Why Weren't Two Anchors Enough?

Ship master: "We have an emergency, we need a pilot" VTS: hmmm, I don't have you booked in for an emergency request for a pilot, but I can pencil you in for an emergency tomorrow at 06:00, next time please book your emergencys further ahead of time.

Seems to me the parties most at fault are VTS for giving orders that we’re not only actively unhelpful, but also wrong, and the pilot who originally set the anchor points and left in a hurry without verifying that the ship was actually stable. So basically the local authorities. I wonder if they’ll actually admit any culpability or try to scapegoat the crew of the ship?

Me watching intently as an IT manager who has only been on a cruise ship twice and couldn't tell a dinghy from a Destroyer ... "If you ever find yourself in this situation.." Got it!

It's interesting how, whereas Aviation accidents and incidents often happen so quickly that people cannot respond adequately, Maritime accidents may unfold slowly, but the forces involved are so great that adequate response is incredibly difficult once things have started cascading in the wrong direction.

the authority's guilt is the largest here. they gave AN ORDER which was opposite of helping. bureaucratic motivation dominated over situational in the authority!!!

Why on earth did it take so long to get pilots to the ship(s)? You would think there'd always be one available just in case of emergencies...like what happened here

I’ve anchored 100’s of times in the Mississippi River on very large ships. In high water, high current conditions the anchorages are extremely challenging. The use of two anchors helps keep the ship from slewing out into the busy channel or onto the river bank. I don’t remember ever anchoring with a single anchor in the Mississippi River. When the fog rolls in and visibility drops to zero no one wants large ships slewing out into the path of river traffic. The engine on standby when anchored in high river or close quarters was my standard practice.

As a local, I’m wondering when the Mississippi River turned blue, and where all these hills came from.

It seems to me that 3 points of local operational conditions are in conflict with each other and require policy revision. 1, that the master remains in command while a pilot is on board (I believe this to be the case); 2, that local regulations require a pilot to conduct manoeuvres except in an emergency; and 3, there is not always immediate availability of pilots. Points 1 and 2 confuse the command dynamics in the local area, requiring the master to be responsible for the pilot’s actions while being restricted from intervening. Points 2 and 3 prevents crews from taking any action to stop emerging issues until either a pilot arrives after a long wait or the issue becomes an emergency and the master be aware they now can intervene. It seems to me that these are inherently unsafe operational conditions.

Nomadic lived up to her name, Nomadic. It sums it up perfectly.

What an interesting video! Bravo to the Nomanic Milde actually for minimizing damage to the Atlantic Venus once she knew she was out of control. Authorities in this case always try to blame the ship, but in this case I too believe it was due to VTS not responding as they should and that initial pilot. Of course Nomadic's crew do take some blame for not noticing the drift and/or responding earlier/ignoring it when something was wrong. Very similar almost to Ever Given's situation in the $uez Canal. it was the pilot that was fault (and you'll never convince me otherwise) since he was giving orders on the ship.

It never ceases to amaze me how slow to react ships crews are. They just sit there while they are dragging anchors, slowly getting closer to another ship. The other ship speaks up and they still do nothing until its way too late.

Blame is for owners and lawyers. For crew, support staff and vessles, learning from the event is the priority.

Fascinating! I had an anchoring mishap myself recently, when the yacht I was on was at anchor in a place with a strong tidal current and a stiff breeze. This combination caused the boat to turn from being right behind the anchor to having it abeam, and as the boat turned, the anchor line got caught on the keel. We were able to resolve the issue with no damage, but it was a tense moment and a good lesson.

In aviation, we call it the Swiss cheese model. There's lots of holes in each layer, but it only takes one set to make it all the way through. An accident, incident, or mishap is almost always the result of many missed opportunities to stop the error chain. The aviation industry has put a lot of effort into creating sources to break that chain. Going to have to say, a lot of these maritime accidents seem to be the result in part of the strict hierarchy of leadership where it's one person at each point of failure. We call it Crew Resource Management. And it's a methodology of allowing the captain or person in command to maintain overall authority and responsibility, while knocking down the godlike pedestal of command to allow teamwork to happen. So the chief screwed up and didn't catch it or deem it necessary to take action... So I guess they have the only eyes capable of detecting a problem and taking corrective action?? It just feels like between this and Exxon for example, these are mistakes that shouldn't have been just one person's to make.

"These investigations are not done to assign blame, theyre simply done to share the lessons learned..." Yeah, tell that to the various insurance companies and the multiple people that were 100% fired that day lol

It's important to keep plotting your drag and swing circles. Used to have to do it at anchor when I was the duty QM in the navy.

I’m from New Orleans! I remember this. Actually the bend by Mississippi River causes shit loads of accidents by anvil standards. She’s not an easy channel to navigate

I know that anchorage. Would think the pilot was at some fault; would think the anchor watchstander carries a good heap, too. And the master should have known VTS doesn’t trump saving the ship from danger.

Wow, VTS seems like the biggest culprit here. Granted the situation should have been discovered sooner, but they basically ordered the crew to stop when they had no authority to do so.