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When the last time you looked at a ship?
Why red are boats painted underwater? |
Well, picture a cruise ship or container ship in the harbor.
Did you happen to notice that the bottom of the hull is always painted red?
It’s not like you can see that snazzy paint job under the waterline, so what gives?
The thing is, in early times, ships were mostly made of wood. That why sailors had to cover their hulls (the part that’s sitting in the water) with copper paint to protect the vessel from wood-eating worms, barnacles, and seaweed. It was the copper that added a red tint to the paint. Thanks to this substance, ships could stay intact and wouldn’t be weighed down by all the stuff that collected on the hull below the waterline. By the way, this muck not only impaired the vessel’s structure but also increased the drag. That means ships wouldn’t move as fast as they could, or they might use more fuel while getting through the water. Nowadays, you can add special ship-protecting ingredients to any kind or color of the paint. But the hulls are still painted red to honor and maintain the old nautical tradition! It’s a hell of a thing. You also might’ve noticed numbers painted vertically on the side of the hull, usually toward the bow. The red background helps those stand out more. And that’s important since these numbers help you understand how much load a ship is carrying. The more weight there is on board, the lower in the water the vessel will sit. It doesn't matter how well you protect the hull of your ship with special paint – it'll never help you completely avoid the harmful growth of barnacles and whatnot. Yeah, bummer. And don’t assume you can just scrape all that gunk off once you dock – most ports don't allow ship owners to do that. You see, ships that arrive from faraway waters can bring along non-native species of seaweed, and other sea life which can severely harm the local ecosystem. Let me know down in the comments what other unusual things about ships you’ve noticed or wondered. As for me, I’ve got plenty of other fun facts about gigantic cargo ships and cruise liners:- You might not realize it, but almost 95% of all the world cargo is transported by ship. All those goods you see at your favorite clothing, tech, or even grocery store – yep, they probably arrived on a big boat!- Right at this moment, at least 20 million containers are moving across the world.- Unfortunately, 2,000 to 10,000 containers fall off the ships carrying them and get lost in the sea every year. That might be where your long-lost parcel is right now!- Within one year, the average container ship travels the same distance as going three-quarters of the way to the moon and back.
Why red are boats painted underwater? |
Why red are boats painted underwater? |
Weigh in down in the comments.- Cruise ship cabin walls are made of metal, and the main reason is fire safety. But you can use it to your advantage, for example, by putting up magnetic hooks and clips. Well, that’s clever.- During a one-week cruise, a large ship uses 1,800 pounds of coffee, 9,000 pounds of lettuce,45,000 eggs, and 20,000 ice cream cones!
But what do they feed the people?-
A big cruise ship functions like a small city, and it even has a water filtration plant directly on board. So no need to worry about drinking the tap water next time you’re on a cruise!- Although there are doctors and nurses on cruise ships, if you have a dental emergency, no-one will be able to help you out. Since there are no dentists on ships, you have to hold off until you get to the next port. Ouch!- If you ever traveled on a cruise ship, you might know that the interior cabins aren't very exciting to stay in. But some cruise companies have found a solution to this problem by installing virtual balconies inside in the rooms! These balconies show real-time images of what happening outside your cabin. A nice detail is that the view even coincides with your location on the ship!- Cruise ships consume a lot of fuel. For example, a large vessel needs about 121,000 gallons of fuel for every day it spends atsea.- They produce a lot of waste too: an average of 7 million gallons a year!- There are cameras everywhere on cruise ships, but they’re not just for security reasons. With their help, the crew can watch the activities on board and understand which ones are the most popular among their guests. Also, they can figure out the peak meal times or where people prefer to spend their time. Later, they analyze this information and decide how to best fulfill passengers needs.- The largest cruise ships have more than 2,000 crew members. On top of that, such vessels are incredibly expensive to build: they may cost more than$1 billion.- Cruise ships are much larger than they seem at first sight. The truth is that the ship hull, which, as you know by now, is located under the surface of the sea, is a massive and long as the vessel visible part. By the way, unlike passenger cabins, the sleeping quarters of the ship crew are also below the waterline. So, you unlikely to come across many crew members at night. Well now, it’s now time for me to weigh anchor, cast off, head out into the open sea, and …probably barf over the rail!
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