In what surely sounds like the plot of some absurd, D-grade, straight-to-video movie, there is a ghost ship floating around the Northern Atlantic filled with nothing but cannibalistic rats…and it looks like it’s about to crash somewhere in the UK.
The Russian vessel Lyubov Orlova, a long since decommissioned cruise ship from the days of the USSR, is drifting about the seas, captained by only the currents, fate, and swarms and swarms of cannibalistic rats.
This is the result of shipping gone horribly, horribly awry. Apparently, the retired vessel was being towed from Newfoundland down to the Dominican Republic when a storm caused the line to break and sent the cruise ship adrift.
Having shipped hundreds of boats all around the world, Schumacher Cargo can confidently say we’ve never experienced anything so horrifying…even comically horrifying as this. Here are a couple steps you can take when preparing to ship your vessel to make sure your prized vessel ships soundly and securely. Now, back to the story about the ship, Lyubov Orlova, and Captain Ratbeard.
“But Who Will Save Us From the Dreaded Rat Ship?”
You would think that a ship of this size would have an owner somewhere that cares about it. But so far it appears the ship has been taken off the market; fair game for a salvage team with the guts to take on a ship full of crazed rats. Raw Story, estimates the value of the hull, once scrapped, to be over $700,000. The question is: Is that enough money to summon the courage to climb aboard?
“Is That It?”
Well it appears most people are a little weary of taking on this floating rats nest, many hoping the problem will solve itself: either by drifting away from their country’s boundary jurisdictions, or else sinking in the ocean. Lifeboats on the ship are designed to trigger a beacon when they’ve hit water, and as there are still some beacons left un-triggered, the ship appears to still be afloat.
Looks like the regions of the Northern Atlantic are crossing their fingers the ship continues on its own course. The British Maritime and Coastguard Agency claims the rat ship won’t catch them off guard, though that doesn’t tell us how they plan to deal with it if that unfortunate circumstance does arise.
