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From U.S. Coast Guard Reports

Early in the afternoon one balmy Gulf Coast day a 122-foot steel tugboat was pushing four loaded, open-hopper rock barges and a crane barge heading out to the gulf via the Biloxi, Miss., shipping channel.

The entire tow was making about 6 knots. As the tugboat’s pilot guided the tow down the channel, he observed a shrimp boat headed inbound. He immediately tried raising the shrimper on VHF channel 13. There was no response.

The 86-foot shrimper was transiting northbound in the channel and steaming at about 8 knots. The shrimp boat skipper was monitoring VHF channel 16 and didn’t hear the tugboat’s calls.

The shrimp boat skipper clearly saw the outbound tugboat and barges. At approximately 1:40 p.m. and with the vessels still drawing closer, he engaged the shrimper’s autopilot, then went below to the galley to get some water, leaving no one in the wheelhouse.

Meanwhile, the range between both boats was closing to just half a mile. The tugboat pilot’s increasingly urgent radio calls to the shrimp boat remained unanswered. With the two boats on a collision course, the tugboat pilot sounded five short blasts and backed down hard with his engines in full reverse.

Within five minutes of going below, the shrimp boat skipper returned to the wheelhouse and sat down in his chair. The collision occurred before he could even look up.

The impact threw him into the instrument panel, causing minor lacerations on one leg. Three crewmen had been working on the shrimper’s back deck. One suffered a laceration on the back of his head and temporarily lost consciousness. The second crewman fell during the collision, dislocating his shoulder and fracturing his collarbone. The third crewman escaped injury. No one on the tugboat was hurt.

The shrimp boat had collided head on and dead center with the bow of the tugboat’s crane barge. The shrimper’s entire bow was crushed. The tip of the shrimp boat’s stem was angled down into the deck of the crane barge, causing a 6-inch-diameter hole in the crane barge’s forward deck. None of the damage to either vessel was below the waterline. However, they remained locked together.

The tugboat pilot called the local Coast Guard and reported the collision and injuries at around 1:50 p.m.

A small Coast Guard boat quickly arrived and transported the injured shrimp boat crewmen to the dock. An ambulance took them to a hospital where they were treated and released.

After the two boats were separated, the shrimp boat continued to the dock under its own power. Temporary repairs made to the crane barge deck allowed the tugboat and barges to continue their voyage without further incident.

Lessons learned

Common causes of collisions relevant to this case include: lack of familiarity with the rules of the road, failure to keep a lookout in a navigation channel, failure to switch from autopilot to manual steering in congested waters, and failure to establish a risk of collision in a timely fashion.

Fishing boat crew members have no more critical duty than standing an underway watch in the wheelhouse. Stay alert, come on watch prepared, and
fish safe.    

This article is based on U.S. Coast Guard reporting and is intended to bring safety issues to the attention of our readers. It is not intended to judge or reach conclusions regarding the ability or capacity of any person, living or dead, or any boat or piece of equipment.

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