Was surprised to see no chatter about this incident, only what is on http://www.gcaptain.com/forum/offshore/15819-hard-shell-life-raft-bow-3.html
http://www.gcaptain.com/helix-esgs-q4000-damaged-collision-supply-vessel/
[B]Full disclosure: Hearsay ahead.
[/B] I have the following from someone closely associated with the boat who was on the beach at the time of the incident, who got the word from crew aboard:
[ul]
[li]the captain had a habit of spending lots of time on his laptop while underway [/li][li]the boat was doing weather patterns on a route the AB/mate (not sure which) at the helm had set in autopilot [/li][li]the captain allowed the AB/mate to go below briefly without verifying autopilot route [/li][/ul]
My heart goes out to the watch below as they will never forget the sound of all that steel complaining, less so for the captain who has a very complicated future ahead of him (if the situation is indeed as reported).
If so, I wonder what charges if any await him- criminal negligence? Reckless endangerment? Any sea-lawyers want to chime in? How about “clawbacks” for the cost of rig/OSV repairs in the six or seven figure range? Shudder.
Stinks, for all involved, and at the very least a solid reinforcing lesson that I can learn from someone else’s experience.
Tarpaulin