Beached

[ranwhenparked]

Ex-Soviet ocean liner Aleksandr Pushkin, of 1965, known for the past 28 years as the expedition cruise ship Marco Polo, beached at the scrapyard in Alang, India for demolition on January 13th. She was the last survivor of the Five Poets (Ivan Franko of 1964, Taras Shevtchenko of 1966, Shota Rustavelli of 1968, and Mikhail Lermontov of 1972 being the others) series that were the pride of the Soviet merchant fleet in the 1960s. She had been out of service since her last owners, UK-based Cruise & Maritime Voyages, collapsed in bankruptcy last year due to COVID shutdowns.

Marco Polo was one of only two vintage liners still in operational condition, her former CMV fleetmate Astoria (ex Stockholm) from 1948 being the other.

[facw]

@ranwhenparked If she got there under her own power, I hope there's video, those shots of ships ramming the beach are always good.

[Chariotoflove]

@ranwhenparked

I keel you.

[ranwhenparked]

@facw she did, but I haven't seen any good videos of it happening, just ones of her at anchor awaiting her turn, and one from right after running aground.

[facw]

@ranwhenparked Too bad...

For anyone wanting a broader view of what things look like at Alang, here's a different cruise ship/ferry/liner ready to go under the knife there in 2019:

And the whole beach:

(the water color change is just from how Google does things, but it seems fair to describe the environmental quality as horrible regardless)

[Chariotoflove]

@ranwhenparked How exactly do they keep the beached ships from falling over? I'm seeing something on the side bracing it, and there must be a procedure.

[ClassicDatsunDebate]

@chariotoflove said in Beached:

@ranwhenparked How exactly do they keep the beached ships from falling over? I'm seeing something on the side bracing it, and there must be a procedure.

Mud

[HammerheadFistpunch]

@ranwhenparked My very first cruise was on an Ocean Liner, the SS Rotterdam. It had no slides, no ziplines, rock climbing walls or wave machines. I have yet to be on a ship that compares.

[Chariotoflove]

@classicdatsundebate Really, that's it?

[ClassicDatsunDebate]

@chariotoflove said in Beached:

@classicdatsundebate Really, that's it?

Mostly, from what I understand they just run 'em up.

[Chariotoflove]

@classicdatsundebate Wow, that seems like a messy situation to then have to work around the thing.

[facw]

@chariotoflove Ships are heavy, it's probably not going to go anywhere...

In Aliaga they pack them together so tightly that a fall is even more unlikely:

But really, a mostly flat bottom combined with a sandy beach for it to sink into, and all that weight seems to hold them in place pretty well.

@chariotoflove said in Beached:

Wow, that seems like a messy situation to then have to work around the thing.

And now you know why this isn't done in first world nations. Actually that is a slight lie. There is a shipbreaker in Brownsville, Texas, which mostly lives off government contracts. They do most of the teardown with the ships in the water tethered along the canal rather than just slamming them onto a beach:

Generally much more expensive to do it that way though due to all the safety and environmental regulations.

[ClassicDatsunDebate]

@chariotoflove said in Beached:

@classicdatsundebate Wow, that seems like a messy situation to then have to work around the thing.

The mud is nothing compared to the Asbestos, oxygen depleted confined spaces, heavy shit falling on you, fires from welding, lead paint, fumes from cutting torches, hydrocarbons, amphibious land sharks. etc

[Jb boin]

Could be fun to only keep the hull and the engine and try to race other boats.

[ranwhenparked]

@facw yes, it costs more to dismantle them in a safe and environmentally responsible manner than can be recovered in recycled materials, hence why safety and environmental standards are mostly nonexistent at Alang

[ranwhenparked]

@hammerheadfistpunch fortunately, that one at least still exists. The Dutch did a really good job on the restoration/conversion, makes what Long Beach did with the Queen Mary look really cheap and shitty in comparison

[HammerheadFistpunch]

@ranwhenparked One day I will go back and see her. Lots of good memories on that ship.

[HammerheadFistpunch]

@classicdatsundebate