Collision Avoidance Tip – Call his boss!

There’s never enough info in the hypothetical question.

Rule #2 (General Prudential) be right, don’t be dead right.

Avoid Extremis (Oh Shit!)

And a mess-o-rules come into play, but most folks here know, or have already forgotten them.

Actually, it is a hell of a lot easier to just alter course. This saves you the trouble of having to do so at the last minute once you realize that whatever action they do take, if any, is not enough for comfort.

Feel free to tell them on the radio that your altering course because there seems to be nobody home on their end.

Fred, I think John works on a drillship that is often RAM while drilling for oil, so they can’t move very easily.

Great tip!!

Mike,
Thanks for the clarification. That would certainly increase the need to clarify the situation.

Another thing to try, especially if you have to deal with small craft that don’t have DSC or Inmarsat gear:

Get a good quality laser module and mount it to a pair of binoculars equipped with a siting reticle. Align everything together so the laser and siting reticle point in the same direction.

If you need to get the attention of an oncoming ship or boat that’s not responsive to radio, take your laser gear outside and illuminate the other guy’s bridge until he gets the message that there’s something in front of him.

Picking laser power is up to you. 5mW is safe under all circumstances; 50mW will get the immediate attention of anyone with functioning eyes and 500mW properly placed will put enough power through the eyelids to wake up a sleeping watch stander.

Note: don’t try this against warships or aircraft.

Interesting… thanks for the tip anon. -John

I agree with Fred above. As long as you’re not an anchored drill ship, just alter course while the guy is still over a mile away. I always figure the rules of the road are for assigning blame after a collision. Use common sense to avoid collisions.

I like the “common sense” advice. The sign by my desk reads “Guys, this isn’t rocket science or I wouldn’t be here”

Why do you think this advice was for mates?

If you have done all of the above, you are probably already in big trouble.

I often ask this or similar questions when training new mates. The right answer is: Call the Captain! The mate on watch shouldn’t be waiting until it’s too late before he calls the captain. This is why we get paid the big bucks anyway. If you have called the opther ship after getting his name off the AIS and not had any luck, the CPA is small, and the time of CPS is under 20 minutes, it’s time to get the boss up there post haste.

Perhaps I jumped to a conclusion. But also, I have to say that by the time you fooled around and made the phone call you would likely be in extremis. Often, other ships don’t respond if they are a ways away yet. I dont’t know why, they just don’t.

I try to teaach my mates common sense. Mid ocean, it’s often safer and easier to make a small course correction when it becomes clear that the other ship is not doing what is supposed to.

And most importantly — Never, ever turn left! (Leave that one to the captain, and let me tell you, I sure haven’t done it very many times).

PS – The use of the vhf for collision avoidance is always controversial because of the foll. issues -

a) Loss of time (conveying your info to the other vessel and discussion) wen someone should be taking action

b) Communication issues (all navigators do not have English as a mother tongue, different accents …. a London cockney may not understand an American… ditto vice versa)

c) Loss of situational awareness because of (1) … can you monitor the ARPA when o the vhf?

d) a possibility that someone may do things different from the ROR

I agree … for RAM Drill ships this may be an option, but not for regular merchant vessels .. .imagine being in Taiwan straits with collision situations continuously developing every few minutes – daily scenario.

I have had this happen a few times and managed to get in contact with the other (FOC, third-world) vessel and found the officer and later the capt unwilling to comply with the COLREGS. Their arguments are either that I am the more maneuverable vessel (RO-PAX) or that the alteration that I have to make to avoid collision is smaller than the alteration they would have to make. When I've insisted that they comply with the COLREGS they get quite angry and tend to stand on. In cases where I have had the sea room I've had to do a round-turn to stbd when range was about 2 to 3 miles,other times I've reduced speed to increase the CPA. Each time I've have had the master come to the bridge and observe my actions to make sure I'm in the clear.
The first time this happened to me we used the MER to play back the incident to the local port-state authorities in the hope that they would reprimand the other vessel at their next port of call, instead my competence and that of my capt was questioned because of my use of VHF in collision avoidance. So now I tend to play along with these recalcitrant, incompetent officers and avoid the situation long before it becomes and issue and alter course, albeit relatively subtly, at 15 to 20nm and avoid contacting them at all. I'm not happy about it in the slightest but I feel that I now have more responsibility with PAX on board and can't go trying to make a point by escalating the situation as I may have done in the past on a bulk carrier.

Fine picture of a Bob Hope class, make way I'm coming through. Personally, I like the previous posters comment. Better to make room gracefully, than an issue. Don't know about the anchored drill rig ship issues, but they would seem to be in the same lighthouse catagory as one of the gcapt' earlier posts exemplified.