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[BJ]

Wonder what happened to that 6 month old Norwegian North Sea rig support vessel? The sea can be cruel.

[riggers24]

The Bourbon Dolphin was moving a rig anchor at the time of the accident. At work we do the outer sheathing for Bridon ropes and I have seen the ropes and the anchors used. There is a lot of weight in them and they are not easy to move around.

[Martin (Admin)]

Have I missed why she fell over?

[Colin Bishop]

They don't seem to know for certain at the moment. There are suggestions that the rig anchor she was working on may have slipped and pulled the vessel over somehow. It all happened very quickly apparently. Very tragic.

[Martin (Admin)]

That's scary. Those newer type vessels are meant to be Very stable.

[riggers24]

Martin

With the weight involved, I wonder if the anchor has been secured properly to the deck whilst she is carring out this operation. If the anchor has slipped to one side of the deck, things would have moved very quickly and no one would have been able to react fast enough.

They have found the father and son still in bridge.

[big-geoff]

It is certainly a tragedy, just goes to show no matter how new or up to date the equipment things can still go badly wrong.

Geoff

[BarryM]

The rig anchor would either have been on deck or suspended over the stern roller. Even if it had been on deck and had slid to one side into the crash barriers, that would not have been enough to capsize an AHTS which is a very stable design. According to eyewitnesses, she 'girted'; i.e. the anchor wire or anchor-handling pennant moved forward such that there was a direct thwartships pull exerted on the vessel and thus a capsizing force. Whether the wire moved up the ship side or the ship moved under the wire is not confirmed but such reports as are available indicate the latter. If (and of course this is only speculation) this was the case then it suggests a loss of bridge manoeuvering control which may be human or technical in origin. The Dolphin had a 'dynpos' notation in her DNV Classification; i.e. she had the ability to be manoeuvered by a single joystick control of all screws/thrusters. I suspect this will be closely checked by the investigation: Norwegian masters of AHTS are second to none in competence and I have known many.

PS A thought for BBC licence payers - BBC Scotland reporting teams were covering the tragedy. Why was it necessary to fly up BBC London-based teams to make identical reports from identical locations with identical interviewees and thereby treble costs?

[Martin (Admin)]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6550000/newsid_6553900/6553941.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm
BBC video news...

[Ghost in the shell]

are they able to right the vessel? also what was the vessel that came to aid the napoli?

[Daryl]

Sadly Bourbon Dolphin sank at around 9.15pm on Sunday after they cut the ancour cable securing her to the rig. From what I have read on the BBC news she lies in 3500ft of water so salvage is unlikley. I am sure I jopin other in my thoughts are with the friends and families of those who are no longer with us.

Daryl

[Daryl]

According to www.smit.com the salavage barge Union Beaver is used as a base for the salvage team, but I can't see on theri the name of the tug which got Napoli to the sand bank.

Daryl

[BarryM]

The Dolphin had (I think) two sister vessels. I imagine that, as the Dolphin is beyond salvaging, they will be subject to tests to try and determine the cause of the loss.

Barry M

[Daryl]

In answer to the question of what tugs towed Napoli to the sand bank it was, Abeille Bourbon, later joined by Abeille Liberté.

Daryl

[Daryl]

Found this on Bourbon's web site the specs for Bourbon Dolphin, but I couldn't find any referance to any sister ships, perhaps the sisters are owned by another company.

Daryl

[Ghost in the shell]

The Dolphin had (I think) two sister vessels. I imagine that, as the Dolphin is beyond salvaging, they will be subject to tests to try and determine the cause of the loss.

Barry M

less than 1 year old, it is salvagable surely?

[Daryl]

It lies in 3,500ft of water, technicaly possible but very very expensive.

Daryl

[BarryM]

Found this on Bourbon's web site the specs for Bourbon Dolphin, but I couldn't find any referance to any sister ships, perhaps the sisters are owned by another company.

Daryl

Daryl, Having re-checked I think that you are right in that she does not have sisters in the Bourbon fleet but the fit out of DP electronics is usually pretty standard.

I was wondering if the fact that it was a deep water location had any bearing. Anchoring in those depths needs an awful lot of mooring chain/wire.

Barry M

[Ghost in the shell]

It lies in 3,500ft of water, technicaly possible but very very expensive.

Daryl

the salvage cost+ value of the ship vs the cost of a new one

[Daryl]

One horrible thought occured to me over the weekend. Am I right in thinking that the bow thrusters etc are controlled by a joystick in the wheelhouse. the master was in there with his son, I wonder if he was distracted in some way and caused the vessel to cross the ancour cable they were laying, I.e. explainin to his son how the job is done and looseing concentration. Or more horrendious letting his son have a go?

I hope the Norwegians find out the cause, I take it the Norwegian maritime commision is handling this, i could not find their web site.

As for salvage 3,500ft is a long way down with many tons per square inch pressure, most likley if there were any air trapped in the hull it would have imploded.

I assume mooring drilling rigs in this depth of water is not unusual, just thinking if they underestimated the weight of cable thereby making the vessel unstable. but I think they were experienced enough for that not to happen.

A tragic day for all of us who either work or have an interest in the sea and boats.

Daryl

[Daryl]

I have just done a quick search into deep water salvage operations. Remeber the japanese reasurch vessel Ehime Maru sunk by a US submarine. It sank in 2,000ft of water, according to the US Navy it cost $60million to raise it ( about £30 million). So I think the cost of raising the Bourbon Dolphin must be in this region, as its deeper the cost will most likley be higher plus the cost of referbishing it. From what I can gleam from the web that's a lot more than the cost of a new one.

Looking at a few financial web sites the cost of a newbuild would be in the region of £15-20 million, as far as I can make out the insurance industry writes the vessel off if the salvage cost is more than 50% of a new build.

Daryl

[riggers24]

I remember seeing one of the accident programs on discovery where a Russian pilot of an airbus allowed his son to take the controls and unforuately the plane crashed with loss of the passengers and crew.

I hope this wasn't the case here.

[riggers24]

But didn't the US navy raise and tow the sunken vessel to shallower waters so the diver could extract the bodies of the missing crew. It wasn't a full recovery they left the wreck in 200ft of water when they had finished with it.

[Daryl]

I think I remember the programe as my son and I enjoy air crash investigation on national geographic channel. I agree I too hope that was not the case.
I hope the results are published, does anyone have the web site for the Norwegian maritime commission?
Daryl

[Daryl]

Hi riggers,
Yes they raised it to within 200ft, got the bodies out with one body missing and then towed it out to sea and sunk it in 6000ft of water. So I guess the cost of a full recovery would have been higher.

Daryl