The Nautical Institute draws lessons learned from an incident in which an aft mooring line unspooled and fell overboard due to the mooring winch control lever being left slightly in the release position.
A tanker had docked at port and a pre-loading meeting was being held. About 40 minutes after mooring was completed, an officer on a safety round discovered that one of the aft mooring lines had un-spooled from its drum and had been lost overboard. He informed the personnel at the meeting and crew were mobilised to recover the line with the help of a mooring boat and a tug.
The line was recovered and re-installed. The investigation revealed that the drum control level had been left slightly in the release direction. The drum had then slowly un-spooled by itself after crew had left the aft mooring station. Normally, the spring loaded control lever of the mooring winch would catch at the detent notch that ensures a neutral position. In this case, the lever had not been placed in the neutral position.
Lessons learned
- Check and re-check the mooring station and machinery before leaving.
- Safety rounds are a good practice and should be encouraged by senior shipboard leaders.