|
|
|
|
|||||
|
||||||
From: Arild Jensen (no email)
Date: Sat Sep 06 2003 - 20:12:47 EDT
Lee Huddleston wrote:
I must say that it is very distrubing to think that there are many people out
on the ocean
intentionally risking other people's lives because they are too lazy tochange a
light bulb.
It goes against everything that I thought mariners have stood for.
I know how much you detest governmental interference, but that type of behavior
makes me favor long prison sentences for captains and
obsenely high civil verdicts against companies that wantonly endanger
everyone else on the ocean just to grub a few more dollars.
REPLY
To Lee and others.
You can thank the practice of Flags of Convenience ( FoC) for this state of
affairs.
Under FoC rules a ship and its crew and owners are exempt from pretty well any
interference by coastal nation states other than the country of registry.
To anyone who has followed the Prestige debacle in Spain this is hardly news.
However, the shore side domestic press has not been very diligent in presenting
the unfolding drama as everyone points fingers at everyone else.
The world governments have belatedly realized just how obscure the global
maritime industry is and how impervious it is to judicial prosecution for
wrongful acts.
Ever since the US supported the establishment of the Liberian FoC registry
after WW2 ship owners have moved to insulate themselves from any prosecution
resulting from their pursuit of profits by any means.
Wages for seafarers have gradually eroded over the years. Working conditions
have deteriorated. Crew size has decreased while vessel size has increased.
Given the need for three full shifts to run a vessel 24 hours a day and the fact
many crews now number 24 or less do the math.
Just how many people do you think are awake or on duty at any given time?
If 8 people are on duty in a given watch, subtract at least two in the engine
room, another one for the galley which leaves a total of 5 on duty.
Of those five only one or two will be on the bridge. The other three are busy
doing routine maintenance such as laundry, cleaning, painting etc.
Most ships are now designed with the entire deck house right at the stern. That
means the watch keeping officer is now almost a quarter of a mile away from a
boat just 400 feet ahead of the vessel's bow. This distance increases as the
bearing off the bow to either side increases.
How industrious and diligent do you really expect some third world laborer who
make all of $500 a month to be.
He is sailing not because he loves the sea or revels in crossing oceans. He is
on that ship because is feeds his family.
The grand old maritime traditions which originated in northern Europe has almost
died out under pressure for cheaper crews longer work hours and crummy work
conditions that approach near slavery.
Even prisoners get to watch television every night and get time off for good
behavior.
Seafarers are often compelled to serve on board for months at a time without
shore leave or contact except for their immediate watch mates.
I can assure you that; " long prison sentences for captains and
obscenely high civil verdicts against companies that wantonly endanger
everyone else on the ocean just to grub a few more dollars"
is not going to make one jot of difference.
It will only speed up the day when competent and conscientious officers go
ashore for more congenial and profitable employment elsewhere.
Ship owners will continue to hide behind layers of red tape created by the FoC
debacle.
In recent years there have been cases of Captains or crew committing murder of
fellow crew or stowaways.
In each case the shore bound judicial machinery was hard put to bring the
offender to justice.
And these are only the cases that have come to light.
While this may not be characteristic of all ships and crews, the scale is
tipping away from the high principled officers and crew we knew from WW2
stories.
Recently a rogue fishing ship was chased for thousands of miles by three
nations for illegally fishing in Australian waters.
It took the combined navies of three countries to bring them in.
Do you really think such captains will post a proper watch? Do you really think
they will go out of their way to avoid running a lone yacht down.
The 2nd mate who mowed down a whole crew in the English Channel certainly didn't
and he knew he was being tracked all the time by shore bound Vessel Traffic
Services radar. Instead he intimidated the only lookout to keep his mouth shut.
The only reason the story came to light was when the Captain investigated why
the ship was taking on water and they found a huge gash in the hull plating.
At that point the lookout confessed to the First mate and asked for protection
from the second mate who had threatened him to keep silent.
While I applaud Lee for making an effort to make his vessel more visible, I
just want to point out that no amount of visibility is going to help if you run
across this new breed of commercial seafarer.
As out flagging increases, there are less and less "quality" ships and crews
plying the worlds trade routes.
Conduct yourself accordingly.
cheers
Arild
--- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.507 / Virus Database: 304 - Release Date: 8/4/2003 ___________________________________________________________________________ || The Live-Aboard List : send a "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" request || || in body of message to: ||
|