UK MAIB informs of an incident on board a small potter, where a deckhand lost his life after being caught in the backrope and then being dragged overboard. The man was underwater for about 15 minutes.
The incident
A deckhand who was working on board a small potter died after he was caught in the backrope and then being dragged overboard.
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Namely, his left leg became trapped in a loose bight of the running backrope, which then quickly tightened, and the weight of the shooting pots dragged him through the shooting door and under the water.
Another deckhand grabbed the backrope, but was not able to hold on to it. The potter stopped in the water and the pot hauler was used to pull the submerged deckhand to the surface. However, he was underwater for about 15 minutes and had died.
The skipper sent out a ‘Mayday’ on VHF channel 16, which the coastguard acknowledged, but the deckhand remained suspended from the pot hauler by his left leg until lifeboat assistance arrived on the scene 40 minutes later.
The rest of the crew held the unconscious man’s head clear of the water, and could not lift him over the gunnel. After the deckhand was lowered into a lifeboat, he was transferred to hospital by helicopter, where he was declared dead shortly after his arrival.
The deckhand usually remained in a ‘safe area’ behind pound boards until about five or six pots remained on deck. The deckhand would then walk over the clear deck towards the wheelhouse to complete the shooting process by dropping the fleet’s remaining anchor and marker buoy.
However, this time, the deckhand left the ‘safe area’ without apparent reason, and tried to cross over the running backrope while about 20 pots and their lines remained on deck.
Lessons learned
After investigating the incident, UK MAIB concluded to the following lessons:
- The significant forces that occur when shooting pots make the chances of survival after being dragged overboard very slim. They are also underestimated. Most victims are dragged overboard so quickly that there is no time to cut the backrope, and the weights of the pots exceed the buoyancy provided by PFDs. Casualties are then quickly dragged underwater. The time taken to halt the shooting operation and recover the already deployed pots means that unless the individual can release themselves from the gear they will likely drown.
- Self-shooting arrangements, which in this case included the fitting of a shooting door and pound boards, reduce the risk of entanglement with the running line. However, a degree of self-control is still required to keep all crew separated from the backrope and pots as they run out.
- Recovering a person from the water is one of the most challenging tasks that a seafarer can face. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen too often, but it is critical that things go well when it does. There are many innovative systems on the market to help with this, and good advice from the RNLI is readily available. Think about which method is best for your vessel, and practise before you need to do it for real.
