Often any ship news that ends up on a site like Planetsave
inevitably refers to a ship crashing into a coral reef or spilling massive
amounts of oil into the ocean. However, here we have a story that is likely to
terrify you right out of your pants.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP) the Russian ship Lyubov Orlova has been
adrift and has only just been located approximately 2,400 kilometres off the
west coast of Ireland.
The cruise ship ‘ ‘Lyubov Orlova’ ‘ sitting derelict at dockside in St. John’s,
Newfoundland and Labrador, October 2012.
 The
vessel originally left Canada on January 23 to be towed to a scrapyard in the
Dominican Republic, however, a day later the cable snapped and the vessel was
left to wander in international waters, no longer the responsibility of Canadian
authorities (according to Canadian authorities).
Several attempts were made by the original tug boat and a subsequent offshore
supply vessel to take control of the vessel, but unruly conditions and
presumably a lot of bad luck hampered each attempt.
Transport Canada made a statement earlier this month, saying that “the Lyubov
Orlova no longer poses a threat to the safety of offshore oil installations,
their personnel or the marine environment. The vessel has drifted into
international waters and given current patterns and predominant winds, it is
very unlikely that the vessel will re-enter waters under Canadian jurisdiction.”
However, according to a document from the National Geospatial-Intelligence
Agency obtained by AFP, the Lyubov Orlova has been spotted at the coordinates
49-22.70N and 044-51.34W, or roughly 1,300 nautical miles from the Irish coast.
One can only begin to wonder at what else is floating around our oceans. We’ve
all heard the stories and seen the articles about the massive swathes of garbage
in the middle of the Pacific and the Atlantic: activists even made an attempt to
clean the Pacific Garbage Patch once.
In fact, there was speculation that the Lyubov Orlova could end up in the North
Atlantic Gyre (location of the North Atlantic Garbage Patch), or for that matter
anywhere from the Norwegian Arctic to western Africa.
Given the circular motion of the North Atlantic Gyre, it boggles the mind to
wonder just how long the Lyubov Orlova might spend wandering around the Ocean,
and just where it will finally come to rest. |
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