Legal and moral responsibilities at sea

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gilesfordcrush

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Hello all,

I watched an interesting drama over the weekend on the BBC about an Australian yacht that came across an illegal immigrant vessel somewhere off the Australian coast. The vessel was disabled and adrift with many people on board, some were ill and all were in need to food and water. The skipper of the yacht was unable to reach anyone with his VHF as they were a long way out to sea. The skipper and crew were nervous of the passengers on the boat, but were keen to help and do the right thing.

I am keen to find out what the legal responsibilities and moral obligations would be on me in UK waters if I found myself in this situation. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that I may find myself in a similar situation off the UK East coast, although I would be more likely to be able to contact someone on VHF, if not the UK or continental Coastguard directly then at least another vessel.

Where would I find out what the law or other authority would require in this situation?

Cheers,

Giles
 
I suggest that the situation represents a balance that has to be drawn between one's obligations to assist those in distress and one's right to look after one's own safety. I have occasionally mused about this, and one answer that occurred to me was to deploy one's dinghy on a long line and accept only one or two casualties at a time. I only know one person who found himself in such a situation. He was on a chartered boat in the Med in the '80s when a yacht hailed them as they passed. They were suspicious of the blood-stained person on deck and left them alone, reporting the incident at their next harbour. It later transpired that the German skipper had been in an argument with the mate (possibly about a girl - I don't quite remember) and in the fight one of them laid into the other with a winch-handle. My friend felt justified in his boat's actions, considering the potentially violent situation.

I suppose that in the end it comes down to what case you can make to defend your actions, morally and legally.
 
A dozen immigrants drifting on a disabled boat would be more than I was willing to risk. They may, or may not put me over the side, but the likelihood of them hijacking my boat would be far too high for me to consider. If practicable, I'd call out the French coastguard as that's where they'd probably have set out from in the Channel, and stand by a few cables off until something official arrived.

If they were sinking, I genuinely don't know what I'd do. Maybe take 'em on one at a time and use cable ties to immobilise them.
 
UNCLOS
Article 98
Duty to render assistance
1.Every State shall require the master of a ship flying its flag, in so far as he can do so without serious danger to the ship, the crew or the passengers:
(a)to render assistance to any person found at sea in danger of being lost;
(b)to proceed with all possible speed to the rescue of persons in distress, if informed of their need of assistance, in so far as such action may reasonably be expected of him;
 
The Cruising Association produced some guidance on this a couple of years ago. In essence, they advised that you should call for help but stand clear of the craft. Their advice was based on that issued by the Italian and Greek coastguard and was aimed at preventing any attempt to take over your craft by the folks in distress. It was obviously aimed at the situation in the eastern Med at the time, when a large number of people were moving, either from turkey or Libya.
I see no reason not to apply a similar principle to any encounters in the channel: stand off and call for help. Only if there were people in the water would I feel obliged to close and get them aboard my boat.
 
I didn't watch the drama, but my wife did, and we thought about what to do in these circumstances afterwards. As others have mentioned, it isn't an inconceivable scenario off the east coast. Our conclusion was that we'd stand off and contact the authorities via the Coast Guard, offering a tow if circumstances made that appropriate (e.g. off a lee shore). As there are only two of us and we are both of pensionable age we felt it would be unwise to allow unknown and potentially desperate persons on board. The cable tie idea sounds like a good one, but I think you'd have to be certain of being able to defend your actions if you went down that path - restraint can easily go wrong and result in injury or even death (for example, imagine someone with hands tied falling over and then vomiting while unable to change position...)

I'd only offer a tow in the case of immediate danger because there would be the potential for the people on the other craft to use the tow line to come alongside and overcome us. I'd make sure I used a long line that could be slipped at our end easily, and one of us would have to keep an eye on the boat being towed.
 
Agree with the call for assistance and stand off approach. To supply water etc can use dinghy on a rope (removed outboard first!), and/or inflated liferaft if in imminent danger of sinking. But certainly keep away for safety.
 
Well, the trouble is that refugees in this situation are desperate. They will use any good intentions to their advantage - by jumping overboard, or scuttling their vessel. You then have to decide if you're willing to let them drown or not.
 
We also watched it and as said would probably call the authorities first and the stand by - unless someone was in serious distress ie boat actually sinking, person in the water etc. If there is anything of a sea then it would be difficult to come alongside safely. The sea was calm in the Australian drama and in identical circumstances I would also have probably towed them.
 
In the program, the yacht's crew made the decision not use the EPIRB in order to stop a rescue that would have led to the refugees being sent to Indonesia. Surely if lives were at risk the thing to do is set off the EPIRB

The refugees are on a big tub of a fishing boat. Would a yacht really be able to tow at more than a snail's pace?

TS
 
scrambledegg said:
Well, the trouble is that refugees in this situation are desperate. They will use any good intentions to their advantage - by jumping overboard, or scuttling their vessel. You then have to decide if you're willing to let them drown or not.
Click to expand...

You have experience of this do you?

I can’t believe some of you lot at times, feed emm the dinghy one at a time indeed.

Heave to, get them aboard if you can, make sure anyone who needs first aid gets it and give the rest a cup of tea.

One more boatfull is hardly going to push the population figures over the edge and these are real people!!

Really...

_______________________
 
shaunksb said:
You have experience of this do you?

I can’t believe some of you lot at times, feed emm the dinghy one at a time indeed.

Heave to, get them aboard if you can, make sure anyone who needs first aid gets it and give the rest a cup of tea.

One more boatfull is hardly going to push the population figures over the edge and these are real people!!

Really...
Click to expand...

Whilst I agree with your sentiments, I'm confused about what feed 'em the dinghy one at a time means? :confused:

Richard
 
shaunksb said:
You have experience of this do you?

I can’t believe some of you lot at times, feed emm the dinghy one at a time indeed.

Heave to, get them aboard if you can, make sure anyone who needs first aid gets it and give the rest a cup of tea.

One more boatfull is hardly going to push the population figures over the edge and these are real people!!

Really...

_______________________
Click to expand...

I would do all that was humanly possible to aid them; including providing food and drink.. However, if I encountered them they would almost certainly be within easy reach of UK based rescue services. If they were at risk, I would do whatever was necesary to help them. But my main concern would therefore be to engage the relevant rescue services. Bearing in mind that these people have taken enormous risks to get to where they are and would have a strong motive for not being placed in the hands of the immigration authorities, I would NOT trust them to remain docile if taken on board, and my wife and I certainly could not maintain control under such circumstances. Yes, I would provide whatever succour I could - but I would NOT put my own nearest and dearest at risk while doing so. And as anyone likely to meet such a group in UK waters will be within a short distance of a lifeboat station, I think that in fact the fastest way of getting them help will be to call the coastguardf - without putting my wife and I at risk.
 
As someone who often crosses the channel from the Solent, there is quite a long stretch of water where, even when I can receive VHF messages from the UK, I cannot respond. I've had occasion to try to contact french authorities and had no response so I can only assume that for small craft there's a significant dead spot for ship-shore communications. I'd be struggling to bring even as few as six persons on board to assist them, so I'm not at all sure how I'd react if presented with the problem. An "all ships" broadcast on Ch 16 in the hope that something a bit more capable is in the area?
 
AntarcticPilot said:
I would do all that was humanly possible to aid them; including providing food and drink.. However, if I encountered them they would almost certainly be within easy reach of UK based rescue services. If they were at risk, I would do whatever was necesary to help them. But my main concern would therefore be to engage the relevant rescue services. Bearing in mind that these people have taken enormous risks to get to where they are and would have a strong motive for not being placed in the hands of the immigration authorities, I would NOT trust them to remain docile if taken on board, and my wife and I certainly could not maintain control under such circumstances. Yes, I would provide whatever succour I could - but I would NOT put my own nearest and dearest at risk while doing so. And as anyone likely to meet such a group in UK waters will be within a short distance of a lifeboat station, I think that in fact the fastest way of getting them help will be to call the coastguardf - without putting my wife and I at risk.
Click to expand...

I too would be concerned for the safety mf my crew and self, and so would only take them on board if there was not a better option. But in the great majority of cases, being picked up by the authorities while still at sea is part of the migrants’ plan so absent alarm bells I would be pretty confident (hopeful?) that if I did have to pick them up they would be fine so long as I made sure they were clear I was taking them where they wanted to go, not where they came from. The exception would be if one or more of the traffickers were on board. That would be pretty unlikely in a dangerously overloaded inflatable, but possible in better found vessels that are attempting to evade the authorities rather than get picked up and claim asylum. Ultimately it’s a judgement we must all make for ourselves - I hope I would choose the small possibility of being thrown overboard rather than live with drowned kids on my conscience, even though that would require me to find reserves of courage as yet hidden.
 
shaunksb said:
You have experience of this do you?

I can’t believe some of you lot at times, feed emm the dinghy one at a time indeed.

Heave to, get them aboard if you can, make sure anyone who needs first aid gets it and give the rest a cup of tea.

One more boatfull is hardly going to push the population figures over the edge and these are real people!!

Really...

_______________________
Click to expand...

Yep, I apologise for my post. It reads callously.
I was trying to ensure that a crew goes into such a situation with their eyes wide open.
 
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