NAUTICAL LOG

As hoped there were updates to the NAUTICAL LOG Post "BENDING RULES".

We would direct those interested to the excellent "OLD SALT BLOG"  and read the comment by Doug Nash who is a member of the S.S. John W. Brown crew.  Mr. Nash explains the USCG procedure which is similar to that for non-U.S. registered vessels.  It might be well for their website to reflect this data so that peace of mind is given to those of us who know the hazards of the sea only too well.

How sad that it appears the S.S. El Faro was not so well cared for. 

Good Watch.

Today is the 15th. Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States and is now known as Patriot's Day.  One can remember with horror watching the second plane ram into the tower and the resulting fires in both towers leading to their collapse and the destruction of The World Trade Center.  Sadly it is now known warnings were ignored which led to this terrible Islamic Terrorism act.

As part of the remembrance of this dreadful event the S.S. John W. Brown based in Baltimore, MD is due in New York.  This vessel is one of two, the other being the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien based in San Francisco, CA., World War 2 Liberty ships.  Both these vessels have been fully restored, are registered as vessels of the United States Merchant Marine and are manned by USMM volunteer Union crews.

As part of their role as active floating museums they are open for daily visits and tours of the ship.  Also offered for about $145 per adult are "Living History Cruises" which depart in the mornin…

Now that the VDR from the SS El Faro has been in the hands of the NTSB since early August 2016 one hopes that the results of the data recovered will soon be made public. The NTSB has stated that 26 hours of information is available.  That information includes Bridge audio, navigational data, onboard radar images and wind data.  The timeline begins at 0537 on September 30, 2015 some 8 hours after the vessel left Jacksonville, FL.  The ship was then about 150 nautical miles southeast of that city.

On the morning of October 01, 2015 at 0613 the Master and crew members are heard discussing action regarding the flooding, the vessels list and the loss of propulsion.  The Master then notified the shore office about the critical situation and said he was going to send out a distress signal.  At about 0730 he sounded the abandon ship alarm.  The recording ends some 10 minutes later and the SS El Faro is now about 39 nautical miles northeast of Crooked Island, Bahamas.  As this data is refined t…

There was excellent news this week regarding the loss of the United States ship S.S. El Faro last year.  Finally after a certain unwillingness to locate and recover the vessel's Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) it was recovered from 15,000 feet on Monday and brought aboard the surface ship at 2230. 

Rather than repeat the whole story here NAUTICAL LOG suggests you go to a full article published in gCaptain at www.gcaptain.com

Hopefully there will data recorded that will assist in understanding the tragic decisions made by, presumably, the vessel's Master prior to the sinking with the loss of all hands.  See  previous Posts by NAUTICAL LOG.

Good Watch.

In addition to the recent "Standing Down" of training voyages for its Midshipersons the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) has received warnings about the quality, or lack thereof, of its training programme.  The Middle States Commission of Higher Education (MSCHE) report stated that accreditation was in jeopardy for non-compliance in certain areas.

Coupled with the continuing problems requiring disciplinary actions including dismissal from the Navy the United States Navy (USN) has had in recent years this does not bode well for the professionalism of the seafaring community of the United States.

It is clear to this writer, an International Master Mariner with 50 years of experience, that the training sources for both Officers and Ratings need an immediate complete examination and review.  Currently the Officer commanding riverine craft based in Bahrain has been dismissed.  Another nine Officers and Ratings are under disciplinary action as a result of the capture by…

In a previous Post we discussed the decline of the United States Merchant Marine (USMM) now it appears the situation is so bad that basic shipboard discipline cannot be enforced.  Is this due to the Masters and Officers incompetence, the power of the Maritime Unions to overrule them or a combination of both.  From what NAUTICAL LOG has seen and heard it appears to be a combination of both.

The United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) has announced that it is "standing down" Sea Year.  This is when the Seniors go to sea in USMM vessels to experience directly what life at sea is all about - well the United States Maritime Union controlled version anyway, rather different from other Nations Merchant Navies as NAUTICAL LOG well knows from 50 years as a seafarer.

The concern is that the USMMA cannot guarantee the safety on board USMM vessels of the Midshippersons as we suppose one must now call the USMMA trainees.  One gets the impression that sexual assault is rampant on the …