The Big One In The Suez Canal

 It's hard to imagine a container ship that's as long as a football field. That's a big ship. 

Looks like thousands of containers. Wonder if that sucker is top heavy? 

Years ago I worked for a company that shipped stereo speakers to foreign countries. 

I had the opportunity to have dinner on a couple of them and was able to tour one of the ships. We were at the Port of Stockton (California), one night on a ship with an English crew. I won't guess at the registry of the vessel because they are from all over the place, mostly third world countries. 

Apparently the English like food cold. the dinner (as I recall) was some type of meat (cold) and cold peas.  

Another time I was on a ship with a Norwegian crew, but unfortunately it's been so long (sometime in the 80's) I've forgotten what the dinner was. The vague memory I have is that (what ever it was) was really good. 

I also had the opportunity to get a personal tour of one of the ships. Two items stand out. One was the computerization of the containers that needed to be kept cool or frozen. The other was the engine room. Spotless. You could have eaten off the floor it was so clean. 

These ships back in the 80's weren't nearly as big as the one stuck in the Suez Canal. But then, none of them got stuck. 

Lastly, they got that sucker loose this morning and are moving it to "The Great Bitter Lake" for further inspection. Yeh, I wondered about that name too. Seems when the canal was dug (I thought it was natural), there was a dry, salt valley right in the middle. They flooded it to use as a bypass or turn around for ships. 

By it's very location, the lake has twice the salinity of ocean water and therefore doesn't support life, whether plant or animal, very well.  

There is a bunch more information about Gastropods and BiValves on Wikipedia if you're interested in things with shells and long names. 

That's it for today. 

Stay Tuned