Bow Mariner

[DivePartner1]

Wreck Diving: how soon is too soon?

This weekend the Bow Mariner, a foreign flag 540 feet tanker hauling ethanol, blew up off the Virginia coast and sunk in about 240 fsw. The Coast hauled 6 survivors out of the oily sea, two of whom died. Another was picked up by a fishing boat and died before reaching shore. Over a dozen sailors are still missing, some of whom must have gone down with the ship.

Several posters on the Yahoo DCScuba board are already planning to dive the wreck as soon as possible.

 

[NEWreckDiver]

Wreck Diving: how soon is too soon?

This weekend the Bow Mariner, a foreign flag 540 feet tanker hauling ethanol, blew up off the Virginia coast and sunk in about 240 fsw. The Coast hauled 6 survivors out of the oily sea, two of whom died. Another was picked up by a fishing boat and died before reaching shore. Over a dozen sailors are still missing, some of whom must have gone down with the ship.

Several posters on the Yahoo DCScuba board are already planning to dive the wreck as soon as possible.

You should let the officials finish their investigations first. Then is it open season.

 

[DivePartner1]

Sonar images, sitting in 256 fsw:

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2004/s2179.htm

Press release:

http://www.ceres.gr/display_new.asp?ne_id=4

 

[archman]

There's a neat article about the dive team that surveyed the tanker that blew up off Virginia in February. Pretty cool stuff.

http://www.cdnn.info/industry/i040424/i040424.html

I don't understand what the surviving crew hope to accomplish by stalling the Coast Guard investigation. Would they be under company orders to keep silent, or are they just chicken? If the accident occurred in international waters, what legal action could the U.S. take if fault was found?

 

[DivePartner1]

For those interested In diving the Bow Mariner or marine historians:

according to Business Insurance, “the Bow Mariner tanker, which sank off the coast of Virginia last week, was insured for $11 million by the Norwegian Hull Club, according to the insurer's claims manager. The vessel exploded and sank near Norfolk, Va., on the morning of Feb. 28. Of 27 crew members, three were killed and 18 were missing . . . The tanker, which reportedly was carrying 3.2 million gallons of industrial ethanol, also had liability coverage with London-based protection and indemnity club the Britannia Steamship Insurance Assn. Ltd. . . . The Bow Mariner, owned by Singapore-based Odfjell Asia II Pte. Ltd., was en route to Boston from New York at the time of the explosion, the cause of which is not yet known.” Business Insurance, 3/8/2004, Vol. 38 Issue 10, p3.

The itinerary makes no sense. If they were going from NY to Boston what were they doing off the coast of Virginia?

 

[MikeFerrara]

If I remember right from what I read, the site was not labeled off-limits and charters were already planning trips there.

 

[erikharwell]

some local divers dove on it a couple of days ago and took video. the video made the news and looked awesome, it showed where they had deployed a fire hose, but then were blown away buy a second blast. the viz was incredable for this time of year and area. here are some pics http://www.capt-jt.com/photos.htm click on bow mariner in upper left corner

 

[MASS-Diver]

Thanks for sharing that link, very cool!

 

[vapilot2474]

because vessels flag state is singapore who appointed the USCG to investigate on their behalf, incidents in international water are under jurisdiction of the flag state

hope clarifies

There's a neat article about the dive team that surveyed the tanker that blew up off Virginia in February. Pretty cool stuff.

http://www.cdnn.info/industry/i040424/i040424.html

I don't understand what the surviving crew hope to accomplish by stalling the Coast Guard investigation. Would they be under company orders to keep silent, or are they just chicken? If the accident occurred in international waters, what legal action could the U.S. take if fault was found?

 

[vapilot2474]

also, USCG are *******s when it comes to investigations, once appointed by singapore, their is a world wide trend to criminalize sailors in such cases, to keep silent until the grand jury gave them immunity was good legal advice, as ultimately lower rated crew are only following orders of the master and owners, this was good tact to avoid being a scapegoat

because vessels flag state is singapore who appointed the USCG to investigate on their behalf, incidents in international water are under jurisdiction of the flag state

hope clarifies