Righting the ship Cougar Ace

Remember the Cougar Ace, the Mazda car carrier which tried to turn turtle and took the life of salvage surveyor?

There's an excellent article on how the car carrier, which took on a severe port list was brought back to even keel at Wired's High Tech Cowboys of the Deep Seas: The Race to Save the Cougar Ace:

By the end of the second day of pumping, the Cougar Ace is upright. A few days later, the owners come aboard to reclaim the ship. What initially seemed like a lost cause is now floating freely. It did not sink. Ninety-nine percent of its cargo is intact. There was no environmental disaster.

How it was saved is a great read.

Cougar Ace follow up

Vehicles From Cougar Ace to Be Scrapped.

Probably a good idea, but I would have bid on one on eBay.

Cougar Ace update: Upright and ready for tow

You remember the COugar Ace, the car carrierin distress off Alaska? Now, as reported here, things are looking better:

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. has reported that the MOL-operated car carrier Cougar Ace, which was disabled at sea, south of the Aleutian Islands on Monday, July 24, and is now moored at Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, has been restored to a nearly upright position. This completely eliminated threat of submergence and the vessel is now moored safely.

Unified Command coverage here. Lots more photos there. From te latest incident report:

On Tuesday, August 15, 2006, the USCG Marine Safety Detachment (MSD) in Dutch Harbor reported that the Cougar Ace list is currently at 12 degrees and vessel stable. The owners, Mitsui OSK Lines, and Titan are conducting soundings of all tanks to verify the vessel stability in order for Titan, the contracted salvor, to return operation of the vessel to Mitsui OSK Lines.
The vessel’s emergency generator is on line and the service generator is being considered for placing back on line once Titan releases the ship back to the owners. The owners plan to clean transmission fluid and lubricants from all the car decks and containerize the recovered fluids for proper disposal. MSD personnel reported that most decks suffered vehicle damage and all vehicles must be re-secured. MSD also reported the water, sewage systems, fire main and low pressure CO2 systems are inoperable and will be evaluated for repairs by the owner.

Bottom photo: Cougar Ace, stern view. (8/13/2006)Date: 8/14/2006
Photo Credit: ADEC -- J. Brown

Cougar Ace Update: Towed to calmer place

Reported here:

As of Sunday morning, the ship was located approximately ten miles northwest of Umnak Island in calm seas. The Cougar Ace has been listing since problems arose during a required open-sea transfer of ballast water on July 23rd, approximately 230 miles south of Adak.

The Coast Guard reports that the ship's salvage team will continue efforts to rig pumps on-board the ship to remove water from the vessel's number nine cargo deck. They also will adjust the ship's ballast condition to right the ship and restore its upright stable condition.

UPDATE: Added art. Umnak has some history here and here.

Cougar Ace claims a life

Sad news in that a naval architect taking part in the salvage survey of the Cougar Ace has died from injuries incurred when he fell on the stricken vessel as reported here and here:

"They were on the covered main deck and he slid down a considerable distance, somewhere in the range of 80 feet," said Charles Nalen, vice president of environmental safety quality assurance for Crowley Maritime, owner of Titan Salvage

Members of the salvage team were equipped with safety harnesses and clipped onto a safety line as they moved along the deck. "For some reason, he became disconnected from the safety line," Nalen said.

Our sympathy to his family.

Photo caption:

Salvage personnel board the COUGAR ACE to assess the condition of the vessel. 7/30/2006 Photo Credit: USCG

Photo source: State of Alaska, Prevention and Emergency Response Program, Incident Home, Unified Command: M/V Cougar Ace.

Cougar Ace Update: Salvage tug arrives, another enroute

Reported here:

The Alaska Coast Guard has said that a salvage tug has reached the Cougar Ace, a disabled ship adrift 127 miles south of the Aleutian Islands.
Cougar Ace adrift

The ship, loaded with nearly 5,000 Mazda automoblies, was still listing sideways about 60 degrees in relatively calm seas 127 miles south of Amlia Island.

Photo is of typical ocean-going salvage tug - not of the one on scene.

Cougar Ace Update: Ship leaking fuel?

Reported here:

A Mitsui O.S.K. cargo ship, listing in rough seas near Alaska's Aleutian Islands, might be leaking fuel from its tanks, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
"Observers have reported a light and broken sheen extending two miles around the vessel" carrying 430 metric tons of fuel oil and 112 metric tons of diesel, the Alaskan office of the Coast Guard said in a statement on its Web site.
The Coast Guard, which did not clarify who the observers were, said its own personnel found "no signs of the vessel's fuel tanks losing containment at this time."
***
A team from salvage company Crowley Marine is due to reach the location of the Cougar Ace, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) south of the Aleutian Islands, on Wednesday, with the aim of towing the ship to a nearby port, the Coast Guard said.

You are invited to find an appropriate salvage tug and race the Crowley team to the Cougar Ace to vie for salvage rights...

UPDATE: Cougar Ace history posts: #1,
#2, #3. You are reading #4.

Cougar Ace stable, listing 60 degrees

Car carrier Cougar Ace still afloat and holding at 60 degrees list, it says here. And, probably, except for an intervening storm, the ship will probably stay afloat until salvage crews arrive to tow her. I note from prior photos that her screw was out of water, so self propulsion not likely in her current position.

Some rescue photos here.

UPDATE: Faulty ballast tank shift at fault? Owner says so here:

The owner of a cargo ship that was crippled when it listed almost completely on its side said Wednesday that the problem occurred when its ballast tank was adjusted in the open seas of the North Pacific.
***
The mishap appeared to have been caused by insufficient stability within the vessel, not by a collision or outside flooding, said Greg Beuerman, a spokesman for Tokyo-based Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, which owns the 654-foot car carrier.

"There clearly was imbalance in the intake of ballast water. The company investigation ultimately will tell us what caused that imbalance," he said.

4700 Mazda cars hang in the balance. Zoom.

UPDATE2: And a primer on the Free Surface Effect. You know, just until the owner's investigation comes up with something.

Cougar Ace Follow-up

As reported here, the crew of the stricken Cougar Ace has been rescued and the ship abandoned. Earleir report here.


Photo by PETTY OFFICER JOSEPH ZEMCHAK / U.S. Coast Guard

UPDATE: Much credit to the Coast Guard and Air Force for taking care of the crew. Report:

The Cougar Ace had been carrying cars from Japan to Canada when it began tilting to its port side late Sunday night. The crew sent out an SOS, but the nearest Coast Guard ship was a day's journey away.

By the time a Coast Guard aircraft arrived and was able to drop three life rafts for the crew Monday morning, the ship was at an 80 degree angle, nearly on its side, officials said. The roiling waters shoved the rafts underneath the dipping port side of the ship before the crew could secure them.

Rescuers tossed another raft toward the higher starboard side, but it was a 150-foot drop to the water.

A merchant marine ship crew that was nearby was unable to rig a line to the cargo ship, and the Cougar Ace's crew was losing power in its hand-held radio.

The helicopters appeared to the crew's best chance for survival.

"We made the decision to cram in everybody," said Master Sgt. Sal Provenzano with the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center.

In a daring rescue, the crew members, who had donned survival suits aboard their troubled ship, were hoisted Monday night into two National Guard Pave Hawk helicopters and a Coast Guard helicopter, then flown 230 miles north to Adak Island. One crew member with a broken ankle was to be flown by plane to Anchorage, Provenzano said.

H-60 Pavehawk info here

Ship in trouble off Alaska

Reported here:

A crewmember from the Singapore based container ship Cougar Ace, a car carrier with 23 people on board, contacted the North Pacific Search and Rescue Coordination Center at 11:09 p.m. Sunday. He reported that they were taking on water and listing 80 degrees.

The Cougar Ace is currently located about 230 miles south of the Aleutian Island Chain, in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean.

U.S. Coast Guard ship enroute, C-130 overhead:

A Coast Guard C-130 plane was circling over the Cougar Ace, which sent out an SOS late Sunday night, Petty Officer Stephen Harrison said. A Coast Guard cutter was on its way to the site, 230 miles of the Adak in the western Aleutians.

A merchant ship in the area also was heading to the site and expected to arrive shortly, Harrison said.

UPDATE: New report here says liferaft has been dropped by C-130 and the other merchant ship has a line over to the Cougar Ace to try and halt the listing:

The 654-foot ship, which had been carrying cars from Singapore to Canada, but was at an 80 degree angle to the water Monday morning and appeared to be leaking oil.

"It's sitting on its side, basically," Petty Officer Stephen Harrison said.

A merchant marine ship that had been in the area was trying to rig a line to the Cougar Ace to keep it from tilting futher, while the Coast Guard worked on a way to get the life raft, which landed some distance way, to the crew, said Petty Officer Thomas McKenzie. All 22 crew members were wearing survival suits, officials said.

Massive load shift? Great big wave strike?

UPDATE: Latest report here says helos enroute with refueling plane and another C-130. Crew ready to abandon ship.