All at sea - vicariously online

[Pancho]

If anyone's interested in ships, sailing and being at sea; try this: http://www.ship-tracking.co.uk/Main%20Menu/

All the AIS tracks and audio feeds from the radio channels.

[Gus]

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?mmsi=219016458&centerx=7.061535&centery=53.80902&zoom=10&type_color=9
is another option.

[Wombat]

If anyone's interested in ships, sailing and being at sea; try this: http://www.ship-tracking.co.uk/Main%20Menu/

All the AIS tracks and audio feeds from the radio channels.

That one used to be standard fare in my last office, as whenever we had visitors, they'd always look out the widow and ask what the cruise ship outside was.  none of us hd any interest in what was in, or out, so we just looked at the AIS and told them.  It did come in handy when some ship was covering most of Southampton in a black cloud of cack, as we just phoned our colleagues in Port Health enforcement and told them which ship to go and castigate. Luckily the guy was only a hundred yards from it anyway, and was of the same mind as us.

[Pancho]

The amount of crud from ships is shocking. I think it's partly cruddy bunkers and partly limited (any?) legislation on ship emissions. You can see a layer of yellow brown haze over Pompey and Soton some days.

[clarion]

I wouldn't want to be at sea in the sort of winds I've experienced this morning in London.  Respect to mariners, and hope that they are safe in the bad weather.

[rogerzilla]

The amount of crud from ships is shocking. I think it's partly cruddy bunkers and partly limited (any?) legislation on ship emissions. You can see a layer of yellow brown haze over Pompey and Soton some days.

The goal in marine fuel oils seems to be to build an engine that will burn the cruddiest, and therefore cheapest, fuel.  The heaviest stuff isn't even distilled and is literally the crap left at the bottom after all everything else has been driven off and turned into petrol, road diesel, heating oil etc.  As this has undergone no refining, it contains all sorts of nasties like cadmium, sulphur, you name it.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Of course bitumen (used in tarmac) is the bottom fraction but otherwise correct. Bunker-C and the like is pretty horrible thick but cheap stuff.