The ATSB has released a preliminary report into the grounding of the Coral Adventurer:
Been there, sailed those waters for 1 1/2 year on two different ships.
(Blt. 1936 & 1950 respectively) Luckily we didn’t run aground.
PS: Maybe because we didn’t have all those fancy new gadgets?
No GPS, ECDIS, Gyro, Autopilot, or Radar. We looked out the windows, observed the colour of the sea to determine where the coral reefs were during the day and listened for sound of breakers at night.
It looks like the China Strait to me. Very picturesque but you have to be on your game. I’m surprised the master wasn’t on the bridge.
No, further north. Just east from Lea, near Finchhafen:
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:147.878/centery:-6.643/zoom:14
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:147.8/centery:-6.6/zoom:10
China Strait and China Passage from there along the coast of Milne Bay to Lae, was used by small ship when Samarai was an important port and an administrative center, but not for night passage.
PS: We would usually take the longer but safer route through Jomard Passage and between Losuia and Kitava, Trobriand Islands, even when sailing from Port Moresby to Lae.
