COLLISIONS— 1969 



the screen somehow deluded him into believing 

 that the bearing of Ship B was opening to the 

 right. A reconstruction of both tracks tends to 

 indicate that the bearing could not have changed 

 significantly during the 12 minutes prior to the 

 collision- 



Ship B's personnel wisely reduced speed soon 

 after the fog set in, but in view of the state of 

 visibility even 12 knots could not be considered a 

 moderate speed. If the master was depending on 

 radar to alert him of dangers ahead it was not 

 evident in his subsequent actions. Ship A was 



first detected at a range of 7 miles, a relatively 

 short distance if it develops, as it did, that the 

 target is on a reciprocal course. Some five minutes 

 transpired before the next radar observation was 

 made, and it revealed that the target was only 4.5 

 miles away. This alone was a clear indication that 

 the closing speed was great, yet no bearing was 

 taken at the time. The casualty could still have 

 been avoided, however, if the last radar observa- 

 tion, taken four minutes before impact, had 

 correctly imparted the fact that the two ships 

 were on a collision course. 



75 



