Historic schooner sunk by container ship...

  • Thread starter Thread starter pvb
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oldmanofthehills said:
The old rhyme comes to mind:-

"He was right dead right as he sailed along.
But he's just as dead as if he was wrong."

Bad luck in carryout a difficult tack in a restricted channel or simply showing off by trying to sail when the iron topsail should be used? Lucky no one was killed
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Like the reputedly Cornish epitaph:

'Here lies the body of young John Grey,
Knew he had the right of way'

Thankfully that doesnt apply to anyone in this case.
 
Minn said:
Probably none of the above. With the foresail and a staysail only she ought to have been able to reach along the lee side of the channel but we would all rather be on the weather side, wouldn’t we, particularly as in this case the weather side is also the starboard side. We don’t know what was astern of the little boxboat. Maybe there was not an immediate opportunity to pass under her stern. But the proximate cause of the collision was the misunderstanding of the helm order.
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And the penultimate cause? I don't know who the man in black that blows the hooter is.... however...

If the person in charge was down aft his field of vision was very severely compromised by all those punters milling around ....she appears to be flush decked .... so I doubt he knew the Astrosprinter was there until it was too late.
 
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oldharry said:
Like the reputedly Cornish epitaph:

'Here lies the body of young John Grey,
Knew he had the right of way'

Thankfully that doesnt apply to anyone in this case.
Click to expand...

It never did and it never does.

It’s a particularly silly ditty.

Notwithstanding the facile reminder that there’s no such thing as right of way, the ultimate direction of IRPCS is to avoid collision. Nowhere does any of the rules suggest that it’s in order to sail or steam on regardless.

The ditty is usually beloved by people who pretend they’re avoiding everyone, but in reality cause mayhem by zig zagging unpredictability. (And not in the sailing and tacking sense..)
 
Frank Holden said:
And the penultimate cause? I don't know who the man in black that blows the hooter is.... however...

If the person in charge was down aft his field of vision was very severely compromised by all those punters milling around ....she appears to be flush decked .... so I doubt he knew the Astrosprinter was there until it was too late.
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I think you are right.

It’s been reported that she was under the command of a retired Elbe pilot. So we must assume that he knew the regulations and how to apply them, but I wonder if the very large number of people on deck might have perhaps been people who had contributed to the rebuild, which might account for the large numbers and for the lack of seamanlike behaviour?
 
Minn said:
I think you are right.

It’s been reported that she was under the command of a retired Elbe pilot. So we must assume that he knew the regulations and how to apply them, but I wonder if the very large number of people on deck might have perhaps been people who had contributed to the rebuild, which might account for the large numbers and for the lack of seamanlike behaviour?
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If they had been real sailors they would all be lining the starboard rail with their legs dangling over the side... :)

Meanwhile ... from the German regs...


"§ 25 Right of way of ships in a fairway
(1) In derogation of the provisions of Rules 9(b) to (d), 15, and 18(a) to (c) of the International Regula- tions for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972, as amended, the regulations contained in the following paragraphs shall apply to vessels navigating in a fairway.
(2) A vessel proceeding along the course of the fairway channel, irrespective of whether or not she can safely navigate only within the fairway channel, shall have the right of way over vessels'
 
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