I’ve been going through the MBI first hearing transcripts and I think that the board believes, as I do, that a working anemometer would be useful to the watch officers aboard a ship approaching a tropical cyclone at night when the locaton of the center is not known.
What the board wants to know is; are mariners aware of the importance of knowing wind direction when approaching a tropical cyclone.
This is the second mate, the one that sent the captain text from home.
CDR Denning: What’s the purpose of an anemometer on a ship?
WIT: It tells you wind speed and wind direction.
I think likely Denning knows that already. So next…
CDR Denning: What do you typically use that information for? What do you do with that information once you receive it?
WIT: We would log wind force over 5, force 5 which is I think it’s 17, if the wind goes over 17 knots we usually log it hourly because that might affect our, it will affect our speed.
Now Denning gives a little help
CDR Denning: Would the – would a working anemometer help you in your voyage planning in terms of evading a storm?
But nothing:
WIT: Umm —
Denning tries again; this is the exchange:
CDR Denning: Perhaps validating the information that comes to you through BVS?
WIT: I normally wouldn’t check the anemometer for a voyage plan. I would just – the voyage plan would be the route from San Juan to Jacksonville, or Jacksonville to San Juan.
CDR Denning: If the information that you receive in BVS is providing you with a certain
wind speed and you observed a different wind speed with the anemometer would that
catch your attention?
WIT: Not overly so. Because they never completely will coincide. The BVS servicemmight say you have a certain barometric pressure but the actual one will be a little different at the ship and the seas will be a little bit different. It wouldn’t overly concern me if they were a little bit different.
Denning is still asking:
CDR Denning: Do you feel like you’re able to accurately, without a working anemometer, do you think you’re able to accurately estimate the wind speed and direction?
WIT: I could probably estimate it within 5 knots.
CAPT Neubauer: Sir, can you clarify the number you just provided? Within how many knots?
WIT: 5, within 5 knots.
Later, another go-round.
CDR Odom: Okay, thank you. Getting back to the anemometer, do you think that’s a critical piece of an equipment or not for safe navigation of the vessel? Do you think it’s necessary?
WIT: Well it’s an added piece of equipment, but I wouldn’t hold the ship up because I didn’t have a working anemometer.
CDR Odom: So during a casualty like a grounding or a loss of propulsion, would you think that would be – knowing the wind speed and direction instantly and reporting it to establish drift, would you think that would be an important piece of equipment? During a casualty.
WIT: During a casualty I could guestimate the wind, we can guestimate very accurately, that’s what we do.
And later, again:
Mr. Kucharski: You mentioned you were on those vessels in heavy weather, was that at night time too? Was it night time conditions?
WIT: Night and day.
Mr. Kucharski: Night and day. What wind force were you talking about at night that you encountered?
WIT: Probably 70, 80, you know 70, 80 knot winds, but it would peg out the anemometer over 100, at 100.
Mr. Kucharski: Did it peg out the anemometer on the El Faro?
14 WIT: Yeah, yes.
Mr. Kucharski: So at one time you did have a working anemometer?
WIT: Yes, at one time we did.
Mr. Kucharski: Without the anemometer in those conditions where it’s blowing 70, 80 knots, can you describe what it’s like? Is the antenna’s whipping, and the rigging, and is there spray usually associated with that?
But the answer is not very accurate, seas and wind are not always from the same direction.
WIT: Well you’re going to hear, you’re going to hear a racket, it sounds like a train going by. And depending on the direction of the wind, if it’s on your beam you’re going to roll, if it’s on the bow you usually can go right through it, it’s going to slow you right down considerably.
Mr. Kucharski: And under those conditions would you be able to tell the direction and the speed, the direction of the wind within, or the speed within 5 knots?
WIT: When it gets that high I probably wouldn’t be able to do it.
4 Mr. Kucharski: How about the direction, would you be able to?
WIT: I could get the direction, but not the speed as accurate.
It’s not that the board doesn’t understand that wind velocity can be estimated by eye, they are trying to determine if mariners understand the significance in this case.
Here’s from the Captain Loftus letter
A. There was a lot of discussion, and questioning, about the El Faro anemometer not working, and the importance given to that piece of equipment. There was a debate between the Board and a Witness about the importance, and relevance, of the anemometer. Anemometers are indeed important pieces of equipment. Nonetheless, the anemometer was not going to save the El Faro. Indeed, it was not going to change the route chosen, or the need to change route. My inference from the Board questioning was that without the anemometer, and darkness, there was no information about the wind. i.e. the inability to see the wave condition and Sea State. Mariners can feel the wind, and certainly feel the motion of the ship in increasing seas and swells. From a Mariner’s perspective, even in the dark, a good mate can go out on the bridge wing and estimate the Relative Wind and work a reverse solution to get the True Wind. The more important questions about the anemometer is why it wasn’t repaired. Why were repairs delayed? Was there a CAR written?
I think the inference is wrong, I would say almost all mariners including the members of the board are aware that wind velocity can be estimated, it’s a no-brainer. On the other hand how many mariners are aware how important knowing wind directions is in this case and that it can be used to determine the center of the low? I’d say very few.