Oh no they didn’t…

[ElleneAsanto]

From the BBC News update today on the North Sea incident…

“The Stena Immaculate and cargo ship Solong collided in the North Sea, off East Yorkshire, on 10 March, triggering an explosion and fires, which had now been extinguished.”

They didn’t collide, surely? That implies they were both moving.

Stella Immaculate was anchored, so “Solong collided with Stella Immaculate” would be correct.

(I hope this is genuine pedantry, rather than spelling correction.)

You're right, the way they've worded it makes it appear as though they were both culpable for the collision.

Nobody says 'The quayside and the cruise ship collided' do they?😂

Yet further pedantry - a ship’s name is its (or her, traditionally) given name, chosen when they are launched. She isn’t “the” Stella Immaculate. This post wasn’t written by “the” ElleneAsanto.

You could correctly call her “the cargo ship, Stella Immaculate”.

I suppose (for example) “The Eiffel Tower” is correct because it refers to “the tower designed by Eiffel”.

It wasn’t a collision, it was an allision. Because only one ship was moving.

My thoughts are that a 'stationary' ship at sea is not fixed but actually moving all the time. That is why they use gps systems and computers to help maintain position.

So collide is correct.

From a law firm specialising in maritime accidents.

• Allision. This term refers to an accident between a vessel and a stationary object. A stationary object is any object that isn’t in motion, for example, a bridge, pier, dock, or bridge.

I refer you to this sentence on the convention for naming ships in an article where they also advise not to use the definitive article when the ship is first mentioned.

Generally, a definite article is not needed before a ship's name, although its use is not technically wrong.

I’m delighted to have learned the word ‘allision’ today, although I agree that as Stella Immaculate would likely have been to some extent swinging on her anchor it probably was a collision. I’d have said the Solong collided with her though.

Interesting, because when I looked up the definition of allision it says... including a ship that is not underway.

Yet further pedantry - a ship’s name is its (or her, traditionally) given name, chosen when they are launched. She isn’t “the” Stella Immaculate.

Particularly irritating when it's Royal Navy ships, as in 'the HMS Victory.' 'The Victory' if you absolutely must, but not 'the His Majesty's Ship Victory'.

@NaomhPadraigin Underway has a specific meaning in the marine world and it's not for only when the vessel is moving under control. It's all very interesting and I'm sure the lawyers will have a field day!

About underway

Thank you @logicisall.
Allision was a new word for me so I looked out up - always love learning something new!