So, About that Ship

 Yeah. That one.

I figured I'd just give my opinions on the matter because everyone else is.

The Ever Given is now on the move, under its own power, and moving to the Great Bitter Lake for an inspection. Thankfully, the moon is at perigee, which really helped.

So, how did it happen? I've heard people say the canal is too narrow (not true, you should see what they squeeze down the Manchester Ship Canal). Or that it was obviously the helmsman's fault.

First of all, this is not the first time this ship has been in the news, although the first time was several years ago and much more minor: The Ever Given got blown sideways in a harbor in Germany and took out a (thankfully empty) commuter ferry.

In length, this is as long a ship as current materials science allows. This means it is extremely wide and also stacked very high with cargo. That cargo essentially acts as a sail.

There was a sandstorm with high winds. I like the theory that the helmsman was steering into sustained high winds...and then the wind dropped, and he steered the ship straight into the bank. This isn't human error (although obviously investigations need to happen) but a side effect of the fact that we are probably making these ships too big. They're hard to handle and it's easy to lose control...in this case with amusing but disastrous results.

(I have every respect for the salvage specialists who managed to get the ship free without needing to unload cargo in the middle of the desert, which would have taken weeks).