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B&B’s this time.

Nope, not Bed & Breakfasts, but (more) Bridges and Boats!

I was not finding much in the last day or two to temp my camera, except more bridges.

I think the first one I saw was at Reedsport.

Then we got into Newport and found the really big one. We also looked around a bit at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, but it was a bit late in the day to do it justice, so we’ll visit it another time.

While about to walk out on a very long fishing pier, a pretty large boat was seen coming in from the ocean, under the bridge and into the harbour. I got there just in time to get a bit of video of it coming under the bridge. But then, it stopped right inside the harbour that looked bit small for it, and spun about, and headed right back out under the bridge, and myself who was now out at the end of the pier.

A couple of guys who were pulling crab traps there did not know anything about the boat, so when I got back to headquarters (the camper) and the internet, I checked out the name of the boat from my photos!

We also joked about how many miles/gallon a boat like that would get, or rather, gallons/mile. Below gives an estimate of gallons per day at least.

And here is what I found.

http://www.rvmtmitchell.com/news.html

http://www.rvmtmitchell.com/docs/SPECIFICATIONS.pdf

MT. MITCHELL, commissioned in 1968, had been in service as a Hydrographic Survey Ship with the NOAA. She was completely refurbished and updated by GLOBAL SEAS and put back into service in 2004. This significant modernization to the highest SOLAS, ABS and USCG standards provides an unmatched habitability standard for crew and scientific compliment. During this most recent dry dock, the MT. MITCHELL completed a rigorous five year ABS special survey. This unique, state of the art vessel boasts comfortable berthing for up to 47 non-crew personnel, a large galley with a 38-seat mess hall, a comfortable lounge, multiple computer and lab spaces with high-speed data connections, among other amenities. There are over 3,000 sq feet of working deck space accessible by a 15-ton pedestal crane, a 32ft. launch, and an articulating A frame.

GENERAL Hailing Port: Ketchikan, Alaska

Flag State: USA (Official Number), USCG Certificate of

Inspection, Subchapter U, SOLAS Compliant

Classification ABS Maltese Cross A1 AMS, ACC

Call Sign: WDA 9674

Designer: MARAD

Builder Aerojet General in Jacksonville, FL. Completed in 1967.

Refit/Upgraded in 2002 in Port Arthur, TX

DIMENSIONS Length Over All: 231 ft. (70m)

Breadth: 42 ft. (12.7m)

Draft, Mean: 13 ft. (3.9m)

Draft, Max: 15 ft. (4.5m)

PERFORMANCE Cruising Speed: 12.5 knots

Flanking Speed: 14.0 knots

Range: 10,925 nautical miles

Fuel Consumption: Appx. 2,000 USG/day

Endurance: 45 days

Gross Tonnage: 1,453 ITC, 1591 Regulatory

Net Tonnage 436 ITC, 578 Regulatory

Light Ship

Displacement:

1,289 tons

PROPULSION Main Engines: (2) EMD/567C 1200 H.P. Each General Motors Diesels.

Propellers: (2) Bird-Johnson Controllable Pitch, (3) Blade, 8.5ft dia.

Bow Thruster: (1) Detroit Diesel 8V71, 350 H.P., 5,000 lb. Thrust,

Controllable Pitch Propeller, Philadelphia Gear Drive

Train

A photo of the bottom of the ship - and no, I did not take it!

And a photo of the type of work it is capable of. (from their web site)

While perusing the news and weather from back home, I came across these news photos of a really big dump of snow in Calgary. Can’t wait to get back there.

Ya, right!

Back to the bridge. It was apparently built from 1934 till it opened in 1936, and was the only way to travel along the coast without having to resort to ferries to cross the river. Another amazing feat for the time. Not many computer simulations or lasers to help plan this one. I wonder if they had ‘slide-rules’ back then, or if it was all calculated long hand?