In a very broad sense, ignorance may take a variety of forms. 

 The captain's lack of adequate training in the use of navigation 

 instruments and in seamanship is almost universaJLLy recognized by 

 long-established vessel owners and insuremce surveyors alike. 

 Some evidence for this is offered by the fact that only l4 per- 

 cent of insured vessels in the New England sample, 2 percent in 

 the Gulf Area, and 26 percent in California had a captain ilth a 

 license or certificate to operate a steam or motor vessel of 200 

 gross tons or more . Lack of license does not necessarily mean 

 an incompetent captain, of course, (table A-15 in Appendix A) for 

 a few nonlicensed captains may be as good as or better seamen than 

 licensed captains. On the other hand, lack of license, in most 

 cases, indicates far more than mere lack of formal evidence of 

 competence . 



A few incidents, from the many reported, will amply illustrate 

 this point. A common practice in the Gulf Area is to operate the 

 vessels in convoys with only the first boat captained by a man who 

 knows how to navigate. This follow- the -leader navigation method 

 sometimes has disastrous consequences in stormy weather and on days 

 of poor visibility if the convoy becomes sepaxated. A New England 

 surveyor of excellent reputation once found that the compass on a 

 vessel was not working and called the skipper's attention to it. 

 The captain replied: "It's all right, I know my way out and back." 

 Another marine surveyor from the Gulf Area pointed out the 

 disastrout consequences of a certain captain's lack of naviga- 

 tional skill: "The captain of a vessel was lost. When he tried 

 to hail another vessel to find out where he was, he ran into the 

 second vessel ajid sank both." Accidents which are due to poor 

 navigational skill are also frequent in California (see descrip- 

 tion of accidents in supplement referred to in Preface). United 

 States Coast Guard officers report that captains of fishing 

 vessels very frequently fail to comply with the international 

 requirements of the sea. Of all the important cases of assistance 

 rendered by the United States Coast Guaxd to all types of vessels, 

 one-fourth to one-third are estimated to have involved assistance 

 to commercial fishing vessels. On the other hand, it is interesting 

 to note that vessels of less than 200 gross tons are not subject to 

 inspection by the United States Coast Guard. 



There is no way of drawing a line of demarcation at the point 

 where the captain's lack of knowledge and his negligence begins. 

 The best constructed and equipped vessel is no gueirantee to 

 accident prevention when the captain lacks the required sense of 

 duty and responsibility to protect the vessel. Too much reliance 

 on the automatic pilot is a source of frequent and severe accidents 

 reported by insurers, especially in the Gulf Area. A vessel in the 

 Gulf Area had been beached because of a threatening hurricane, where- 

 by the captain packed his suitcase and left immediately. According 

 to the marine surveyor who reported this incident, "Good seamanship 

 could have saved this vessel." 



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