Jupiter 6 Mysteriously Vanishes With Crew While Towing Ship, page 1
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Topic started on 1-10-2005 @ 11:40 PM by Hellmutt
Jupiter 6 has vanished without a trace with her 12 crew while she was towing a 16 000-ton bulk carrier. The bulk carrier was found drifting like a ghost with her tow wire hanging down into the sea. There was no sign of Jupiter 6 or her crew. Another tug, the Smit Amandla has been sent out to pick up the tow and bring the big ship under control.


Cape Argus: Tug vanishes while towing ship

September 30, 2005

A Tug and her 12 crew have disappeared without trace while towing a big ship to the scrappers' yards in India.

In an incident equal to the most enduring maritime mysteries of all time, the big ship has been found drifting in the Indian Ocean like a ghost, her tow wire hanging down into the sea. There is no sign of the tug or her crew. The tug Jupiter 6 sailed from Walvis Bay at the end of August, towing the 16 000-ton bulk carrier Satsung to India for scrapping.

A South African tug is currently steaming to the big ship to pick up the tow and bring her under control, to prevent her from becoming a danger to shipping, and to search for clues to what really happened. The Smit Amandla had been sent to pick up the tow.

"We will probably send an aircraft to find her again because she would have drifted away from the position supplied by the bulk carrier over the past few days. When we get to her, we hope to find some indication of what might have happened to her and the tug that was towing her."

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

I´m not sure about the name of the bulk carrier as there are some conflicting reports. The Cape Argus article call her "Satsung" (more than once). But when I checked the webpage of the South African Navy Hydrographic Office (SANHO), I saw that they call her "SAPSAN". I found a bulk carrier called SAPSAN (picture). It´s a russian ship, built in 1991. The Cape Argus could be wrong about the name.



SANHO: Summary of Notices in Force

NAVAREA VII MESSAGES :

111 Indian Ocean - SW Sector - Jupiter 6 towing SAPSAN missing.

COASTAL NAVWARNING MESSAGES :

437 RSA South West Coast - Cape Point - Jupiter 6 towing vessel SAPSAN from Walvis Bay to Alonga/India..

These waters are notorious for shipping disasters. The crew of Jupiter 6 didn´t even radio for help. Maybe the tug were taken by a giant squid? Maybe we will never know what happened, and Jupiter 6 will be yet another name added to the long list of ships that have vanished without a trace.


reply posted on 2-10-2005 @ 10:10 AM by Regenmacher
Looks like the news media mispelled the bulk carrier's name.

Indian Ocean - SW Sector - Jupiter 6 towing SAPSAN missing.
www.sanho.co.za...

Looks like they pulled that tug out of salvage.

Jupiter 6

Coloured Fin Ltd. of Trinidad sold their 4960BHP twin screw anchor handling tug "Theseus" (ex-Geronimo Two, Britoil 3, Redoubtable, Chambon Alize, Sea Husky) to private interests. The vessel was sold "as is" with fire damage to the accommodation and bridge. The 130' x 32.5' tug was originally built by Brodogradiliste Tito of Yugoslavia as "Sea Husky" and is powered with twin B&W 16V23LU diesels driving controllable pitch props in active kort nozzles providing abt. 80 tons bollard pull. The tug, renamed "Jupiter 6" was lying damaged in Trinidad at the time of the sale. This is the 5th sale or purchase Marcon has worked on with Coloured Fin.
marcon.com...


reply posted on 2-10-2005 @ 12:28 PM by skychief
Strange to have this tug just disappear like that without any communication. Your mind can go wild when thinking of the possible causes that lead to this ships disappearance. Could it have been one of those recently discovered rouge waves that pop up out of no where? The Indian Ocean has been a pretty active place in the last couple of years; could something have taken place originating from the sea floor? This tug would have had to cross by the Cape of Good Hope, I believe, which is notorious for being one of the more dangerous areas to traverse in a boat. Could the tug have been damaged in that dangerous area off the southern tip of Africa? In my opinion, member Journey is probably spot on with his theory. I remember watching an episode of Deep Sea Detectives, on the history channel, and they were investigating a similar incident.
The sinking of the Tug, Thomas Herbert, off the coast of New Jersey, had everyone puzzled when it disappeared in the spring of 93. It went down quickly, but two crew members were able to survive and it was their accounts of the incident that helped the detectives come to their conclusion. They believe that the tug probably had mechanical problems and "stalled" allowing the barge they were towing to essentially run over, and sink, them. Interesting story and most likely the probably cause of this disappearance.

www.njscuba.net...

*Details about three quarters of the way down the page.



[edit on 2-10-2005 by skychief]
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