Asgard II Investigation Report Released

[bythewind]

The investigation report about the sinking of the sail training vessel Asgard II on 11th September 2008 has been published:
http://www.mcib.ie/reports/?thisid=1950

[Hwyl]

Wow, an incredible report, the views from the ROV are stunning. I'm amazed by the liferaft floor failure "the glue failed due to presence of high humidity and moisture". Someone should be spanked over that.

[Peerie Maa]

If they can afford it she looks worth raising. Possibly a new keel, three or four runs of plank and re-caulking should sort the hull. The mechanicals could be prohibitive though.

[peter radclyffe]

if i read this correctly, it looks like her keel may have hit an object,( a container ? maybe full of liferafts or iroko, or wedding dresses, we may never know), which triggered the fracture of an iroko hull plank at a point of localised stress due to the uneven distribution of framing of part bulkhead or mast step area ,borne out by a similar fracture on the port side, also they imply the plank was shocked (on impact presumably) off the spike heads, which remained in the oak frames

[paladin]

Immediately noticed two "errors" on the document, either there is an error in the registration of equipment on the vessel and the error was transposed to the investigation documents, or the investigators made 2 errors when doing the survey.

[Peerie Maa]

if i read this correctly, it looks like her keel may have hit an object,( a container ? maybe full of liferafts or iroko, or wedding dresses, we may never know), which triggered the fracture of an iroko hull plank at a point of localised stress due to the uneven distribution of framing of part bulkhead or mast step area ,borne out by a similar fracture on the port side, also they imply the plank was shocked (on impact presumably) off the spike heads, which remained in the oak frames

Yep, scending down into the trough of the swell onto a heavy submerged object would have caused a local whipping hog. This would have put the bottom planking into compression, causing it to spring away from the timbers as it was forced to "shorten".

[David W Pratt]

I would think that after almost 30 years of service, including 4 transats, any stress or strain in the planks would be worked out.

[Ian McColgin]

Landing on things is interesting. I was conning a Kings Cruiser fast off the wind a bit south of Plymouth when we landed on something hard. Judging from an inspection of the bottom of the keel a few days later it was likely that we came down off a wave onto a container, of which there had been dozens lost off a barge just a few days before.

We did not take any broken planks like Asgard did. The boat had narrow rivited planks and tight (no caulking) seams. Under the impact, many of the seams opened up making massive and rather beautiful parabolic arcs of sheet water from each side looking a bit like a cathedral. We were able to keep up with the pumps and the leakage began to relax, all but ending eight hours later, as the seams settled back into place. A number of floors were broken. With that thin planking, the screws into the frames pulled right through making leaks that had to be temp staunched with underwater setting epoxy and a tacked on little plywood patch from inside.

Anyway, different constructions react differently and I can see how such an impact would have broken planks in a differently built boat. My only surprise is that on Asgard the few who noticed anything heard noises but felt nothing. For that much damage I would have expected a bump that all would be noticable to the quick and the dead. Edited to add: One wonders if there was something loose and heavy enough to bang the planks out from the inside. That would be more consistent with the lack of hard impact, discernable (unmissable!) by all aboard if she struck something heavy from above.

[peter radclyffe]

only a barrel of guinness could be that heavy

[Hwyl]

only a barrel of guinness could be that heavy

A stout theory, but lacking in gravity.

We'll never know, but I think the hitting a heavy object theory is bogus.