What ARE the odds? Another US vessel collision w/a foreign ship !

Maybe this has happened more than we realize. Possibly it hasn't been reported in the past with as much fanfare, as it is now / I'd sure hate to be up on deck on a cruise ship at night and see us bearing down on a vessel OR vice versa. :eek:

Mac

Link?

Apparently getting higher. Very sad about the fatalities.

See https://news.usni.org/2017/08/21/photos-show-collision-damage-uss-john-mccain-ship-arrives-singapore-10-sailors-still-missing

IIRC, there was also a similar collision this year with another maritime vessel.

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Maybe this has happened more than we realize. Possibly it hasn't been reported in the past with as much fanfare, as it is now / I'd sure hate to be up on deck on a cruise ship at night and see us bearing down on a vessel OR vice versa. :eek:

 

Mac

I was on the bridge on a cruise (yes, some ships have open bridges) on one of the luxury lines which explains the itinerary. We were heading east in the Sir Francis Drake channel heading from St. John to Virgin Gorda. On two separate occasions sail boats decided to play chicken with us, and cut right in from of this 5000 ton ship. It could have been ugly.

I agree that it is very common in that area for sailing vessels to do crazy things around larger vessels .... seen it many times. I might note that this area has a HUGE 'bareboat charter' business. Here, many relatively inexperienced folks rent sailboats for a week or more and strike out to explore .... you don't need a 'license' to do this ....

And according to COLREGS rule 18: A power-driven vessel underway shall keep out of the way of: ... (iv) a sailing vessel

so if the power driven cruiser hits the nut on the sail boat while it was under sail alone ... the cruiser is in the wrong .... it was the cruiser's responsibility to give the sail a wider berth ...

so goes the rules of the road at sea ....

I agree that it is very common in that area for sailing vessels to do crazy things around larger vessels .... seen it many times. I might note that this area has a HUGE 'bareboat charter' business. Here, many relatively inexperienced folks rent sailboats for a week or more and strike out to explore .... you don't need a 'license' to do this ....

 

And according to COLREGS rule 18: A power-driven vessel underway shall keep out of the way of: ... (iv) a sailing vessel

 

so if the power driven cruiser hits the nut on the sail boat while it was under sail alone ... the cruiser is in the wrong .... it was the cruiser's responsibility to give the sail a wider berth ...

 

so goes the rules of the road at sea ....

Sooo, in theory. LARGE mega cruiseships have to 'giveway' to all those 'idiots'(NO offense intended to any CC sailboat readers) you see darting across AND in front of cruiseships sailing down a narrow strait too the open sea??:eek:Absolutely Scary!!

Mac

Sooo, in theory. LARGE mega cruiseships have to 'giveway' to all those 'idiots'(NO offense intended to any CC sailboat readers) you see darting across AND in front of cruiseships sailing down a narrow strait too the open sea??:eek:Absolutely Scary!!

 

Mac

Nope - vessels 'constrained by draught' have right of way over shallow draft vessels [displays three vertical red lights, or a black cylinder 'day shape]

Nope - vessels 'constrained by draught' have right of way over shallow draft vessels [displays three vertical red lights, or a black cylinder 'day shape]

There are many codicils to the rules of the road: generally a working vessel has right of way over a pleasure craft, the less maneuverable vessel has right of way over the more manouverable. And location can also make a difference - do international rules of the road apply?

the example mentioned was 'open water' as I read it anyway.

narrow strait can introduce a different rule

Rule 9 Narrow Channels

(b) A vessel of less that 20 meters in length or a sailing vessel shall not impede the passage of a vessel which can safely navigate only within a narrow channel or fairway.

the important term is 'narrow channel or fairway' . The Old Bahama Channel runs across the north east coast of Cuba and is the deep water between Cuba and the Bahama Bank. On average this channel is more than 10 miles wide with deep water all the way across. For purposes of this rule it is not a narrow channel. The buoyed channel into Port Canaveral or Port Miami is the only place a large cruiser or merchant can navigate, outside the channel there is not enuf water ... a more extreme case is the road from sea to Tampa's port. In places these channels are not as wide as the ships are long. Hence 'narrow channel'.

One of my homeports was the CG base in Alameda CA and the channel to our berth was for sure 'narrow channel' as it was lined with marinas and such all the way and just about as wide as we were long. I routinely had pleasure boats, power and sail buzzing about under the bow as we carefully went our way. My most hair raising event was when an 8 man 'crew shell' cut across the bow when we were less than a ship length away ... WAY less.... But note the rule wording ... he was under 20 meters and NOT a sailing vessel so rule 9(b) did not apply!

9(d) A vessel shall not cross a narrow channel or fairway if such crossing impedes the passage of a vessel which can safely navigate only within such channel or fairway.

If a boat bangs a hard left to get to the other side of the channel ... are they crossing it?

Common sense says bigger boat wins but this is NOT a part of COLREGS! Nor is: generally a working vessel has right of way over a pleasure craft, the less maneuverable vessel has right of way over the more maneuverable. Courts tend to stick to the COLREGS ..... to the letter!

Why wouldn't 9b apply - that shell fell into the category of being "...less than 20 meters in length OR a sailing vessel..." ? It would not have to be both for it to apply.

you got me

the shell was less than 20 meters so the rule applied ..... "he shall not"

didn't stop 'em from doing it tho! I sent my XO down to the rowing club to have a discussion with the 'management' and coxswains ...

turned out the cox' on the shell in question had simply forgotten to look ..... and when he saw what he'd done he had "a significant emotional event"