I’m doing a report for school. I got assigned ISM code. I picked the case of the Eurasian Dream, a pure car carrier that caught fire in July of 1998 in UAE. I’m sorta taken aback, and sorta like… yeah-shit-whatcha-gonna-do? by the circumstances.
Some of the facts resonate. The justice says that having irrelevant (misleading) documentation is a contributing factor. That “managers do not discharge their responsibility by simply providing large volumes of documents for the Master to read.” I have a lot of sympathy for the Master and crew, in this case… and at the same time I would like to think that somebody would be like: hey: I can’t do my job safely because I am not trained or don’t have the experience, or don’t have the right instructions or technical manuals.
So what I wonder is: have you all been put in this situation? What did you do? What’s your take?
When an experienced mariner is put on a ship type they are not familiar with I think at first they feel competent but ineffective. After a short time when they learn basic tasks they will feel competent and effective.
In the case of a captain, voyage plans, entering and leaving port, clearing the ship are all going to be familiar tasks.
They are going to remain unaware that they cannot cope with an emergency unless one strikes.
I spent a few years in my late 20’s telling management that I wasn’t ready for promotion to master then became upset to find a few less experienced promoted above me. In retrospect I was being too cautious and some other chief mates thought too highlynof themselves and quickly got in trouble.
It is usually more difficult to asses your own abilities and weaknesses than that of others.