N. Sea Collision

Simple answer - Asleep!!

I agree with you all. How on earth can anyone not see even a small boat just a few miles off.
I never sailed without proper watch keeping, and I would never trust AI. I would imagine there was nobody on the bridge peering out for other ships.
It was suggested that it may have been foggy, but the container boat was reportedly doing about 12 knots, and had radar. Plus people saw the fire from ashore. The report about "Nobody seen on the bridge" was reportedly from an American crew member on the tanker.
I suppose it'll be months before we hear the facts about the incident.

I Know! I've just thought of a reason.
The container boat was stuck in gear, the throttle was stuck, and all hands were down below trying to free them. Oh! and Iron Mike was stuck as well.

Just heard on the news that it was a Russian skipper on the container boat that was arrested. Mmmmmm

Seems the container vessel failed safety checks recently in Scotland and Ireland. Why was she allowed to continue? Perhaps a few roubles changed hands.

The container vessels captain is a russian national! So what does that automatically mean he a terrorist in disguise? I sailed with a number of russian federation engineers and mates and found them all to be hard working and consciousness seafarers.
The port state inspection in Dublin in 2014 found 10 deficiencies relating to communicating with the emergency steering position, the emergency compass there, the viewing position of it, emergency doors plus others. It was not detained as far as I am aware so those deficiencies must have been fixed before sailing or within a certain time frame. The later inspection in grangemouth found 2 deficiencies relating to Life bouys.
Rgds
J.A

I haven’t taken too much notice of what has happened in this incident , but know when I sailed on flags of convenience there were ship inspections and ship inspections and in a lot of cases the surveyor did not have the authority in a lot of cases to stop a vessel not under the general consensus of the maritime agreement of the day. A foreign ship is much like a foreign embassy and comes under the control of the flag of that country. The best or worse that a surveyor could do was to bar the vessel from the national waters of the country on the grounds of safety as being not manned correctly or complying with the country’s safety,and would prove a danger to the host country. Similar powers to an immigration officer at an airport. That’s the way I see it. One surveyor in Ireland asked me as mate if I could give him some justification for a Bahamas registered vessel owned by a Yugoslav company with a foreign crew , I told him the medicine locker was not written in English that is the contents the drugs etc.,He had words with the Yugoslav master it wasn’t enough to stop the ship , but it was the master he was after. Said to me if it’s wasn’t for that flag you are flying I would have that master off the vessel. As it turned out later the same master was sacked and replaced by an Iranian . I was leaving the vessel,thank goodness. JS .

#24 The same as a previous post l sailed as the up front master on a Russian ship out here with the usual Australian crew of 8 men plus a full crew of Russian Nationals who called Ukraine home.Found them after a day or two after they had got over their shyness of having foreigners on board they were all ok , a small survey ship manned by 35 of a crew just like the old days , plus 6 ocean surveyors with all their magical equipment. About 4 years later I retired and got a card from the Russian master wishing me all the best. if he had put a return address on I would have thanked him and asked where the bottle of Vodka was. Cheers JS

There used to be one rule that most seafarers followed when things are looking like going wrong.

"If in danger, or in doubt, slow her, stop her, go about."

#27 Thought that was “ if in danger ,or in doubt always give the Cook a shout” . JS

A few things to think about
1----For the dead Man alarm to work (BNWAS) it has to be switched on, most on older ships are linked to pushing a button or operating equipment not a motion detector
2----70% of short sea ships in the North Sea such as this feeder container have Russian/Ukrainian/Polish/Latvian etc Masters
3----Port state control inspectors have different sanctions for deficiencies they find, ranging from Detention of the ship until fixed and then to be rechecked by PSC before ship can be released, or to be fixed before departure, or o be fixed within a week, 2weeks or upto to a Month.

Whilst there are modern aids to navigation, from my experience basic watchkeeping situational awareness is dissappearing, navigational standards are eroding, a few years ago, Crossing the traffic lanes between Scheldt & Thames, I watched my 2nd mate take over the watch at midday, stand at the bridge front grasping the ARPA radar, and stare at the screen for 20 minutes, never lifting his head, asking him what he thought the tanker on out stbd side was going to do, he replied, which is the tanker, to which I replied in a seaman like manner that if he looked out of the ******* window occasionally he may know what was happening and not just stare at the radar.

Just a few months ago checking the paper charts on a ship, that was at a Port halfway up the East coast, if the three Navigators (Master, Mate, 2nd Mate) considered a position every hour was satisfactory coming through Haisbrough Gat etc off the Norfolk coast, they all thought it was, I asked the 2nd Mate who was a couple of years out of college, what did they teach you at college then, every hour. When I suggested positions at least every 30 minutes, they thought I was mad.

So the reality of what goes on out there nowadays is so far removed from the experience of most of this forums members they probably could not beleive what they were seeing. There is of course good and bad amongst all nations.

But can I beleive that someone had left the bridge for 20 minutes, unfortunately yes I can, can I beleive the Master on the bridge got trapped into dealing with paperwork, and forgot about his watch keeping having let the third mate go and get on with safety gear maintenance, unfortunately yes.

It is going to be a while, but I think the truth will come out, will it be a conspiracy theory, I doubt it, more than likely just plain muppetry.

Never under estimate the stupidity of the people you are dealing with.

Dont forget it is about 37 years ago , a Bermuda ship with British officers & Canadian crew, on a voyage from Hartlepool to Rotterdam, struck a glancing blow to a Jack up rig a few miles east of Flamborough head about 2am, perfect visibility, the rig was aware for an hour the ship was heading at them, rig crew were at survival station having been calling &signalling the ship, no structural damage to the rig, Ship had damage to F'cle head & you can see the teeth marks from the legs jacking system. (As far as I have researched, the rig was Glomar Labrador, collision at 02:45 on 25th June 1988, I will not mention the ships name)

The Second Mate had gone to bed, not fell asleep in the pilots chair, but actually left the bridge & gone to his cabin (it was a dry ship, but everybody filled up in the pub before departure)...... There was no lookout on the bridge as he was cleaning the alleyways as was normal procedure.

Some 6 months later I joined the ship as extra 2nd Mate keeping 8-12 on a one month releiving job over christmas, Skipper said to me crew members clean the accomodation at night..... Not with me I said, I want a lookout, there was no argument, the 12-4 2nd Mate did not have a lookout though. Lessons were obviously not learnt. A year later the ship sank due to a ballast system failure

rgds
Kev

In reply to John Arton.
Being Russian certainly doesn't make him a terrorist John, but seeing as he's being held on suspicion of gross negligence and manslaughter, it does give cause for concern. Maybe he's not to blame? and I'll apologise profusely for implying so, if he's found totally innocent.
I also know and have known Russians, most were OK, a few were a bit iffy, especially the party men that often accompanied them ashore.
We have a neighbour, a nice lady that's Russian, and you should hear her go on about living in Russia. Her little dog is not Russian, but will bite you if you get too close.