94024 Speed in Fog

 Speed in Fog
- English Channel. Poor Visibility (0.5 - 1.0 miles).
- Report No. 94024.

I have copied an extract from a letter received from a senior UK Channel Pilot which was sent to several persons in high authority. The letter was to comment on the standard of radar reflector utilised by some small craft. I have included part of the letter which "sets the scene", so to speak. We are all dismayed that such an experienced man can clearly see nothing wrong in proceeding at 21 knots (Full Speed) in such poor visibility.

It's all a question of attitude; — "might is apparently right" with this guy. The extract reads:

"Two days ago, I brought a large fast container ship from Hamburg down to the pilot station seven miles off Brixham. The ship was a fourth generation container ship, 900 feet long and with a service speed of 21 knots. Not a large ship for its type by modern standards, nor a fast one.

She was well fitted on the bridge with state of the art JRC navigation equipment, one ARPA radar on 10cm and a standard radar on 3cm, the crew were South Korean and the flag was Panama. A well found ship in excellent condition.

For the whole of the passage I experienced visibility ranges of 0.5 to 1.0 miles, enough to enable me to keep the ship at full speed as was required by the owners in order to catch the Suez Canal convoy and enable her to remain on schedule. From Hamburg to Dungeness I experienced no problems and the voyage went according to plan and no cause for concern.

After passing Dungeness, I met up with every fisherman and his mate that ever fished out of a European port! Again no problems here, apart from the usual erratic and unreliable courses steered by fishermen all over the world! All these fishing boats were fitted with good blipper style radar reflectors that gave me a reliable and solid radar echo down from a range of about 8 miles, giving me ample opportunity to steer a safe course through them.

Further down that stretch of the traffic scheme toward Beachy Head and CS2 buoy, I was suddenly confronted out of the murk by a large yacht, followed rapidly by several more. None of these vessels had shown up on my radar at all, and I had no advance warning of their presence in the area. There are two points here, the owners of this vessel insist on a qualified deep sea Pilot being present aboard all their vessels whilst in North European waters. In this case it was no doubt lucky for the yachts that a Pilot was on board this ship as it ensured a proper and concentrated radar watch on two radars was being kept. Had I or one of my colleagues not been there with the standard of watchkeeping that is normal with Far Eastern Officers there would in all probability be a few sailing yachts less floating around the channel today".

This controversial report will no doubt resurrect a fierce debate on this subject. Many ships today do proceed at full speed in poor visibility, the question is, can this be justified on a purely commercial basis?

 

As a result of the above, several letters on the subject have been published in the letters column of SEAWAYS. The following letter contains some very sensible comments from a yachtsman and a challenge to hold a joint conference on the subject.

I was nearly one of the yachts which is no more. What the report failed to mention is that I and my crew would no longer be alive. Incidentally, I do carry a radar reflector which I know by experience to be effective at 3 – 5 miles on a typical Merchantman's radar. How in practice does a yachtsman assess the efficiency of his radar reflector before he has to put it to the test in fog?
Could harbour authorities routinely report on efficiencies or are they too busy? Do Merchantmen mind being called up and asked if the yacht was seen on radar and at what range? I expect they are too busy.
I believe reduction of speed by a merchant vessel, unless to such a low figure that acceptance would be unlikely in today's harsh commercial world, is not so important as the merchant vessel making its whereabouts known to other vessels. Radar is rapidly approaching realistic cost and power consumption figures for a yacht, but is not quite yet a practical proposition for a small family cruiser. What is wrong with making sound signals as required by the COLREGS? One wonders how many of the yachts referred to in this MARS report would have taken avoiding action had they known the Merchantman was there. Hearing a whistle signal from an approaching vessel would have saved me.
There is no shortage of responsible Master Mariners and responsible small boat skippers who have personal experience of near misses. Lets get together and see what we can learn from each other and hopefully promulgate some practical guidance. If the Merchantman and the Yachtsman are both acting irresponsibly nothing can prevent disaster but hopefully that is not usually the case.
What about it, Nautical Institute? Any volunteers to pick this one up? Perhaps one of the branches can take this on in association with local Yacht Clubs/Associations?