SS Sea Diamond

[Tyler J Frederick]

Just two months before I graduated, a Cruise Liner named the Sea Diamond sank after hitting a reef. I have so many questions. Why did the Greeks let the Diamond sank, instead of beaching her? Why did the ship sank so easily? How many compartment were breached? So many questions with no answers. Can you answer these question? Please & thank you. T.J.F

[Jeremy Aufderheide]

They didn't just let her sink. When a vessel is sinking, gravity isn't going to give her a break. Ships being sunk are bad for the environment and bad for business. No one wants to see a ship sunk.

As for being beached, if you look at photos of the sinking, she sunk in a harbor that had cliffs on all sides.

[Tyler J Frederick]

All right, first off, there had been successful beachings on ships that were taking on water. And what you just said about the environment, I just got work up. I don't think a sinking Ocean Liner is bad at all. You want a bad environment, go see a scrapyard. I rather see a Ocean Liner at the bottom of the Ocean, then at the hands of scrap merchants, I'm sorry. Now, that was one question answered. The other was how did she sank so easily, if only one compartment was breached. Can I get a answer for that please? Thank you.
Tyler J Frederick

[Timothy Trower]

Tyler,

It is true that in some instances, bone yards are messy and environmentally hazardous. But that isn't always the case, and a ship that is being scrapped provides not only employment to hundreds (look at the Olympic -- she was scrapped in a certain spot JUST to bring jobs to that depressed area during the 1930s -- or Alang, which, may be a hazardous place, provides good jobs to a lot of Indians who might otherwise be beggars or criminals) but allows all of her metals to be reused. Even furniture and fittings are sold and reused.

There are a lot of positives.

As for the Sea Diamond, Jeremy is right -- there was no place to beach the ship, and she was badly holed.

[Jeremy Aufderheide]

Tyler -

Why is a sunken ocean liner a good thing? It leaks oil and other toxic gook, it releases materials and debris into the ocean that shouldn't be there, and as far as preservation of ships (which is a recurring theme in your posts on this board), a sunken ship rots, decays, and collapses in on itself. It's horrible to see. Is the Lusitania better off on the bottom of the ocean, as it falls apart (or bombed in the 30s) becoming an unrecognizable mass of twisted junk?

Sunken ships are of no use to anyone. They're dangerous to divers unless sunk intentionally and properly. They prevent new ships from being built through the reuse of materials. And they are dangerous to marine life.

You're looking at this from a purely emotional perspective. And you get worked up quite easily.

I myself am very passionate about old theatres. There are so many that have been demolished, gutted or left to rot. It's sad because of the happiness and joy that the buildings were created to serve up. But, I'd rather see a glorious old theatre demolished than to see it gutted or collapsing in on itself and left as a home for vagrants. Sometimes, if you love something, you need to look at what the loss would bring. And what would the saving of that something bring?

What would the preservation of these ships bring? Nothing. They would sit in shipyards like the SS United States and rust away because no one has the money to maintain or make them profitable.

Your opinions are your opinions. But I find the logic flawed.

[Tyler J Frederick]

It is a reoccuring theme, it's true. How badly was the Sea Diamond holed? How many compartments was breached? one flooded compartment can't sink a ship you know. Can I get a answer these questions. Please & Thank you. Tyler Frederick

[Tyler J Frederick]

It's been a while. What going on regarding the Sea Diamond?
T.J. Frederick

[Timothy Trower]

It is a wonderful habitat for undersea life. And I would imagine that the bodies of her victims are being consumed by the aforementioned undersea life.

[Tyler J Frederick]

Great! at least she won't be raise & scrap. I feel sorry for two victims, but at least their families have ben spear the cost of that $7000 funeral cost.
Tyler Joshua Frederick

[Jeremy Aufderheide]

That's pretty crass. If they had a heart in their bodies, they would have at least had a memorial service. My mother passed away recently and her memorial service for $5k.

[Tyler J Frederick]

Crass is a overstatement. Cold would be more like it. I'm sorry about your Mom, Glad you had the money for a funeral, I don't think I can get that kind of money, if God-forbid my great Grandma died. Funerals are not cheap, & I don't know where we will get the money. But I'm glad you do. again sorry about your Mom.
Tyler

[Timothy Trower]

After a hiatus this thread has been reopened. Since Mr Frederick is no longer a member of this message board I think we can avoid the path it was headed down!

[Alex Sky Bengtsson]

Hi.

I am aware of that this is a pretty old thread, but I couldn't stay away since she was an interesting ship even before she became a cruise ship.

This is the following info I have put together and found online.

Sea Diamond

Well for starters Sea Diamond started of as a "Cruise ship" in Sweden, well she took passengers but unlike most Cruise ships she also had a car deck for around 80 cars.

From what I can see from timeline she was in Finland to be rebuilt into M/S Sea Diamond as a Cruise Ship, however she only spent 1 month there so I highly doubt that they did anything to the car deck. Some visable changes are the rear top of the ship, a couple of balconys and so on.

The car ramp is also visable on some photos that was taken when she was rebuilt into Sea Diamond.

As for someone claiming she was in port or inside a harbour, that's false. As seen on photos and videos of her when shes sinking shes near cliffs but not any port.

She hit ground and sank within 24 hours, the cruise line company stated that the ground she hit was marked in the wrong spot on the charts, according to the cruise line company it was later proven right. According to the chart the ground should have been 51 meters from the coast while in fact it was 131 meters.

"Investigations carried out by the defense team of the Master of the Vessel and Louis Cruise Lines, after a lawsuit had been filed against them, have included a new hydrographic survey of the area of the accident in Santorini. This survey was carried out by Akti Engineering, and discovered discrepancies between the actual mapping of the sea area and the official charts used by the Sea Diamond (and all other vessels) at the time of the accident. The detailed survey claimed that the reef, which the Sea Diamond struck, is in fact lying at 131 meters (429 feet) from shore and not at a distance of 57 meters (187 feet) as is incorrectly marked on the nautical chart. The official chart also shows the depth of the water at the area of impact varying from 18–22 meters, whilst the recent survey shows that it is only 5 meters.

The findings obtained by Akti Engineering have since been passed on to the Hellenic Hydrographic Office of the Hellenic Navy and other responsible authorities, with the aim that the necessary changes to maritime charts should be made and similar accidents to be prevented. According to a branch reviewing source, the Hellenic Hydrographic Office initially rejected the new mapping, but a later study confirmed the findings of Akti."

The above part is taken from Wikipedia where photos of the sinking can be seen too. It also says the following: "It has been speculated that the deep, almost vertical shore of the bathtub-like caldera made it impossible to beach the ship and save her from becoming a total loss."

I hope this is at least something good and I apologise for any misspells in my text, english is not my main language and there can therefor be some errors in it.

Best Regards Alex.