Ship containing 1400 cars deliberately run aground in the Solent, UK

Salvage tugs stay close to the stricken vessel 'Hoegh Osaka' after it ran aground on a sand bank in the Solent on January 5, 2015 in Cowes, England. According to the owners of the Hoegh Osaka, the 52,000 ton cargo ship which is carrying 1,400 cars, some of which are thought to include Rolls Royces and Bentleys and is now stricken off the Isle of Wight, was deliberately grounded to prevent it from capsizing after it began listing as it left port. The ship became grounded on Bramble Bank in the Solent on Saturday night, forcing emergency services to rescue all 25 crew members on board. Maritime expert Professor Simon Boxall, of the National Oceanography Centre based in Southampton, said there could be a number of reasons why the ship had grounded.

Two possibilities were that it was done intentionally to avoid a bigger catastrophe or may have been due to a mechanical fault, he said.
He said: 'Interestingly, the ship went to the west of Bramble Bank whereas usually it would have gone to the east, past Portsmouth and across the Channel towards Germany.

'Visibility, given it was night, was perfect, there was just a light wind of around 2mph, wave conditions were good. Basically there was no weather-related reason for it to have problems.
'This ship has been in and out of Southampton before, the pilots are usually very experienced and they know the Bramble Bank so one wonders if there was a problem and the skipper decided, sensibly, that the safest thing to do was to ground it on the bank.
'Was there an instability problem?'
He added: 'The big question was whether the high tide would turn it on its side which would have made things very difficult.
'It didn't and that means the salvage operation has time and could wait for spring tides which are higher and arrive around Tuesday.
'It's now a question of taking things gently and carefully and trying to get it afloat safely and into port.

'It's basically a very large car ferry at a 45 degree angle so it will be a mess inside. There will be a lot of cargo - probably high end vehicles from BMW, Mini, Land Rover or Jaguar.
'At least if it was going to happen it's probably the best place in the world for it to happen. The MCA is here, the Oil Spill Response are here.
'There are many powerful tugs in Southampton which can be used to tow it - it's a big ship but it's an average size ship for Southampton.
'There are also big lifting cranes which can be used if they can get it in close enough.'

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