Picture of the Day
This is the second time this vessel has appeared on this site, but I have an affection for small ships which appear to be so well designed that you could travel round the world on them. This ship, the Bourbon Petrel, is a chase boat, or more correctly "a seismic support ship". Both titles give us an indication of what the ship does. In its capacity as a chase boat it has to find a way of protecting the vast seismic array trailing behind the 3D seismic ship, and the other is the supply of fuel, stores and crew to the mother ship as it moves along, pulling the seismic array.
The photo taken by Scott Vardy in 2014 and post here on 10th January 2020 - Happy New Year!
There is news on the internet that the seven crew members who were captured by pirates from the Pacific Warden offshore Guinea have been released. I found that I ddid not have suitable picture of the Pacific Warden, but here is the Pacific Warlock, which is a sister ship. They are a whole class of small anchor-handlers which entered service for Swire Pacific back towards the beginning of the century. More importantly, one assumes that the ship was, in some way supporting the activities of ExxonMobil which are developing the Liza Field in that area. Will the whole operation, which sill eventually support five PFSOs be plagued by pirates into the future?
American ships are a rare inclusion on this site, so here is one, the diving ship Wyatt Candies, one of the Otto Candies fleet photographed in Brazilian waters. It seems to have all the stuff you might need for the task, including a hyperbaric lifeboat and big crane and an A-Frame. It was built in America has accommodation for 74 people and has sat accommodation for 14 divers. This ship is Jones Act compliant so you would think it would be working in US waters!