gdp's Comments

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : Shipyard Time Lapse Photography - Accommodation Megabock Move

Sat, 30 May 2009 19:03:12 +0000

Oops, too late Lou.

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : Another US vessel attacked, other vessels hijacked - Are the pirates winning?

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:17:05 +0000

This is one of my personal favorite comments, excellent observation of the situation.

Thanks,
John

John Konrad
gCaptain.com

Sent from my iPhone

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : Maersk Alabama Lifeboat FAQ

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:14:27 +0000

Mariner! Sounds like you have the facts down. Thanks! Capt. Bryan, You're probably right on the capacity... I might have given two much value to MMA's statement but I do know that Capt. Phillips took extra gear with him including a UHF radio... no reason he didn't grab the SART. I have also never sailed on a ship that didn't have a VHF (fixed, hand-held or SCT) aboard... one ship even had handheld & fixed plus PLB's & SART's for each of the boats! -John

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : Overflight, Overflight, Overflight - The Missing Component To Combatting Piracy

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:00:34 +0000

JKB is correct on both accounts. With the range of these units they could easily be launched from Djibouti (for GofA runs) and the Seychelles (for Inida Ocean runs).

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : US Operated Maersk Alabama Piracy Incident

Wed, 8 Apr 2009 22:02:01 +0000

dotcommonsense, I have not heard of any MSC ships using LRAD's. When carrying military cargo they have guns aboard BUT this ship was unarmed.

The Maritime : The Guinness tankers

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 04:45:29 +0000

Looks like she was scrapped in Livepool in Feb of 1994: http://www.miramarshipindex.org.nz/ship/show/5965... More here: http://bit.ly/fwNBA

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : Bow Asir & Nipayia - Pirates Find Success In Shift Back To Somalia's East Coast

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 21:46:49 +0000

They are using convoys extensively in the Gulf Of Aden. The problem now is that ship owners found safety in distance from land by avoiding the GOA and rounding the Cape Of Good Hope. This plus the fact that convoys have not been 100% successful in the GOA. One problem is that slower vessels (the ones most prone to attack) need to maintain max speed to keep up with the convoy... one engineering hickup and they get left behind.... a problem that would be magnified, due to the distance involved, on a meridional voyage.

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : USNS Impeccable - Harassed by Chinese Navy + FAQ

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:16:11 +0000

The answer to your first question is yes. It happened in early '94 I believe. I know it was the first use of a troop ship since the Vietnam War but I can only assume it was the last time.

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : John Cota, Pilot Of The Cosco Busan, Pleads Guilty

Mon, 9 Mar 2009 21:44:07 +0000

Sent by a Bay Area lawyer (and friend of gCaptain) via email: Only because lawyers are trained to focus on language in written instruments or documents, I read your recent posting with interest. If Pilot Cota pleads guilty to 2 misdemeanors, he does not risk "prison" time, only "jail" time. Typically the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor is whether the incarceration is more than a year. If so, a felony, prison time. If less than a year, a misdemeanor and jail time. In Sacramento County first time drunk driver convictions, the2 days are usually done on work details without any jail time on account of the crowded conditions of the main jail and the correctional center in the south county. Sometimes a felony charge results in one year in county jail and an extended period of probation. If the terms of the probation are violated then the man does the three years, thus it is a felony. On the other hand sometimes in his sentence of a criminal felon the Judge can make it a misdemeanor in his sentence, ordering a fine and jail time only. All somewhat confusing, but the main thought is that I do not think Cota will do prison time. Hope all is going well with the gCaptain enterprise

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : John Cota, Pilot Of The Cosco Busan, Pleads Guilty

Sun, 8 Mar 2009 05:25:55 +0000

Posted by "Reader" via email... From the referenced San Francisco Chronicle newspaper account: "(Judge) Illston allowed Cota to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of violating the Clean Water Act and the Migratory Bird Act. She scheduled sentencing for June 19." . "Prosecutors agreed to dismiss felony charges that Cota lied in annual physical exams about the medications he was taking" From the referenced DOJ press release: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/March/09-enrd-20... The plea agreement contains factual admissions by Cota including: “I acknowledge that my negligence was a proximate cause of the discharge of approximately 53,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil into San Francisco Bay.” During the voyage in less than a half mile of visibility, Cota gave the helm commands that crashed the Cosco Busan into the fendering system at the base of the Delta tower of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. In the plea agreement, Cota admitted that he: Failed to use the ship’s radar in the final approach to San Francisco Bay Bridge; Failed to recognize two red triangles on the ship’s electronic chart system that actually are the buoys marking the Delta bridge tower; Failed to verify the meaning of the red triangles by using the ship’s paper chart or radar. Failed to inform the crew of his method of navigation that he relied on using a particular radar setting; and Failed to advise the crew of a radar beacon that marked the center of the Delta-Echo span. . . As part of the plea agreement with Cota, the government agreed to dismiss pending (added: felony) false statement charges relating to allegations that Cota failed to disclose his medications on required Coast Guard forms in 2006 and 2007 necessary to maintain his license, and which the court ruled would be tried separately from the case involving the Cosco Busan incident. . Cota admits in the plea papers filed today that his 2006 physical exam form failed to disclose some of the medications he was prescribed including: Provigil (a medication prescribed to treat sleep apnea), Lorazepam (an anti-anxiety medication that had been prescribed as a sleeping aid), Vicodin(a pain medication), Tylenol 4 (a pain medication), Darvon 65 (a pain medication), Zoloft (an anti-depressant prescribed for an off-brand purpose) and Ambien (a sleeping aid). Regarding the form he signed in 2007, Cota admits that three medications, Vicodin, Zoloft and Tylenol 4 were not disclosed to the Coast Guard. According to the plea papers, while Cota reported taking various other drugs “occasionally” on the 2007 form, he now admits that he “refilled many of these prescriptions regularly.”

CGBlog.org :: An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog : President Obama set to kill LORAN

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 08:44:25 +0000

What happened to converting them to eLoran stations? http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/the-return-of-l...

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : Best Maritime Blogs of 2009 That You (Maybe) Aren’t Reading

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:35:53 +0000

Tim, this is a post on the best blogs mariners aren't reading... surely Puget Sound Maritime is widely read ;)

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : Tag Cloud

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 06:03:58 +0000

It should be working now.

CGBlog.org :: An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog : Accelerating Coast Guard Modernization Could Save Taxpayer Dollars

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:12:06 +0000

Who's that idiot from gCaptain sullying up the transcript ;) (Many thanks for your patience Jim!) -John

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : RDML Ronald J. Rabago, USCG Director of Acquisition Programs - gCaptain Interview

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:28:12 +0000

Brian, that's what we're here for, smile!

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : 10 More Anti-Piracy Weapons For Use In Somalia

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:23:25 +0000

I wouldn't be surprised in the least and we agree with your position the problem is that the IMO, BIMCO and the like have repeatedly issued strong statements against arming ships. Even if ship owners got past this most of the large registries prohibit their use and some major ports will ban an armed vessel's entry. So the question is... until regulations change, are less than lethal options better than no defense?

CGBlog.org :: An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog : gCaptain reporting Gulf of Aden pirates taking things to the next level

Thu, 4 Dec 2008 18:19:12 +0000

Thanks for the link! It seems the Cruise Ship company has retracted the story, now saying that the pirates were in fact tuna fisherman. We are still hunting down the facts and new leads from Fairplay and others suggest the company is trying to downplay the events. stay tuned for an update. We are also working on a less-than-lethal solution with heavy emphasis on onboard audits, training and drills prior to reaching the Gulf Of Aden. If anyone is interested in this solution please email me directly: admin@gcaptain.com -John gCaptain.com

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : Looking For Talent - Are You The Next Reality TV Star?

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:29:12 +0000

Fred, You should put your hat in, you never know. I certainly did, and here's the proof (my audition tape ): http://www.vimeo.com/2227789 Now that's a face fro radio, eh? -John

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : Name The World's Largest Cruise Ship

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:01:34 +0000

Paulette, this is a fairly old post so, unfortunately, USAToday has already ended the contest.

gCaptain.com — A Blog About Ships : Dream Tanker - Painted by Kids

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:31:44 +0000

The palm tree gig is a classic although make sure your crew likes you before buying any real plants.