Star Wrecks

I Know What You're Thinking

No!  This is not a riff on that cult Sixties sci-fi series "Star Trek", which I have mistakenly called "Star Trex" in the past, until it was pointed out to me that Trex is actually a brand of cooking lard.  I blame the title font, it's quite confusing.  Art!

     Okay, we needed two pictures to qualify for the plural in today's title.  What you see above is the cautionary sight of the USS 'Constellation'; the upper image is the CGI enhanced version and the one below is from the original series, and Conrad knows which he prefers.  This is one of my favourite episodes of the series and sh

     ANYWAY there we go again, off-topic as ever about what this isn't.  Don't worry, we'll be coming back to this one again O yes indeed.  You see, Conrad came across a fascinating thread on Quora triggered by the question "What happens to abandoned ships?".

       Often they're abandoned because they're sinking, and after being abandoned they go all the way and sink, and that's an end to them unless you go poking around with a Remotely Operated Submersible.  Art!

     Some, on the other hand, get swept onto reefs or ashore, and if they're not too inaccessible one can chart their gradual disintegration.

     Hence we come to the 'American Star' and that's where today's title comes from.  Let us see her in pristine form.  Art!

     To say this ship had a long and varied career is to understate wildly.  Even if we only outlined it, it would take up the whole of today's and tomorrow's blog.  We may come back to this, it depends how I feel.

     She was laid-down as the SS 'America' in 1939, but was re-named 'American Star' prior to being towed from the Med to Thailand.  The Egyptians were leery of allowing her through the Suez Canal, as this is 1993 we're talking about, so she would have to be towed via the Cape.

     Alas, it was not to be.  In January of 1994, amidst a storm, she had to be abandoned by the towing tugs, and consequently ran ashore on Fuerta Ventura, one of the Canary Islands.

     Here she is later in 1994.  Art!

All photgraphs courtesy Michael Burden @ Quora

     The ship had been broken in two by the action of the sea just aft of the second funnel, which is why it looks a tad distorted above.  I say 'second funnel' and you'll just have to trust me on this.

     In 1998 the whole of the severed stern section collapsed into the sea, leaving only the bow section above the waves.  Art!

     This photo is from six years later, showing the effects of corrosion and a slight list to port.  In  2005, one year after this picture was taken, the port side of this section collapsed, leading to an markedly increased list and the funnel went overboard, too.  Art!

     In 2007 the starboard side collapsed and the whole thing fell into the sea - or what was left of it.  Because it also broke in two, the only thing now visible is the bow, and that only at low tide.  Art!

     I found Michael's photo-essay fascinating, and proof that you scoff at the sea at your own peril.

     Motley! <he said with a stern expression>  come and take a bow.

Talking Of The Bottom Of The Ocean

Your Humble Scribe is sitting in his Sekrit Layr, typing these words of wit, wisdom, wonder and whimsy, and idly looked out of the window.

     Yuck.   Art!

     The view from The Mansion.  Note the pot of that drink that cheers yet not inebriates, which you need in depressing weather like this.  This must be what the 'American Star' feels like.

Good Lord Aloft!

As you should surely know by now, Conrad is a greedy rascal who thinks with his stomach.  Wonder Wifey thinks laying an ambush for me would be easy: just bait it with a cheese sandwich.  Art!

     This monstrous Giant Breakfast Baguette costs £23 and comes loaded with: "sausages, bacon, eggs, beans, black pudding, mushrooms, hash browns"

     It looks to be a yard long.  The kicker is, if you can down it in 45 minutes then it's free.  45minutes?  More like 45 hours!  You could cut it into five pieces and have it for breakfast every day of the working week, which works out at £4.60 per morning.

     Conrad is tempted.  However, "Meg's Grill And Chilli" lives in the far distant North-East where they speak funny.  It's a van, so there is a faint possibility of it hieing itself over the Pennines.

"The Sea Of Sand"

Our gallant band of survivors have come across the scene of a muted massacre, an Arab caravan destroyed by the bio-vores.

‘Yeah – well – everyone call’s ‘em – well, anyway,’ replied Tam weakly.  That Doctor Smith didn’t raise his voice yet it still felt like being slapped about the face with a cactus.  A blush brighter and hotter than the mid-day sun came to the stolid soldiers’ face.

          ‘What were they going south for?’ he asked, trying to change the subject.  ‘That’d take them near the depot.’

          ‘Tam’s right,’ added Roger.  ‘The Arabs have enough sense to keep well away from any soldiers.’

          The Doctor stared at the sand and gravel beyond the massacre scene and wondered, too.  Out there, a hundred yards away, an object had stood in the sand, he could just discern the outline -

          ‘No sign of any beasties from the north, either,’ said Roger, scanning the depot with his binoculars.  ‘I can’t believe they left the whole site unguarded.’

          ‘There are probably sentries posted further inside,’ warned the Doctor.

          ‘Good!’ said Tam, patting a liberated tommy-gun. 

          ‘Be careful,’ said the Doctor with emphasis.  ‘They carry hand-held stun guns and a dart-throwing gun every bit as deadly at short range as your firearms.’

          After what Sarah explained about the bio-vore’s reaction when she threw petrol over it, the Doctor had armed himself with a jam-jar full of petrol, turning down the offer of a rifle or pistol or a Bren gun.

         O my, I wonder what that outline could have been that interested the Doctor so intently?

Just Trust

Ah, First Bus.  If they'd been in charge of NATO we'd all be speaking Russian by now.  Your Humble Scribe's Tuesday trip to work saw the sadly-not-unusual sight of three 409s travelling in a pack for safety, meaning one was 20 minutes late, one was 10 minutes late and one was (gasp!) on time.

     I did try to get photographic evidence of this annoying event and - well, I shall let Art take the blame.

     Squint a bit and use your imagination and you can see all three of the bumbletucks.

     My revenge was excoriating - I didn't say 'Thank you' to the driver as I got off.  Heh.  That'll teach them!

Finally -

Hmmmm as I have gloatingly related already, today is one of my four days off, so I'm not in the Footasylum office.  This seems like a good idea, because I've just noticed a sidebar newsline on the BBC website, which states:

Microsoft working to end Outlook and Teams outage around world

     Get to it, Microsoft!  Mend things before I go back!