In-depth| Safety
booklets were carried aboard the lifeboat. and ordered the ship to be abandoned. In UK and also by classification authorities
At the safety drill at the start of the cruise view of our experience of being within after refit. The problems with the TPAs
we had been briefed by one of the expedition minutes of coming onto the ice, that and potential lifeboat engine problems
staff that he would be present with us on the decision was made at the right time were not identified
lifeboat and that there would be an officer • Expedition ship: All the passengers had
in charge. In the event the expedition staff to take the itinerary to their doctor and Outstanding questions
member left the lifeboat to help drive a get approval that they were fit to travel on What would have been the outcome if the
Zodiac and there appeared to be no-one in such a trip to Antarctica. We had to be ship had to be abandoned when surrounded
charge. This caused several problems. able to scramble in and out of small boats. by dense drift ice? Rather than just meeting
• The lifeboat was listing to port: in rougher We had 10 Zodiacs with good drivers to the current SOLAS regulations should
seas this would have become a problem get on and off the ship, they were to play cruise companies not carry out a safety case
and passengers needed to have been a vital role in helping us survive analysis based on the reality of working in
redistrubted to correct the list • Small ship: With less than 100 passengers, these harsh waters? Such a safety case could
• Passengers were not organised to row the passengers got to know the ship. When use the presence of expedition gear such
lifeboat in the event that the tow failed the lights went out we could find our way as Zodiacs to justify operations in such an
• No information was given to passengers around. It made it easy for the Captain area.
as to the need to conserve heat to help and crew to address us at one Muster With increasing reliance on inflatable
with survival times in cold weather station liferafts, how would they cope in sea
• No information was clearly given as to the • 11 days into the trip: We had got to know conditions in the presence of ice?
likely time we would be in the lifeboat each other. We could assess which people Considering the potential for damage to
needed some support and it was given. lifeboats from icebergs when the ship has
Our lifeboat was approved to carry 59 We looked out for each other. We had lost propulsion and is drifting out of control,
passengers. After the incident, from a photo become a team is there not a case for passenger ships
taken, I estimate she carried only 35 people. • We were lucky: The weather was benign. operating in Antarctica to be equipped with
Other lifeboats offloaded some of their The next day a ship in the same area 100% capacity on each side? Such lifeboats
passengers into the Zodiacs. Wearing bulky reported Force 8 winds and blizzards. should be conventional covered lifeboats to
cold weather gear and bulky lifejackets, The damage to the ship meant that the the latest standard, irrespective of the age
it is difficult to imagine that our lifeboat list increased gradually, allowing time for of the ship (on 28 December 2007 such an
could have carried an additional 24 people evacuation. There was also a ship close by, incident occurred to MS Fram. With engine
without further increasing the possibility which meant we were not exposed in the failure she drifted into an iceberg which
of swamping in anything other than calm lifeboats long enough to cause fatalities damaged a starboard lifeboat).
conditions; nor being able to use the oars due to hypothermia.We were in open Such lifeboats should be designed to a
or move around the lifeboat to find the water when we abandoned ship having higher passenger weight (75kg) and ship
emergency stores that we were unable to managed to push out of the dense drift width (430mm) than is currently required
locate. ice that had most probably caused the by SOLAS?
damage to Explorer Is it appropriate that passengers on ships
timely rescue operating in Antractica should be denied
MS NordNorge arrived about five hours after Even so, the sinking raises a number of the benefit of immersion suits?
we abandoned ship. The Captain provided issues related to shipboard safety, particularly Should such passengers, already
a lee from the worsening conditions and a in Antarctic waters:- encumbered by heavy clothing, be further
combination of the NordNorge rescue boats • Train hard, fight easy is a military adage restricted by existing conventional
and the Zodiacs transferred passengers out that applies to civilian life. The abandon lifejackets?
of the lifeboats and then onto the NordNorge ship drill at the outset of the cruise was Is it appropriate that vessels carrying
port lifeboat, which was used to lift cursory and came at a time when there thousands of passengers operate in these
passengers aboard or to a hatch which was were a number of other distractions. waters, when the likely size of vessel available
opened close to the waterline. Without the SOLAS calls for an abandon ship drill to respond to a Mayday coupled with the size
Zodiacs this would have taken considerably every week. This was not carried out on of land-based refuge, is taken into account?
longer or would have required the lifeboats Explorer I believe that passenger operations in
being brought alongside the NordNorge • Small ships also have small crews. This Antarctica have a useful role in educating
lifeboats. Again, it would not have taken compromised the ability to have sufficient people especially with regards to global
much worse conditions for this to have crew able to command each lifeboat. warming and the need for change, but just
become considerably more difficult. Again SOLAS recognises this and requires as Explorer helped start this process, her
It is my opinion that the survival of every someone clearly in command and also a demise also provides a stark warning for
person aboard Explorer was down to a second in command ships operating in this area. If not heeded
combination of factors:- • Inspection by Port State Control and there exists the very real possibility that
• Timely evacuation: The Captain Classification. In 2007 the ship had next time it will be a disaster rather than an
recognised the problems posed by the ice undergone inspection by the MCA in the adventure that is reported in the media. NA
18 The Naval Architect February 2008
NA Feb 08 - p16+17+
18.indd 18 05/02/2008 09:32:58
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