A crossing query
Q the other week we were crossing the channel in my 9.4m (31ft) yacht
under power only, with sails furled, from dover to Boulogne. i have crossed the channel well over 200 times now and feel fairly confident of how to deal with ships when on converging tracks. However, on this crossing we had a situation that gave us a severe shock: i am not sure who was at fault and what i should have done to alleviate the danger.
We were on a course that gave us a compass heading pretty much square to the shipping lane, although our track shows that we did not actually meet that heading due to current and drift, etc. as we crossed into the eastbound lane we saw a ship approach and decided to pass astern. as we made that decision the ship sounded a single horn, indicating a turn to starboard. Being the stand-on vessel that was the right thing to do, as otherwise one might have expected it to maintain a straight course. Our deviation behind can be seen in the track.
shortly after we saw two more vessels which we shall call a and B, with B south-east of a. We decided that there was plenty of room to pass in front of a as it was almost pointing at us, and then pass behind B as it was further south, and by the time we got there we would be close to B. However, to avoid confusing a we intended to maintain our course until clear then alter course slightly to the east, and thus behind B.
We were motoring at 6 knots and not really concerned as ship a was over 0.75 miles away and was a fairly small oil rig supply-type vessel, not a supertanker that might not see us or be able to manoeuvre. We were soon dead ahead of ship a and saw its starboard side, so we began to concentrate on vessel B. However, as ship a approached, a crew noted that we were still dead ahead. We then began to watch ship a and i checked the ais to see her course and name. at that point, her course would take her behind us at a speed of about 10 knots. as she came nearer, it became obvious that she was altering course towards us, and we were still dead ahead. We then increased our speed to 7 knots, and she still altered course towards us. this had me concerned, because as she was on our starboard side we were the give-way vessel and she was the stand-on vessel, and as such would have been expected to maintain a straight course (or give a sound signal to indicate intention to change course).
When the boats were 250 yards apart i screamed down the VHF, and the captain stated that he would change course to 333° (which his boat did, missing us by 75 yards max). if he had not replied, my next call would have been a mayday: my crew already had the knife under the straps to cut the liferaft free.
What i want to know is, the shipping lane does show a curve, but is a ship not restrained by its draught considered to be holding its course if it starts to turn in the way ship a did, without any signal or without notifying a give-way vessel of its intentions? i have been in situations where i have been called by large vessels about to make such turns, and they have done so to clarify their intentions. stUart CarrUtHers replies:
It is always difficult to respond to these types of report as a third party. In addition, the illustrations do not clarify the situation as they do not show the relationship of vessels to each other. Clearly the COLREGs place obligations on vessels in sight of each other, but we also know that at times these are not strictly observed! Also, what might seem an unacceptable situation to one vessel might seem fine to another (racing boats versus cruising boats comes to mind).
I note that at the time when everything appeared to get quite tense, Mr Longley increased his speed to 7 knots when it was clear that he was still dead ahead of Ship A. I am tempted to ask what would have happened if he had slowed right off? There are too many imponderables to issue a decent third-party opinion.
The best advice I have for your readers is to submit a report any incident that concerns them to CHIRP (www.chirp.co.uk). CHIRP can and will contact the other vessels involved to get their side of the story, which always leads to a much more satisfactory resolution. I represent the RYA on CHIRP.