Container ship OOCL Belgium taking 40 degree roll

LiveLeak description:

The 2,992 TEU container ship, OOCL Belgium was caught in the middle of the North Atlantic this week experiencing first-hand winter storm Hercules, a huge low pressure system that forecasters say could be creating waves of over 20 meters tall. Those are the type of rolls where you look out the port or starboard bridge wing and see nothing but the waves directly next to the ship, and then the next moment, all you see is sky while you try to hang on to something. And in some cases serious damage happens to the ship. Actually in this case, unconfirmed reports indicate the the OOCL Belgium may have sustained some cracking and she is currently being inspected in Liverpool.

YouTube Description:

More than 40deg rolling
oritteroposays...

Liveleak comments can be a bit hit or miss, but this one has some beauts. For instance, Parrdogg relates:


I was on a Australian naval ship once in rough seas and I saw the captain after the storm had passed and he was a white as a ghost, apparently during the storm the entire ship was 2 degress from capsizing!

A10anissays...

I encountered many bad storms crossing the Atlantic on the QE2. The worst was so bad that, stupidly venturing to the stern, my band mate and I witnessed the ship surfing on a wave which was, at least, 10 feet above the ship. We listed severely many times, and it was all jolly good fun until one list which saw the piano come out of its metal securing feet, and the roulette tables flying against the wall. But she didn't come back and kept on listing to port - strange as it seems, all I could think of was the "Poseidon adventure." and how I would orientate when she flipped over. The laughter had stopped and we just looked at each other waiting, and hoping, that she would right herself. Seriously, we were scared to death. The next day I passed the Captain and said; "I honestly didn't think the old girl was going to recover from that list." He didn't smile, and in the typical British manner replied; "Actually, neither did I."

rebuildersays...

Ugh. I'm starting to realize I'm susceptible to psychosomatic nausea...

This reminds me in a bad way of the one time I was in anything approaching rough seas. It was a ferry from Finland to Sweden, with winds around 30m/sec. In Stockholm, trams were thrown off their tracks by the wind.

I'd just had dinner when the waves hit and was lying down in my cabin, thinking that might be the easiest way to weather the ship's rocking. It wasn't. Decided to go out on deck to get some fresh air, a task slightly complicated by the way the floor kept falling out from under my feet while I was trying to walk. This on a ship built to transport some 3000 people.

End result, I might as well not have paid for the dinner, plus I self-diagnosed myself with an ear infection that really flared up about the same time. And this is almost an inland sea we're talking about, nothing like an ocean. I think I'll stick to planes for transcontinental travel, thank you very much.

oritteroposays...

Air travel isn't much fun in those conditions either!

I once drove back to Melbourne from Adelaide right through a storm, and it was horrible with low visibility and some vans going 40 and others still going 100... but one of my colleagues flew, and actually passed right over me at some point, but he said it was the worst flight of his life.

Obviously the best option is to just wait out the storm!!!

rebuildersaid:

Ugh. I'm starting to realize I'm susceptible to psychosomatic nausea...

This reminds me in a bad way of the one time I was in anything approaching rough seas. It was a ferry from Finland to Sweden, with winds around 30m/sec. In Stockholm, trams were thrown off their tracks by the wind.

I'd just had dinner when the waves hit and was lying down in my cabin, thinking that might be the easiest way to weather the ship's rocking. It wasn't. Decided to go out on deck to get some fresh air, a task slightly complicated by the way the floor kept falling out from under my feet while I was trying to walk. This on a ship built to transport some 3000 people.

End result, I might as well not have paid for the dinner, plus I self-diagnosed myself with an ear infection that really flared up about the same time. And this is almost an inland sea we're talking about, nothing like an ocean. I think I'll stick to planes for transcontinental travel, thank you very much.

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