February 2012.
The Costa Concordia Accident – The Nautical Institute fails to comment.
The Iron Lady – A film of that name. What Mrs Thatcher did to the Merchant Service.
Teenage Yachts Persons. Comment on a round the world voyage by a lone 16 year old girl.
Tugs in the Gulf. – Uninvestigated sinkings in the Gulf.
STUFT in the Falklands – Drilling offshore the Falkland Islands and objections by Sean Penn.
Passenger Ship Breakdowns – Discussion about fires on passenger ships.
The Thames Estuary Airport – A summary of the current discussion.
March 2012
The Costa Allegra Accident – A description of the accident, how it was resolved and that the toilet system was not connected to the emergency generator.
The Koosha 1 – The sinking of a small diving ship in the gulf and the rescue of most of the 73 people on board.
Waiting for the Results of Investigations – My letter to the Nautical institute about their failure to comment on the Costa Concordia thing.
Off Mombasa – The problems with pirates for the ships which have to drift about offshore Mombasa.
A Dead Zone – The 7000 squar emile dead zome at the entrance to the Mississippi due to the stuff floating down the river.
Oil Rig News – What the Rowan Viking is about to do – with a good photo
KS Endeavour – An uncontrolled blowout resulted in the loss of the rig and a ship off Nigeria.
April 2012
The Elgin Gas Leak – A gas leak at Elgin causes evacuation and the initiation of well kill activities.
The Iceberg 1 – A reminder that the crew of this ship have been kept in the hold by pirates since March 2010.
Amy Jones and the Deep Ocean Clarion – A female engineer takes a rig owner to court due to being assigned a cabin with a male colleague.
The Mighty Deliverer and A Turtle – The use of an inapproriate ship to tow a derelict oil rig in the South Atlantic.
Black Fish – How the fishermen of Peterhead managed to avoid the EU quotas.
Shell’s Leaks – The minor hydrocarbon leaks which give Shell problems.
May 2012
The Elgin Gas Leak Update – An update on how things are going with the well kill at Elgin.
The Cruise Ship and Casterways – How the Star Princess failed to rescue three distressed fishermen.
Expert Comments – The interaction of your scribe with expert who have taken issue with my description of the Costa Concordia accident.
Massive Tide in Australia – How the Massive Tide, a UT704, ran aground off Dampier.
Offshore Wind – Trump’s attempts to relocate a wind farm to Aberdeen Bay
The Wreck of the Samtampa – Remembering the loss of this ship in 1947 in the Bristol Channel with the loss of 39 crew.
June 2012
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee – The Oil Hunter in Foynes, the only Uk registered ship in Ireland when the queen visited in 1977.
The Elgin Gas Leak – The well is killed and the platform remanned.
The ITS (International Tug and Salvage) Conference – What went on at the conference in Barcelona.
Heading For the Rig – A description of the collision between the Big Orange XVIII and Ekofisk.
African Piracy – Problems for ships in Africa, not just with the pirates.
BP Shipping – BP’s history as shipowners, in brief.
July 2012
Not Arcadia – A description of a protest by 150 Indian crew who were then NRBd
The Rock – A description of the rock which had been embedded in Costa Concordia.
The Master’s Responsibility – A description of the Clipper Point accident and the involvement of the port operators.
Electric Ships – How battery systems may help in the operation of ships.
Somali Piracy – More unfortunae stories about the picracy business.
The Leiv Eiriksson Consortium – This rig is to be supported by an all aft offshore vessel.
August 2012
The Victory et Al – A bit of stuff about the HMS Victory as a tourist item in Portsmouth
The Mary Rose Accident – A description of how the sinking possibly took place.
Lake Cruisers – A descrption of what can be done for leisure on Lake Windermere
The Warrior – A view of the Warrior from an Isle of Wight ferry, and then after its return as a historic ship.
The Canton – Our lunch with a fellow crew meber of the Canton in 1962.
The Bond Exhibition – My excuse for describing my involvement in From Russia with Love.
September 2012
The Costa Concordia – A bit about the accident as it was reported.
Cruise Ships in Venice – The dangers of cruise ships in the canal system.
Maconda Again – The Deepwater Horizon and the meaning of LTA as BP are tken to court in the US.
Container Fires- The misuse of containers resulting in container fires on board ship.
Flying Angel – A Flying Angel vessel working in the Middle East.
The C-Viking – ECO update at least one bit of their fleet.
October 2012
Transocean and Chevron in Brazil – Problesm for these two companies after an oil spill in the country.
Shell Security – The cost to the company of security in Nigeria.
Ships Aground – Possible reasons why ships end up aground.
One from the Archive – The sinking of a survey ship in the Arabian Gulf.
The Star Princess – More about the passenger ship which failed to see a small boat.
The UK ETVs – The reduction in the UK Emergency Towing Vessel service.
November 2012
The Prestige Court Case Starts – Ten years after the event the court case in Spain.
Transocean and Chevron in Brazil – An update on the situation.
Ditching – A description of a helicopter ditching in the North Sea
North Sea Oil Spills – Stuff from the Guardian and Greenpeace about spills.
Confined Space Entry – An accident on the Viking Islay in 2007.
The ECDIS problem – Looking out of the bridge windows, or not.
December 2012
Christmas Wishes – How might we make life better for seafarers.
Another Wish – Hopes that the pirate problem might be dealt with
Norovirus – The winter vomiting virus on board the Oriana.
The VOS Sailor – The report on a heavy weather accident with a loss of life.
Basket Transfers – Basket transfers due to helicopter problems.