On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:58:26 GMT, otnmbrd
wrote:

Never heard of this practice, however, on some cargoes it was common
practice to start loading by gravity only (slow) until the suction bells
were covered to avoid splashing, for much the same reason.
On todays ships, most use inert gas in the tanks to keep the oxygen level
too low for combustion.

After searching around a bit, it seems the purpose of the dry ice was
to inert the tank. My recollection of looking down into the tank was
there wasn't enough CO2 coming from the blocks to do it, but I didn't
stay around long.
I also found that a number of people have been killed by exploding
tanks when attempting to inert a tank using a CO2 bottle.
The discharge from the bottle itself can generate enough static to
produce a spark before the tank atmosphere becomes non-explosive.
Like they say, a little knowledge can be dangerous.
Never did like sitting on a bomb myself.

--Vic