# engine room explsions



## cyp greeky (Sep 1, 2012)

clan line


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## cyp greeky (Sep 1, 2012)

iwas once told of a story of a 2nd and 4th that were killed wilst bunkering ther was an over fill and it went of when hitting the braker bars on the ellectrics and apparently the 2nd run down to engine room and the seccond blast got him rip can anybody verify this story thanks


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## D1566 (Sep 7, 2009)

cyp greeky said:


> iwas once told of a story of a 2nd and 4th that were killed wilst bunkering ther was an over fill and it went of when hitting the braker bars on the ellectrics and apparently the 2nd run down to engine room and the seccond blast got him rip can anybody verify this story thanks


It seems unlikely that a spill could land on a switchboard in this way and the chance of any marine fuel exploding on contact with electrics is also pretty remote. Maybe it was an issue with vapour?


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## Bobmac (May 17, 2008)

That may have been the Cornish City bunkering in Aden. I was 2nd Mate in a Ben boat had my camera handy as we passed her will post photos when i find them. Google Cornish City enquiry for details. Sounding cap pipe hadn't been screwed dow oil sprayed out onto something electrical.


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## D1566 (Sep 7, 2009)

Bobmac said:


> That may have been the Cornish City bunkering in Aden. I was 2nd Mate in a Ben boat had my camera handy as we passed her will post photos when i find them. Google Cornish City enquiry for details. Sounding cap pipe hadn't been screwed dow oil sprayed out onto something electrical.


Thanks but I am struggling with the Google search; can you provide a link please?


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## Blade Fisher (Sep 10, 2006)

Hi it is all here.

http://reardonsmithships.co.uk/cornishcity4003.php


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## Bobmac (May 17, 2008)

sorry can't find that enquiry report. She was Cornish City (4). @nd & 4th were killed in the explosion. Trying to add photos


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## D1566 (Sep 7, 2009)

Blade Fisher said:


> Hi it is all here.
> 
> http://reardonsmithships.co.uk/cornishcity4003.php


Thanks very much.


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## Clifford Cocker (Jan 21, 2008)

*Engine Room Explosions*

I believe the worst recorded loss of life in an Engine Room explosion (crankcase explosion) was the Reino del Pacifico on trials in the late 40s after a refit from her wartime service. That was before crankcase explosion doors and the explosion spread to the common sump.
The dead did include some apprentices and the yard that I served my time in put a ban on apprentices going on trials.
Strange the things one remembers in ones late 80s, but can't remember what appointments are coming up tomorrow with a written memo.
Cliff Cocker


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## Deepankar Choudhury (Jul 9, 2018)

An explosion of ship's crankcase is one of the most dangerous accidents in the ship's engine room which has led to harmful repercussions, including loss of lives in the past. In the engine crankcase, oil particles are churned into smaller particles of up to 200 micrometers in diameter.


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## doxfordsix (Apr 2, 2012)

I remember being in Taikoo Dockyard when a Norwegian tanker was towed in. Her Funnel was at an angle. They had stopped for a check and all engineers were on the plates when the crankcase exploded, Two engineers died and to add to the tragedy, their wives were with them. sixty years on I still remember the sad procession down the gangway as the bereaved came ashore to fly home.


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## sternchallis (Nov 15, 2015)

In a similar case to Post 2, the Trojan Star an ex Selem Reefer had sounding tubes for the diesel tanks in the ER. 
One particular tube was by the Stbd fwd Generator. This was supposed to be shut down when bunkering, but it wasn't. 
So all of a sudden there is a jet of diesel up the tube straight onto the hot exhaust, and the 4th Engineer died in the fire.
Believe this has been reported a few years back.

These were modern semi automatic Engine Rooms that had been UMS in Salems day, yet not to fit pnuemercators for fuel tanks on a modern ship beggars belief.
My 2nd ship built 1952 had pneumercators and two LBD Doxfords.

In 1984 in the US I was involved in the commissioning of 5 tankers, they were UMS the generators could start up and synch to the switchboard automatically, yet had dip tubes only for the HO & DO tanks. ????
Though the Shipyard's Chief Mechanical Engineer was a bit of a cheap skate and was more used to designing bulkers for the Great Lakes in Laredo, so perhaps modern methods had not reached him yet.


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## Deepankar Choudhury (Jul 9, 2018)

The ship’s engine room is the home to a variety of machinery and systems, which work together to move the ship from one port to another. Engine room experts have to continually work among such high temp and pressure systems, which make an incredibly hostile working environment.


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## Tim Gibbs (Apr 4, 2012)

Deepankar Choudhury said:


> The ship’s engine room is the home to a variety of machinery and systems, which work together to move the ship from one port to another. Engine room experts have to continually work among such high temp and pressure systems, which make an incredibly hostile working environment.


In 1966 the City of Poona was approaching Tawau in Borneo. I was starting another generator and the next thing a remember was being in the British Army base medical centre. There had been an air start line explosion which had peeled back the copper pipework like a banana skin, blown the pipe off one flange and the bottom out of two stop valves.
I eventually spent some time in an eye clinic in Bangkok where they cleaned out all muck out of my eyes which fortunately suffered no lasting damage - unlike my ears !
On reflection, the cause of the explosion was what I consider to be almost criminally bad design; the starting air was timed by ports in the fuel pump guides and any fuel leaking down from the fuel pump had an easy route through the ports into the starting air system. So, if a cylinder head air start valve stuck open when the engine fired, the consequence was almost inevitable(Cloud) 
But do they ever learn? Many years later I came across a main engine from the same manufacturer where the emergency stop system was an arrangement where air from the starting system was used to blow the fuel out of the fuel pump manifold (MAD)


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## David Barton (Jul 25, 2011)

*Explosion whilst bunkering.*

Clan MacNab bunkering in Aden, guess at mid 1970s. Loading marine diesel, which in those days was pumped from ashore. The line to the overflow tank was closed and the line to the overflow tank was fitted with a sight glass, which was cracked. A tank overflowed, causing pressurized fuel to spray over an adjacent generator (DC). A fire ball went through the engine room killing at least one officer and some crew. After that disaster marine diesel was only gravitated from the storage tanks on the hill.


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## AlbieR (May 18, 2007)

Deepankar Choudhury said:


> The ship’s engine room is the home to a variety of machinery and systems, which work together to move the ship from one port to another. Engine room experts have to continually work among such high temp and pressure systems, which make an incredibly hostile working environment.


Thanks for that explanation, often wondered what I was doing in the engine room for 45 years.(Thumb)(Jester)


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## Engine Serang (Oct 15, 2012)

Quote[ Often wondered what I was doing in the engine room for 45 years.].Quote

Albie surely you had some idea!


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## sternchallis (Nov 15, 2015)

I think the bar on docking night after a month at sea was far more hostile especially in Kiwi when the (Hippy)(Hippy)(Hippy)(Eats) bunnies and the heavy lift crowd came down .
Once you got a pair of Doxfords taimed they were as good as gold, not hostile at all. The loud noises kept you awake and the heat kept you warm and fuzzy.


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