Shipbucket

If thats the path the skipper ordered to be taken and executed without anyone questioning the course it was taking then the captain and the bridge watchkeeping team on that night all should be charged outright esspecially when the captain claimed that the nearest rock was 300mtrs off the port side his blantently sailed his vessel between 2 rocks!

But then a again i cant argue as when i use to work for a small reef cruise ship company that operated out of cairns as chief deckie and later first mate during late 2006 - early 2009 the masters i served under had to navigate a much smaller 35mtr long/13mtr wide/2.5 mtr draught vessel into some very tight passages similar to this to enter and exit with a clearence of less then 1 boat length ether side and keel clearance of 1.2mtrs just to get to the mooring inside the reef 1 in particular was Tetford Reef and the other was blue lagoon at lizard Island (which was one of the location sets for the movie "fools gold") with similar width clearence but with a keel clearance at a cple of spots just under 1mtr at lowest tidal datem and the channel passage length from mouth to the shelter was 650 mtrs long with some very tight turns to maneuver through just to anchor for the night but theses could only be executed during daylight hours and under very strict controls and conditions including favorable light, wind, current, tide and seastate (0-2 1/2).

Them doing a dangerous maneuver like that at night, with a 290mtr long/35.5mtr wide/8.2mtr draught cruiseliner with only 1 unreliable visual reference point to navigate off, this was going to be a maritime disaster regardless even if it was conducted during the day in perfect seastate and weather conditions.

_________________


"The British Air Farce have droopped their bums on the water works..They have scored a direct hot on the pimps"- British agent/gendarme Officer Crabtree, "Allo,Allo."