Solent Waters

May 2, 2006 10:21 PM

Ships are so cool, except when they collide with bridges and catch on fire. [flash] You can also listen to some snappy dialogue from the USS Enterprise. [Warning: The laws in some countries may not permit you to listen these sound clips]. This, and other goodies (including hi-res downloads) from the Solent.
posted by tellurian (14 comments total)

Wow. Just, wow. Looks like the bridge came down on the ship?
posted by notsnot at 10:31 PM on May 2, 2006

Hmph. If you scroll down on the main page of Solent, they appear to have almost every word in the dictionary written in black colored text on a black background, to catch all the search engines. Too bad their site doesn't look better.

Anyway, definitely a crazy video! I can only imagine what that sounded like.
posted by RockBandit at 10:41 PM on May 2, 2006

I was all excited about that USS Enterprise link --- but then I realized it was USS, not "Starship."

Engage.
posted by diocletian at 10:59 PM on May 2, 2006

Ships are so cool, except when they collide with bridges and catch on fire.

Then they're awesome!!!
posted by deusdiabolus at 11:36 PM on May 2, 2006

I listened to the radio chatter. There's no description or transcript, and it sounds like relatively boring stuff. The most interesting bits were stuff like the captain being informed the wind speed went above 30 knots, and someone getting told off for not using radio protocols.

If you like this kind of thing, then the radio chatter that was recorded during hurricane katrina would be slightly more entertaining listening than hearing about the crane on a resupply barge.

(does anyone have a link to the transcripts or recordings of those scanners? I'm having trouble even finding the transcriptions I did live on irc on the interweb)
posted by Jerub at 1:16 AM on May 3, 2006

travis tritt needs to watch where he is going
posted by jmccw at 1:53 AM on May 3, 2006

dude! jmccw! you owe me for a fucking keyboard. and prolly a monitor for good measure.
posted by Hat Maui at 2:17 AM on May 3, 2006

This thread isn't complete without the ever-awesome tugboat vs bridge.
posted by furtive at 4:38 AM on May 3, 2006

That boat was rally hauling ass down that little channel. I especially liked the guy running out to make sure they were still on fire or something. Classic "oh shit" moment.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:24 AM on May 3, 2006

Looks to me like the pilot would have been killed in the collision. I wonder who's mistake it was? The bridge, or the ship's pilot?
posted by Goofyy at 7:29 AM on May 3, 2006

Damn, the ship is trashed, the bridge is trashed, what the hell? Anyone have any links about the rest of the story?
posted by JJ86 at 8:03 AM on May 3, 2006

I thought this looked familiar. This is a video of the Windoc colliding with Bridge 11 on the Welland Canal in Thorold, Ontario. Remarkably, no one was injured. More info (and pics) here.
posted by mzanatta at 8:36 AM on May 3, 2006

Thanks for the link mzanatta. The bridge operator was trashed out of his mind. He was on Darvon and had drunk some wine.

. . . the bridge operator's speech sounded forced and sometimes difficult to understand before the accident. Compared to earlier speech, in which the operator engaged in cordial joking with his co-workers, the operator seemed slow in thinking and his expressive tone did not always match that of the previous speakers. He twice misidentified his co-worker (with whom he had joked earlier), and seemed confused regarding the telephone difficulties and the accident itself.

I assume he was fired, but the article doesn't say if that was the case.
posted by JJ86 at 10:37 AM on May 3, 2006

I remember reading that he was in the St. Catharines Standard, but I don't have a link to the article. Can't be sure.
posted by mzanatta at 10:55 AM on May 3, 2006