No one should be located on the starboard side next to the pulling hawser, warns The Nautical Institute in a new Mars Report. The report describes a fatal accident during a mooring procedure in which the unfortunate crew member was also left without supervision.
The Nautical Institute gathers reports of maritime accidents and near-misses. It then publishes these so-called Mars (Mariners’ Alerting and Reporting Scheme) Reports (anonymously) to prevent other accidents from happening. This is one of these reports.
A tug assisted a tanker with a wire rope towline, and then went to anchor nearby in order to heave in the heavy line. This wire rope towline was not connected to the tug’s towing winch aft, and it was decided to haul it in using the gypsy-head of the anchor windlass. The rigging went through the stern fairlead and along the starboard side of the tug to the windlass.
A polypropylene mooring line was attached to the wire rope towing line as a pulling hawser. A step-by-step transfer manoeuvre was employed to heave in the wire rope towline. Crew were stationed fore and aft to monitor the operation.
Crew member A was stationed between the two positions so he could assist at either end. At one point when transferring the pulling hawser, when there was no tension on the rope, crew member A put the pulling hawser outboard of the starboard bitt. Another crew member remarked that it was dangerous to have this line outboard of the bitt and he brought it back to the inboard position.
As the tension was brought on the pulling hawser, there was a loud sound and pulling was stopped at the windlass. Crew member A was found pinned against the tug’s superstructure by the pulling hawser. Unknown to the other crew, who did not have a line of sight to the victim, crew member A had repositioned the pulling hawser back outboard of the bitt. When it came under tension, the pulling hawser slipped off the top of the bitt with accumulated energy and trapped crew member A against the superstructure.
First aid was administered and the victim quickly evacuated ashore. He was later declared deceased due to serious internal injuries.
The report enumerated an exhaustive list of labour regulations that crew member A had apparently breached.
Also read: Mooring line self-releases
Advice from The Nautical Institute
- Although the accident investigation was diligent in documenting the accident facts, the analysis is a litany of “blame the victim”. The victim certainly acted against an agreed procedure by placing the pulling hawser outboard of the bitt, but what about the lack of supervision that allowed this dangerous act?
- The agreed procedure was that no one should be located on the starboard side next to the pulling hawser – yet crew member A was there, to everyone’s knowledge, until his untimely accident. Again, what of the supervision?
- Why wasn’t the tug’s towing winch used for this operation – a safe and straightforward method to recover the towline. The report is silent on this matter and on the dangerous improvised method used.
Also read: Ship-to-ship mooring fatality
Mars Reports
This accident was covered in the Mars Reports, originally published as Mars 202514. A selection of the Mars Reports are also published in the SWZ|Maritime magazine. The Nautical Institute compiles these reports to help prevent maritime accidents. That is why they are also published (in full) on SWZ|Maritime’s website.
More reports are needed to keep the scheme interesting and informative. All reports are read only by the Mars coordinator and are treated in the strictest confidence. To submit a report, please use the Mars report form.
Picture: Tow line recovery arrangement and position of crew (image by The Nautical Institute).
Also read: Nautical Institute warns for mooring ropes with embedded hazards
