Workboats

Summary of the incident
At 1135 on 15 May 2016, the passenger vessel Surprise suffered hull damage and started flooding when it grounded at Western Rocks, Isles of Scilly. All 48 passengers were safely evacuated to shore. The flooding was contained by the passenger vessel Surprise,  own bilge pumps and it returned to harbour under its own power.

Resulting safety issues
A passage plan had not been prepared for the trip. Passage planning is essential for every voyage to ensure all navigational hazards are identified and avoided.
Continue reading “MAIB publishes report into grounding and evacuation of domestic passenger vessel Surprise”

On 9 March 2016, three French fishing vessels sought shelter from bad weather in Dartmouth harbour, on the south-west coast of England. One of the vessels, Saint Christophe 1, was directed to berth alongside a quay wall and when the tide went out it grounded and capsized alongside. The berthed trawler Saint Christophe 1 subsequently flooded and sank with the incoming tide, and was declared a constructive total loss.

Safety issues
The lack of effective communication between harbour authority staff and vessel’s crew failed to ensure a common understanding of the fact that the boat would ground at low water
The assumption that the crew understood the information provided by the harbour staff, prevented further safety checks from being made
Continue reading “MAIB report into the grounding and capsize of berthed trawler Saint Christophe 1”