The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has published its investigation report on the fire and explosion which occured onboard the towing vessel Susan Lynn off Lousiana in October 2019. The investigation has identified a catastrophic engine failure as the key cause of the accident.
On 8 October 2019, at about 0600 local time, the Susan Lynn was docked and in layup status at Tom’s Marine & Salvage yard on the Barataria Waterway in Lafitte, Louisiana, when a fire started in the engine room. The vessel’s watchman could not contain the fire and evacuated the vessel. Local firefighters extinguished the fire. No pollution or injuries were reported. Damage to the vessel was estimated at $1,350,000.
Probable cause
The NTSB determines that the probable cause of the fire onboard the Susan Lynn was a catastrophic engine failure resulting in an oil reservoir breach and an ensuing fire Continue reading “Catastrophic engine failure aboard Susan Lynn led to fire and explosion reveals report”
Action will be taken against uncoded commercially operated race yachts, the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) has warned, following the conclusion of legal proceedings against two vessels.
Handy guide 26, ‘What a marine surveyor needs to know about metacentric stability, the inclining experiment, heel and rolling tests’, authored by Elliott Berry FIIMS, covers an area that for many marine surveyors remains something of a dark art. Yet understanding stability and its theory as well as in practical terms as to why a vessel floats is something all surveyors must understand fully.