1. Are these statements True (t) or False (f)? Correct the correct ones

1.The narrator has an experience of sailing on container ships for 10 years.

2.The container ship was heading to Hamburg.

3.Weather conditions were favourable for the voyage.

4.The master of the container ship tweaked his course to starboard to let the coaster cross his bow.

5.The more the narrator altered to port, the more a small coaster altered to starboard.

6.The speed of the container ship was 12 knots.

7.The container ship altered his course from 029 to 070.

8.The coaster passed 1 nm ahead of the container ship.

9.The master of the coaster thought that crossing of the lanes at 90 degrees was the only option for him.

10. “Tweaking the course to starboard” doesn’t correspond to the Rules.

2. Answer the questions

1. How will you decipher these abbreviations: TSS, nm?

2. What were the biggest and the smallest distance between two vessels?

3. What did the narrator notice at six miles?

4. What did he decide to do then from his experience?

5. What signals did the container ship send to the coaster?

6. What were the variants of the container ship according to the charts to prevent the collision?

7. Why didn’t the coaster alter his course?

8. What did the master of the container ship tell the master of the coaster?

9. Why does the narrator think that “tweaking the course to starboard” isn’t a good idea?

10. What did the narrator and other officers agree on about happened situation?

3. Match the words in the combinations:

8. good a) course

9. crossing b) the chart

10. tweak c) astern of

11. check d) rule

12. round e) angle

13. traffic f) turn

14. pass g) vessel

15. original h) to starboard

16. right i) lanes

17. applicable j) visibility

39

I cannot slow down

Own ship was a 49,000 dwt LPG-carrier in ballast. We were sailing in the westbound lane of the Malacca Strait TSS, when being overtaken by a bulk carrier in ballast about the same size as our own vessel. Our course was 308T and our speed was 12.5 knots. At 1810, the bulk carrier was overhauling us on our port side on a parallel course and having a speed of around 13 knots. At 1845 the distance between own vessel and the bulk carrier was 4 cables when her stern was level with our midship. At that time she altered her course a little to starboard and was slowly coming closer. At 1850 we were called by this bulk carrier and asked "why we did not get out of the way for them". We replied that, being the stand-on vessel, we were keeping our course and speed and that the bulk carrier, being the overtaking vessel, should keep clear of us.

While still in VHF conversation, at 1855 the bulk carrier altered her course even more to starboard, forcing us to do the same. We changed our course to 330T. At 1900 the bulk carrier was passing ahead of our bow, after which she continued to go to starboard. At 1903 we changed our course again to 308T. The bulk carrier finally came on a parallel course again, now on our starboard bow. The OOW on the bulk carrier argued on the VHF that, as we were passing the Fair Channel Bank, he did not have enough water on his port side. Though if the bulk carrier had kept her initial parallel course, she would have passed clear from the bank and from our own vessel.

On our suggestion that she could have waited to overtake us until she was clear of the bank, the OOW replied that "everybody knows that it's very difficult to slow down as the engine fuel has to be shifted from HFO to DO and that it was only good seamanship for the vessel being overtaken to give way" (a complete misinterpretation of Rule 13.). Even if the bulk carrier did not want to slow down, the OOW could still have taken the TSS route on the port side of the bank, in which there was no traffic present at that time. Or he could have called us some time before he was almost hitting our bow, to ask if we could alter our course a bit to starboard. Maybe he did not consider that as good seamanship!!