Coast Guard cannon fire sinks Japanese ghost ship

[Story]

Plot hooks write themselves.

AP) OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA - The long, lonely voyage of the Japanese ghost ship is over.

A U.S. Coast Guard cutter unleashed cannon fire on the abandoned 164-foot Ryou-Un Maru on Thursday, ending a journey that began when last year's tsunami dislodged it and set it adrift across the Pacific Ocean.

It sank into waters more than 1,000 feet deep in the Gulf of Alaska, more than 150 miles from land.

"Can't tow it, must sink it. Uh huh.

The boat did not have any cargo aboard, Webb said. He said he didn't know who owned the Ryou-Un Maru, which had been traveling about 1 mph in recent days.

As the Coast Guard was readying to fire on the vessel, a Canadian fishing vessel, the 62-foot Bernice C, claimed salvage rights over the ghost ship.

Plans to sink it were halted so the Canadian crew could have a chance to take the stricken ship. A Canadian official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that the Bernice C was unable to tow it.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-...se-ghost-ship/

[Weaver]

How to exorcise a haunted ship, according to Bob Howard (okay, it was originally 'exorcising a haunted jet fighter' but I assume the same sort of thing would also apply to boats):

* You can explosively disassemble it, if it's in the middle of nowhere and there are no neighbors within a couple of miles.
* You can violate any number of HSE directivea and outrage public opinion by dumping it at sea -shallow waters only, we don't want to annoy the owners by violating the Benthic Treaties- and wait for time (and electrolytes) to wash the memories away.
* You can truck it to a special hazardous waste recycling site, where they have a very special degaussing coil for exactly this purpose.
* Or, if you believe in living dangerously, you can do it with a soldering iron, a stopwatch, a grounding strap, and a ggod pair of running shoes in case you screw up.

Given that in this case a combination of options one and two were employed, I'm going to take a guess and say that the ship was haunted and they wanted to make sure it was exorcised.

[ScS]

I heard an interview with one of the would-be salvagers. He claimed that the reason that they could not tow it in to shore was because of contaminated water inside of the ship, which would have become their responsibility to clean up if it were brought in.
It wasn't stated how many abandoned salvage vessels were still moored to the derelict ship when it was discovered, so were forced to assume that there were several.

[Story]

I heard an interview with one of the would-be salvagers. He claimed that the reason that they could not tow it in to shore was because of contaminated water inside of the ship, which would have become their responsibility to clean up if it were brought in.
It wasn't stated how many abandoned salvage vessels were still moored to the derelict ship when it was discovered, so were forced to assume that there were several.

The way I heard it, the Bernice C. was by herself and that three other fishing vessels that had reported "an abandoned Japanese ship" between the end of October 2011 and Jan-Feb 2012 disappeared, all hands lost.

"Contaminated water" was the USCG report - "some foul f@ckin' sh@t in the bilge and scuppers" was the original radio traffic log.

Jus' sayin'.

At first it seemed a little speck,
And then it seemed a mist;
It moved and moved, and took at last
A certain shape, I wist.

A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!
And still it neared and neared:
As if it dodged a water-sprite,
It plunged and tacked and veered.

[WiseWolf]

Plot hooks write themselves.

What would we do without Story.

[wombat1]

In addition, of course, to the Japanese ghost fishing boat that was seen just recently off of the coast of North America, I seem to recall veiled historical references and rumors to a crew-less and derelict Japanese vessel washed around in similar circumstances in the tsunami that accompanied the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake that so devastated Tokyo and Yokohama, and to small vessels washed to sea in the earthquake of 1894. Since my library is in considerable disarray, I can never quite lay hands on a source when I absolutely need to.

[ScS]

Wouldn't doubt it for an instant. The mighty Pacific has a current that carries everything upon it in a great sweeping orbit. From West to East, down South, then West again; derelicts will float on an endless cruise until finally the rust and the barnacles eat the hull and the lifeless hulk sinks finally to its inky black grave.
One might think it merciful to scuttle these lonely boats, for they must dream often. Yet it is often best to leave dying ships in their peaceful slumber, lest one awaken something dark and dead to a new and vengeful life.

[Story]

Japanese fishing vessel, "Ryou-Un Maru", shows significant signs of damage after U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Anancapa fired explosive ammunition into it, 180 miles (about 290 km) west of the Southeast Alaskan coast April 5, 2012. The U.S. Coast Guard opened fire on Thursday on a derelict Japanese fishing vessel washed out to sea by last year's devastating tsunami in a bid to sink it and eliminate a threat to navigation, a spokesman for the agency said

http://i43.tinypic.com/2pplvzc.jpg

As it looked on March 31
http://i40.tinypic.com/nq9th2.jpg

[wombat1]

Japanese fishing vessel, "Ryou-Un Maru", shows significant signs of damage after U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Anancapa fired explosive ammunition into it,

It would be very embarrassing if the Coast Guard fired explosive ammunition into it and it did NOT show "significant signs of damage."

[Story]

It would be very embarrassing if the Coast Guard fired explosive ammunition into it and it did NOT show "significant signs of damage."

How do you write "Black Pearl" in Japanese?

Meanwhile, in obviously related news -

KODIAK — The Coast Guard is working with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate the shooting deaths of two members at Coast Guard Communications Station Kodiak Thursday.

Read more here: http://community.adn.com/?q=adn/node...#storylink=cpy

Back in the day, this'd be easy to pin on those Spetsnaz boys.