Raise The Sea Mermid!

The Sea Mermid and Lady Rana washed up on the beach down the road from our house after the late winter storms we had in late January and early February this year, ending up on the same stretch of sand some ten days apart in what must be a million to one coincidence. I posted about this event, giving an entirely more accurate account than Gulf News and The National, incidentally, both of whom stuffed the story up.

For months now, the two ships have been sitting just as the were the day they were beached by their captains, guarded by a solitary Sharjah policeman. They eventually even installed a plywood hutty thing for the sentry.

Last week cranes and other materiel started appearing on the beach front, joined by a large winch and lots of other bits and bobs. It started to look like a serious cargo cult had arrived into town. Now they've hauled the poor old Sea Mermid right up onto the beach and they've started breaking her apart, cutting her up for scrap. After that, they'll do the same with the Lady Rana - apparently the Sea Mermid (it's actually registered under that name believe it or not, wrecking my theories about dyslexic maritime sign writers!) is the better of the two ships, but they're both to go.

A source close to the matter who declined to be named as his Tufty Club membership hadn't come through confirmed that both ships were being scrapped by Dubai Shipbuilding & Engineering. So there you go!