The recent loss of a stack of containers on a transoceanic voyage has set the letters flying on Tom Lewick’s “Scuttlebutt”.

Our own feeling is that there are probably thousands of these lost overboard every year. Most sink right away. But a few – refrigeration containers with their insulation and those filled with boxes of light-weight items packed in foam – are around for a long time (often barely awash).

In addition you have trees (sometimes huge trees), cargo hatches, steel tanks which have floated free from the ground in a flood somewhere, and other sorts of flotsam and jetsam. There’s nothing like a huge root ball of some tree floating by to windward to get you thinking…

What are the risks to cruisers from all these hard items floating around on our oceans? That’s hard to scientifically quantity. Certainly boats are lost to these issues. We can think of 5 or 6 instances (in many years) where we’ve known first- or secondhand of boats damaged by major collisions with debris (whales included). However, when you consider all of the risks to which we are exposed in modern life, and how many yachts are out cruising – this sounds like pretty good odds to us.

Which brings us to the subject of watertight bulkheads. A forward collision bulkhead can go a long way towards reducing the risks from collisions in general. Every new yacht should be built with a collision bulkhead – and better yet forward-and-aft watertight bulkheads. When installed during the construction process, these will add only a fraction of a percent to the overall cost. If the “market” demands this safety feature, the builders will respond (every boat we’ve built in the last 24 years has had fore-and-aft watertight bulkheads).

You can retrofit a collision bulkhead. Often this is a partial, and can be done with slight modifications to existing structure (the entire subject of watertight bulkheads is covered in more detail in our Offshore Cruising Encyclopedia).

Following is an interesting letter which was recently sent to “Scuttlebutt":

From: Chris DailekAs a licensed US Merchant Ship deck officer sailing on US flag containerships and a racing sailor and frostbiter while “ashore,” I can say that merchant ships never jettison containers intentionally. They only go overboard when some part of the lashing gear either fails or was not properly secured, in heavy seas. The transoceanic vessels out there these days are huge – 900+ feet, carrying thousands of boxes, hundreds secured on deck, but have no cranes on deck, manned by very small crews. The ship is in port less than 24 hours loading by shore-based cranes and cargo is secured by local longshore gangs, inspected by one or two deck officers in a hurry-up-and-get-to-sea scenario leaving little time for correcting a poor lashing job. Even well lashed boxes can break deck fittings, or lashings and come adrift. At sea in heavy weather the ship’s crew does not have the cranes or manpower to do much more than get the box numbers by binoculars from the bridge as they go over the side. Most maindecks are too dangerous in a storm to venture out on. Yes, containers can float. If the doors are secured they are watertight and tank containers will float indefinitely. If the cargo inside will float, it may support the container. Still the vast majority probably sink immediately. As to GPS assisted tracking of each container – this is already happening. If the customer wants to track his shipment worldwide, this is now possible with some shippers.