Watch 400,000-tonne ore carrier sink

[Guest]

I apologize in not making myself clearer about the Cedarville sinking reference. I was not trying to say that the Cedarville sank in the same manner, i.e. bow first. I was instead rather comparing the fact that once flooding overtakes a vessel's buoyancy it will go to the bottom very quickly. As such, it is easy to see how anyone onboard could be easily trapped during the final plunge.

[Diver Dan]

Cedarville rolled mostly on her side with the bow going seconds before her stern.

That's true, but the bow touched bottom early enough that the stern was raised up out of the water, inverted at first, and the water draining out of the freshwater tanks atop the stern house was raining down on crewmen in the water. My father said he nearly drowned at the surface when he was caught under that deluge. He barely got a breath before he was pulled back under by the suction. Luckily, after the 3rd time he was pulled under he surfaced next to a life raft and climbed aboard. The stern was under by then.

[Guest]

Yes, I had read that Polaris Shipping has had structural issues with their VLOC vessels that had been converted from VLCC tankers.

[Jared]

Her fleet mate Stellar Daisy disappeared in the South Atlantic taking 22 of her 24 crewman with her. Apparently Polaris shipping has had multiple problems with their VLOC fleet.

Cedarville rolled mostly on her side with the bow going seconds before her stern.

[Jon Paul]

The Cedarville did not sink bow first as much as it rolled over on its side and sank and that is the position it currently rests on the bottom of the Straits.

[Guest]

A rather short life for such a large vessel. I wonder if the COVID-19 pandemic and it's economic repercussions played a part in the decision to let the Stellar Banner sink in deep water.

The only other vessel that was larger and had a short life was the St. Nazaire built ULCC Pierre Guillaumat which was built in 1977 and scrapped in 1983 by in South Korea by Hyundai.

[garbear]

Another video of the same ship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc7yK-d9xwI

[Jared]

The red stain left by the ore is just like how the sinking of the Cyprus was described when she went down in Lake Superior in 1907.

The amount of air escaping that hull is immense. No wonder why the wooden boats end up all busted up. They call it "sighing" or "blowing her guts".

I suppose that is now the largest shipwreck on the sea floor after the one sank in 2015 at 250,000 tons.

[Guest]

It always amazes me how quickly they go down once the flooding overcomes a ship's buoyancy. I imagine the Cedarville did something similar once it reached that point.

[Jon Paul]

I found this rather interesting

https://www.mining.com/brazil-navy-moni ... sink-site/