Hey Capt Ned,
Heidi and I were first hand EAR WITNESSES to the Freighter vs Sea Wall Incident of 2008. We were watching TV and all of a sudden there was a loud, persistent, grinding, low frequency screeching that was like 20 to 30 seconds long.
We jumped up and looked outside and there she was. Shish Kababed Seawall. There was no yelling or screaming and FOR SURE NO 5 Blasts before the impact ! It was dead quiet after the incident. So I turned on my handheld vhf to 16 and nothing. The Pilot boat that was escorting the freighter came in to the marina where you took your pics, took a look around and went outside again.
Of course you could'nt tell if anyone was hurt, or if there was a fuel leak so I called the Coast Guard, the Miami Beach Police and the Marina (their "emergency line" sends you to a recording by the way). I also got a few photos but from a birds eye view, 22 stories up, yours are much better but maybe I'll still try to post a few.
I also heard the CG ask the Capt how he hit the seawall when the weather was perfect, and he had a pilot boat and the Capt said that they were making their turn to enter the ships channel when everything blacked out and they lost control and hit the seawall.
Capt Ned, is it wrong to use that new opening to enter the marina. It's much closer to my slip and I could save some Fuel...Ha Ha.
In all seriousness, Thank God noone was injured and no fuel leak developed. Also, just for fun, the CG asked the Captn how much fuel he had on board and he reported 116 K tons. The CG asked him how many gallons is that ? For a gold star, what did the Capt tell the CG ?
Greg