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It had to happen

Absolutely jack shit going on in my life, day after day, and what do I do? I schedule two Zoom meetings for the same time. Behold, idiot!

That got me thinking about ships that collided in mid-Atlantic, with a whole vasty ocean to navigate. Which is where I found this picture. It is described thusly:

H.M.S. Hawke in collision with R.M.S. Olympic, 1911.

H.M.S. Hawke was an Edgar class cruiser launched in 1891 and on 20th September 1911 was involved in an accident with the recently launched White Star liner R.M.S. Olympic. Olympic was the largest liner in the world at the time displacing 52,067 tons. In the shallow waters of the Solent, it was suggested that during a turn to starboard, the large amount of water displaced forward by the liner had generated a phenomenon of suction behind. With Hawke overhauling Olympic whilst on a parallel course, this suction may have drawn H.M.S. Hawke on to Olympic causing it to ram the hull on the starboard quarter. Here we can see the flattened bow of Hawke with one of the Portsmouth naval paddle tugs alongside.

The Olympic was a sister ship to the Titanic, though Olympic had a long and useful life. Them White Star ladies sure were accident prone, huh?

Happy Monday.

August 3, 2020 — 6:58 pm
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