This video was made possible by Sali and some very patient people over at Patreon. Okay, music fades in. My friend, let me weave you a tale of a windswept night beyond the old Egyptian sands, where the water plays coy with the shore, and the coy are sure to play in the water, where the desert wolves make love to the moon. exterior day. This is the Suez Canal. Undeniably Egypt's most famous body of water.
Nothing bad ever happens here. Oh! Except for that one time.
Oh.
Um.
Okay, so there's a ship and it's called the Ever Given. And it's going up the Suez Canal really, really fast probably. And you'd think that the Port Authority would call up and they'd be like, Captain, you are going way too fast. But the Captain, he's wicked sick cool, so he's like, they're just jealous of my passion for going fast through critical trade infrastructure.
Increase speed.
If you will not slow down, prepare to meet the full might of the Egyptian military.
Two of Egypt's fastest fighter jets scramble on the runway. But the captain kept adding power.
Faster!
The people of Europe need these Chinese knockoffs of European goods.
And they got all sorts of technology to go like top speed.
Don't go faster! I beseech you!
But everyone on the crew was loving it. Yeah, go faster! But then...
Look out! Someone left a ramp in the middle of the canal!
I ain't afraid of nothing.
It was at this point that the captain chose to do a wicked sick jump.
Lens flare.
But they overshot it. They were gonna collide with a gently sloping sandy bank. They threw on the handbrake.
Drop anchor!
Brace for impact!
But it was too late.
Collision.
Literally everybody died.
Ever given.
Ever taken away.
Yeah, that'll do. Alright, see you in a year. ever taken away.
Yeah, that'll do. Alright, see you in a year.
What do you mean it's not long enough? Wikipedia chat GPT Add the um music. They love that. A reaction give? That's a good one. No, this video is too good. Dial it back a little.
Okay, let me start again. I'll do the phony voice too.
Bitter!
Okay, so here's what really happened.
This story begins in Malaysia. Of course, you already know, but that's this one over here. An atterport named Tangjong Palapus is the container ship known as the Ever Given.
The last of the cargo is loaded onto the ship and the captain of the ship, Krishnan Canthavel, is there with his crew of 20.
Hello!
At this point, Canthavel probably said something like, Alright, the boat's tummy is all full of cargo. We're almost ready to get going. So Evergreen, the operating company of the ship, would have called ahead and booked passage for the ship. Yes, one adult ship ticket please. Uh, large.
How many containers? Hold on. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Now this guy at the operating company is on the line to the Suez Canal Authority. And they are in charge of all of the operations of the Suez Canal.
All right, thank you for choosing Suez Waterways. You are scheduled for March 23rd. You are 922nd in queue. All right, we've got a Supermax container coming through on March 23rd. Pulling up the stats now. The Ever Given, one of the largest container ships
in the world. Over 400 meters long, 60 meters wide. Only 10% smaller than the world's largest aircraft carrier. Able to carry over 20,000 of these shipping containers. He's a guy and a sandwich for scale. Alright Navigator, Helmsman, Gene. Let's get going. We wouldn't want to hold up the other ships.
With a teary goodbye, the Ever Given sets sail from Malaysia and makes course for the Netherlands. Let's go to the map. Malaysia, and you already know, but the Netherlands is over here. The route's so simple, you just go from here over to...
Oh.
We're blocked by Africa, sir. Should we just head back? Heh, don't worry. I know a shortcut. Head into that inlet. It's called the Red Sea. Captain, it's... blue.
I know.
In a bit over a week, the Ever Given cruises all the way to the Red Sea. And on the way, someone on the crew points out Djibouti.
And says it aloud. Djibouti and says it aloud. Djibouti!
Because it's fun to say. Ah, it's a great time to be a cargo ship captain, I can tell you that much. Captain, we've got another problem on the sat-nav. There's more land in the way. How are we supposed to get through an obstacle like this? Should I just head back?
Now if this was 1868 Canterville would be in big trouble but luckily in 1869 someone happened to dig a big channel right from one side of this isthmus to the other and filled it with water they did which meant that ships no longer needed to circumnavigate Africa. It's nothing personal. It's a geographic thing. Late that evening, the Ever Given arrives at the Gulf of Suez.
Here on the map, it's a big open area for ships to park. And there are ships everywhere, sitting idle, waiting for their turn to pass through the canal. Now the helmsman is kind of driving around the area, looking for a place to park and drop anchor. But then, hmm, something captures his attention.
Hey, what's that mysterious looking ship over there? It looks... abandoned. M.V. Amar. M.V. Do not speak its name, helmsman.
Why not?
Ah, look, there's a spot, there's a spot. That's a handicap. They park the ship, drop anchor, and radio in to the Suez Canal Authority. Thank you for joining the queue. Typical wait time is a few hours,
up to one business day. Why do we have to wait? Why can't we just go straight through? Ah, because we've got rules here at the canal. A big book of them. No running, no dive bombing, and blah blah blah. Somewhere way down the back of the manual it says
all vessels entering or leaving the canal must have a pilot. And in fact, a ship as large as yours needs two. These pilots are employees of the canal authority who understand the perils of the route, kind of like a consultant to the captain. And they stand around going, yes, yes, go here, turn coming up here, watch out for the geese. So just stand by for a while, yeah? Alright, nothing to do till this pilot arrives.
Guess I'll take a little bit of me time. I'm off to my cabin, fellas. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. And so just after midnight, Cantharvel heads back to his quarters to take a nap. Quite a cozy scene, wouldn't you say? But all is not well on the Ever Given tonight.
There seems to be some trouble...
With the weather!
2.30am. Canterville wakes up. Outside is the loud rattle of shipping containers sparring with the wind. Loud enough to capture Canterville's attention.
Rara!
He dashes up to the bridge. All right, what's the status on it being really, really windy outside? The wind is up to 35 knots, but the ever-given is fine and the anchor is keeping us held. All right, it sounds like I can head back to my porters then. Wait, wait, Captain. I think we need to move the ship.
Yeah, those guys are getting closer and closer to us. We're surrounded by ships like the Al-Nusraiyah. Their anchors can't withstand the wind and they are being dragged about. We need more buffer or there's risk of a collision. Good thinking. Alright, duty engineer, prep the engines.
Aye.
The ship kicks to life. The helmsman steers the Ever Given to get further away from the other ships. This whole thing might be cancelled. Port control, although this waiting area is delightful, the weather outside is very frightful. Is passage through the canal still happening?
Not cancelled. Hold position. is very frightful. Is passage through the canal still happening? when we have to navigate through a narrow channel like the Suez.
Yes. Although you should have said... Spoiler warning.
Coming up next on...
Welcome back to Raising Saley. I'm Saleyman, professional traveler and eSIM user. Finding tourists to get them huge savings on an eSIM plan, it ain't for the faint of heart. But if there's one thing I've learned in all my years, when they're traveling, they need data.
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It's so beautiful here in the hills of Switzerland. If only I could listen to podcast in the background.
Here comes Sailyman. Over 200 destinations, 24 seven live chat, and no physical sim or roaming fees, because it's just an app. Could I have my phone back please? At Sali, family comes first, and data comes second. Data comes first. They're both tied for first. Tonight on Raising Sali, anyone can get Sali. Dead ones. Sorry I have a boyfriend ones. All regular.
I have a presentation in 15 minutes at the UN Security Council. And I didn't download the slides. Without this presentation, I'm worried they're gonna nuke North Sentinel Island again.
15 minutes to go when he hasn't got the slides. I'll be the guy who started the next world war without those damn slides. I'll be the guy who started the next world war without those damn slides. Ten minutes to go and he hasn't got the slides. History will not look kindly on me without those slides. Here comes Sali. Now you have 10 gigabytes of data on your phone. Cheaper than most phone providers. I love you Sali man. Hush little one. I saved it. The Sali app really saved me. This truly was
our darkest hour but we prevailed. It's not an easy job but Saley gets me through. So download the Saley app or scan the QR code on screen and use internet historian as the code to get 15% off at checkout. Get some damn data on your phone why not. And over. Some time has passed. We're back on the bridge. There's the helmsman.
Captain's gone back to his quarters. Pilots will be here for hours. Then suddenly, an idea. The helmsman takes it upon himself to navigate a little bit of art. Tee hee hee, says the helmsman. As long as no one checks the nav data,
this won't come back to bite me at all. A couple of hours pass. The wind dies down just a little. No ships crashed into the Ever Given, but a small one did pull up beside it. PILOTS RINGING Captain, pilots are here.
Welcome aboard.
Oh, hey, Captain. Yes, yes, we're running late. Where's the helm? We don't know what the pilots' names are, so we're just going to go with blue and red. OK, I think we should move ahead at about 14 kilometres... Top job. That's right. Ahead! 14 kilometers per hour!
The Ever Given joins a convoy of ships taking position at the entrance to the canal. Convoy, checking in.
Ready! Ready! Ready!
Alright everybody, we want to be alert. Stay focused. Yeah, yeah, Captain. I'll follow the other ships. I'll try not to get lost. Hold on, Helmsman. And the audience. This is a much more perilous journey than you might know. What? A big straight line? It is 193 kilometers of narrow waterway.
And I hope you've got some stamina because it takes 12 hours to traverse. That's a full day trip. Some parts are only 24 meters deep. Oh that's very shallow. Yes and only 200 meters wide in some parts. That's very narrow. I've seen McDonald's drive-thrus with more clearance. And you certainly wouldn't want to have an accident would you? Because 12% of the entire world's sea freight passes through here. If you blocked it, the consequences would be
humongous. No pressure though. Oh I see. Oh don't mind him, he gives that speech to everybody. Ahead, 14 kilometres per hour.
Yes, pilot.
14 kilometres, steady on. Zoo into the canal, the Ever Given went. As they cruise, the winds swirl back onto the sea. No longer buffered by miles of open water, the sand and dust can blow about with abandon. Low visibility.
Strong winds jostle the ship. Grit helps the bow. The Ever Given steams ahead at about the pace of a fast jog. And there's no real build up here to be honest. Things go awry almost immediately. How are you coping with the wind?
It's manageable. Alright well the wind is definitely pushing us to the left hand side. Yes, just try to keep it as centred as you can. Adjusting. These winds are quite something. Do you think we should have insisted they postpone? The pilots don't seem worried, and they know this water better than anyone.
The angle of the wind is particularly nasty, catching the enormous surface area of the ship and constantly nudging it off course. Helmsman, you're still too far to the left. You've got to get back to the center. Yeah, yeah, I'm trying. Adjusting. The helmsman keeps changing the trajectory of the ship, but he cannot seem to stay in the center. Come on, helmsman, we're still not centered. I know, I know, it's the wind. No matter what they do, they can't seem to get away from the left bank.
The wind foils their every counter-manoeuvre. This is not as manageable as I thought it would be. Is it going to be like this the whole way? Don't worry, this is really common. It won't be the whole trip. The problem is we're going too slow. Red Pilot takes the initiative. If we speed up, we can push through the wind.
Accelerate to 22 kilometers an hour. Somewhat reluctantly, the helmsman obliges. 22 kilometers per hour. Engines engage and the ship speeds up. Captain, going this fast in heavy winds is needlessly reckless. There are protocols for this sort of thing.
Alright Gene, it's a bit windy. Relax, this must happen all the time. The red pilot was right. The increased speed helps them to fight through the wind and get away from the left-hand bank. However, they can't seem to keep the ship in the very centre.
Helmsman, you're aimed too severely to the right-hand bank now. We need a bit of leadership here. in the very center. Helmsman, you're aimed too severely to the right hand bank now. Ugh! We need a bit of leadership here, don't worry, I know what to do. Turn left! Adjusting! The pilot's giving steering instructions now.
Captain, is he supposed to do that? Captain, the pilot is not here to give steering orders. You should say something.
Grrrr!
The ship is now consistently snaking left and right and left and right. Turn to the right! So they turn to the right but then they end up too far to the right. You're too close to the right bank now. Turn to the left. Yes I agree turn to the left. Look this is all a bit tense and we both know where this is going. It's gonna crash. Let's just enjoy it. Oh wow, there it is. A gently sloping sandy bank. Red pilot, we're just consultants. This isn't our job to steer the ship. You're micromanaging.
We should only be giving general navigation advice. We're getting too close to the left bank. I can't keep it centred. We have to slow this ship down. If we slow down, the wind will push us into the bank. What do I do? Reduce the speed. Go faster. The two pilots begin bickering. And not just bickering normally, they're bickering in Arabic. Arabickering! And Canthopolis crew doesn't speak Arabic.
What the hell are they saying? I don't know! Neither do I! Does anyone here speak Arabic? The Ever Given has reached its target speed of 22 kilometers an hour but they're taking wider and wider turns and can't seem to get anywhere near the center of the lane. And the two pilots they're still fighting. Captain! Captain! Pilots! Captain! The Ever Given then reaches an extreme unrecoverable angle pointing acutely to
the right straight for the bank. We need to turn left now hard left. Hard to the left. Hard to the left! The rudder turns. But the ship doesn't turn with it. Instead, it slides. Didn't I tell you to turn left? Why aren't we turning? I am turning to the left, Captain.
The ship's not responding. I knew this would happen. It's your fault. The helmsman loses his ability to steer. The ship has gone out of control. Captain! Canterville finally steps forward.
Enough! Helmsman, centre the rudder. Reduce speed. Rudder centre, reduce- But it's too late. Canterville did not intervene in time.
Shit. Welcome home, welcome home
The crew can feel the vibration through the floor as, slides into the bank with ease, like a hot pencil through
pudding.
Meanwhile, the rear of the ship is pulled into the opposite bank. The bridge shakes and the crew lurches forward as 300,000 tons of momentum is reduced to zero in the span of a couple of seconds. We've run aground, we've run aground, cut your engines! Canterville yells out on the radio because don't forget these ships are running as a convoy which means that the ships behind them have just seen what's happened and they all have to slam on the brakes. A couple of ships back, the Asia Ruby 3,
suffers an engine malfunction and it cannot stop as quickly as it intends to and nearly plows into the back of the Maersk Denver. They manage to stop themselves just in time and prevent running aground as well. Pan back to the ever given.
Let us look at it from above. It is diagonally wedged across the entire canal. An unplanned bridge connecting two continents. A ship collision of such magnitude there's almost nothing to compare it to. Maybe Hindenburg? 9-11? I'll keep googling. No, no, hold off on the dramatic sound effects. There's no need to panic just yet. It's like a car tyre stuck in the mud.
We simply reverse. Full astern! That means full backwards. Propellers at the back of the ship whizz to little effect. Locked in place by the sound. We didn't move.
Merely a run up. Crash astern! That's the most dramatic version of full astern, ramping up to full thrust as quickly as possible.
Nothing.
No, no, stop it. No sound effect just yet. We still have one more option. start up the bow thrusters. They're the jets at the front of the ship that give a little bit of extra oomph. Crash a stern full thrusters. No effect sir. Now we don't have the transcript from here so we'll just presume that at the time Canterville said something very quirky and millennial like uh... Uh so that just happened.
But what we do know is that he and the pilots then jumped on the radio and got in contact with the port authority uh we've got something to tell you and you gotta promise not to get mad shut up wait look listen we're gonna need a tugboat we are run aground the helmsman takes a turn at being millennial um there are other ships right behind me aren't there uh- And there were, as the queue of container ships piling up behind them got longer and longer. Erm, make that two tugboats.
So what happened here exactly? And who is in big, big trouble? Explainer time! There are three main causes to why the ship crashed. Let's start with the wind. The captain could have very easily said, Guys, the wind is far too severe. Let's postpone.
But he didn't. However, the blame's not all on Cantherville. The two pilots could have also said, Let's just follow protocol! By radioing in to HQ and saying, Yes, get us two tugboats, please. With one on each side at the front,
they would have had far more stability and control, and they wouldn't need to erratically fight about with the wind to stay in the middle of the lane. Second cause, the speed of the ship. Now it was the red pilot who told the helmsman, accelerate the ship to 22 kilometers per hour. But when he did that, they were already driving at the speed limit for their weight class,
14 kilometers per hour. And telling the helmsman to go beyond that, meant that they are technically breaking the rules and While I agree that some rules are made to be broken going this fast in a very large ship in a comparatively small canal Causes a whole bunch of problems to do with fluid dynamics big problems
huge
Five fun physics phenomena.
Now I don't know the physics, and if I did, I wouldn't tell you. But what I will say is this. Speeding up causes something approximating oversteer. The ship becomes all slidey. I'm just going to turn a little bit to the left. But instead, you go a lot to the left.
I'll just turn right a little bit. But instead, you turn to the right a lot. Remember how the cheerful navigator was like, come on guys, we have to get back to the center of the lane. Well they can't, because every time they try to direct back to the center, the speed and the oversteer means they overshoot it. One more effect of going very fast. I will sneeze. Wait for it. Take a look at this animation side on.
Water pressure effects cause the ship to tilt. At this speed, the front is raised six meters higher than usual, which means when they collide with the bank, combined with the high velocity, they really wedge themselves in. But we can't just blame everything with the bank, combined with the high velocity, they really wedge themselves in. But we can't just blame everything on the physicists, because there's a third main cause.
Poor communication. English is the official language of pretty much every port. However, the pilots start arguing with each other in Arabic, which is not just unprofessional, but excludes all of the rest of the crew from what's being discussed. And all of these competing voices make for chaos on the bridge.
But the blame is not all on the co-pilots either. The captain is always in charge. He has the ultimate authority. Decisions start and end with him. So the captain should have intervened and said something like, shut up everybody. But he doesn't. He stands there quite passively throughout. By the time he does step in, it's too late.
Now that everything's been laid out, who would you say is at fault for the crash of the Evergiven? The Helmsman? Blue Pilot? The Red Pilot? Cantherville? I'll tell ya.
Society, that's who. You and me. And I think you should apologize. Alrighty, so we have something three and a half times the size of the Titanic, choking the world's largest freighting canal like a greedy seagull throating a glue stick. Good start. And they didn't get very far through the canal itself, about 5% of the progress bar. But if we scroll up for a second we can see what landmarks they missed
out on. The Great Bitter Lake, named so because the water there is very salty instead of fresh. Then up a two-lane bit and over to Timsah Lake, named so because Timsah is the Arabic word for crocodile, because there used to be crocodiles in there. Otherwise it's pretty much zip right through to the Mediterranean. That would have been very nice for them. Now we go back a bit to Timsah Lake. And here you'll find the city of Ismailia. And at its port, see this building?
This is the Suez Canal Authority. Inside, Captain El-Sayed, head of navigational control, is just settling in for the day. As he sits down to his desk, uh, Captain, you're gonna want to see this. The video feed pulls up. What?
Line one. We're stuck. We'd like to request a tugboat. Stuck? Stuck where? You know that single lane area pretty close to the entrance? There. Now, had this happened in one of the two lane sections, they could have kept the traffic flowing. But alas. What? So you're blocking all the traffic? Mr. El-Sayed, we already promised we wouldn't get mad. Fine. I gotta see how
bad it is in person. El-Sayed snatches his keys off his desk and he races down to his car, rushing to the scene
My god towering over him is a structure the width and breadth of the world's largest Walmart
Except it is also 15 stories tall
The bow raised six meters higher than normal, is jammed into one side, like an unwitting finger in a Chinese finger trap that somebody filled with gorilla glue in its prom tomorrow in the ass of the ship, firmly squatting aground on the other side, and the middle of the ship making bended metal groans as it's barely suspended by only a few meters of water. Al-Said lets the sand run through his fingers. At this point another important person arrives on the scene. Admiral Rabbie. He is the Suez Canal Authority chairman. The big boss of the whole canal. Here's the rough structure of the organization.
He's all the way up here right? So high up that he reports directly to the Pharaoh of Egypt himself. Yep that's one blocked canal. No no mr. president he didn't say blocked. He said that canal rocked. He's giving it a five star review. Come on, follow me to the bridge. Al-Said and Rabi board the ship. And it's a hell of a scene.
The crew is racing around. Oh god, they're gonna check the nav data. They're gonna see the deck pic. Oh god. Canthapel's standing back, taking a panicked phone call with the operating company. Okay, so two pilots walk into a ship and the first one says And the two pilots from before are still bickering.
Alright, you two are dismissed. Cantherville. Oh god, oh god, this is the end of my career. This is gonna cost a billion dollars. Al-Said puts his hand on Cantherville's shoulder. Do not worry my friend, we shall solve this. Come on captain, what's the status? Well the ship isn't floating.
Yeeeaaah?
No, no, what I mean is the situation is worse than you think. It's the way we're pitched up on the shore. The weight distribution is all wrong. We're like a raised bridge, but we don't have any other support underneath. The middle of the ship could bend under its own weight and tear. So it could sink? Yeah. That would shut down the whole canal for months.
Are we taking on water? No, I've had the engineers check the hull. We can't see water making ingress anywhere. Yet. The best way to get free, and the best way to prevent the ship from potentially sinking, is to lighten the load. We need to get rid
of at least,
I dunno, like 20,000 tonnes. How quickly do you think your crew can offload containers?
No no no, look how high those boxes are stacked. To offload these containers is going to require specialist equipment. The kind you'd only find at a dedicated port. We're not going to be able to offload these containers out here in the middle of nowhere. All right, well, what's the easiest most brute force solution you can think of? The ballast tanks. Eh? Go on. We've got nearly 10,000 tons of ballast water on board. We can dump that right now and relieve some pressure. Excellent idea. I'll get started.
No, no, no, you can't do that. Why not? Allow me to explain. You see, when a ship fills its ballast tanks, it's filling with more than just water. It's a big, dilute, salty soup of algae, plant material, and even sometimes small fish. Pick that up in Malaysia, and then just dump that at the next port.
You're introducing these stowaway pest species into the environment. Some examples of these invasive species include pshhh, the Northern Pacific Sea Star.
Whoa, this is badger.
Pshhh, the European Green Crab. That son of a bitch. Pshhh, and cholera. Pshhh. European green crab that son of a bitch and
cholera
Requires time and access to one of these treatment machines and we're not out of port. It's gonna take much longer than usual
But let me get onto the line with the guys at Ismailia. We probably have a portable water treatment machine somewhere. Al-Sayyid turns and looks out the window. Coming down the canal are two tugboats. The ones that they ordered earlier. Look, we might not even be that deeply wedged in.
These two tugboats might be all we need.
Yes, tugboats might be all we need. Yes, tugboats. This is the Mosaed 2 and the Mosaed 3. These two little guys are able to pull around this massive cargo ship, comparable in size to the Ever Given. On go the ties. Line secure. All fast.
Engine ready.
Ready to pull.
Canterville looks nervously at El Sayed. Commence pull. Slow ahead. The polyethylene ropes whine as they're pulled taut from the water. The tugboats lightly draw against the ship, testing for resistance. Alright, a little more. More. More. More. More. More. More.
More.
More.
More. More. More. More. More. deeply grounded. It's also low tide, that's not helping. When's high tide? Early afternoon, in a couple of hours. Alright, that buys us some time. How soon do you think you can get a dredger out here? Let me find out for you. Please hold. The dredgers can remove the sand below the waterline that's all built up around the ship. Hi again. They say it'll take a day, maybe two. All right, tell them to hurry.
A day or two? I'd better update my boss. Let him know it's not gonna be a quick fix. I should call my wife as well. All right, don't go too far. I need you for something in a minute. Hey, what about excavators? Oh, yeah, how many we got?
Right now? No, for my birthday. Yeah, now. One. One. One guy.
There's only one excavator on standby for the whole canal. Well, it's just post-COVID, everyone's been excavating from home. Patch me through. There really was just one guy, by the way. It's local contractor Abdullah. So he picks up the phone. Moshi moshi.
There's been a big accident at the canal, Abdullah. There's sand and dirt everywhere. I need your help. Just send me the deets, Choom. Abdullah jumps in his truck and heads to the scene. And when he pulls up, gut in him.
He sees the massive ever given wedged into the canal. Abdullah locks himself into his excavator and gets to work on the most important task
he's ever done digged Back on the bridge. Yeah, I'm not sure hopefully home soon. Okay. Yep. No, no, no love you too. Okay Who the boss was not happy. Hey before you said you needed me for something. I
Did who's this Breathe into this tube. Also, you have to do a drug test. After the crash, they tested Cantherville for drugs and alcohol. Both came up negative. There's also a procedure to make sure that captains aren't fatigued. They look at the rest schedule and they find, no, Canterville took that nap.
Remember, he's had plenty of rest time. So he passed the fatigue assessment. And while Canterville was at the nurse's office, high tired came and went. Tugs were tried again and again. Tried a little bit of this, a little bit of that. It didn't work. All day trying, all evening and into the early morning. But that
stubborn ship was going nowhere. Day 2. The moon Day two. There's quite a queue of ships by this point and they're all honking their horns and patiently Go around Go around No one knows quite what's happening because the Suez Canal Authority has not made a formal statement. But their hand is about to be forced when an impatient sailor behind the Ever Given takes a photograph and publishes it online. And this starts a bit of a buzz on social media. It was at this very moment that the helmsman's most feared fear was most realized, someone pulled
up the navigational data. Colonel? Within 24 hours it was all over the news. So over at the Suez officers... Uh, Mr. Rebbi, you have 300 voicemails. Telemarketers?
Important clients and journalists. They're asking about whether the canal is blocked, aren't they? They're asking about whether the canal is blocked, yes. And the Suez Canal Authority could keep it a secret no longer. They held a press conference.
Okay, okay.
This is crazy. Let's say, hypothetically. They didn't give many details, but it was a very inspirational press conference. The news begins reporting on the story.
It's blocked.
Cargo ship blocking the Suez Canal.
A huge container ship.
There's just the most incredible drama playing out in the Suez Canal.
A massive container ship longer than the Eiffel Tower.
It's one of the world's most important shipping lanes.
And breaking news from the Nana Star News Channel. I am Nana. Mega ship's big ass is stuck in the Suez Canal.
Right, point is, this story exploded everywhere. There was a lot of sympathy to go around. I appear to have blocked global trade. And the internet, upon seeing it, went, these guys need some help. We would love to volunteer.
That's not a picture of a naked woman.
I need to help them.
They knew best about what to do to get this ship unstuck. Alright, it's time for the yeah I reckon you could pretty much just do this and it'd work section. By far the most popular solution was simply blow it up. No ship, no problem.
But why wouldn't this work?
Well first you're blowing up a billion dollars worth of cargo. And this thing is about three times the size of Mount Rushmore. So there's quite a lot of debris to sweep up actually. And you still haven't solved the problem of moving the thing out of the f**king canal. Next idea. What if we attach a thousand helicopters and simply fly the thing out?
You could even take it all the way to its destination in the Netherlands. Well, the problem is this thing weighs about 300,000 tons. So even if you had a really powerful helicopter you're going to need like 25,000 of them and you can't put them all together in one area or they'll all crash. It ain't gonna work.
On route to help. Uh, hey, hey maybe pull up a bit?
Next! Alright, more seriously, why don't we take a whole bunch of old jet engines, weld them to the sides of the ship, turn them all on at once, and...
Wheeee!
The day is saved. However, there is a risk of an explosion. And then you'd have a risk of an explosion. And then you'd have a hole in the ship. And then the ship sinks.
And then you're really never moving it. Hear me out. Liquid nitrogen. A lot of liquid nitrogen right under the boat. The water freezes, expands, the ship lifts up, bobs around.
You love it.
Except now, the ship is just stuck in ice, and then it melts, and then you're back to the exact same position. Also you need like a billion dollars worth of nitrogen, there's no way to get that much material let alone handle the scale of that material. Also everyone's gonna freeze to death on board, and the ballast will expand in the tanks and that'll destroy the ship.
It's not gonna work. Alright, last idea, best idea. What if we just actively made things worse? Such as this petition to add a second boat to the canal. Jokes aside, one humble comment did stand out from the crowd.
Get a few people on this side, a few people on that side, push it, and I really think it would go.
Well maybe. Because that's exactly what the recovery team intended to do.
Ahoy!
Ah, good to see you back from the nurse. I told them I didn't do any drugs but they wouldn't take my word for it. I would have believed you. Just give me the walkie-talkie. Alright, full ahead with the excavators! Three more excavators join Abdullah and they are all busily digging out the front and rear of the ship. It's still going too slow. What else we got? More rescue stuff! So here comes Rabby
pulling up to the scene. Good news, fellas! And he's standing atop a very powerful bit of kit. A big, beautiful dredger. To be specific, a cutter suction dredge. Essentially, you've got a big rotating cutting tool
that loosens up all the soil, while a big suction pipe sends it yonder. All right, do the dredgy. Full speed, what else we got? We've got more tugboats incoming. More and more tugboats join the fray.
A total of eight, arranged around the ship like this. Notably, the Baraka One and the Izat Adele. These are two of the most powerful tugboats in the Middle East.
And that includes the non-deserty parts. Full ahead with those! They keep trying. A cacophony of engines playing the highest stakes game of tug of war ever attempted. Tens of millions of dollars being lost every hour until it was won. And their opponent?
Unbothered, moisturized, taking up the whole lane. Un-budgeable. All right, we're calling it for now. Oh, El Sayid, we've thrown everything we can at this ship and it won't concede an inch. It's hopeless, hopeless. The cynicism of youth.
I've worked for many years on the Suez. There's magic in the water, Canterville. Magic. We will succeed. Your words are empty, El-Sayed. Optimism has blinded you, El-Sayed. We cannot defeat the Canal. It is simply too powerful. If I were the guys at Kaisen Kaisha, I'd just forget about the Ever Given and buy a new ship. Well, we can't afford a new ship! The owners of the Ever Given, Shoei Kaisen Kaisha Ltd, are getting very worried. I need that ship back and I can't just leave it to the Suez Canal Authority to do it.
There's only one team daring and foolhardy enough to take on a job like this.
Kaysen calls up an elite salvaging company from the Netherlands. Smit salvage.
We need your help. I got your number from...
You know who? Smit is the industry's best. They have response centers all over the globe. 24-7 ready to respond to marine emergencies. And funnily enough, they're the same team that helped with the rescue of the Costa Concordia back in 2012. Suit up boys! They put the ocean in Ocean's Eleven, the tide in Tide Pod, and sometimes they pee in the water.
Why not the fish do it? We're en route to the canal. ETA in the next 24 hours. Next time on Boat in Canal The prophecy, it's coming true! Kiss me you fool! I'm beginning to think you don't want to get the boat free!
Well is it the Yanny wire or the Laurel wire?
Laurel!
I couldn't hear you, you're breaking up!
Ha ha ha.
There's only one way this was ever gonna go. It's now day three. There's more digging, more tugging, but the ship is still exactly where they left it. And the slow pace of progress is starting to cause problems for international trade. Each delayed ship represents thousands of tons of undelivered stock for store shelves. And that queue is getting longer and longer.
On board, an estimated $9.6 billion worth of goods is sitting idle. The milk! It will spoil! And the big question is, how long until this thing is fixed? To answer this burning question, the Suez Canal Authority holds another press conference and declares, Guys, guys, another day, maybe two, might even be this afternoon. But the media and industry experts disagree.
The truth of the matter is that they're not making much ground. I mean, this is proving to be more difficult than originally expected.
Could be closed for weeks.
Or it could take weeks.
Could be stuck for weeks.
Weeks. That's how long it could take to free the container ship currently blocking the Suez Canal.
So that means all of these ship operators here waiting in the queue have a very difficult choice to make.
So basically, I've just got two options. One, I can wait around hoping the ship gets unstuck, which nobody knows how long that's going to be.
Or option two, we go all the way around Africa. And I really don't want to do that, and it's not just a geographic thing. Freighters don't want to go around Africa because it will cost them far more in terms of fuel. It adds 10 extra days to the route. And most importantly, pirates.
Pirates, assassins, and gay pirate assassins.
Now, there'll be two main pirate hangouts. The Somali pirates, everyone knows about them.
But the more prolific group
is actually in the Gulf of Guinea. Named so because it holds the guineas world record for most pirates. In fact, in 2020, 96% of all maritime kidnappings happened in the Gulf of Guinea. That doesn't sound very good to me, Mr. Keisha.
And I just want you to know that you've made an enemy. And when I... Is your boat running? Because you better... You can't park there. All right, hear me out.
I'm thinking a bunch of helicopters, right? And we- There are a lot of people now who are angry with the owners of the Ever Given. There's only one thing I can do. Bing bing bing bong! Breaking news!
Uh, pause for a second. Shoei Kaisen Kaisha is big sorry. The owners of the Ever Given feel such enormous pressure that they go live on television to make a public apology. We are determined to keep on working hard to resolve the situation as soon as possible. Please do not be mad. In a few years we'll all have a big laugh about it.
Yours sincerely, Mr. Kaisha. Oh god that's the boss of my boss's boss. I'm in so much trouble. Can't do anything about it. All we can do is keep trying to free the ship. So they keep going. And going, into the night.
And on that night, Canterville and El Sayed had a heart to heart. The mood was very sombre. Still feeling optimistic, El Sayed?
Of course.
Well, it's day three. How much progress have you seen so far? They're gonna blow us up, aren't they? It's possible. They're gonna freeze us, aren't they? That seems less likely.
They might just attach a whole bunch of jet engines and we're gonna get fucked up. That one got debunked. Sorry, I don't mean to take it out on you. It's just... all these guys, they rely on me. The Navigator, the Helmsman, Gene... And the other ones we never animated.
But I'm thinking maybe I should just get on a lifeboat right now and never look back. I could go live on an island somewhere, far far away from here. Run away? Look at this. Teemu neck massager for Sally. I bet she's checking her mailbox every morning. Bulk six dollar fingerless gloves for Mr. Poe Box. You want to disappoint him? No. Little Jimmy won't be getting his 20 pack of kitchen tongs this Christmas. And you think that
doesn't kill me inside? But we've exhausted every option. There's nothing on earth that could free this ship. Well, that's where you're right. Look up there, Lil' Canthi. El Sayyid points up into the night sky. Los Lunos. Yes, the moon. The sun of the night.
To the ancient Egyptians, it was a sign of hope. And in a few more nights' time, a prophecy will be fulfilled. The supermoon. I have to show you a kind of boring diagram. I'm so sorry. You see the moon doesn't just orbit the Earth in a perfectly equidistant circle. It is in fact an ellipse.
That means there is a point when the moon is the furthest from the earth and we call that the apogee. And there's also a point where it's closest to the earth. That's the perigee. You know when you look into the night sky and the moon seems bigger or smaller than usual? Different distances in it. Point is the moon gravity is all over the water and the closer it is the more it's going to pull now there's another effect as well if you believe the mainstream media the earth is going around the Sun like this and once in a while it will also align
with the Sun being on the exact opposite side BAM at this point when everything lines up like so both the Sun and the Moon are at max strength pulling on the sea. And they call that the supermoon. And the tidal effects of both combine for an even greater pull. High tide can be even higher than usual, sometimes by up to a foot and a half. Now these sorts of moons only happen three or four times a year. But in four days, Big K, we're going to get one.
Previously on Boat in Canal. Don't let go! Ha ha ha, my plans have all fallen into place. I thought I knew what being a captain meant. What do you mean cut the black and blue wire? There's only white and gold! We've got one chance left.
The moon!
This is just like that Costa Concordia video he did, but way less funny.
Over at the Ever Given, things are status quo. But online, there's a bit of a new development. A screenshot of a news article appears. Cargo ship crashes into Suez Canal. Captain involved in incident. But there's a twist.
Uh-oh.
Is that a woman?
A woman.
Egypt's first female sea captain, Mawa El-Suh-her, was being named in this headline as responsible for crashing the Ever Given. And the screenshot of this news headline spread all across social media. For Marwa to have screwed up this badly is impressive.
Especially considering she's never worked on the Ever Given and is currently hundreds of miles away in Alexandria. But someone online went, First female captain? Uh, Brody? Suez blockage? She must have did it.
Mawa found out about the accusations through a friend and quickly hopped online. I gotta clear my name. Guys, it isn't me! But the online bad guys must have hacked her account, cause everything she wrote just came out in squiggles.
Zumawa tried to hack back this code. It's nothing I've ever seen before. They're countering my hack. I'm going to reroute the hosting. Not if I can help it. They ran through the firewall. Use IP4. It's better. Now, while we can all agree that a lady captain is very gross and icky, and while we all agree that she should be doing a lady job,
like adding rosemary oil to the ballast water or knitting hand warmers for the steering wheel. It was not fair that she was being falsely accused. And the situation was escalating as the online bad guys started making fake accounts pretending to be her. What was Marwa Etcetera to do against such a coordinated campaign?
Well luckily, a surprise hero to the story. The mainstream media showed up and did a thing. Bringing her onto the telly and clearing everything up. Mawa even found some positive in the situation.
I was really upset at the beginning, but later on I found the support from all people around me and that made me feel more grateful for what happened.
A lot of the social media posts got taken down. And in the end, it all turned out okay. At least, for her. Back to the Ever Given. The Ever Given has been grounded for four long Egyptian days. So tug tug tug. Dig dig dig. Pull pull pull. Fuel is getting low. Everyone is overdue for a break.
Alright guys, grab a Red Bull and a little snacky. We'll pick up again soon. But as the engines wind down, the crew can hear something approaching. Who the hell is that? It's Smit Selvidge. The Smit team boldly actions onto the scene, looking at the ship very inspectively. They report their findings to the rescue team.
Alright, I ain't no boat expert, but if you want a chance at moving this ship, you're gonna need to make it a lot lighter. By tens of thousands of tons at least. Is it going to bend and tear? And sink? No, it doesn't look like it's going to do that.
But it also doesn't look like it's going anywhere with all of this weight on the back. Okay, we trust you. What's your plan to make the ship lighter? I know a guy. He's got a crane. I'll get it down here. We'll offload all the containers. It'll be brilliant. You're gonna love it. The container thing again? again. Yeah, how long is that gonna take? Well, to get him down here and to get all the equipment assembled we're gonna need at least a few weeks. Weeks? Yeah, and to get all the containers off the ship that might take several months. Months? No, Mr.
President, he didn't say months. He said monks. Those Shaolin guys, they're very strong. Everything's going according to plan. A furious rabbi marches in. Do you have any idea how much these last few days have cost Egypt already? We've had to sell parts of the Sphinx. Look, the nose is gone. It's looking all messed up.
We turned the whole country into an e-commerce site. It used to just be called Jypt. Now it's online. Egypt-Gypt. Remember Tutankhamun? Now it's Wanton-Khamun. Get it? It's a pun. Get it? Let's move on, says the smit guy standing in for the audience. Look, this is by far the best option. Yeah, it's slow and laborious, but it's a guaranteed fix. Or, you can carry on doing what you're doing now.
You're on what, day four? How's progress so far? El-Sayed wouldn't hear it. We will continue with the dredging and the tugging. The Supermoon will be here soon, and that will save us. You are foolish, El-Sayed. The legend of the Supermoon is just a legend. Alright, we're on the same team here. If you insist on keeping the cargo aboard and just tugging, we've got resources to help.
Smit calls in two additional tugboats. And not just big ones. Pretty much the biggest ones you can get. So Smit and the recovery team have figured out a sort of plan A and plan B. Plan A is to pull the Ever Given free by the supermoon, which is only two days away. Now if that doesn't work, they'll have to go to plan B, which is to offload by crane most of these containers, and that will take months. Watching on impatiently, tapping their feet and looking at their watches very aggressively, is now a queue of 400 vessels waiting to use the canal.
Fresh fruit, thousands of tons, losing its freshness. Medicine, losing its potency.
After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill. You take the red.
Not to mention livestock.
More than a dozen ships have live animals on board.
Mostly sheep and cattle lightly sizzling under an Egyptian sun. Moooooo! The Egyptian government has had to dispatch vets to board these ships to tend to the animals' welfare.
I am a surgeon! I am a-
Ah, a few days ago, when I was a younger man... Freight from Asia only cost $8,000 a container. Now it's $12,000. And the impact is being felt by a lot of larger companies. Renault, for example, ran out of some critical components and had to halt assembly at a couple of its plants. Adidas, Nike, Ikea all saw shortages.
Some of our clients are out of their tops selling SKUs already.
And as tankers queue, oil prices are rising.
Let my people go! Through the little waterway, please. And meanwhile, all across the day, the tugs are trying again and again. Move a little more sand, wait for the next high tide, try again.
And as this marches on with the same futility as day one, banking on the supermoon looks like a costlier and costlier gamble. Alright, enough of this. ...said about a hundred ships opting instead to go the long route around Africa, accepting the longer traffic time and pirate-y risk. The Supermoon. It's tonight. There's a renewed energy as people scuttle around the area doing
everything they can to prep the ship for the big event. The excavator crew over the course of the week has expanded to a team of 11, working double, sometimes triple shifts with only three hours a day for sleep. Together with the two dredgers they have moved 30,000 cubic metres of sand and soil. For comparison, this is one cubic metre. And this is 30,000 cubic metres.
And here is what it looks like next to the Ever Given. That's a lot of sand. Subway sandwich for scale. And it's borne some results. Overnight, they managed to free the rudder from the left bank. And that's a big deal, because this rudder was acting as a bit of an anchor in the sand.
Now free, the stern bobs around with the motion of the water. Great stuff! Meanwhile, the crew is doing everything it can to lighten the weight of the ship. That includes making a second plea for the ballast water to be ejected. Oh please, the smith guy's already tinkled in there. We just can't do it.
It would destroy the ecosystem of Egypt.
Please please please please please please please please please please please please
please please please please please please please please please please please please please
please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please Biodiversity. Let a thousand algae bloom. Nice work. That'll make the ship 9,000 tons lighter, can't they? The water's so bright I can barely see it coming out of the ship. Here, take these. No. I don't deserve them.
Sunglasses are for people who redeem themselves. That's not me. Hold on to them, just in case. Into the evening, the pace keeps up. We see Abdullah excavating away, but really he's thinking about the moon. Rabby, he's busy taking video calls, but he finds himself distracted with thoughts of the moon. Even Mr. Keisha.
Is there anything in this world that doesn't remind me of her. This is Nana Star, Nana Star News Channel.
The full moon shone brightly that night, kissing the nape of the canal's neck with its gravity lips. Full tongue. The canal liked it.
And spoiling the romance of the moment is a big fleet of tugboats, watching on voyeuristically. They are 17 in total, with just a bit over 1600 tons of bollard pull. And here's how they're arranged around the Ever Given. Of the four most powerful tugs, two go at the front and two go at the back. They'll be pulling. Another six tugs are put on the flanks. Two over here, four over here.
They'll be pushing. The remaining tugs are fuelled and ready on the sidelines, waiting for their chance to sub in. Positioned like this, when the word is given, all these ships are going to try and turn the ever-given anti-clockwise. Looks great guys!
Do you think that this is gonna- I believe in the supermoon. This had better work. The guy with the ruler down by the shoreline yells out, The tide has hit its peak! El Sayyid commands over the radio,
Start main engines! Tension on! Full ahead! The tugs start moving. They carve through the water with ease. The immense power from the tugs meets the resistance of the Ever Given.
It was at this point that the narrator said something really poetic. Stuff about the night. About how the ships were like dancers on the water. For juxtaposition we cut away to that crab again. Which everybody hated. It's like a metaphor if you think about it. The tugs are sliding to the left. They're sliding to the right. It's not working!
Diesel fumes fill the air as the tugs keep increasing their power. The water violently foams behind the tugs. Everyone is staring at the back of that ship. Come on! Move! This goes on for minutes. More minutes. Even more minutes. An hour. Two. Four hours. By 4.30am the moon's power is starting to wane and there is very little progress. Don't give up! The tide only goes down so that we can rise once again.
Your moon gambit has cost Egypt dearly, El-Sayyid. Guards, prepare the sarcophagus with the beetles like in the... What the hell is that? Under the water, all of this tugging has loosened the sand, the soil, the rock. Could it be? The sound of metal tensing and flexing.
The ship is beginning to move. It is coming free from the bank. The supermoon gives one last howl. It worked. They pulled the ship from the bank. At the back at least. Now the bowels still wedged in there pretty good. But this is progress. We're halfway to freedom. Keep going. freedom keep going so they did all morning 730 a.m. the Sun is rising the tugs have been pulling all night but the most
difficult task freeing the bow of the ship remains beyond them. Well, I guess even the moon has its limits. I don't want to hear it, El-Sayyid. It wasn't enough. That bow is still stuck.
That is not what my opinion of...
No, Mr. President. They're not saying that the bow is still stuck. They're saying, take a bow. And then something else that rhymes with stuck. I gotta go. They were loading up the missiles for Plan B, as the guys on social media suggested. I lied about the crane thing, this was always the plan, says the smith guys. You know what Canterville, I agree.
They should just blow us up. What? My career is over now, too. You're the guy who blocked the canal, and I'm the guy who couldn't get it cleared. We've brought instability to the Middle East.
But...
Enough, Canterville. I raised your hopes with moon-based promises. But look at the tide. It's low, low tide, and yet I am lower still. Canthaville looks pensively out the window, and it was at that moment that he had his character arc.
He realized that he was the captain and the captain is always in charge. Shut up, El-Sayed. We shall continue regardless of the tide. Is that not the Egyptian way? Don't you remember the story, El-Sayed?
That every young Egyptian kid is told about the human pyramid?
No.
Where there's one guy at the bottom who gives up and we all fall down? Heck, it ain't a triangle if you don't try. We need to be strong, together, like a pyramid. It's what Giza would have wanted. You're right, dammit. Thank you, Canthaville.
That's the most inspirational speech I've ever heard in my life. I'll never lose my faith again. And even though you're kind of the worst captain I've ever seen, you're still the best... friend. So they pressed on all morning.
Enthusiastically and vigorously tugging away. Beating off the fatigue, but to no progress. Okay, everyone take a break. Copy. We'll have lunch and pick up again in a couple of hours. Then suddenly one of the smith guys comes busting
into the room. I've got an idea. Everybody turns and looks at the smith guy. All right, well, sorry about the boring diagram, but take a look at this. Remember how we emptied the ballast tanks before?
Yeah of course. Well now that the ship is half floating what if we refilled the ones at the back on this part of the diagram where the ship is almost floating. That way it will sink lower here and allow the bow to sit up even higher on the bank. Canterville gives El Sayed a knowing nod. I got this. I know a guy who owes me a fever. It's working! And it gets better. It's now 2pm and that means high tide. Guys I've got another technical issue.
Alright what is it? It's easier if I show you with a drone. Hold on let me try again. You can see the ship is lodged at the front. The guys are pulling but it ain't budging. However, a lot of force is building up here. And what if it were to break free?
The sudden release could propel the ship straight across the water with a hell of a lot of momentum. It could span the entire canal and land on the opposite bank, only to run aground again. Worse still, it could pin these small tugs in its wake. Dangerous. To solve this problem they did a bit of a safety briefing and they got some rope. Four ropes actually, tying the bow of the ship to somewhere on the land. The lines look great, guys. With the contingency in place, the tugs start up again. And about an hour later, at 3.05pm,
movement. The bow began to shift. Okay, that's definitely moving. This is it! It's working! The shift made a big noise as it accelerated from the bank. And at first, excitement and relief. The bow was coming free. But uh oh.
Remember that concern about the over swing? Well, it's happening. Okay, the only source we found for this part of the story was Bloomberg, but they said that it happened and we wanted to build it. So this recreation is how we imagine it went. The four support ropes take strain. Then...
Snap! One of them breaks. Do you think it's gonna hold? I think it's gonna hold. Move those tugs out of the way! Snap! Another rope breaks.
Captain El-Sayed. It's gonna hold. Get your tug out of the way, but it's gonna hold. Snap, a third rope breaks. Get out of the way, get out of the way. A single strand is the only thing holding this ship from swinging all the way to the other bank and being stuck.
Forever. Without even realising, Cantherville grabs Al Sayyid's hand and squeezes it tight. It's gonna hold. You're a madman, Canthaville. Mad. Mad passionate about this canal, and I ain't afraid of nothin'. He said very call-backedly,
The engines shut off. All that could be heard is the squeak of tightening rope and the scream of torsioning metal. Sacre bleu! said Abdullah. But it is slowing down. It comes to a halt. The final rope held.
They really did it. And the Ever Given rested easy in the middle of the canal. Al-Said turns to Canthavel, power up the engines, let's get your ship moving again. I'm on it, says Canthavel.
All of the tugboats start honking their horns in celebration. Cheers can be heard from the main treasure, the Mashour. In fact, they filmed this celebratory video. We are one! You heard them right, Mr. President.
We did it! We did it! It's free! I told you. All in a day's work.
The President takes his finger off the nuke button. Pack it up boys. I can't believe it. All that digging really must have made a difference. I just... Oh. Good. Everybody hated that crab. We did it Gene, we did it. Gene? Where are you?
Captain who are you talking to? Gene! Captain, there's no Gene on board.
Wait a minute. No, it's impossible. Gene wait! Thank you.
I'll always remember you, Cantherville. And so the canal was clear once again and... Chop chop! You still got work to do. By 8pm the workday had not finished for the Suez Canal Authority. There's still a backlog of 400 ships waiting to go through the canal. So Rabbie stands in front of microphones
and says the canal will be operating around the clock until the queue is cleared and within a few days it returned to normal. It was a big accomplishment. Many industry experts thought it would take several months to free the ever-given but the crisis was resolved within a mere week. Prepare the sarcophagus for the doubters. Even Egypt's president came out and said good job everybody you. You know what? Pizza lunch.
And the Suez Canal Authority held a ceremony in honor of the workers who helped to free the ship. And they also made this monument, which you can see on Google Maps. But the story doesn't end here. A quick note on the helmsman's penis. Now you, me and everyone in the press saw that VDR data. But despite how realistic and to scale it was, was not deliberate yes sheer coincidence if you
watch the VDR data he really is just dodging the ships and that's the shape that the path took so we didn't get in any trouble the end all right I suppose one more smaller detail. Now that the Ever Given is free, what's going to happen to it? And what's going to happen to the crew? Well the Ever Given was tugged over to Great Bitter Lake, where they determined that the ship was seaworthy and not in any urgent need of repair.
But it's also going to be... Impounded.
Oh no.
Hey, there's like, police boats outside. Why?
What did you do?
This ship and its crew is now subject to the indefinite detention by the authority of the Egyptian government. Until you pay us, the Ever Given may not leave, says the Suez Canal Authority. Yes, we will be holding on to the Ever Given. It's our view that there was no wrongdoing on the part of the Suez Canal Authority or its two pilots, and it was all the crew of the Ever Given, so their ship will be held
until the parent company agrees to rightfully pay us for all of the costs incurred.
Ruh- roh.
Now here's where things get very complicated and there is a lot of legal mumbo jumbo. But the crux is this. The Suez Canal Authority says, dear Ever Given owners, you owe us $900 million. And Shoei Kisen Kaisha says, no how many yen is that no way so by April 13th some of the crew was allowed to leave but a lot of them have to stay and there's a certain nervousness in the air large legal battles can go on for a while and it was already a bad example of this just a few dozen kilometres away. The MV Amman.
The MV Amman is a much smaller vessel and it has been abandoned for years, detained by the Egyptian government in 2017 for expired safety equipment. Now they were told to replace the equipment and pay a fine. However, there was no one to replace the safety equipment or to pay the fine because the shipping company went broke.
900 dollar a dues!
So they just abandoned the vessel. There was no way for the legal situation to advance, and that meant that there was no way for the ship to be released. Most of the crew had to stay on the ship and they would keep them there for more than a little while. 13 months before a judge finally decided, alright, look, just leave the keys with one guy, we'll call him the custodian and everybody else can go home.
Now that custodian was a Syrian man named Mohammed Aisha. Ah, look, he's holding the keys, he's holding the keys, you have to stay on the ship now. Everybody else got to leave, but he had to stay. On top of the 13 months he'd already been there, he spent the next three years aboard
the ship.
Quickly, the ship ran out of fuel, which meant it ran out of power, which meant it ran out of running water. No refrigeration either. Food ran out. Every few days Mr. Aisha would be allowed to swim onto the shore to get food, water, charge his phone, but he was only permitted for about two
hours until they would tell him to scoot. Would this be the same fate for the ever-given crew? They did not know. But we do, so let me tell ya. A few more weeks passed. And the negotiations continued. You guys had those two bickering pilots. Yeah, but ah, ah, ah, the captain's always in charge. Sorry, who didn't arrange for tugboats while we were going through the canal?
Oh, oh, that was you guys. Who did you? I'm gonna put 20,000 containers on one of the largest ships in the world and go double the speed limit then complain about tugboats But eventually they all got together in a big room and they went I'm sorry about all those things I said in those emails I sent I Didn't mean it. I Was tough on you as well. They embraced
They made amends They made love. And they agreed, alright, you can keep using the canal. But sometimes, we get to go fishing on the boat. That's fair. That's tough, but that's fair. They shook on it. It was an Egyptian handshake, where they do the thing with the elbow. There was a mummy.
Ha!
Ha!
Ha!
This story sucks.
By September, the crew was allowed to return home. They only got MV Ammaned a little bit. And that guy on the MV Ammanand? He got to go home too! Why not? Get out of here you scamp! The Ever Given made its delivery to Rotterdam. They did it! All the cargo is here! Although it wouldn't hurt to check. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12... Canthopel continued his career in shipping.
It wasn't the end. Maybe just one more for the road? It's a great time to be a cargo ship, Captain. I can tell you that much. Al-Said returned the Lunexicon back to the Sphinx. Thank you, old friend.
And the Ever Given had some minor repairs done to the bow over in Qingdao Fort in China. And then she was ready to set sail again. The Ever Given was released back into the wild. It sailed into the sunset. Ever since then, global trade has improved. Prices have gone down. The economy flourished once again.
Food returned to the supermarkets. Mothers clutched their babes. A litter of puppies. And peace was finally restored to the Middle East.
Forever.
The end. Thanks again to Sailee, the easy way to get data on your phone when you're overseas. The end. Thanks again to Sailee, the easy way to get data on your phone when you're overseas. And 15% off? Now that's a good deal.
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