Crowley, the company which manages Stena Immaculate, said the incident was an “allision”, using an obscure nautical term that refers to a moving ship striking a stationary object or other ship.
As to the actual crash:
Tom Sharpe, a 27-year Royal Navy veteran and captain of a number of warships, said of Solong’s voyage: “It seems that she may have sailed from harbour, disembarked her pilot, set the helm to auto using routing information saved from previous voyages, then maintained the exact same course and speed for about nine hours before driving her bows into the Stena Immaculate’s port side.”
Without looking to see if someone was anchored in the way….
Was the boat that crashed being driven by an immigrant?
“It was an allusion, occifer; I’m too drunk to have even started the car.”
“That’s strange, sir, because I doubt the tree was moving.”
The AIS track was interesting. It left Grangemouth, out the Firth of Forth, turned right and set an arrow-straight course all the way down the North Sea to the ‘allision’, no deviation. I wonder who was supposed to be on watch, and at the helm. They are as culpable as the master.
@BiW
The captain was a Russian, apparently.
@Tractor Gent…
The ship’s Master is always “culpable” – even if he was notionally off-duty or sitting on the bog at the time. The Cap’n always “carries the can” by maritime law and custom.
– The captain was a Russian, apparently.
Vodka just entered the chat.
Yes, the captain is a russian. As are many captain in international shipping. Quite often with Ukrainians as crew.
I’ve seen screaming that this “shouldn’t be allowed”, along with the usual conpiracy theories . Hilarious….
Most likely scenario was that *someone* was literally asleep at the helm. Which is one of the few things that still should be a hanging offense.
But whoever *was* at the helm is irrelevant. The captain is responsible, before anyone else.
Wasn’t Allision Moyet half of Yazoo?
Rather more than half, if I recall Top of the Pops correctly!
Wasn’t Allision Moyet half of Yazoo?
Or Yaz, as they were known in the States.
“Collision” can only be between moving objects.
“Collisions” with trees happen where drivers ignore signs: Caution. Heavy plant crossing.
The captain was a Russian, apparently.
Careering blind down the coast at full speed does sound very Russian…
My dear, departed dad (Captain MN, with forty years before the mast) used to say that he’d been through N Atlantic hurricanes, but nothing at sea was as terrifying as going down the English Channel in fog, knowing that the only person on the bridge of some of the tankers travelling the other way was a Greek 4th officer with limited English.