Costa Concordia

[Tim Streater]

Those were plastic.

[Weatherlawyer]

squared off not rounded.

It was quite common for them to divide down the middle. There was a chronic shortage of reliable officers all through the was in the Merch.

The opened a place in Scotland IIRC under a retired Vice Admiral. He was a martinet who gave no quarter. But he got the best he could out of what he had.

[Weatherlawyer]

in

He broke into a nuclear reactor and was sent to prison for is activity? The detectives followed his trail? Destroying the gang by disposing of its neuclus?

[Dave Liquorice]

Munitions and food.

Thinking of the fuel for the ships, I suspect back in WWII many would be burning coal rather than bunker oil.

[Bob Eager]

Rubber ducks are useful!

[Jules Richardson]

Hmm, I remember that on beaches around the Wash in the late 70s, and possibly into the early 80s; I'd always assumed (mainly because I'd never had a reason to give it much thought!) that it came from the land - lots of the beaches there back then were pretty grim, and all manner of stuff was pumped out to sea, only to later wash back on to the shore.

cheers

Jules

[Bill]

MMMMmmmmmmmmmm there used to be a saying where I came from that one didn't swim from New Brighton beach, you just went through the motions.

I believe that things have improved a bit now.

[Clive George]

Seen the final scene in Get Carter? That's quite an impressively grim beach, though it's coal doing it there.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

That's the one. It was so secret that the local rag had it inside, near enough inviting people to go down and have a look. Istr it was even mentioned on STV local news.

[Tim Streater]

You sure? WW1 yes, but wouldn't they all have converted by then?

[damduck-egg]

Still a lot around in WW 2 , most went in the early fifties often replaced by oil burning Liberty and Victory ships hundreds of which were available as war surplus prices.

a typical British Coal burner of the period.

G.Harman

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yes. The End Of Coal was really a 50s-60s thing.

[Tim Streater]

Interesting - thanks.

[F]

'Orders were recently placed for all the supplies, components and materials necessary for operations. These purchases will have a positive impact on Italy?s national industry and the local economy.'

There you go: if you want to improve the local or national economy, arrange for a ship to run aground. Spin or what?!

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Thank you. It's thirty years on and f*ck knows where I'll find him now.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

[Steve Firth]

It's a real shame that the sheppey scum website has closed. It was laugh-out-loud funny.

[Doctor Drivel]

The cost of building a hull is expensive. The hull is salvageable and also the engines which needed rebuilding anyway.

The cost of stripping out the hull, cleaning it and then refitting is cheaper than building a new hull. I am sure they would fit a new styled funnel to hide the identity.

[Doctor Drivel]

Nope. The steel used was inferior. The Liberty ships were based based on a design from a Sunderland yard. It was an English design, which never broke in two because they use normal grade steel. The later Victory ship could sail alone as it could outrun U-Boats - over 500 built.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Funny how it was well documented then, that the welded hatch borders were where the stress cracks radiated out from and led to the breaking up of many of them. And when the problem was identified, braced and re-inforced designs around the corners of the hatches removed this problem entirely. Once again, Drivel spouts nonsense.