I joined the Irving Forest in July of 1988. She was in drydock in Rotterdam after smacking into an oil rig in the North Sea. The 3rd mate was on watch. In the middle of the night, he put the ship on autopilot and went to bed. The ship collided at full speed with NO ONE on the bridge. Both the captain and the mate went to jail for negligence. Miraculously, no injuries. I joined her while she was being repaired in Rotterdam. I sailed on her for 4 mos. The best part was sailing up the Seine to Rouen, France, in the summer, the river banks were so lush and green, the skies clear. We'd gather at the bow, away from the sound of the engines, and have a little picnic. The Forest was formerly the Finnalpino, Finn lines. The only ship I've been on that had a sauna. But my cabin was so small I could sit on my bunk, reach out and touch the far wall. The food was excellent. British officers and cook, who served up the only edible British food there is, curries and plenty of them. I was in heaven, but the crew, mostly from Halifax or St. John's were revolted. 2 years later, the Forest capsized in heavy seas Again, no casualties. That ship had a lot of problems.
Hi Glen, Hi believe my uncle was working on that oilrig when it got slammed by the ship. I've got a bunch of pictures similar to the closeup shot of the damage to the ship you posted and also a bunch of pictures of the damage on the oilrig (fire, twisted steel, etc. ). Pretty cool to find the story behind those pictures. Theses pictures are amongst the only memories I've got from my uncle who sadly passed away 4 and a half years ago.
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I joined the Irving Forest in July of 1988. She was in drydock in Rotterdam after smacking into an oil rig in the North Sea. The 3rd mate was on watch. In the middle of the night, he put the ship on autopilot and went to bed. The ship collided at full speed with NO ONE on the bridge. Both the captain and the mate went to jail for negligence. Miraculously, no injuries.
I joined her while she was being repaired in Rotterdam. I sailed on her for 4 mos. The best part was sailing up the Seine to Rouen, France, in the summer, the river banks were so lush and green, the skies clear. We'd gather at the bow, away from the sound of the engines, and have a little picnic.
The Forest was formerly the Finnalpino, Finn lines. The only ship I've been on that had a sauna. But my cabin was so small I could sit on my bunk, reach out and touch the far wall.
The food was excellent. British officers and cook, who served up the only edible British food there is, curries and plenty of them. I was in heaven, but the crew, mostly from Halifax or St. John's were revolted.
2 years later, the Forest capsized in heavy seas Again, no casualties. That ship had a lot of problems.
Hi Glen,
Hi believe my uncle was working on that oilrig when it got slammed by the ship. I've got a bunch of pictures similar to the closeup shot of the damage to the ship you posted and also a bunch of pictures of the damage on the oilrig (fire, twisted steel, etc. ). Pretty cool to find the story behind those pictures. Theses pictures are amongst the only memories I've got from my uncle who sadly passed away 4 and a half years ago.
It wasn’t the 3rd office that went to bed. Eric, the third mate passed the watch over the the 2nd mate, and it was he who went to bed.
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