# Stuff and Things > HISTORY, veterans & science >  The chances of whacking a floating container mid ocean

## UKSmartypants

Sailor beware.....


Could a floating shipping container sink your yacht? How real is the danger? - Yachting World

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## Big Dummy

There are 1000’s of cruise ships adrift at sea.  Near 100 around the Caribbean. 100’s more near the Philippines. Several extra large top notch ships off Coronado. Many if not most, have stranded crew. Crew not allowed to enter foreign countries under covid rules. They are not getting paid. All or most are laid off and the ship owners are not taking them back to their many different countries of origin.

Imagine running into one of those in the fog.

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Lone Gunman (05-08-2020),Quark (05-08-2020)

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## Frankenvoter

I watched a Robert Redford movie that explored that premise called "All is Lost", it was worth a watch, there was also an Aussie movie of the same premise with 4 blokes at each others throats after thier yacht hits a floating something or other and they end up floating around for a few months trying to stay alive

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## Crusader

Just another reason I’m a land lover.

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East of the Beast (05-10-2020)

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## Big Dummy

> Sailor beware.....
> 
> 
> Could a floating shipping container sink your yacht? How real is the danger? - Yachting World





> I watched a Robert Redford movie that explored that premise called "All is Lost", it was worth a watch, there was also an Aussie movie of the same premise with 4 blokes at each others throats after thier yacht hits a floating something or other and they end up floating around for a few months trying to stay alive





> Just another reason I’m a land lover.


Here is an idea. Pay the cruise lines to ferry all the refugee muslims back to where they came from.

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Abbey (05-08-2020),Lone Gunman (05-08-2020)

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## Lone Gunman

> Here is an idea. Pay the cruise lines to ferry all the refugee muslims back to where they came from.


or just drop them over the side on the trip back.  :Wave:

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Rutabaga (05-08-2020)

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## UKSmartypants

> Just another reason I’m a land lover.


   better than being a Land Rover.....

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## Big Dummy

> or just drop them over the side on the trip back.


Allow the cruise liner corporations to sink them in the middle of the Atlantic for the insurance money. Claim passenger mutiny caused it.

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## Dr. Felix Birdbiter

I am an avid sailor and I have read several stories of sailors who have lost their boats due to running into containers that have fallen off ships.  Apparently they float just below the surface of the water and the unsuspecting boat hits one in the middle of the night at 6 or 7 mph, enough to put a hole in the boat or tear off its keel.  There are also many missing boats that are suspected to have fallen prey to one of these derelicts and sunk along with the entire crew of the sailboat.

Although the oceans are vast there are well traveled "lanes" for both private craft and commercial shipping.  Furthermore, there are far more containers falling off ships than anyone realizes.

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UKSmartypants (05-09-2020)

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## UKSmartypants

Apparantly, theres now a plan to insert long perforated steel tubes into the corners of containers so they fill all the way up and sink to the ocean floor.

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Dr. Felix Birdbiter (05-09-2020)

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## Dr. Felix Birdbiter

> There are 1000’s of cruise ships adrift at sea.  Near 100 around the Caribbean. 100’s more near the Philippines. Several extra large top notch ships off Coronado. Many if not most, have stranded crew. Crew not allowed to enter foreign countries under covid rules. They are not getting paid. All or most are laid off and the ship owners are not taking them back to their many different countries of origin.
> 
> Imagine running into one of those in the fog.


No offense but the topic is really about containers falling off ships, not cruise ships that may be unable to dock.

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East of the Beast (05-10-2020)

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## UKSmartypants

Our understanding of the ocean currents was massively improved a hundredfold due to containers falling off a ship.  Five containers had 60,000 pairs of distinct yellow trainers on board, which burst open as the container sank in the Pacific.  The trainers all had serial numbers on, and they knew the exact position and date the ship sank

Yellow trainers started appearing on beaches  on the US west coast at Vancouver Island exactly as predicted. in all 1200 trainers were recovered, which is actually a pretty good return rate for this kind of experiment.



Theres a  similar story been circulating for years about a container of yellow plastic ducks that got released. Im not convinced its true, for various reasons, but the nike trainers story has been verified by the Woods Hole Instiute.

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Dr. Felix Birdbiter (05-10-2020)

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