Investigation after yachts ‘clipped’ by cruise ship
The Dart Harbour and Navigation Authority has launched an investigation after a cruise ship, piloted by the Dart harbourmaster, ‘clipped’ four moored yachts in the Devon port.
Captain Mark Cooper was turning the 18,591 tonne Saga Pearl II when it hit the boats on harbour residential moorings. The ship’s captain, Kim Tanner, then berthed the vessel on Dartmouth’s mainstream moorings.
The incident happened at 0700 on 29 August. No one was injured and the yachts sustained only ‘superficial damage’.
The chair of the Dart Harbour and Navigation Authority, Mark Hubbard, said in a statement: ‘During a manoeuvre to turn, the ship clipped four yachts causing superficial damage. The harbour office is now making all efforts to contact the owners of the yachts involved.’
‘Records from the incident are being collated and will be analysed in order to identify exactly why this occurred and what can be learnt,’ he added.
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) carried out initial enquiries, but said it would not be investigating further as the matter did not fall within its criteria of an accident, as defined under The Merchant Shipping (Accident Reporting and Investigation) Regulations 2012.
‘Where our regulations do not require an investigation, the chief inspector can decide to investigate if significant safety lessons could be gained. In this case, Dart Harbour Authority announced its own investigation,’ said a MAIB spokesman.
The 164m (539ft) Saga Pearl II was visiting Dartmouth for the 174th annual Royal Regatta.
Writing about the incident on his official blog, Saga Pearl II’s Captain Kim Tanner wrote that ‘strings of small sailing yachts moored in the middle of the River Dart’, made manoeuvring ‘extra challenging for our poor local pilot’.
‘After he’d worked up a bit of a sweat, and with the eyes of the town now focused upon us, I thought it only fair to take over,’ he added.