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Tanker goes out of control on Delaware River

7K views 34 replies 19 participants last post by  aa3jy 
#1 ·
Freighter goes out of control on Delaware River

I'm glad there were no sailboats around!

DeniseO30 - This is up near you.

 
#2 ·
Holy #$%#$ ! :eek:

Thank God it wasn't a busy summer day on the river.
 
#3 ·
I didn't see it happen but yes it's right across the river from the Bristol Borough water front! Ships in the channel are like driving a truck down a city alley, I'm surprised more of them don't get in trouble here.
 
#5 ·
The river is less than 0.2 nm wide at that point. Not much "berth to give." ;)
 
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#7 ·
Had to be more than the "loss of propulsion" mentioned. Looks more like a rudder jammed hard over.

I dont know the area and havent checked the charts, but with the substantial way the ship had on, if it had steerage it should have been able to choose a spot to drop anchor or make a soft landing.

Was this likely a soft landing spot chosen by the captain...deliberating running aground there to avoided blocking the channel or potentially damaging a bridge?

USN ships have an anchor watch set and the anchor made ready for letting go while transiting in restricted maneuvering conditions. Does commercial shipping normally do the same?
 
#11 ·
Denise, Ulladh, and I are on the upper river, far north of the Del Bay that you transited.

In general, the Delaware River and Bay get no respect. After five years, I still have a lot of fun daysailing on the River, and can say that it doesn't suck as much as you guys claim. (Faint praise, I know.) I am glad that I have an AIS receiver so I can tell whether that boat several miles away on the horizon is anchored or moving toward me.

Each year I look forward to transiting the canal and coming into the Chesapeake for a week or two, but I still like having my boat near home for short daysails during the bulk of the season. It's mighty nice having the boat 12 minutes away from my home.

My next boat will probably be kept in the Chesapeake, but only after my kids have moved out and I can spend every weekend overnight on the boat without feeling guilty about abandoning the kids.
 
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#9 ·
Once directional control and propulsion is lost in the Delaware River the boat will go where the river wants to take it. The current rips through pinch points on the river, even a tug will have a hard time getting a ship under control once it is caught in the current.
 
#19 ·
Thanks the picture worth a thousand words. Reminds me of the tanker Esso Brussels and Sea Witch accident in New York Harbor in 2007. Years later I saw a display at the South Street Seaport of the cause of that accident. They had the steering box of the Sea Witch which caused the accident to happen. A small U.S. Nickel sized key came loose and jammed the gears of the steering box. Sometimes it's the little things that get ya.

Loss of steering led to fiery collision in New York's Verrazano Narrows - Professional Mariner - August 2007
 
#20 ·
That's almost exactly what happened here - about a mile from my house. A cotter pin was missing and prevented them reversing. Skipper was pretty sharp - under those small boats was shelving sand which gave a very soft landing. If he had hit the dock there would have been injuries and maybe even deaths.

 
#23 · (Edited)
I recommend everyone read aloof's signature line - it explains everything about his posts.

I, myself, personally have serious doubts that he has ever set foot on a small boat. He does have some truly artistic opinions about them though.

aloof - is this where you developed your narrow channel boathandling theories?

 
#25 ·
I've not sailed that particular point in the river much, but generally the tankers are going pretty slow, at least north of the C&D. I'm not great at estimating speed, but certainly below 15 knots.. probably more like 12. They can def sneak up on you if you lose focus, but it's not like they're coming out of nowhere.

Of course, I've never been flat-footed, a few hundred yards away, expecting to see it turn hard over to stay in the channel when it doesn't. That's got to get the blood pumping!
 
#27 ·
They kind of do appear out of nowhere when you're in a 3000 ft long dogleg in the channel and can't see around the the corner...
AIS can see around corners. All these big guys are required to transmit AIS.
 
#28 ·
A few observations, if I may.

For the record, it's not a tanker rather a bulker, as it clearly has cranes (and clamshell buckets stowed on deck). No full-size tanker traffic comes above the Hess terminal at Fisher Pt next to the Delair Bridge. This minor point makes no difference in the dynamics of the accident, of course.

Tempest is right about foreign flagged vessels requiring a pilot, according to "Coast Pilot 3", which also requires that all vessels longer than 375 feet here "should have a tug in attendence". One of the Wilmington Tug boats was the escort on this trip but was so far back as to be of no use on short notice and this must have happened very quickly given the short distance involved. I've often wondered why the escorts aren't right alongside (sometimes a quarter mile away). It's worrisome when they thread the needle through the Tacony Palmyra, for instance.

Fryewe's comment about a watch being ready to let go the anchor is a "great minds think alike" moment: you can see at the very end of the video that this is exactly what the master of the vessel did - the view from the other direction shows the starboard anchor chain out. Hard to tell if it actually slowed the progress.

Chip's post of the chart made me chuckle because I had earlier today posted almost the identical thing for my Facebook friends. The terrifying thing the chart shows is this: the channel is quite serpentine to this point and the accident happened with the rudder stuck centered for the Lehigh Channel range. Imagine if it had responded correctly to the next command, a routine "xx degrees right rudder" to line up with the Burlington Bristol lift span and THEN refused to center again. The vessel would have continued its turn toward the Pennsylvania shore and taken out the whole bridge and all the cars on it.

This incident could have been so very much worse.

Roger Prichard
Herreshoff H28 Gwylan
Riverton Yacht Club
 
#29 · (Edited)
Most likely the underlying reason for the grounding - pilot error/experience. Pilots are required to be on board, and most likely the pilot encountered a traveling and swirling 'eddy(s)' along the banks AND especially at the bend where the two channels intersect.... and misjudged. These large swirling eddies are VERY common in this section of the Delaware River during the early spring thaw due to the massive amounts of water (and mud) being released from the melting of the snow pack in the Pocono Mountains. This is not the first time a large bulk carrier has been 'turned' by a large eddy in this stretch of river. When the large steel mill in this area was active, several bulk carriers became grounded this way in the 50s and 60s.

The Delaware River from this section, on north to the New York border, is 'novel' in its hydraulic flow characteristics. Its essentially a shallow Vee bottomed river and it 'pulses' depending on the variable drainage happening all the way north to its headwaters in New York state. The river is navigable / tidal all the way to the city of Trenton (about 5 miles north of this grounding); the tide goes no further north than the 'Trenton Falls' ... a low rapids strewn with boulders (best 'fishing hole' on the entire river .... stripers!!!!!). The tide depending on wind/flow conditions 'can' be as much as 4-6 ft. A high tide will back up water well north of the 'falls' and when the tide 'turns' will release that water, depending on how much is backed up and the variable and 'pulsing' volume coming down during early springtime, and can set up quite large swirling 'eddys' that drag along the banks. During my high school years I actively fished this section for white perch, & spawning striped bass, herring, and American Shad; I used to know and favor where these eddies formed just after the tide change, ..... especially during 'the thaw'.
At this time of year - during the THAW (and breaking ice dams) - the river flow is quite variable, a cold day will slow the flow considerably and a warm day or a breaking ice dam (freshet) up-river can spectacularly increase the flow during 'the thaw' in early spring.
This year because of the massive and unusually high snow pack in the mountains, the river is variably flowing at up to 3 to 5, or more, times normal volume (National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service). On top of all this, if there was a strong SE blow on the Delaware Bay, it will stop the tide and back up water all the way from near Cape May to well beyond the Trenton Falls .... but the flow keeps coming from the mountains AND when the tide finally turns ... it can be like someone flushed a BIG toilet. The C&D canal (lower down on the Delaware River near Wilmington Del.) is affected the same way; and, the currents in both the Delaware and C&D are 'hydraulic' - not based on 'normal tidal' changes but on how the water flows through all its 'choke points'.

In all probability the pilot wasnt 'used to' the the large 'eddies' traveling and spinning along the banks and bends during early springtime; and / or, got caught between two large spinning eddies that affected the water velocity differently along each side of the ship and thus was 'forced' into a turn. For the past 20 years our winters have been increasingly mild and the snow pack in the mountains has been scant. Since about 2004-5 the climate (here) has been changing back to 'normal', especially since 2009. The winters of 2013, 2014 & 2015 have been especially 'brutal' in the Pocono Mountains and with quite very deep snow pack (.... all thanks to the return of global cooling). ;-)

The Delaware River 'quiets down' after the late winter / early spring 'run offs' and freshets and with the exception of occasional heavy rains in the mountains at other times, stays 'predictable' for the rest of the year.
This ship probably got caught in a large swirling eddy during the early spring 'run off'. Such groundings were not all that rare, 'in the old days'.
 
#31 · (Edited)
Based on my 'speculation' of living, fishing, boating along this river for well over 60 years, Id call that a working knowledge based on continual personal 'outdoorsman' observation of my 'back yard'.

I'll make the bet that because of:
1. the relatively mild winters here for the past 20-30 years resulting in the minimum run-off during spring thaw,
2. the closure of 'almost all' heavy industry in this region and
3. the resultant precipitous drop/absence in large scale commercial maritime activity ......
4. that the pilots now very infrequently running this section of river - simply no longer have the expertise, especially during a 'freshet'.
In years past (until the ~1970s) this area was one the foremost/principal 'heavy industrial' / manufacturing / oil refining & chemical mfg. / shipbuilding / steel making / microelectronics areas of the entire nation. All that activity is now 'mostly gone', and probably so are those who used to do the piloting 'above' the junction of the Schuylkill River (remaining refineries and 'trash' hauling).
 
#33 ·
or being anchored or moving close along a shoreline of a narrow creek or waterway and with a foot or two of depth under your keel - when a large ship slowly passes by - and the bow and stern waves double-reflect off the opposing banks, ..... and first the water level first gets 'sucked waaaaay down' and then while youre stuck to the bottom (and maybe over on your side), the water 'comes back' with a vengeance.
Those sailors on the Delaware River where that ship recently grounded 'know' all about this 'effect'. :-o
 
#35 · (Edited)
All theories and speculations aside.. an official report is about to be rendered..but the bottom line unofficially and I quote from an inside source:

"I found out the the first ship that ran up
on the Jersey shore had lost all their controls at the helm. They immediately shut down
the power but it was already moving to fast to do anything else. "

..so on the surface the supposed described "fashet" event was not the main cause..with all due respect to Rich H's long time experiences and observations on the Delaware.
 
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