Update: Fires at Sea – MSC Flaminia Finally Allowed To Come Home & Chamarel Salvage Underway

Updates to two sets of recent posts:  After considerable delay the container ship  MSC Flaminia is being allowed into a port of refuge.  Authorities have granted permission for the German flagged ship to be towed into German waters. Following a safety inspection … Continue reading

Legendary Cable Layer, Chamarel (ex CS Vercors), On Fire & Abandoned Off Namibia’s Skeleton Coast

France Telecom-Orange announced today that an unexplained fire had broken out on Thursday on the cable laying ship, the Chamarel, in the Atlantic Ocean off Namibia’s Skeleton Coast in the Atlantic Ocean.   The crew of 56 abandoned ship after attempts at firefighting … Continue reading

Update: New Explosions on Container Ship MSC Flaminia Burning in the North Atlantic, Smit Tug Fairmont Expedition Arrives

On Sunday we posted about an explosion and fire aboard the container ship MSC Flaminia in the North Atlantic about a thousand miles west of Cornwall.  The first officer died from burns received in the fire and one crew member is missing. … Continue reading

Containership MSC Flaminia in Flames in the North Atlantic

The container ship, MSC Flaminia, is in flames, drifting in the North Atlantic, roughly half way between Britain and Canada, approximately 1,000 miles west of Cornwall.   One man is reported either be missing or to have died from burns. At least … Continue reading

The El Estero Fire – the Greatest Nautical Disaster that Didn’t Happen

Bowsprite was kind enough to pass along this forgotten moment in history, which fits in well with recent posts.  Like the case of the Liberty ship SS Richard Montgomery, it involves a ship loaded with high explosives and like the apparent “Blind Date” hoax, … Continue reading

Ekaterinburg Submarine Fire -“On the Brink of the Biggest Catastrophe Since Chernobyl”

According to the Russian magazine Vlast, “Russia [was] … on the verge of the largest man-made disaster since Chernobyl”  when a fire broke out on December 29th, 2011 on the K-84 Ekaterinburg, a Russian nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, in a dry-dock in Murmansk.  Sparks … Continue reading

Fire on Norwegian Cruise Ship, MS Nordlys, Kills Two and Injures Nine

A fast burning fire in the engine room of the Norwegian cruise ship, MS Nordlys, killed two crew members and injured nine others.  The more than 200 passengers aboard the ship were safely evacuated to the town of Aalesund, 230 miles (375 kilometers) northwest of … Continue reading

Brillante Virtuoso, Suezmax Tanker, Set Ablaze by Pirates off Aden – Crew Safe

It has long been predicted and now it has happened – a pirate attack has set fire to a loaded oil tanker.  On Wednesday morning, pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden attacked the Suezmax tanker,  Brillante Virtuoso, firing a rocket propelled grenade into the deck … Continue reading

Explosion at the Gibraltar Cruise Ship Docks

An explosion in a fuel tank on  the  cruise ship docks in Gibraltar today injured several on the dock and over twelve passengers on the 3,634-passenger Royal Caribbean   cruise  ship,  Independence of the Seas.  The injuries to passengers were all reported to be minor. … Continue reading

The Last Voyage of the Lakonia – Deadly Christmas Cruise

Forty seven years ago, passengers on the cruise ship Lakonia were promised  “a marvelous Christmas cruise to sunny Madeira and the Canary Islands.”   The brochure read –  “Have your holiday with all risk eliminated. Enjoy a holiday you will remember for … Continue reading

Why did the Carnival Splendor go dark?

How could an  fire in one of two engine rooms do sufficient damage to the electrical distribution system on the Carnival Splendor to completely disable the ship?   The answer isn’t obvious. The Carnival Splendor is diesel electric powered, which is to say, instead of … Continue reading

Factory Fishing Ship Athena on Fire in the Atlantic

The factory fishing ship Athena caught fire early today in the Atlantic, 230 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly. Eighty one non-essential personnel were evacuated to liferafts and subsequently rescued as the  remaining  30 aboard fought the fire, which is now reported … Continue reading