ITS Virginio Fasan departs Halifax

The Italian Navy frigate arrived in Halifax on Thursday and departed this morning just after 0900.

The ship is a FREMM type multi-purpose frigate.

Officers saluting me from the bridge wing - it's nice to be recognized. Or maybe they were saluting to an RCN admiral ashore, who can tell.

HMCS Glace Bay followed her out of the harbour - the latter is headed for Fleet Week in New York, but I am not sure if Virginio Fasan is also headed there. 

Photography in the Snow

 As a Trustee, I went to lunch in HMCS Sackville within the Dockyard on Friday during the first snowstorm of the year, and then decided to walk home after lunch via the bridge before going back to work from home. This provided some interesting photographic opportunities, all of which I decided to convert to high contrast black and white.

Sackville herself looked pretty in the snow.

HMCS Charlottetown alongside MV Asterix for refuelling.

Charlottetown and another frigate alongside in Dockyard during the snow.

The bridge itself similarly caught my eye.

The view from mid-span looking back towards Halifax.

Looking back towards Halifax from the Dartmouth bridge tower.

The views on the Dartmouth side of the bridge were also nice.

Windmill Road.

Shore Drive and the Harbour Pilot base on the Dartmouth shore.

Houses on Windmill Road.

Landscape view of Windmill Road.

It was a long slog across the bridge in the snow, but ultimately worth it for the photos.

Early Morning Ships Passing in the Night

The morning and evening commute is a bit dark at this time of year, especially on overcast days, and I managed to capture some ships coming and going in the pre-dawn on Friday. To start, HMCS Charlottetown arrived in port and later went alongside MV Asterix to refuel. Modern cameras are capable of shooting at higher ISOs, and despite from a bit of grain or noise, the images still look great when shot without a tripod.

HMCS Charlottetown inbound.

As Charlottetown was arriving, ACL's Atlantic Star was departing from the Fairview Container Terminal in Bedford Basin.

Atlantic Star outbound.

As a result, I got a nice photo of the two ships passing in the harbour.

Atlantic Star outbound passing the inbound HMCS Charlottetown.

I don't think I typically see a ship's passing at this particular location in the harbour.

Future HMCS Max Bernays

The future HMCS MAX BERNAYS, the RCN's next-to-launch Arctic and Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV), continues to take shape at the Halifax Shipyard - with some speculation that she may be ready to launch in the near future. Personally, it looks to me that there is some final painting of the hull that should be done prior to launch, but in any case I thought it would be a good opportunity to take some photos of the ship out of the water.

The future HMCS MAX BERNAYS sitting on land at the Halifax Shipyard prior to launch.

Interestingly, the antifouling paint on the MAX BERNAYS is the traditional blue that we tend to sea on the HALIFAX-class frigates, whereas, I believe the two previous ships (HARRY DEWOLF and MARGARET BROOKE) were both launched with red antifouling. 

The red wheeled platforms in the foreground are the transporters that will lift the cradles upon which the ship is supported, and will move the ship onto the semi-submersible launching barge (Boa Barge 37) when the time comes. The barge's white superstructure can be seen in the background, behind the ship's stern.

This view shows well the icebreaking profile of the ship's bow.

Updated: According to Halifax Shipping News, MAX BERNAYS will be rolled onto Boa Barge 37 on Friday October 22 in order to be launched on Saturday, October 23, 2021.

HMCS FREDERICTON operations

 FREDERICTON was working up at sea this week, and I was lucky enough to catch her just as she weighed anchor and headed out of Halifax Harbour on Wednesday last week. When I boarded the ferry, the engines were running as apparent from the funnel emissions. 

The next image shows the decommissioned Deep Panuke platform in the background at the Woodside pier. This platform left Halifax later in the week, destined to be broken up at Sheet Harbour.

Halfway across on the ferry, the anchor appeared above the surface, confirming that the ship was about to get underway. Unlike on Friday, no tugs showed up on Wednesday, suggesting she was headed for sea.

With the anchor hauled up, the ship starts to turn to head out. The NSCC building is in the background.

After leaving the ferry, I rushed out to the end of Cable Wharf to get some more photos, arriving just in time to capture FREDERICTON as she passed Georges Island. I was fortunate that there was still a bit of a light show left over in the sky from sunrise. 

Passing the lighthouse on Georges Island.

FREDERICTON returned to Halifax in July after a 6-month NATO deployment during which her Cyclone helicopter crashed and 6 members of her complement were killed. In recent weeks, she has started operating a Cyclone again.

CSS Acadia at sunrise

The blog has been on a bit of a hiatus for the summer with everything else I had going on, but now that we are back into autumn and reduced travel, I can get this started again.

After heading back to the office a few days a week, I get to enjoy my morning ferry and waterfront commute again, at least for a while. With sunrise well timed for my walk past the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic this morning, I was rewarded with these views of retired survey vessel CSS Acadia on the waterfront with the rising sun behind her.

The winter cover has been reinstated, allowing the rising sun to provide a nice glow over the deck. At the same time, the smooth water allows for a nice silhouette of the ship's reflection.

The images can be found here: https://smcclearn.smugmug.com/Nautical/Ships/

Hopefully the nice weather continues well into fall, to keep my morning walk as pleasant as possible.

Salvage of the Maurienne

On the 7th of February in 1942, the master of the 3,259 GRT freighter Maurienne was dealing with some frozen pipes in one of the holds. He subsequently directed a worker to use an acetylene torch to thaw said pipes, and a fire later erupted in that same location. When conventional efforts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful, the master ordered the scuttling of his vessel, which in turn resulted in the almost total loss of the cargo after she capsized at the pier (as noted on page 21 of International Maritime Conventions: Volume 1, which also details a legal action brought against the shipping firm by the owners of three crates and one drum of shoe leather). 

Built in Denmark in 1938 as a refrigerated vessel to transport bananas, and only taken over by the Canadian Government at the beginning of the war, Maurienne was a new vessel . Coupled with the fact that the 324-foot vessel was also blocking the use of a portion of Pier 27/28 in the wartime Port of Halifax, her salvage would presumably have been a priority, and therefore she was subsequently salvaged by Foundation Maritime. 

The capsized freighter Maurienne.

Another view of the capsized ship, with the superstructure facing the pier. I'm assuming these photos were taken right after the sinking, such that reserve air in the hull was keeping the hull barely afloat, as later images suggest the hull was farther below the surface during the salvage work, and these photos do not appear to me to have been taken at low tide.

The salvage of the Maurienne was undertaken by Foundation Maritime in two main phases: righting, and then refloating. To begin, at least two cofferdams were constructed on the side of the ship to allow work to continue in the dry - two righting masts had to be attached to the side of the ship.

By June 24, 1942, Cofferdam #2 was ready to accept the righting mast. The two legs of the righting mast will go into the two openings marked with an "X". The "No.1" in the corner of the image refers to the image number, and not that of the cofferdam (which I got from the image caption).

A pontoon supports a diving platform alongside Cofferdam #2 - the platform seems to be slung from the two arms. At least two divers sit in their suits on the platform. 

Cofferdam #1 (background, with mast installed) and Cofferdam #2 (foreground). A support pontoon lies alongside each cofferdam, presumably carrying the pumps to keep each cofferdam dry. Foundation Scarboro, without her shear legs installed, is to the left of the image.

Foundation Scarboro starting to lift the righting mast into place in Cofferdam #2.

The righting mast being installed in Cofferdam #2.

Workers help drop the righting mast into place within Cofferdam #2, as seen from atop the rotating crane cab on Foundation Scarboro.

Cofferdam #1 with the righting mast installed. A bridge (without railings!) extends back to the Pier at the right of the photo. So much for Health and Safety.

Righting masts installed, but with cofferdams removed, to show how the masts are attached to the side of the ship.

By July 26, 1942, the ship was ready to be righted. Tension was taken up on the cables attached to the two righting masts, and the ship was slowly righted. Presumably the hull was anchored to the bottom in some manner to ensure the hull rotated, and was not simply pulled away from the pier. 

Note: Mac Mackay of Shipfax was kind enough to tell me that this type of salvage is properly referred to as "parbuckle salvage", or "parbuckling". The "righting masts" as I call them above are properly called "bents".

Righting the Maurienne.

Just past 45 degrees.

Once righted, there was a release of air trapped in the ship.

Righted, but not yet refloated.

Believe it or not, this appears to have been the easy part of the salvage. Maurienne was still sitting on the bottom of Halifax Harbour, and needed to be refloated. Foundation Maritime elected to build a new, larger, cofferdam around the majority of the ship's deck. The cofferdam extended above the surface of the water at high tide (you can see the stains from the tidal cycles on the side of the cofferdam) so that the interior of the ship could be pumped out. 

Construction of the new cofferdam proceeds around a forward mast, ahead of the bridge which appears to the left of the image.

The view from inside the cofferdam, taken looking forward from aft of the funnel. To the right is a wooden frame that appears to be used to handle a couple of pumps. This may have been positioned over one of the ship's holds. 

The view from the deck of the ship itself, within the cofferdam.

Two of the Jaeger engines used during the salvage - I'm assuming these were diesel engines used to power centrifugal pumps.

The pumping operation is underway, and a deckhouse at the stern has just broken the surface.

Pumps running from inside a cofferdam to bring Maurienne to the surface.

Pumping continues. Taken on the port side this time, the ship's nameboards can be seen displaying "Maurienne". 

The cofferdam support framework on the starboard side next to the funnel, with the pumps running.

Some of the array of pumps that was used to bring Maurienne back to the surface. 

In conjunction with the pumping operation, barges with shear legs also appear to have been lifting at the bow, ahead of the cofferdam. These may have helped to keep the ship on an even keel during the refloating operation.

Pumps running from the cofferdam, with the bow gunwale appearing to the right. The barges with shear legs can also been seen lifting here. 

Returning to the surface, though still with a list to starboard.

With pumps still running, Maurienne arriving at the surface. The deckhouse from Image #120 above can be seen here, just behind the cofferdam.

In November of 1942, while Maurienne was once again afloat, work was ongoing and the ship still looked much the worse for wear.

The refloated Maurienne. What I assume are the remains of the attachments for Righting Mast #1 can be seen just above the waterline just forward of the bridge.

Maurienne from aft.

After the war ended, Maurienne was returned to her original owners and refitted once against for refrigerated cargo. She was sold several times after 1953 (and renamed), and suffered another fire in 1963 in Hong Kong that led to her scrapping.

The entire gallery of photos of the salvage operation can be seen here:

https://smcclearn.smugmug.com/Nautical/Foundation-Maritime-storage/4064-Maurienne/n-xh3bMC/i-4WGpSCS/A

Some of the photos appearing here came with captions explaining the procedure, but most did not, and I have interpreted (e.g. guessed) them to the best of my ability.

Bibliography & Acknowledgements:

Berlingieri, Francesco. (2014). "International Maritime Conventions: Volume 1 - The Carriage of Goods and Passengers by Sea". Informa Law, New York.

Bertke, Donald A; Smith, Gordon; Kindell, Don. (2013). "World War II Sea War - Volume 5". Bertke Publications, Dayton, Ohio, USA. Viewed online.

Nova Scotia Marine Heritage Wreck Database

Wrecksite.eu https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?35482

Photos from the AECON collection.