Car Carrier Cougar Ace sinking outside Alaska

[Tomas Pinas]

http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/article1398526.ece

[Timsen]

Photos and a video of the sinking ship can be seen on

http://www.uscgalaska.com/go/doc/780/125809/

[frederik]

Associated Press (AP) reports that all 23 crew members are rescued and under way to Adak Island in the Aleutians, 230 miles north of the Cougar Ace.
All crew members were rescued with 2 National Guard Pave Hawk helicopters and a Coast Guard helicopter. The rescue was conducted in "very challenging weather". There were 10-foot seas whipping the ship, wich was listed nearly on its side.
The Cougar Ace began listing in the turbulent Pacific Ocean late Sunday night, when the crew sent out an SOS. It is not yet known what had caused the ship to list. Its crew didn't know where the water came into the vessel.

greetz,

frederik

[Keith Denholm]

Our Ikan Juara has been on standby next to the Cougar Ace and will post some of the pics which the master sent in to the office

[rd77]

what I find so strange is that, despite that the vessel is lying on her side, she does not seem to be taking a lot of water. Is she loaded or empty?

Brgds.

[Kelvin Davies]

She is loaded.
According to a US Coastguard statement, she is carrying "almost 5,000 cars" from Japan to Canada.
That would be 5,000 very wet & soggy cars in need of a good paint job, I suppose!
Kelvin

[Torben_OWL]

Hello everybody,

I want to forecast, that the loaded cars never will be sold. Am I right when i say, there is salted water? That alone makes the chassis rusty, as you surely know.

Best regards

Torben

[David Harrison]

I am looking for a new car.  Wife says I can use her hairdryer.

[rd77]

Hi Torben,

If the ship is recovered, you can be sure that the car manufacturer will do all it can to make sure these cars aren't sold anymore (not even parts of them). This is exactly because of the salt water damage. For similar reason, the recovery of the TRICOLOR wreck was surrounded by so much security measures. BMW and Volvo did not want dodgy people to steal parts from the damaged cars and sell them as spares in the market...

Brgds.

[frederik]

Today "de Lloyd" reports that the Cougar Ace is still floating. According to some reports the Cougar Ace is listing but stable and MOL plans to tow the vessel to a safe port and try to save the cargo.

greetz,

frederik

[Michael Martin]

This Website shows pictures of the cargo decks [about halfway down the page] and how vehicles are loaded out. Suffice it to say, most of the vehicles will be structurally write-offs as the straps are at best designed for only minimal side loading. More than likely the remains will be shipped back to the factory to recycle the mechanical and electrical parts.

[John Stokes]

You could dismantle one and put the bits in the oven! :-D
As a new member could someone out there point me in the direction of photos of the Tricolour salvage?

[frederik]

Hi,

you can go to http://www.tricolorsalvage.com or see the casualties-section here on shipspotting.

greetz,

frederik

[John Stokes]

Thank you Frederik.

[Timsen]

Anything new on the "Cougar Ace"? It reminds a little bit on the "Flying Enterprise" which developed a list Dec 1951 off the US-coast. All of the passengers and the crew but the captain were rescued. Captain Carlsen remained on board the severely listing ship and was later joined by Kenneth Dancy of the tug "Turmoil". They tried desperately for almost two weeks to get the ship into port, but on Jan 10, 1952, the ship finally had to be abandoned, capsized and sank.