at the time, so quite reasonable that she should end up facing south.
If you do a "google earth" of the area you will find a picture of the remains of the Abana, which was wrecked in 1894, a remarkably few yards away from the present grounding. 

[farrow]

I tend to agree with Bunker barge, I have been in the Irish Sea in storm force winds and it is bloody frightening, even on a large sea going tug as the Rollicker. A freak wave happen everywhere, and a list of 60 degrees will on a marine diesel will set of a alarm which will after a short period shut the engines down, because the lube oil goes to one side and exposes the Alarm probe. A vessel I had was the Arrochar and she was broached and knocked over so that the bridge wings went under, her alarms were set to just over 30 degrees and they went off mercifully she righted in seconds, this happened in the Pentland Straits with a following sea.
The real question is why did she sail in that forcaste,  company pressure? jobs are getting scarce now for British seaman and the Irish transport ferry service is a cut throat industry.
By the way, I could not sea on the TV, but did anyway sea if her anchors were deployed, although with that list and the seaway running, I expect no one could get near the windlass to release them.
As previously said let us be thankful no one perished and full praise to the Helio guys, as at the end of the day the vessel is only a lump of steel and can be replaced easily, people are not replaceable.

[Bryan Young]

Andy is right. Recent research has shown that "freak" waves are much more common than previously thought. Lots of info if you Google the phrase such as http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3917539.stm

It even happens on a smaller scale. You can be plugging along in your yacht and suddenly you are almost flung out by a wave that seems to appear from nowhere. Wave interaction is very complex but it seems that they can reinforce each oither to create the occasional monster. That's why people get swept into the sea off promenades and we've all experienced walking along the beach just clear of the waves only to be caught out when a "big one" comes in and fills your shoes.

Again we cross swords! The term "Freak Wave" is used by journalists as a matter of course. And generally the usage is crap. OK that a ship can be hit by a few "out of the ordinary" sort of waves, but that alone does not make them "freak waves". The Irish Sea is shallow. It is well within the Continental Shelf that terminates at the 100 fathom line around all continents. (Hence the name!). You just do not get a freak or episoidal wave happening there. What CAN happen though is a backlash from the coast and you can get 2 waves meeting. If you are in the wrong place at the wrong time then "funny things" can happen. Not "Freak". Deep water Episoidals  are a totally different animal....been in 2 and you wouldn't want to be there. Cheers. Keep talking. BY.

[Colin Bishop]

Bryan, I stand corrected - guilty of loose terminology! Lets say "big" waves then which can be encountered anywhere for a variety of reasons. I imagine they can be pretty unpleasant whatever the cause. It was only a couple of years ago that the  41,000 grt ton Brittany Ferry Pont Aven had several of her forward superstructure windows stove in by a fr heavy sea whilst in the Western Channel, flooding 170 cabins. She was well within the Continental shelf.

[Stavros]

No Colin You are NOT GUILTY of loose terminology But yet again BY has overstepped the mark and thrown his teddies out of his pram..A rouge wave as far as I can remember and other seafarers as well has been know as a freak wave


Stavros

[Colin Bishop]

I'm easy! Big pile of water, whatever....

[justboatonic]

The ship was heading to Heysham and is now pointing in the totally opposite direction.

Having lost power, the ship would tend to act like a weathercock.  Looking at the pictures, the "big end" as far as wind is concerned is toward the bow, so that would end up downwind.  It was blowing from the north at the time, so quite reasonable that she should end up facing south.
If you do a "google earth" of the area you will find a picture of the remains of the Abana, which was wrecked in 1894, a remarkably few yards away from the present grounding. 

Yep walked out to the remains many a time.

One of Nelson's original ships the Fouyderant (sorry spelling!) also ran aground a few hundred meters south and was eventually broken up with dynamite!