Eric Goslin
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1 year ago
in UPDATE - Empress of the North’s Long History of Trouble on gCaptain
To put my last comment in context, I had been trying for a couple of days to find out exactly what happened that put the Empress on the rock. I could find no real information about the current incident just stuff that happened in the past. It seemed every news paper and news websight was falling over themselves to talk about past incidents while not giving any real information to tell us what caused the incident at hand. I was a little frustrated.
Lots of ships hit rocks and make magazine covers. Take the Wilderness Adventurer for example, hit a rock a pretty much sank back in '99. Makes the cover of the Coast Guard Magazine. Then, in '04 it pokes a hole in the side again, starts taking on water, all passengers have to be offloaded, it goes under its own power to Juneau and nary a word in the press about it. Why not all the articles digging up all of its previous mistakes? I just find it odd that all the news outlets picked this little ship to dwell on. A ship sinks off the coast of Greece, two people misssing presumed dead, multiplt criminal charges against ships officers, and its in the news for a day or two. The Empress hits a rock limps home and it stays in the news for over a week. I don't get it.
I have no problem with someone getting fired over this, as Chief Engineer I am well aware of there being certain things that if they ever happened I would just pack my bags and walk away, it is sort of un unwritten rule with mariners, for some things, there is no redemption.
I just look forward to finding out what really happened that put the Empress on th rock this time (not last time, or the time before, or the time before....)
Lots of ships hit rocks and make magazine covers. Take the Wilderness Adventurer for example, hit a rock a pretty much sank back in '99. Makes the cover of the Coast Guard Magazine. Then, in '04 it pokes a hole in the side again, starts taking on water, all passengers have to be offloaded, it goes under its own power to Juneau and nary a word in the press about it. Why not all the articles digging up all of its previous mistakes? I just find it odd that all the news outlets picked this little ship to dwell on. A ship sinks off the coast of Greece, two people misssing presumed dead, multiplt criminal charges against ships officers, and its in the news for a day or two. The Empress hits a rock limps home and it stays in the news for over a week. I don't get it.
I have no problem with someone getting fired over this, as Chief Engineer I am well aware of there being certain things that if they ever happened I would just pack my bags and walk away, it is sort of un unwritten rule with mariners, for some things, there is no redemption.
I just look forward to finding out what really happened that put the Empress on th rock this time (not last time, or the time before, or the time before....)
1 year ago
in UPDATE - Empress of the North’s Long History of Trouble on gCaptain
I have worked in the Pacific Northwest for the last six years including a lot of time on the Columbia River and in SE Alaska. Why all the negative press for this incident? I would like to see any vessel who has gone up and down the Columbia as much as this ship not ever find a sandbar. It is called the Mighty Columbia because there is a lot of water going down it, and water moves earth creating and destroying sandbars constantly.
The Managment System of this vessel is not failing. The press has failed to point out that the company that owns this has recently been bought out and the captain and at least one mate have left. No matter how good your managment system is with all that shaking up going on it is not going to be fool proof.
It makes me sick to see all this negative press, is there nothing else newsworthy to report, it hit a rock, that is news, but do you have to dig up all the dirt you can find about it's history?
As for the CDC, when I worked on passenger vessels it amazed me at the amount of regulations enforced by the CDC. FDA, ADEC and the like. Many boats fail, not all, but again, it just seems like they are trying to kick them when they are down. There is not much of an excuse in failing but a lot of boats fail the first and pass the second. They were still allowed to carry passengers so it couldn't have been that bad.
Personally I did not know whether to laugh at the articles pointing out the history of the 'Empress' or balk in disgust, but I certainly knew I would not consider it as viable news.
The Managment System of this vessel is not failing. The press has failed to point out that the company that owns this has recently been bought out and the captain and at least one mate have left. No matter how good your managment system is with all that shaking up going on it is not going to be fool proof.
It makes me sick to see all this negative press, is there nothing else newsworthy to report, it hit a rock, that is news, but do you have to dig up all the dirt you can find about it's history?
As for the CDC, when I worked on passenger vessels it amazed me at the amount of regulations enforced by the CDC. FDA, ADEC and the like. Many boats fail, not all, but again, it just seems like they are trying to kick them when they are down. There is not much of an excuse in failing but a lot of boats fail the first and pass the second. They were still allowed to carry passengers so it couldn't have been that bad.
Personally I did not know whether to laugh at the articles pointing out the history of the 'Empress' or balk in disgust, but I certainly knew I would not consider it as viable news.