Ship that went bump in the night

Lessons form Marine Accident Reports

The UK MAIB has recently issued latestSafety Digest including lessons learnt from maritime accidents. In one case, the chief mate fell asleep probably due to lack of stimulation compounded by fatigue and the vessel went bump in the night.

The crew of the vessel was extremely fortunate; had therebeen more traffic in the area the vessel couldhave been in collision and, once aground, hadthe sea been rougher the vessel’s hull might havebreached. Either event could have resulted inlives being lost.

Fatigue issues can affect all seafarers atsome point, and are not unusual. Therefore allthe more reason to take precautions to guardagainst them. The fact that the chief mate did notradio the pilot is indicative of his weariness atthe time, while sleeping through the groundingimpact gives some indication of how deeply hewas sleeping.

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Lessons learnt

The STCW Code requires lookouts to beon duty during the hours of darkness. Themaster and chief mate were aware of this,but chose to send their ABs below as theywere both close to their maximum hoursof work for the day. The master could havedelayed sailing until the crew were adequatelyrested, or he also could have employed thewell-rested cook as a lookout to ensurethe lookouts’ work/rest hours were sharedequitably.
If modern technology is not employedintelligently, the bridge watchkeepingenvironment can lack stimulation. In thiscase, the radars and echo sounder alarmfunctions were not used to advantage.Although they might not have awoken adeep sleeper, there is a chance the alarmswould have alerted the chief mate that thevessel was approaching the shore. However,this vessel also had a BNWAS installed.This equipment’s primary function is toalert other crew members if a watchkeeperbecomes incapacitated for any reason. Gooduse of alarms is of paramount importancewhen technology is doing much of thewatchkeeper’s work. If fitted, use them.
If attacked by weariness while on watch, dothe sensible thing: walk about the bridge,open windows, drink some coffee or callanother watchkeeper. Whatever you do, reactpositively to the signs of fatigue and do notclose your eyes for even a few moments asthese moments can so easily become minutes,or even hours.

Source: UK MAIB