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CASE 1 



COLLISIONS-1969 



By Frederick W. Fricker 



Maritime Safety Division 



U. S. Naval Oceanographic Office 



Washington, D. C. 20390 



INTRODUCTION 



In a previous Pilot Chart Article, titled More 

 About Collisions, the results of an examination of 

 ship casualties for the years 1957 through 1961 

 indicated that, on an average, approximately 20 

 percent were COLLISIONS. In the effort to 

 establish a trend since that period and, hopefully, 

 report an improvement in the COLLISION rate, 

 a similar study was conducted for the decade 1958 

 through 1967. The statistics used in both studies 

 were from the annual reports issued by the Liver- 

 pool Underwriters' Association, which lists all 

 casualties reported for vessels of 500 gross tons 

 and over. Unfortunately, no improvement was 

 indicated by the recent study which again disclosed 

 that an average of approximately 20 percent of 

 all casualties occurring during the 10-year period 

 were COLLISIONS. The term all casualties 

 includes ship damage or loss due to weather, 

 groundings, fires and explosions, etc., as well as 

 collisions. Since the study showed that, on an 

 average, more than one third of all ships considered 

 suffered a casualty of some sort during the period, 

 it can be said that approximately seven percent 

 of the world's fleet was involved in a collision 

 during each of the years specified. 



Judging by the apparent consistency with 

 which collisions occur each year, the annual aver- 



age thus provided could conceivably be used as a 

 forecast for future years. Carrying the hypothesis 

 further, we could say that almost seven percent of 

 the world's fleet, roughly between 1,700 and 1,800 

 ships, will suffer a collision during the coming 

 year. It would mean that approximately one ship 

 in every 15 would be the victim of a collision in 

 any given year. This is indeed a matter of serious 

 concern. 



Fortunately, mariners have at their disposal 

 the time and the means to control, for the most 

 part, the destiny of their own vessels and conse- 

 quently to improve the casualty records of the 

 future. They should start by accepting the fact 

 that the majority of collisions occur as the result 

 of a few human shortcomings. A study of recent 

 collision cases is considered to be a good method 

 to identify these frailties of the mariner. As the 

 philosopher Publilius once said, "He who gains 

 wisdom from the mistakes of others is truly wise." 



The following cases are, therefore, presented 

 to focus attention on some of the shortcomings 

 that have contributed to collisions. They were 

 particularly selected because each of the incidents 

 occurred in what might be described as the classic 

 situation, the head-to-head meeting during limited 

 visibility, and because all of the ships implicated 

 were equipped with operational radar. Although 

 all are based on authentic incidents, none of the 

 cases is to be construed as being a complete 

 report, for facts considered immaterial to the 

 purpose of this article were intentionally omitted. 



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