Sims was the steward on board and is the crew that broke his leg jumping from the upper deck.
The suit claims:
the Conception’s owners were negligent in their failure to properly train crew members, give adequate safety and medical equipment and provide safety rules, among other claims.
The motion presents an additional legal hurdle, requiring Sims and any other victims who file claims to prove the owners knew about any problems that led to the tragedy. It is a process that can take up to two years, Arnold said
Another strike against the Captain, for failure to properly train his crew. I’m a work boat guy, but all the times I had large crews staying onboard, I never had anyone designated as a steward? I’m wondering if he is considered a member of the deck department, or is he part of an interior department similar to charter yachts?
.If the owner wants to reduce the risk an incident then it would be prudent to provide some guidance to each captain as to how training should be provided. Otherwise each captain is going to train based own his on training and experience which will vary greatly between individual captains.
There are no departments as we know them on a small dive boat. The crew works as a tightly knit team with everyone pitching in at busy times. The duties of the captain, divemaster and cook are the most clearly defined. The other three are deckhands who fill in wherever needed; mate, assistant divemaster, engineer, cook’s helper/dishwasher, whatever is needed to keep things running smoothly.
By steward, I’m assuming the press is referring to a deck hand who was assigned to help the cook.
I’d guess most likely the cook, this is from the WP:
Sims had only worked on the boat three weeks as a cook when he was awakened by loud noises before dawn Sept.
Arnold said his client didn’t know why there wasn’t a watchman or what the cause of the fire might be. Sims was the steward, in charge of kitchen operations, and was supposed to be sleeping at the time, he said.
Every dive boat captain I ever met came from the diving community and rose to the position from deckhand or dive master with no outside experience before obtaining a 100 ton license. Their operation style was static having been passed on from previous captains. As an occasional relief captain from the commercial side, I was an exception.
After I filled in as relief for about a dozen or 15 trips over a period of a few years, the management offered me a full time job, 6 weeks on, 1 week off. Going to work in swimming trunks and hanging out with women in bikinis was a lot of fun and the money wasn’t bad with the tips added on to a base but I had serious issues about the way they operated and considered it best to move on.
I think more importantly than guidance is the need for the company to provide time for training. From the sounds of their operational schedule I can’t imagine they had enough free time to conduct meaningful safety training.
Yes, finding time is always going to be an issues. But I wasn’t thinking of formal training.
The way the owner wants to boat to be run should be apparent to any new crew member, by whatever method or combination of methods. Key points such as watch requirements could be in a familiarization binder, posted on a written watch schedule or whatever fits the operation best.
Otherwise like @Lee_Shore was saying if the operational methods get passed down from one captain to another it’s like a game of telephone,
It’s a very insular world. The outfit I was with had a loose leaf binder with general directions that appeared to date back to the start of the business many years previous; no mention of CG requirements. The owners were a group of investors I never met. I only met a manager in person once when he offered me a full time job.
On one of my first trips, a deckhand with a strong Kiwi accent came to me with some question about the “hawsehole” as the binder referred to it. I had to have him repeat it a few times; I thought he was asking me why I was an asshole.
Sportfishing charters similair, except for the women in bikinis.
I decided to move on 20 years ago. I remember i had an epiphany after playing policeman, busting a passenger smoking weed which is a comman occurence. Hell every once in a while you may bust someone doing other things (use your imagination) by accident when they forget to lock the head! 30 to 40 passengers with booze and whatever else they manage to sneak on board can be a ticking time bomb with the wrong group of people…i decided it was too high liability for me. Plus, i’m a shitty fisherman.
30 to 40 passengers stone sober in the care of an inept crew isn’t a good thing either. Unfortunately this catastrophe is what its going to take for the uscg to have charter boat industry, and the mariners that work in it to step up their game.
In my opinion, from my experience, a six man crew was plenty for this boat. Like I have pointed out the second ticket (mate) and the master should not be up at the same time. Poor time management and utilization is a likely issue here as far as manning.
Generally deckhands are hired based upon if they have a pulse and can they pass a drug test…generally, this is an entry level job. A lot are only doing it while they are in school and have no aspirations of being a career mariner. Some do want it as a career and end up going to the wheelhouse. There is time in between trips for the owner or master to do ‘in house’ training. There is also time prior to departure to do face to face safety orientation and briefings with the passengers. They may have done that, we don’t know.
Most capts do the safety briefing over the PA which in this case its a toss up if everyone will hear and understand. Some have everyone muster in the galley and do a face to face. I’d be curious how the conception capt did his.
Slightly off topic but still to do with dive boats…
Another dive boat I was on had 2 underwater scooters. They were early models called BOBs. For those not familiar with the concept, positive air pressure from a tank is pushed through a helmet formed around the operator’s head. Propulsion is provided by an electric motor hooked up to a 12 volt battery. They were very popular as they the operator didn’t need a regulator:
My dive master pointed out a danger when the battery compartment seals started to allow water to seep in. When I reported to the owner that they needed repair, he shook it off and told me not to worry about it. He did pay attention once the customers started complaining that the BOBs that were advertised and that they’d paid to ride on were stowed against the rail with red tags.
