Displaying items by tag: Containership Grounding

16th February 2016

Containership Re-floated After Grounding in Southampton Water

#Grounding - APL Vanda, a 14,000TEU capacity containership was being checked for damage on Sunday after a loss of propulsion that left the ship grounded for two hours just outside the port of Southampton.

The NOL-owned vessel was freed from Bramble Bank by tugs and towed into port where it berthed in the early hours.

An APL spokesperson said the ship had been under pilotage when the incident occurred at 2200 hours local time on Saturday evening. The Singapore-flagged ship was freed about two hours later.

For more on the story, click Lloyd’s Loading List.

Afloat adds that APL Vanda (bound for Hamburg) is today still docked in Southampton from where over a year ago the Hoegh Osaka, a car transporter ran aground also on Bramble Bank with a 45 degree list.

Subsequently the vessel shifted position in the Solent before eventually taken into safety with a tow to the major container port.

Published in Ports & Shipping

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About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour