Maritime: SS Green Island (Part 2)

Surprisingly, I have received many hits due to searches on the SS Green Island.  For those that have not read my November article on the ship, she is a LASH, or a Lighter Aboard SHip vessel.  To all of you that are searching for information on the Green Island, please leave me a message letting me know if you have sailed on the ship at some point, or what information you are looking for.  I have a few personal pictures of the ship that I need to scan and get uploaded, if that is what you are looking for.  If you are checking out the latest status on the ship, I will do my best to find that for you.  But please, leave me a message to make yourself known.  I have not found a Green Island dedicated website yet for former crew members, so maybe we can start one here.

Thank you in advance, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Maritime: SS Green Island

Back in the 1990’s, I sailed aboard the SS Green Island.  The Green Island was a LASH (Lighter Aboard SHip) class vessel chartered by the Waterman Steamship Corporation.  For those not familiar with a LASH, it is basically a large, hallow vessel which carries floating barges which are loaded and off-loaded by a rolling crane (or Lighter) along the deck.  Some variants of the LASH also carry standard shipping containers behind the forward house.  The image below is a good representation of what the Green Island configuration looks like.

What is a “MODU?”

I guess the best first topic for the Blog is . . . what is a “MODU?”  “MODU” stands for “Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit.”  Basically, they are off-shore drilling platforms that can be transferred from one point to another for various drilling tasks.  Some MODU’s are jack-up rigs, which raise their legs off the sea floor and are towed by vessels to their next desired drilling location.