Ship Ashore Word on the Week 27th March 2021.
Few things capture the imagination more than a maritime disaster. If the ship is big and its cargo highly visible, then it is newsworthy. If, in addition, the ship flounders in the Suez Canal, effectively blocking it, then we have all the ingredients of a prime maritime disaster!
This occurred on Tuesday when the MV EVER GIVEN apparently was blown off course when a 40 knot gust hit the side of the vessel. Photographs show that the cargo of containers was stacked eight high above the deck and would present considerable wind resistance. The ship, which is longer than four soccer fields, has been wedged diagonally across the canal, shutting the waterway in both directions.
Ships waiting to use the canal have accumulated at either end of it. They total 213 at present. Some may attempt the long route around South Africa but the cost of additional fuel, plus normal ships overheads incurred during the ten-day journey, would take make it unattractive.
Freeing the vessel is going to require the removal of copious quantities of sand by dredgers and much pushing by five tugboats which are on the scene. Of course the spring tides are due tomorrow and will create an above normal high water level. They are influenced by the gravitation pull of the moon and reduce in height as the moon waxes only to rise again at the next full moon.
This presents a small window of opportunity which the salvage crews will use to exert the maximum pressure against the side of the vessel coinciding with the high tide. It is tempting to pray to the Lord that he might send a reduced version of Noah’s flood which got his ark to float in former times (Genesis Chapter 6 verses 13 to 22).
There are also storms which spring up suddenly and can put fear into experienced fishermen, in the Bible. One occurred to the north in the Lake of Galilee when Jesus was crossing with his disciples. As St Mark records “A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was asleep in the stern. The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown? Jesus calmed the storm showing that he has authority over nature (Chapter 4 verses 35 – 41).
But it is not usual for Jesus to do a miracle to free an enormous ship which has been designed more as a testimony to man’s greed than to seaworthiness. The storms that blow today on the bridge of the MV EVER GIVEN are more likely to require Jesus help with repentance and forgiveness between the owners and the ships command; and they may be in short supply!