CHARTROOM

SHIPS MAIL

SOME SIGNIFICANT TRAGEDIES AT SEA RECALLED

letter of the month

I very much enjoy Ships Monthly, but as a retired seafarer I must point out that, in the article ‘How Safety at Sea Has Improved Since the Titanic’, there is no mention of the tragedy which befell the Philippine-registered passenger ferry Doña Paz, which collided with the oil tanker Vector on 20 December 1987. The collision caused Vector’s cargo to ignite and the fire spread onto Doña Paz. Quoted numbers of deaths as a result of the incident are given as 4,386, which includes the vessel’s crew plus two crew from the tanker.

A similar incident, which confirms the risk of a collision and fire, was the loss of the cargo liner Royton Grange in a collision and fire which killed all 74 people on board the ship. Collision and the subsequent risk of fire are probably the greatest risks to life at sea because the two combined can reduce the time for remedial action – preventing the vessel sinking, fighting the fire, or a controlled abandoning of the ship.

I would suggest that the single biggest risk which could result in great loss of life remains errors by a ship’s crew, especially those on the bridge, where inattention, or an error of judgement, or a failure to comply with the Regulations for Preventing Collision at Sea, can be tragic.

In the case of Costa Concordia it was the prevailing wind that gently ‘sailed’ the ship onto the rocks, although the same rocks then prevented