We beached a tanker 18 years ago at the Chittagong ship breakers. The ships draft was adjusted to be as light as possible while being trimmed to match the slope of the beach. Waited some days for an extreme high tide and than drove the tired Old Lady ashore at maximum speed. Sad ending for the vessel that supported my family for several years.
ou gotta appreciate that with how far above the water line these ships were coming in, they were already scraping the bottom long before they "beached" on the shore. Especially those tankers with the bulbous bows, holy crap!
The ship at 3:30 I believe is the former Spirit of Free Enterprise, sister ship of the Herald of Free Enterprise, which capsized off Zeebrugge, Belgium, claiming 193 lives.
I sailed on her, and worked on her other sister, The Pride of Free Enterprise.
Always sad to see a vessel meet its end.
An interesting documentary to watch is "Ship Breakers." Shows what type of working conditions these men have to deal with and follows a young boy and his dream of becoming a ship breaker. Really makes you appreciate things.
So sad to see when you like ships and think they all have had their own stories, the places they went, the cargo they delivered, aso, and it all comes there to an end...
