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Comment by DenverCode | Hacker News Reader

The page states that the winds were at BF 4 (13-18 MPH) and waves were 5-6 meters (16-20 feet) during the incident.

One Apus measures out at 364 meters.

I spent four years at sea and 5-6 meters with BF4 winds, isn't THAT bad- especially for a ship that size. Am I missing something here?

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Am I missing something here?

Look at the picture they posted of their ship. You see any lashings holding the top 3 layers of containers? And the ends aren't aligned, so they can't be held together with twistlocks. Is anything holding those upper containers in place?

This is the second ONE ship to lose containers this year.[1]

[1] https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/casualty/second-one-boxshi...

It would be quite unusual to get 5-6 meter waves at BF4. That's more of a BF8 level. I bet it's misreported. Most ships, even small ones, will not care for BF4.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale#Modern_scale

Couldn’t the waves originate elsewhere where it’s BF8? What’s going to stop a wave in the open ocean?

Other waves. The ocean is pretty disorderly

Waves can travel, but big waves quickly spend their energy, because, unlike swells, they break. When the wind goes down, waves quiet down very quickly.

That's a good question. It says the prevailing winds were BF4, but then earlier it mentions 'gale force' which implies BF8? Something seems missing indeed.

Surely a weather forecast could have predicted the wind force and then this could have been avoided? Or has something failed or the loading been done incorrectly?

Sometimes captains decide to go through much worse storms.

That's what happened with El Faro, if I remember correctly. A huge ship sunk by a huge storm. The captain was a self-sure moron, killed 30+ people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_El_Faro

No, there's absolutely no way 4 bft winds would cause a ship, especially one such as that, to lose containers normally. 4 bft winds are a small fraction of the waves such a ship should normally be able to endure: this ship's usual duty is sailing massive distances in the Pacific, where such winds are completely normal. If this actually occurred in 4 bft winds, there has to have been either a massive screwup somewhere or a series of mechanical failures.

I've been out sailing in BF4 a few times in a 8m/~24f boat, #2 jib and spry main sail hand and its completely manageable - OK not with that reported swell. There must be another explanation.

I’ve been on worse with my 43 foot sailboat.

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