Lysblink Seaways - Day 7, Press Release

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency has issued the following press release:

LYSBLINK SEAWAYS – VESSEL AGROUND KILCHOAN UPDATE TUESDAY 24th FEBRUARY

The ship to ship transfer of the fuel oil from the Lysblink Seaways looks set to begin sometime tomorrow morning.

Better weather conditions mean there is a window to do this work between 3am and midday tomorrow (25th).

In total 153 tons of fuel will be pumped from the Lysblink Seaways onto the tug Kingdom of Fife.

Hugh Shaw, the Secretary of State’s Representative for Maritime Salvage & Intervention said, ‘The wind is expected to moderate which means there is an opportunity to carry out this work.

‘The emergency pumping operation will only begin when we are satisfied it is safe to do so and we will be monitoring it continuously.’

The Scottish Environment Group continue to monitor the operation and has a representative on scene.

The Temporary Exclusion Zone of 200 metres remains in place.

Many thanks to Hugh Shaw for arranging for the Diary to have this.

'Burhou I' in Rough Seas

Kilchoan Early Bird's photos, taken near Ardnamurchan Point at 10.30 this morning, give some idea of the conditions there.  How fortunate that this was a northwesterly, so that the Lysblink Seaways was protected in the lee of the hills.

The ship is the Burhou I, a cargo ship heading for Lochaline.  Kilchoan Early Bird estimates the winds at force 8 to 9.

Many thanks to Kilchoan Early Bird for the pictures.

Lysblink Seaways - Day 7 Morning

This was the view across Kilchoan Bay yesterday afternoon, with the Lysblink Seaways turned into a strong southerly breeze.  The promised overnight gale wasn't as bad as forecast though, being a northwesterly, this side of the peninsula is relatively protected.

All the fuel oil is reported now to have been moved into the upper tanks.

This morning we watched the Kingdom of Fife patrolling up and down off Ormsaigbeg, to the west of the Lysblink Seaways, in winds which at times....

....gusted towards gale force and brought heavy hail showers.  As can be seen, the Forth Jouster remains in close attendance to the ship.  Unfortunately, those showers also brought thunder and lightning again, with the result that many internet connections and telephones are down - we can make outgoing calls but can't receive calls.

At half past one today the Herakles, one of HM Coastguard's Emergency Towing Vessels, arrived from Orkney.  She's here because the next stage is to remove most of the fuel from the Lysblink Seaways, which should, hopefully, be happening fairly soon.  Once it's clear, and given a window in this continuingly changeable weather, the ship will be towed away.  If we're lucky, she could finally be away on Thursday.

The Herakles won't be towing her.  A tug is coming from Stavanger in Norway for that.  Rumours persist in the village that the Lysblink Seaways will be scrapped.  One says she's going to India, the other to Turkey.

Lysblink Seaways - Day 6 Morning

The Lysblink Seaways is now securely anchored in the wide bay that runs eastwards from Mingary Pier to Maclean's Nose, with the Forth Jouster in attendance, but the weather has turned vicious. We've had near gale force west to southwesterly winds sweeping in heavy hail showers preceded by thunder and lightning. Shortly after six this morning the community's power supply failed and then recovered. To lose power now wouldn't be insuperable – the salvage people have plenty of back-up generator power with them.  The weather tomorrow looks even worse.

Picture shows the Spanish John II, a Mallaig boat which is being used to ferry supplies to and from the Lysblink Seaways, and the Kingdom of Fife off Mingary Pier. While the highest spring tides were two days ago, today's, at 4.7m and blown in by the wind, was unusually high.

In a press release yesterday, the MCA stated that the ship is extensively damaged along her bottom. Her fuel oil was only retained within the hull by the fact that it was floating on sea water. Hence their greatest concern while she was stranded was during low tide, when the sea withdrew. Despite this, oil leakage has been negligible, and the danger is further reduced now that the fuel has been pumped into the upper tanks. It will be removed from the ship as soon as possible.

Hugh Shaw of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency is the Secretary of State’s Representative in charge of the operation for the British government.  He was quite open about the challenges that have been faced over the last few days but was keen to emphasise the help all those working on the salvage operation have had from the local community. He said, “In the eight years I've been doing this job, I have never seen this level of support from a community. First class!”

The Lemon Tree tea room in the Community centre has been turned into an operations room, with food and drink made available. The facilities in HM Coastguard's hut have been in constant use by the salvage teams. The community in general, as it always does, has rallied round to provide as much assistance as possible.

Picture shows the Lysblink Seaways with the 13th century Mingary Castle, which is surrounded by scaffolding while it undergoes full refurbishment.

Sea Creature Challenge

By way of a pleasant change from stranded ships, Kilchoan Early Bird has sent in two pictures of sea creatures he would like identified.  This one is about the length of a little finger, and may be a chiton, perhaps Lepidochitona cinerea.  Can anyone confirm this?

This one is about the size of an average apple and is a complete mystery to me.  Has anyone any ideas?