Long story - RTWT
[SanDiegoReader] It is a big ocean. Until you've been far into it, it's really hard to appreciate how big it is. Bringing a ship back from Japan to Hawaii, I once went ten days without seeing another ship, either by eye or radar. That's a long time to be utterly alone in the world, especially if you're moving in a straight line and at good speed. On the other hand, I think you'd be surprised at how crowded the ocean can get in certain places.
Suddenly, the officer of the deck realized that he was screwed. Maybe he sped up, thinking that speed could save his life.
The easiest example that I can think of to illustrate this point is the Strait of Malacca, which divides the island of Sumatra from Malaysia. Not only is Singapore at the southern end ‐ one of the great maritime ports of the world ‐ but it is not unfair to say that all the shipping moving between Asia and Africa and the Middle East and Europe travels through this increasingly narrow, 600-mile passage, either to or from Pacific countries.
Every year, 100,000 ships go through it. It is infested with pirates and criss-crossed by thousands of fishing boats every day. If you look at it on a chart, it may seem wide, but the passable channel for big ships is only a couple of miles wide, and again, clogged with fishing boats. It's not fun to navigate, but it is thrilling.
Tokyo Bay or "Tokyo Wan" is like that. Yes, the area off the coast of Japan where the USS Fitzgerald collision took place on June 17 is more wide open than the Wan itself, but just like the approaches to Norfolk, Boston, or Los Angeles, dozens of ships are approaching at any time, all heading for a very narrow entrance channel, all on tight schedules. Think of it as a funnel necking down to the shipping channel that goes into the port. Outside the shipping channel, which has strict rules, the mouth of the funnel is the Wild West for ships coming and going. It can be challenging during the day, but at night it can be frightening. |