What the …
I will admit not ever hoisting a boat with people aboard it like that, but if I was doing that, I probably would have had a stern line on too and if I was on the boat I probably would have sat still!
Convenient to be so close to the hospital, it would suck to be the first one dumped and have someone land on you.
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In the Yahoo article, it mentions 'navy tweeted picture" of different boat - indicating it was by the fwd sally-port. But in the very first picture, you can see the boat still attached to the falls; well ABOVE the waterline. [it’s the second picture on the tweet].
In any event, very poor deck seamanship Aside from the complete goat-fuck, why was the launch hoisted back-as swards, instead of coming alongside bow facing forward, which is how it was to be stowed?
I think it was a clusterfuck from the get-go. I have two areas of concern. Personnel safety alone should have disallowed hoisting the boat with passengers aboard.
And if the coxswain was doing his job, if it had to be done like that, everyone should have been seated and the load evenly distributed and then the boat unloaded in an orderly manner.
Shame on the OIC, the bosun, and the coxswain.
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The first question I had when I saw that video was why in the world were they lifting with a man aboard?
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I wouldn’t hoist a boat with 20 people in it.
But if I did, I would put a bow and stern line on it.
I wouldn’t hoist a boat with 20 people in it with a bow and stern line on it, but if I did, I would tell them all to sit down and don’t move.
3 strikes and you’re out! Why go do one dumb thing when there are so many more ways you can add on to it!
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Heads should roll for that. Who allows people to wander around on a lift like that? Either complete lack of training or total incompetence. MSC runs the ship?
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Bigger question: How common was that?
I can only guess, but either they do that so infrequently they don’t know WTF they are doing or do it so often they lost track of how dangerous it is.
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Likely not common, but one never knows. Infrequency is no excuse. We train all the time for things that are infrequent. This incident was gross incompetence from top to bottom. Never mind the idiots lifting the boat the deckhands etc, where was the captain did he approve this clusterfuck? Did no one instruct these people to sit the F down and not move?There was just a funding bill for almost a trillion dollars for the military which includes MSC and this is what we pay for?
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They might have been instructed to the contrary. Note that most of the people on one side of the boat all get up at the same time, suggesting they might have been told to do so.
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Why would anyone instruct them to do that? Makes no sense for anyone that knows anything about balance much less boats hung out like cargo. I take that back. Cargo would be handled better.
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No idea. But it just seems more than a coincidence that the entire side of the boat got up and moved inboard and/or to the other side at the same time.
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all questions have very simple answer…because government.
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That’s a dumbass response. Government had nothing to do with this
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Agree. When I saw that I was thinking, WTF? Why? Someone instruct them and if so what were they thinking? Dumbest thing I have seen lately. Thankfully no one died.
This should be linked to the Bridge Resource Management topic
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Good thing it was a hospital ship for the people that fell
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It does appear to have a stern line but maybe not tended. Looking at the reflection of light in the water it appears to be calm so no excuse for not loading at the side port other than a hurry to get on board. I would bet that shortcuts have been the norm and it finally bit them in the ass. Where were the Capt and Mate in this evolution?. Headline states 19 people overboard. There were probably 19 people in the boat but only two overboard. Every crane I’ve worked with has warnings not to be used for personnel lift.
Except if the crane and crane operator is certified for personnel lifting:
https://www.ocimf.org/document-libary/59-transfer-of-personnel-by-crane-between-vessels/file
Probably that and maybe some personnel changes in key positions replacing crew who knew which shortcuts can sometimes be OK and which are not.
Unless they lowered away at that point and the rest got wet too.
Small comfort to those who had to hang on the overturned skiff to avoid drowning. 
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