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The Titanic No matter how well you plan, there is always the iconic symbol possibility of disastersomeone running the red light, and broadsiding you. It was considered to By definition, a red-light incident cannot be unsinkable despite obvious design flaws that were only admitted retrospectivelyforeseen. Sometimes skill and luck will serve you well; at others nothing will forestall disaster once the red-light incident has occurred.
(Colin Henthorne, captain of the Queen of the North was [http://www.smithsonlaw.ca/?p=729 dismissed from employment]. Four years later in March 2010 fourth officer Karl Lilgert was charged with criminal negligence.) Colin Henthorne is the author of [http://www.harbourpublishing.com/title/QueenoftheNorthDisaster The Queen of the North Disaster], published in November 2016 <ref>http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/captain-of-queen-of-the-north-recounts-ferry-sinking-unanswered-questions-in-newbook/article32831371/</ref> by [http://www.harbourpublishing.com/index.php Harbour Publishing]. == Avoid Human Error == The Titanic sank because of hubris and commercial interests. The Britannic sank because of expediency. The Andrea Doria sank because the Stockholm mis-set its radar. The Gaul sank because the chute doors were not maintained and were seized open with rust. HMCS Chicoutimi almost sank because of expediency. The Queen of the North sank because of an inexplicable error in navigation.
The Titanic sank because of hubris. The Britannic sank because of expediency. The Andrea Doria sank because the Stockholm mis-set its radar. The Gaul sank because the chute doors were not maintained and were seized open with rust. HMCS Chicoutimi almost sank because of expediency. The Queen of the North sank because of an inexplicable error in navigation.[[Category:OperationsAwareness]]
→Herald of Free Enterprise
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= Understand the Nature of Disasters =
== Do Not Sail Into Danger ==
“Although it may not be very comforting, the truth is there is no such thing as an unsinkable ship. No matter how sophisticated the safety features or how impressive the size, all ships are vulnerable given the wrong circumstances.” <ref>Public Broadcasting Service, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/titanic/unsinkable.html</ref>
The wrong circumstances: Recreational sailors and passage makers have a choice. They can choose routes and seasons that minimise danger.
So, the first rule is: Do not sail into danger. The second is: Have situational awareness. Be prepared for any and all eventualities. Preparedness starts with your state of mind, the design of your vessel, followed by careful maintenance, and [[:Category:Operations|well practiced procedures]].
== Understand How Disasters Happen ==
Except for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_God acts of god] and red-light incidents, disasters are preventable. A disaster is the outcome of a series of cumulative mistakes, human error that compounds an initial mistake. Once a threshold is reached in the cascading series of small events, disaster is almost inevitable.
Worse, initial red-light incidents can appear quite innocuous, i.e., they do not look like one. It is only when you respond inappropriately to the first small triggering incident that they open like a Pandora’s Box to reveal the full scope of the disaster that awaits. Events then unfold too rapidly for human response. Mistakes multiply. A chain reaction sets in. Chernobyl goes critical. Three Mile Island barely escapes a similar fate. The unhappy bottom line is that you can never plan for everything. === Titanic’s sister RMS Titanic === The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic Titanic] is the iconic symbol of disaster. It was considered to be unsinkable despite obvious design flaws that were only admitted retrospectively. They combined with initial human error before and after the collision with an iceberg to create a full-fledged disaster. New year's Day 2017 Britain's [http://www.channel4.com Channel 4] broadcast new evidence by Irish journalist Senan Molony revealing the ship also had a spontaneous coal fire raging for three weeks that weakened the hull.<ref>http://www.channel4.com/programmes/titanic-the-new-evidence</ref> <ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/31/huge-fire-ripped-titanic-struck-iceberg-fresh-evidence-suggests/</ref> <ref>http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rms-titanic-evidence-fire-senan-molony-belfast-new-york-southampton-sink-april-1912-a7504236.html</ref> Previously in 2004 American engineer Robert H Essenhigh suggested that the ship’s crew might have been burning coal at a rapid rate in an effort to control the fire.<ref>https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2004AM/finalprogram/abstract_80510.htm</ref> Consequently the Titanic was traveling fast. === Titanic’s Sister Ship the Britannic ===
The example of Titanic’s sister ship the Britannic, is instructive. She was launched after Titanic and incorporated in her design many lessons learned from Titanic, including watertight bulkheads. In World War I, she hit a mine off the coast of Greece. She went down in five minutes – faster than the Titanic.<ref>http://www.webtitanic.net/frameBritannica.html</ref>
=== Italian Liner Andrea Doria ===
By the end of World War II the lessons of the Titanic had been institutionalisedinstitutionalized. Hundreds of thousands of people were crossing the oceans safely in passenger liners.
Yet on July 25, 1956 at 11:10 pm, disaster struck again. The Italian liner Andrea Doria was inbound for New York. The Swedish liner Stockholm was outbound for Sweden. Both ships were travelling at excessive speed in dense fog because fast crossings were a competitive advantage. As a precaution, the captain of the Andrea Doria ordered all watertight doors closed.
The next day, a spellbound world watched newsreels of the Andrea Doria lying on her side, before slipping slowly beneath the North Atlantic.<ref>http://www.andreadoria.org/</ref>
Today the site is a challenge for divers.<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/05/19/the-mysterious-shipwreck-that-swallows-deep-sea-divers-who-try-to-find-it/</ref>
<ref>http://www.cbsnews.com/news/explorers-plan-new-mission-to-deadly-andrea-doria-shipwreck-site/</ref>
=== Herald of Free Enterprise ===
Many potential sea accidents are avoided through sheer blind luck. But luck is never to be relied on.
Early on the evening of March 6 1987 the ro-ro ferry Herald of Free Enterprise set out for Dover from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. Just 23 minutes later she rolled over within the space of two minutes, killing 193 people.
It's a simple story. The bow doors were open. The stern doors were open. She sailed anyway to keep to schedule, according to the Independent Newspaper.<ref>http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/zeebrugge-ferry-disaster-ms-herald-of-free-enterprise-uk-30-years-on-maritime-tragedy-killed-a7583131.html</ref>
=== Fishing Vessel Gaul ===
The Gaul is another example. On December 17, 2004 the UK Commissioner for Wrecks, Mr Justice Steel, released the results of a re-investigation into the 1974 sinking of the fishing trawler Gaul. The then 18-month-old state-of-the-art watertight vessel had sunk in minutes in the Barents Sea in a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale|Force 9]] gale and seas of only 3 m.
Based on new video footage of the wreck, the Commissioner found that it sank because two duff and offal chutes were open in the stern. A following sea poured tons of water down the chutes. When the captain realised the danger, he turned to face the wind. The beam-on waves and wind, and tons of sloshing water inside the hull caused the trawler to roll and sink with the loss of all 36 hands.
=== Queen of the North Runs Aground ===
In March 2006, B.C. Ferries’ 125-m [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Queen_of_the_North Queen of the North ] was transiting [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Sound Wright Sound ] southerly on the Inside Passage on the night of March 22 when it ran aground on [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Island_%28Canada%29 Gil Island ] at 12:43 am, hung for an hour on Gil Rock and then quickly sank in 365 m of water. The topography is fiord-like, with rocky shores shelving rapidly to vast depths. Local villagers saved 99 out of 101 passengers.
The weather was good. The ferry had three radars, GPS, electronic charts, gyro compass, automatic pilot and three watch officers. She ran aground at a reported 19 knots, tearing her bottom out and sinking in one piece.
Coming down Grenville Channel the watch would have been looking for a flashing light to port at Sainty Point. It marks a transit to shift course to the east to line up with the distant Point Cumming light at the entrance to McKay Reach. Without this shift, a ship will remain on course for the northern shore of Gil Island.
== Human Error References ==
