Emergency Contact Keeping a Lookout means Actively Looking Home Latest updates Publications Keeping a Lookout means Actively Looking 4 Jan 2013 Download page as PDF Sign up for alerts   Category: Operations Vessel type: Passenger Issue date: 01/01/2012 Case number: 10012012 The below Case study has been taken from: Maritime New Zealand The incident The 33 metre, fast ferry catamaran was on a scheduled night voyage, in light rain, moderate winds and half-metre seas. The skipper had been on duty for close to five hours and had kept the radar on a threequarters nautical mile range setting throughout his watch. The skipper was joined on the bridge by another crew member. Both sat in helm chairs, and were not in the habit of regularly getting up from their positions to improve lookout over those areas that were obscured by the design of the vessel’s bridge. Meanwhile, the 7.5 metre plywood launch was on the return journey from an afternoon’s fishing. Both crew members on board had been drinking beer and both claimed there was reasonable visibility, despite the conditions. The launch was not displaying the correct navigational lights and the lenses were old and had turned opaque. It is estimated from the tracks of both vessels that in good visibility they would have been able to see each other for about five minutes before the collision. As it was, the skipper of the ferry received only a few seconds warning after a crew member spotted a dim green light close to the port bow. The skipper immediately placed the engines in neutral and turned hard to starboard, but the vessel had no time to respond and both vessels collided. The impact from the port bow of the ferry cut the launch in two just aft of the main cabin. The rear section of the launch sank immediately and its crew managed to clamber onto the front section, which remained afloat. The ferry turned around and rescued the launch’