What happens when a ship is abandoned?

Today we take a look at the story of a ship and her crew, abandoned by its owners,, its crew left without pay or food, and how they handled the situation. It’s not as uncommon as you might think.

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Face masks required on commercial vessels

The CDC just issued a mandate requiring personnel on all commercial vessels to wear masks. We’ll take a look at what that might mean.

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Coast Guard rescues crew member from cargo ship

We often think of the U.S. Coast Guard rescuing people from fishing boats and recreational vessels, they also sometimes airlift injured or ill crewmembers from cargo ships. While ships usually have an office trained to handle medical emergencies, and some have remote video physician consultation, some illnesses or injuries require on land intervention. Today we talk about a cargo ship crew member who was airlifted in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the entrance to Puget Sound.

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More about running lights

A follow up on last week’s interview about ship running lights. Today we talk a bit about how lights on ships are part of the language of how ships communicate, in this case, at night. If you understand the “code” of running lights, it can tell you everything you need to know about that vessel out there in the dark.

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Running lights: the lights you see on ships at night

Today a look at running lights on ships, the kinds of lights you see at night on vessels that help them be seen by other vessels. We’ll also talk about other kinds of lights you may see on ships in the Columbia River. A talk with Columbia River Bar Pilot Capt. Robert Johnson, from the Ship Report archives.

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Bad weather at sea, an interview

Today we hear another archive interview, about what it’s like to maneuver a ship through bad weather at sea. We’ll hear from now retired Columbia River Bar Pilot Capt. Robert Johnson, about his experiences in god-awful weather in the open ocean.

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Ballast water nightmare: the story of the Cougar Ace

In this archive interview about an unfortunate car ship, we look back at the case of the Cougar Ace, a car ship full of brand new Mazdas, that ran into ballast water troubles off the Aleutians in the summer of 2006. While the crew was safely evacuated, the ship remained bobbing on its side, in the relatively calm waters of the ocean, but eventually had to be towed to Portland and her cars scrapped.  A member of the salvage team died in a fall on her sloping decks. Her dilemma? A computer failure caused too much ballast water to be pumped into tanks on one side of the ship. The weight imbalance caused her to lean way over, and the crew could not right her.

Photo: Kevin Bell, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Wikimedia Commons.

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Rogue waves

A look back into the Ship Report archives at an interview from the early 2000s with Columbia River Bar Pilot Captain Deborah Dempsey and former ship radio officer Terry Wilson. They’re talking about rogue waves, those giant waves that can rise up out of nowhere in the ocean. They can be a real problem for ships and they’re not as rare as you mght think, or hope.

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COVID hits Alaska fish processor hard, and sidelines fishermen

A look at what’s happening with a COVID outbreak at Trident Seafoods in Alaska. An outbreak there has sidelined plant workers and also has many fishermen waiting anxiously on fishing boats that can’t go out because they have nowhere to bring their catch.

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COVID-19 outbreak affects Alaska seafood processor

Trident Seafood, a big Alaska seafood processor, is weathering a sizeable COVID-19 outbreak among staff. The temporary closure of their plants is leaving fishermen and boats sitting at the dock waiting for the opportunity to fish and make a living.

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