Pollution and loss of life at sea
12-May-2008
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Pollution and loss of life at sea

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No more huge oil slicks

Why not transport oil in large double skinned containers? Filled before the arrival of a vessel they could soon be loaded, and in the event of an accident they would or could be made to float off.  The double skin would only have to have a small gap to enable them to float, the oil already being lighter than water; they then could be shepherded together and towed to shore.

Shipping and oil slicks
Offloaded containers once pumped out could be cleanly vented and purged, and that would stop many accidents at sea.  A big advantage to shipping companies would be the vessel could carry other cargo if required, or even a mixture of cargo.

Don’t tell me, I know, it would probably mean spending a little bit more money.  After an oil spill a vessel may sink and can lead to loss of life, any ship sinking could have this outcome. Could the loss of life be improved, I think so.

Survival problems at sea

While I was on a survival at sea course, it was made very clear to me that in the event of a ship sinking, survivors problems are far from over even if they manage to launch a lifeboat or life raft.  In most cases they will have to swim, albeit for a short distance, not a good thing in cold seas, and once they have clambered into the boat or raft they still have problems.

The Life Bridge, a potential solution to survival problems at sea

The problems...

  • Keeping warm once wet
  • Are there enough provisions?
  • Where will they drift to?
  • Does the equipment work?
  • How long before rescue?

There has to be a better way, well I think there is and here are some possibilities that could work.

  • Design a vessel where all the upper decks are a vessel in there own right.
  • Design a vessel where the top deck is a vessel in its own right.
  • Design a vessel where the bridge is a vessel in its own right.

All three of these options are possible, however the first option would probably be far too costly.

What I feel would go against the second option, is also the cost, but mainly it would be the difficulty in regard to a passenger ship, to get all the passengers to take up residence in this top deck.  It may be a deck normally used for dancing, but whatever its use it would now become the life deck, and I do feel that as the watertight doors were shut a certain amount of panic may set in.  Of course there would still be Life rafts in addition.

The Life Bridge would be of reasonable cost, if it helps to save lives.  Instead of single thickness of plating between the top deck and the bridge, it would be double.  All wiring from the bridge for engine room controls would incorporate outside the bridge a self-disconnecting junction box.  Other services could have similar connections, even self-sealing for water or drainage runs.

And finally...

Future vessels could be built with, or existing ones converted to have a Life Bridge or small life deck. Either would incorporate a shallow bilge, angled to fit into an angled recess in the deck head below, and held solid with handle or wheel locks.  Services, electrical etc would be joined with self-disconnecting / self-sealing connections.  The vessel would still have life rafts, but the crew who man the life bridge or life deck would once floated be in the position of being able to tie rafts to the structure and issue rations stored in the bilge.  Bridges and all the instrumentation could even be used again.

The Life Bridge would offer a greater chance of survival, but the question as to be would the shipping companies still think that this small increase in cost is not required.

Visit the followign web site for more artwork and information on the life bridge
http://www.artbydecart.co.uk


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I feel very bad about the poor animals that die like this.
*Wittle Wobby  19-Apr-2008 20:54

 
I need some help finding pictures for my report of Fresh Water Pollution. HELP
*The Bad Touch  12-Apr-2008 20:25

 
this is a rather clever article, it has updated me with how bad the oil spills are and how I think we could prevent it, espesially if the oil containers float, that way they will not sink.
*sarofa  06-Mar-2008 13:38

 
I think that this idea will work but even the smallest mistake will cause an oil spill which affects our envionment, it affects the ocean animals, the birds that go into the water and other things. But if this were to work we would need some of the top builders or scientists to do this, like I said the smallest mistake could cause a new disaster.
*soulja girl  10-Jan-2008 05:20

 
I don't think it really matters what the oil is transported in. There will be spillage and why? Because man is in charge and he's guaranteed to mess it up.
*Saka T  08-Jan-2008 16:12

 
Water Pollution is the worst thing that has HAPPENED apart from the wars because without clean water to drink we would not survive!!!! This is horrible!!!!
*Emily  27-Oct-2007 12:41

 
many of people think that one paper or one botle will do nothing but if every one think like this so we will have a billion of humans and a million ofrubbish
*syreina  22-May-2007 16:59

 
It's horrible to think that people can stand to do these things to our environment and not realize the terrible thing that they're doing.
*Alex  27-Apr-2007 13:55

 
This is interesting, but how many animals die from it?
*mickeygurl  19-Apr-2007 23:08

 
It is brilliant that you can show us what oil is doing to the animals so we can be more careful.
*Scooby  12-Mar-2007 09:31

 
I so much love all your effort to preserve live at sea. Thank you so much. However, what way have you tried to help out seeing that so countries comply with the minimum wage that is approved by your organization?
*Chinedu  06-Mar-2007 17:16

 
hey I need help, I'm doing a research on causes of marine pollution. can you tell me what causes marine pollution?
*zinah  04-Mar-2007 23:17


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