Adventures of the Blackgang
Thalassophilia, Nautical History, Culture, and Art
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Tsunami Ghost Ship Spotted Off British Columbia
More than a year after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan, a Japanese fishing boat has been found drifting aimlessly off the coast of British Columbia.
The beat up 150-foot trawler was spotted on March 20 by an aircraft while on a routine patrol approximately 150 nautical miles from the southern coast of Canada’s Haida Gwaii islands, drifting south.
Officials have traced the boat to a squid fishing company in Japan, who had confirmed no one was believed to be on the vessel when the tsunami struck.
NOAA, among other organizations, have been warning that marine debris generated by the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011 would be making its way across the Pacific, posing navigational hazards to vessels and threatening coastlines, but what, when, and where the debris is expected to wash up has been difficult to predict.
For more information on tracing marine debris from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami check out this video below and read gCaptain’s coverage on Tracking Marine Debris from the Japanese Tsunami.
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In July 1916, under the command of Captain Edward L. Beach, Sr., the ship got underway for the Caribbean arriving at Santo Domingo on the 23rd for peace-keeping patrol off the rebellion-torn Dominican Republic.
Memphis was at anchor .5 nmi (0.58 mi; 0.93 km) off a rocky beach in 45 ft (14 m) of water in the harbor of Santo Domingo on the afternoon of 29 August 1916 with two of her 16 boilers operating in case she needed to get underway; the gunboat Castine also was anchored in the harbor. Shortly after 12:00, Memphis began to roll heavily and Captain Beach observed an unexpected heavy swell developing. Memphis and Castine both made preparations to leave the harbor and began to raise steam; Memphis expected to be able to get underway at about 16:35.
Conditions in the harbor had deteriorated badly by 15:45, when Memphis sighted an approaching 75 ft (23 m) wave of yellow water stretching along the entire horizon. By 16:00, the wave was closer, had turned ochre in color, and had reached about 100 ft (30 m) in height; at the same time, Memphis was rolling 45°, so heavily that large amounts of water cascaded into the ship via her gun ports and water even was entering the ship via ventilators 50 ft (15 m) above the waterline.
By 16:25, water began to enter the ship via her funnels, 70 ft (21 m) above the waterline, putting out the fires in her boilers and preventing her from raising enough steam to get underway. She began to strike the rocky harbor bottom at 16:40, damaging her propellers just as she was raising enough steam to begin moving, and her engines lost steam pressure. At about this time, the giant wave Memphis had seen approaching over the past hour arrived; she rolled into a deep trough and was struck immediately by what proved to be three very large waves in rapid succession, the highest of them at least 70 ft (21 m) tall, completely swamping her except for her highest points, and washing crewmen overboard.
The waves rolled her heavily, caused her to strike the harbor bottom, then pushed her to the beach .5 nmi (0.58 mi; 0.93 km) away. By 17:00, she had been driven under cliffs along the coast of the harbor and was resting on the harbor bottom. She had been battered into a complete wreck in 90 minutes.
“Cruiser USS Memphis (ACR-10) wrecked off Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 1916.”
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A vessel sits after it was washed away by tsunami into urban area in Kesennuma, Miyagi, northern Japan March 12. (Kyodo News/Associated Press) #
Cargo containers are strewn about in Sendai Japan March 12
Boston.com; The Big Picture
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life:
The largest earthquake in Japan’s recorded history rocked Japan on Friday, March 11, 20011, shaking cities and villages along a 1,300-mile stretch of coastline with terrifying tremors felt as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles from the epicenter. The quake killed at least 60 people and unleashed a monster 30-foot-high tsunami that sent ships crashing into shore, wiped away homes, and carried cars through the streets of towns. Tsunami warnings were issued for the entire Pacific, including Hawaii, South America, Canada, Alaska and the whole West Coast of the United States.
(via mudwerks)
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NOAA Maps October 25th Indonesian Tsunami
The Indonesia tsunami event was generated by a Mw 7.7 earthquake (3.484°S, 100.114°E ), at 14:42:22 UTC, 240 km (150 miles) W of Bengkulu, Sumatra, Indonesia (according to the USGS). In a little under 2 hours, the tsunami was first recorded at DART® buoy 56001 and in a little under 3 hours, the tsunami was recorded at DART® buoy 56003.
Forecast results were created with the NOAA forecast method using MOST model with the tsunami source inferred from DART® data. The tsunami waves first arrived at Padang (approximately 270 Km from the earthquake epicenter ), at 15:47 UTC, about 65 minutes after the earthquake. The DART data and model inversion indicate that the tsunami may be larger than the earthquake magnitude of 7.7 suggests.
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