Rough Weather Sinks Cargo Vessel

In the early morning of Tuesday, January 15, the Greek-registered general cargo vessel Ice Prince sank in "very rough weather approximately 26 miles south south east of the Portland Bill (50 09.9N 002 02.08W)," the United Kingdom's (UK's) Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) reported. All 20 members of the vessel's crew was evacuated, with only minor injuries except for one man who broke his leg, before the Ice Prince sank. The January 15 MCA press release on the incident describes the ship's state on the morning of the sinking: "The vessels stern is now on the bottom and the vow is above the water."

Two days prior, on the evening of January 13, the 6,395-ton, 100-meter-long Ice Prince ran into "difficulties mid channel," about 35 miles southeast of Start Point. En route to Alexandria, the ship's cargo of 528 metric tons of sawn timber had shifted while the vessel was "rolling heavily in very poor weather," including "rough seas and winds of up to force 7," causing the Ice Prince to list at 25 degrees.

A January 13 MCA press statement summarizes the early official response to the event: ". . . the Libertas H, is standing by. Various other vessels have also responded to the emergency call. Salcombe and Torbay RNLI all weather lifeboats were immediately requested to launch, and an emergency pan pan signal was broadcast into the area by the Coastguard warning other shipping of the `Ice Prince and her present predicament. This signal was picked up by the warship `Cumberland which is proceeding towards the area and has offered to assist in communications links."

Later that evening, the Master on board the Ice Prince reported that she was without power, though she had working navigation lights powered by emergency batteries, and was drifting at nearly 4 knots. The darkness on board the vessel caused one crew member, a 41-year-old Greek national, to break his leg. He, along with 11 other "non essential crew," were subsequently evacuated by the Coastguard rescue helicopter India Juliet from Portland, which was "immediately scrambled to the vessel" after the Master reported the injury to the Coastguard at 8:15 p.m. The RNLI Torbay and Salcombe lifeboats "took off" the remaining 8 crew members later in the evening.

Just before midnight on January 13, the Ice Prince was reportedly ". . . listing at 40 degrees to port." This increased list, as well as a "five metre swell with winds gusting to force 8," caused an undetermined amount of the vessel's 2,000 tons of deck cargo to fall into the sea, which the French Coastguard began broadcasting warnings about to alert other vessels in the area. The MCA's counter pollution team was also alerted that the Ice Prince was carrying 313 metric tons of fuel oil in her bunkers.

The French Coastguard tug Abeille Liberté stood by the vessel throughout Monday, January 14, and hourly reported the condition of the Ice Prince to the Coastguard. This monitoring, with the added surveillance of the tug Anglian Earl, continued during the night. Then, at a quarter to one on the morning of January 15, it was reported that the "Ice Prince sank in very rough weather approximately 26 miles south south east of the Portland Bill (50 09.9N 002 02.08W)."

"Just before she sank," the January 15 MCA press statement continues, "the crew of the Abeille Liberté reported that further deck cargo had been lost to the sea and that the angle of the list had increased but that visibility is very poor at present in very rough weather. The tug is remaining on scene to act as a guard ship to the wreck." After an MCA counter pollution aerial surveillance aircraft passed over the area to assess the extent of debris from the Ice Prince, it was estimated that "2,000 tons of untreated sawn timber of differing sizes" had broken free from the ship prior to and during her sinking. Apparently, "some of the packages [had] already broken up into individual pieces" and ". . . discussions are taking place with the owners to appoint a contractor to be responsible for the collection of the cargo." The timber is expected to ". . . reach land between the Dorset/Hampshire border and East Sussex."

Additionally, the latest MCA release when MarEx went online states, "There have been reports of a light sheen of oil on the surface at the wreck site, but this is being broken up by wave energy and natural sea movement." The MCA press statement describes the official actions taken/discussed to take care of the lost cargo and any leaked oil: "At a meeting this morning convened by the Secretarys of State Representative for Maritime Salvage and Intervention (SOSREP) Hugh Shaw, various options were discussed on minimising the impact of the loss of cargo or oil from the sunken `Ice Prince. Representatives from the Environment Group, Police, local authorities and the owners and salvors also attended the meeting. A guard vessel, the Klyne tug, Anglian Earl will remain on scene until Trinity House have completed their survey of the wreck site. This is to ensure that the wreck does not pose any hazard to navigation. The salvors are currently working on a plan to decide how best to recover the oil and pollutants that are currently contained within tanks on the vessel to minimise the risk of environmental impact. "

Police forces in the area are also "working closely" with the Receiver of Wreck and the MCA. The press statement warns that those "failing to comply" with the police, which "have been authorized by the Receiver of Wreck to act on her behalf," may be heavily fined or even arrested.

The Ice Prince was not the only vessel negatively affected by the UK's recent poor weather. A few days earlier, on the morning of January 10, a 1986-built, 41,766-ton chemical tanker, the Mariella, ". . . dragged its anchor in gale force conditions with winds gusting up to 45 knots in Weymouth Bay." Thankfully, the Coastguard Emergency Towing Tug Anglian Earl successfully towed the Norwegian vessel, with an 8.3-meter draft, to Portland Port later the same day. However, as the tanker ". . . came to within 60 yards of going aground and had less than a metre of water under the hull at the time of attaching the tow," on-scene units described the incident as ". . . a close run thing that the vessel did not ground given the prevailing swell conditions and wind conditions which consistently exceeded 50 knots."

Then, just a day after the Ice Prince first ran into trouble, a Isle of Man-registered, 9,576-gross ton car carrier, the City of Sunderland, ". . . ran aground at the south edge of Happisburgh Sands, 8 miles off the coast between Cromer and Great Yarmouth Norfolk." Though the ship ran aground with 642 cars and a 13-member crew aboard, the vessel sustained no damage and no injuries were reported. A day after the grounding, on the evening the Ice Prince sank, the tugs Svitzer Trimley and Grey Test successfully refloated the City of Sunderland in ". . . a smooth, well managed operation." The last MCA press release on the incident, from January 15, states that the ship was currently en route to Tees Port, her original destination with the Svitzer Trimley shadowing her until the assistance is ". . . no longer felt necessary."

For the latest information on these three maritime incidents, as well as other in the UK, see the MCA's Web site: www.mcga.gov.uk.