[CW] Sinking of Marine Electric

[Pete Ferrand]

Thanks so much for bringing this up. The radio conversation was indeed chilling.

I read a bit more about this, especially the report following the Coast Guard's inquest. Although I'm not familiar with all the terms, it was quite a readable report. Really a terrible story of disregard for safety and maintenance, and not a unique one. 

The likely problem was flooding due to the 30-40 foot seas. The cargo hatches were rusted, holed,  deformed and patched with duct tape and putty and not strong enough or watertight, a 3/4" wide crack in the deck, leaks in tanks, and the ship's inspection records had been faked, among others.

The result of this disaster was new safety regulations that apparently resulted in scrapping this and all other 40 year old ex-tankers and many other ships.

www.uscg.mil/history/docs/casrep/1983marineelectric.pdf‎

A very valuable insight.

-Pete
WB2QLL
Somers, WI






-----Original Message-----

From: "D.J.J. Ring, Jr." 

Sent: Dec 24, 2013 8:35 PM

To: CW Reflector 

Subject: Re: [CW] Sinking of Marine Electric



https://archive.org/details/SsMarineElectricWoohSos
SS Marine Electric / WOOH SOS (February 12, 1983)
SS Marine Electric / WOOH SOS 1983 SOS Recording	

✩ Distress radio traffic, 500 kHz from SS Marine Electric, call sign WOOH, SOS as recorded at USCG COMMSTA BOSTON / NMF on February 12, 1983.