Vessel Collision Case Study 3

Incident Overview

This section provides an overview of the incident that occurred off Cape Hatteras in the United States.

Incident Details

• The incident involved northbound traffic which follows a northerly course after passing the diamond shoals light.

• The incident occurred during the day in conditions of good visibility.

• Vessel T was heading on a course of 000 degrees at a speed of 17 knots.

• Vessel C was heading on a course of 0 10 degrees at a speed of 19 knots passing across the stern.

• At a time of 20 minutes before collision, C minus twenty shifty observed see on its own starboard beam and overtaking shifty had changed the manual steering while ship see was still on autopilot.

Collision Details

This section provides details about what happened leading up to and during the collision.

Events Leading Up to Collision

• At a time of 10 minutes before collision, C minus ten ship see changed course by 2000 degrees to come on a parallel course to ship tea.

• At a time of 6 minutes before collision, C minus six ships II was no point 75 nautical miles ahead of ship tea when the master of ships II left the bridge.

• Meanwhile, the officer of the watch on ship t went onto the port bridge wing to take a bearing of the diamond shows light facing astern and left only the helmsman in the wheelhouse.

• At a time of 4 minutes before collision, C minus four ships e developed a failure in her steering system and the ship turned hard to port.

• At a time of 3 minutes before collision, C minus three ships II was ahead of ship tea on a crossing course of 270 degrees when the officer of the watch sounded the whistle and ordered the engines to stop.

Collision

• The officer of the watch and shifty now sees the developing situation sounds the whistle and orders hard to port and stop the engines.

• Shifty strikes the port side of ship see at an angle of about 90 degrees. Both vessels sustained damages but there is no loss of life.

Relevant Rules

This section provides relevant rules that apply to this incident.

Rule 5 - Lookout

• Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper lookout by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision.

Rule 6 - Safe Speed

• Every vessel shall at all times proceed at a safe speed so that she can take proper and effective action to avoid collision and be stopped within a distance appropriate to the prevailing circumstances and conditions.

Rule 13 - Overtaking

• Notwithstanding anything contained in the rules, any vessel overtaking any other shall keep out of the way of the vessel being overtaken.

Rule 15 - Crossing Situation

• When two power-driven vessels are crossing so as to involve risk of collision, the vessel which has another on her starboard side shall keep out of way.

Conclusion

This section provides the conclusion of the incident.

• Overtaking ship C was held 82.5 percent of the blame when failure of her electrical steering mechanism caused her to swing to port across the bow of the vessel and into a collision with the vessel just overtaken, ship T.

• The officer of the watch was deemed negligent for failing to attempt to steer manually in violation of the bridge standing order, delaying the sounding of any danger whistle signal, and failing to stop engines as soon as possible.

• The overtaken vessel T was also 17.5 percent at fault for failure to maintain a proper lookout with respect to ship C still closed off her starboard bow.