Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Chief wrote:Typical of anything to do with a Govt Agency. Keep talking about it until it goes away. Maybe someone should take their fishnig boat and do shipwreck cruises to the Miner.

I wonder how much unofficial salvaging of scrap steel that is in the water is being done.

Guest wrote:a government agency would not allow passengers on a fish boat!

It would depend on Captains License and safety equipment.

a government agency would not allow passengers on a fish boat!

Typical of anything to do with a Govt Agency. Keep talking about it until it goes away. Maybe someone should take their fishnig boat and do shipwreck cruises to the Miner.

What would be the point? All that work and material for something that isn't causing any harm and would never recoup the scrapping cost. And it would be a rather risky proposition for the ship that's delivering the gravel. The Miner could easily get some company and this time it would be an active vessel loaded with fuel and other pollutants with a crew aboard that would be in jeopardy.

Plus I imagine there's no real problem with cutting her up as she sits during the right time of year with the right crew and equipment. But nobody in the government wants to bear the cost and there's no way that the price of scrap would even allow the operation to break even. So private enterprise isn't going to want to take it on even if left unhindered by various government agencies which isn't about to happen these days since it would never pay.

If common sense has anything to say, other than some bellyaching from a few individuals ignorant to the nature of the wreck that seem to think she's a Love Canal or Exxon Valdez in the process of wrecking the environment, she's going to stay in place and nature will finish what it has already started.

This may be entirely off-the-wall, but I was wondering if a boatload or two of various grades of gravel could be floated in and dumped around the entire hull to completely enclose the ship. Would there be enough sea room to send in a self-unloader and unload off her 250-foot boom? Then, a crew with portable accomodations and shoreside equipment could come in and grade the gravel enclosure and cut the boat up in place like they are with the Phoenix Star in Toledo. The scrap might be able to be loaded into barges by positioning crane-equipped jack-up rigs next to the Miner. When everything is finished, all that's left behind is 20- to 40,000 tons of gravel where the Miner once sat (which the sea will reclaim) and tire ruts into and out of the area! I'm not familiar with the logistics, so, just a thot.

Maybe the Canadian Govt should do what they do in the U.S. After a certain amount of time the Govt comes in and removes the vessel and sends the owner the bill. What would have been sch a simple task when it first happened, has become almost Mission Impossible without cutting her up in place. This is doubly difficult due to the remote location. Another option is to just leave her there. It really isn't hurting anything and it will in time go away.

When I read who the contract had been awarded to, I googled and found that their New York operations were a mess, they were involved in multiple court cases, and so on. I immediately knew that if it was that easy for me to find on the google, the people awarding the contract had not done much due diligence and it was bound to fail. If I had to guess, I'd say the salvage company couldn't do it and found as many outs, blaming the Govt., as they could.

Brent wrote:Strange what you read in newspapers. One article says that the salvor quit and bailed and another I read said that the govt was regulating the whole operation into non existance. Maybe the govt needs to hire someone and just let them do their job and come back when it's over

I just looked at the latest photo on Facebook, and it looks like the entire starboard side from the engine room bulkhead to amidships is gone, with the port side interior clearly visible. I would say that all they can do now is break her up in place, as trying to move her will simply break her in half. With winter coming on though, and one of the tropical storms expected to hit that area, I suspect that she is going to be in pieces come Spring.

I found this online. Sorry if it has been posted before. Reading end of article sounds like it has broken up pretty bad.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia ... n-on-wreck

Any updates on the Miner? News? Photos?

Strange what you read in newspapers. One article says that the salvor quit and bailed and another I read said that the govt was regulating the whole operation into non existance. Maybe the govt needs to hire someone and just let them do their job and come back when it's over

Here are links to a couple of articles about the Canadian Miner. They are from Dec. 2012.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinions/2 ... bill-later

http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia ... unded-ship

From Nov. 2012: http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia ... -backs-out

http://thechronicleherald.ca/front/1977 ... 24-million cost was 24 million in 2011, wonder what it is up to now?
I'm sorry if any of these have been posted before.

Are there any current photos of her? It would be interesting to do a photo analysis of the progression of her deterioration.

Gotta love government red tape. Hire a firm with experience in dealing with those matters, and all they want to do is dictate how and when to start removing the wreck. They keep putting it off and soon the fishermen will be fishing the hulk out of the water after it breaks up enough

According to a recent CBC Radio News interview with a local resident, the government of the Province of Nova Scotia is now refusing to discuss the matter. They have all along claimed that it is a matter for the federal government to clean up.
However, the province did engage a salvor, who quit, leaving a mess behind, including a barge that has run ashore.
Local residents continue to express frustration that nothing is being done to clean up the wreck, which is in a provincially designated ecology zone, close to fishing grounds.

In this article (near the bottom of article) about another ship it says it is still stuck off of Cape Breton.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia ... athabaskan

This is the latest I have read. Back in Nov 2012.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scot ... -away.html

Was just wondering if there has been any new updates on her or if there are any new pics of here dureing this winter? Is she still with us or is it possible that the Hurricane got her and she broke upart and is now at the bottom of the Atlantic somewhere. Thanks for any information.
Dan

Timerover51 wrote:Looking at those photos, it looks like a lot of the metal separation is occurring along the line of welds. .

Actually, it appears that the greatest separation occured (is occurring) along the top of the ballast tanks - where the tank-tops meet the exterior hull.