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[compass]

Here some further photos from the Zodiac website:

http://www.zodiac-maritime.com/zodiac/jsp/public/MSC%20Napoli%204.jpg

http://www.zodiac-maritime.com/zodiac/jsp/public/MSC%20Napoli%205.jpg

[Alan Smillie]

For those who might be interested the vessels still on location and being used on this salvage operation are as follows :-

Argonaute, imo-9269518 AHT/Supply
Anglian Princess, imo-9242766 Coastguard tug/supplyship
Pasvik, imo-8418590 AHT/Supply with the barge “Bigfoot”
Captain Michalis, imo-7530028 AHT with the barge “Boa Barge 21”
Union Beaver, imo-8918564 Salvage vessel
Smit Bronco, imo-9345491 Multi purpose pusher tug
Forth Fisher, imo-9118159 Oil Products Tanker.

Seen using LMIU AIS.

Would be interesting to hear from others on the location that might be able to send in any interesting photos or information to shipspotting as the operation progresses.

Cheers, Alan.

[Tim Twichell]

Alan, some massive close ups of the whole operation are here on the British Coastguard site....Click the photos on pages and you will get huge images.The close ups are provided by Smit themselves.Very dramatic images, shows the dangerous and difficult job of working on that vessel handling those containers.

https://mcanet.mcga.gov.uk/press/

[Alan Smillie]

Hi Tim,
Thanks for that link, nice shots there, at least i will be able to check out how the jobs going there, they seem to be getting on quite well just hope the weather keeps good for them.
Cheers, Alan.

[Richard57]

The news releases seem to have dried up from normal sources.

Anyway this photoset from Flickr shows that they have now cleared the stern of containers and appear to now be working on those ahead of the superstructure.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/friedgold/

[Timsen]

Latest news regarding the salvage works always on
http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga-newsroom/incident.htm

[mallo]

Hi all
This is my first post…… hope its OK
Some new news MCA now reporting that Bigfoot now back in Portland for at least next 72 hours to shelter from weather.

http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga-newsroom/mcga-press-releases.htm?id=24EDE4444A80CC06&m=2&y=2007

Thanks for all the information, have been following with interest
Best wishes to all

[Mike]

Hello Tim
The mcanet site does have some good pictures, but I wish they would date them instead of having to trawl through them or am I missing something!
Does anyone know if she is actualy afloat? as she seems to be going down not up as the containers are coming off, or maybe I am missing the latest pic,s.
I hope they salvage her after all this effort but no one mentions the foul winter weather to come, if she breaks her back altogether then thats that.
Mind I know in the past many salvors have tried to break the ship in two as they can salvage her better but loose the "prize" of the complete salvage.
let's see and hope for the best.
Mike :pint:

[gareth]

No she is not afloat, she is sitting firmly on the bottom, though I understand there is still a degree or buoyancy at the forward end.  South-Easterly gale forecast tonight, this is not good news and is why the barge is back in port.  Coastguard predicting more containers will be lost and it won't be good for the ship either.

On a different note, and apparently (but actually not) changing the subject, if you live in the uk you may be aware that last Saturday a yacht capsized and sank after losing its keel.  3 rescued but 1 person was lost.  The incident happened about 7 miles south of Start Point in calm conditions.  Incident is being investigated by the MAIB and can only speculate about why a yacht would lose its keel in light winds and calm seas.  But it has just occurred to me.........I wonder if she hit a submerged container from MSC Napoli.

[FWE]

I see it is acknowledged that more containers may be lost overboard if weather worsens as expected. I hope that the salvors also take the opportunity to secure them further to help prevent this and also put transponders on them in case that occurs to enable them to be tracked and avoid hazard to other shipping and the environment dependant on their content.

[Mike]

Hello Gareth
Yacht keels do not just happen to "drop off",any good skipper would have some prior warning as the boat would not handle correctly.
Having owned various boats over the years to loose a keel off a yacht takes some doing and you are correct, hitting a submerged object could well of been the cause of this tragic loss.
The only other reason is poor mainternance but to be sailing a yacht in the English channel I will give the boat owner more credit and assume she was seaworthy.
Hitting a 40'submerged container will put a big hole in most things and to  capsize the yacht sounds more of a large hole beeing ripped open when the keel was hit/lost.
Containers have a nasty habit of floating "just submerged" as some air gets trapped and I for one hope they find all of them from the Napoli as anything that floats "also travels" with the tide!.
Mike :-)

[irrelevant]

Cargo holds 5-7 are fully flooded, and cargo hold 4 is flooded 4-5 tiers high. That is a lot of water inside her. Not much reserve bouyancy there, I reckon!

I have this info from our insurance underwriter. We have a container on board that is in one of the flooded holds.

[jnrawdon]

I agree that Yacht keels do not generally "drop off" but it is not unknown, I remember Simon le Bon's maxi, Drum, who's keel dropped off followed very quickly by a capsize in the 1980's:
http://www.drumreunion.co.uk/history.html

[Royston Ford]

Cargo holds 5-7 are fully flooded, and cargo hold 4 is flooded 4-5 tiers high. That is a lot of water inside her. Not much reserve bouyancy there, I reckon!

Your cargo insurer needs to use a decent surveyor who can give him up to date information . All holds are completely flooded with the exception of number 1 (which has next to nothing in it anyway).

[irrelevant]

Your cargo insurer needs to use a decent surveyor who can give him up to date information

Once we learned that our cargo was submerged, our need for up to date information became more a matter of pure curiosity. Our interest now is focused on filing a claim. The status of our cargo is extremely unlikely to improve, and cannot possibly worsen ;-)

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