Saga Ruby

[Lars Brunkman]

She has been Maltese flagged for quite some time now. As I recall she was under that flagg 2011, and definitely last year when she visited Helsingborg.

[Kelvin Davies]

Lars, you are right. It was re-flagged in 2010. I don't know what was going on with Equasis but when I looked earlier, it showed a date of this month!

[Kelvin Davies]

For those interested in the happenings with Saga Ruby; they ran a 3 hour test on the engines yesterday and this morning (11:00 GMT), she is being manouevered off the berth, presumably setting off on the "trip around the island" trial.
At the moment, it seems to have managed a couple of hundred yards and may be headed right back to the berth!
Who knows? Watch this space!

[Ship's Cat]

She's back alongside but whether she will depart today or not remains to be seen. I spent a cold hour at Cowes waiting to photograph her this morning but after text updates from a friend telling me what was happening, I called it quits and went home again. At least the dogs got a walk while we were waiting! 

[davidships]

Because of strict European laws covering ship scrapping (asbestos, nasty chemicals etc), it is apparently quite common for owners to re-flag their ship, sell it while on the ocean somewhere and then it is no longer covered by the European rules.

That may indeed be so - but not to Malta - it's in the EU.

[davidships]

Just passing Fawley at 8

[Ship's Cat]

A friend who lives over in Southampton watched her sail this evening, and said there was a loud rattling noise coming from the ship. That doesn't sound good.

[Kelvin Davies]

Morning Faith.
I just watched her go by Calshot.  Seemed OK except for the horrible list to port!
Oh dear!

[Captain Ted]

Saga Ruby soon gone,,perhaps,, sad news
I saw her a few times in real,, what a beauty
guess thats the way history goes

[Ship's Cat]

Morning Faith.
I just watched her go by Calshot.  Seemed OK except for the horrible list to port!
Oh dear!

I was at Cowes watching her come in, she sounded ok, I certainly couldn't hear any rattling noises but, yes, she is listing.
She really is the most beautiful ship, it would seem a shame to scrap her but she'll just be following a well-trodden path...

[Kelvin Davies]

I just posted a couple of photos from today. You can see the list in the stern shot.
Kelvin

[Ship's Cat]

Good shots, Kelvin. The list was evident.
Ships do tend to list when rounding the Brambles into and out of Southampton Water, which looks nice and dramatic from Cowes, but this was obvious even without taking that into account.
My photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/solentships/sets/72157632784925395/

[Kelvin Davies]

Nice photos! It was very forlorn looking, wasn't it?
Now she is down to depart on the 20th. It will be interesting to see how that goes!
Cheers
Kelvin

[Ship's Cat]

Thanks Kelvin. Yes, wasn't it just. Fingers crossed all goes well on Wednesday.

[Damien McCarthy]

Lets hope indeed Faith