The Clifton Trawler

WHEN A JAPANESE FISHING TRAWLER washed up on one of Clifton's pristine beaches, many Capetonians seized the opportunity to visit it, and witness the numerous attempts to refloat the large boat and its cargo of tuna.

Four Cape Town based cartoonists saw it as another opportunity (their first since the recent centenary of the Sinking of the Titanic), to draw a boat - if only they could work it into another relevant story. And a Cape Town based photographer made this beautiful stop action video of the trawler's short visit to our shores [thanks for sharing this, JERM!].

The Clifton Trawler from Rory on Vimeo.

What was supposed to be a single time lapse of the ship getting pulled out, ended up turning into a four day documentation of the entire event. This is a continuation from my previous time lapses found here https://vimeo.com/42113389.

There were three attempts to pull the ship out, two of them failing with the rope snapping and the third being a success. The diesel on the Japanese trawler, which was also carrying fish, had to be pumped into a bladder on the beach to decrease its weight, making it easier to pull out. It ended up being quite a lengthy operation involving teams of specialised staff to operate and to offload machinery, and to coordinate the event.

The diesel was offloaded, a stronger towing point was welded to the rear of the ship and she was pulled out at high tide on Friday the 18th May 2012.

Shot on a Canon 5DMKII and a 24-70mm f2.8
Track is by Broke for Free
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Directionless_EP/Broke_...

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Africartoons