Takes work to hang ribbons in the sky

[sovay]

I appreciate having the kind of friends who know to tell me when something weird and potentially explosive goes on with a ship: "They're taking the masts of the Doomsday Ship away."

The rest of my day so far has involved plans not working out and the top half of my phone spontaneously breaking off, so I am going to finish this mug of soup before Autolycus can and take a walk.

Comments

[davidgillon]

Five miles away and I hear about it via Boston!

Enjoy your walk!

[sovay]

Five miles away and I hear about it via Boston!

Glad to be of service?

Enjoy your walk!

Thank you! Please don't have a tsunami!

[davidgillon]

I'm 300ft up a hill, so fairly safe from tsunamis, it's the gentle patter of white phosphorous bomblets that might leave a mark ;)

(I sat facing the guy doing business continuity planning at work for a while, tried to convince him the Richard Montgomery should be covered in his plans)

[sovay]

I'm 300ft up a hill, so fairly safe from tsunamis, it's the gentle patter of white phosphorous bomblets that might leave a mark

Well, you still seem to be here, which I'm taking as a good sign?

[davidgillon]

So far, so good. There was quite a bit of explosive rumbling, followed by deluges of water this afternoon, but that was the series of thunderstorms.

I don't know when they're due to finish the work, but if I get through tomorrow then I'm safe for the next fortnight as I'm off to visit my family at the other end of the country.

[minoanmiss]

May that dismantlation go as boringly as possible. I hope the walk was fresh and lovely.

[sovay]

May that dismantlation go as boringly as possible. I hope the walk was fresh and lovely.

It was really nice, actually! I too am hoping that the mast removal does not resemble a late-breaking episode of Danger UXB.

[poliphilo]

Moving the masts is a start, I suppose, but why don't they just shift the explosives?

[sovay]

Moving the masts is a start, I suppose, but why don't they just shift the explosives?

I don't know! I assume the one is considered safer than the other, but I also assume the 1,400 tons of explosives are still there and will eventually need to be dealt with. Perhaps their disposal is being reserved for a future date when the structure of the ship is not so stressed? I would like to think the plan isn't just to forget about them, as seems to have been done, for example, with the heavy-metal sediments of the river of the city I live in.

[davidgillon]

The public argument is that they're too dangerous to move, there are allegations that the real issue is cost, and has been every time this has come up since the 1950s.

I'm inclined to cut the government a bit of slack on this one as there was a similar situation with a Polish freighter, and that did go boom when they tried to dismantle the wreck. OTOH I'm not convinced that using demolition charges to break up the wreck was exactly a bright idea... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Kielce

[sovay]

OTOH I'm not convinced that using demolition charges to break up the wreck was exactly a bright idea...

I saw that when I was looking into the history of the SS Richard Montgomery and all I could think of was the exploding whale of Florence, Oregon.

[davidgillon]

I'd heard of that one, but had never seen it before.

My dad had rather more success when it was decided during the 1976 drought that they had to blow up 'the dam head' just outside town. It was actually more of a weir (on the Wear), where there'd once been a sluice off to a watermill, but the mill was long gone and water levels were so low nothing could get upriver to spawn. I think the Water Board made the decision, but delegated doing it to the council engineers department, and hence my dad. His part was solely hiring the demolition company, but he timed it so he could shoot up to school, pick up me and my sister and give us a ringside seat before the shot went off. There was rather less spattering of the audience than in Oregon.

Forty-plus years later and the local fishermen still haven't forgiven him.

[choco_frosh]

"They're taking the masts of the Doomsday Ship away."

Oh, THAT sounds like a great idea.

[sovay]

Oh, THAT sounds like a great idea.

Well, it does if the idea is that the masts themselves are in danger of collapsing onto the explosive part of the ship, but I hope they are replaced with adequate signage, yes.

[nineweaving]

I love that the mast link was tweeted by a mudlarker.

Nine

[sovay]

I love that the mast link was tweeted by a mudlarker.

Yes!