Not so safe system

[David Ponton]

Seems odd that this sort of system works this way!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...shire-67342329

[Johnny Kieran]

Maybe they decided to change course and were hit by a big one to the side, then decided to heave to for a while? All the reports seem to be from passengers, so they might get surprised at how it is in a storm. Most passengers don't experience severe weather, especially since stabilisers were invented.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Bad weather is something we took in our stride without the benefit of stabilisers, contra flow tanks etc, some people think its rough when crossing the bay from Torquay to Brixham in a force 4

I doubt very much the Captain had panic in his voice as described by one passenger and devoured by the reporter as fact.

[happy daze john in oz]

The Bay has been noted for the odd bit of rough sea.
But no worse than many other sea around the world.
Greta Australian Bight is equally as bad as the Bay, and Cape Rollers can certainly send you off course.

But as said most would not even consider such rough weather eventuated.

[John Gurton]

I think it's a bit lost in translation here by reports to the press. There was probably announcement that the vessel was about to hove to (to port) which would involve going beam on to the swell for a while.
We've all been there!! The safety "system" was probably a safety instruction to stand by, sit or lie down and expect a big roll or two. I doubt very much the Captain would have been scared
Just concerned for his passengers.

[Julian Norman]

Just shows the general publics ignorance of anything to do with the sea. Passengers generally expect to be in a different port everyday without the inconvenience of any bad weather on the way. Telling a passenger that a ship was going to hove to for their own safety would be totally lost in translation

[happy daze john in oz]

For most on a cruise all they want is the food, grog, entertainment and go ashore.
I have spoken with some who have not a bloody clue about how a ship works.
Try explaining how a Diesel engine produces enough power for all the electrics on a ship.

[Richard Simpson]

The media are never one to spoil the story for the sake of the truth! Having spent all my former years on the North Atlantic then all my latter years on cruise ships with American passengers I can say with a degree of authority than the average passenger's perception of heavy weather is a long way away from our more objective veiwpoint. I'm convinced that most of them don't even expect to feel the ship moving!

[Des Taff Jenkins]

What a load of woosers, Don't know what they would have done if on a rusty old tramp and being washed overboard in a Hurricane, hanging onto a doorknob, then after changing clothes and underpants doing two hours on the wheel.
Des

[j.sabourn]

There was only one time I was really worried about a ship , as knew I could do nothing about it , it was regarding the stability of the vessel and had no early control on it . Was mate and as mate responsible for the stowage of various general and bulk cargoes . She had been under various foreign flags and I suspected she had been sabotaged at various times as all liquid soundings on vessel never gave a true reading and this included the fuel tanks and in any loaded condition the vessel never seemed to have a positive GM , she was always at the angle of loll , alright on paper calculations but were not apparently true. I finished up walking off in Japan thinking it may have stopped the vessel , no such luck , I finally got home mentally agitated for a few weeks , never heard anymore and was sure the vessel must have gone down . It was not until joining this site just over 30 years later that I learned she had gone to the knackers yard about 3 months after I left. Sometimes the mental strain is as bad as the physical in seagoing , I never wanted to know what had happened after I left as didn’t want any thoughts of guilt whatsoever. Only by seeing a picture of the ship on this site and her short history after I left did it lift a load off my mind at various times. JS .