28 Feb

Miscommunication may have contributed to tanker collision on the Mississippi

Casualty News
The Coast Guard is examining the possibility that a mix-up in radio communication between pilots contributed to a collision between two tankers at a sharp bend in the Mississippi River. The May 19 incident involved the tankers Stolt Zulu and Bow Fortune. The ships, approaching bow-to-bow, sideswiped each other at a sharp bend called 81-Mile Point, near Donaldsonville, La. Stolt…
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28 Feb

Pilothouse staffing levels increased following N.Y. ferry crash

Casualty News
In response to a Staten Island Ferry crash that killed 11 people, the New York City Department of Transportation has begun requiring three people to be in the controlling pilothouse whenever a ferry is leaving or approaching the dock. Damaged areas of Andrew J. Barberi were swathed in blue tarps following a fatal accident on Oct. 15, 2003.    Image…
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28 Feb

Ferry loses power to both engines while docking, then slams marina

Casualty News
A Vancouver ferry carrying more than 500 passengers lost power to its main engines before plowing into a marina next to its berth and running aground. Queen of Oak Bay lost power to its engines just as it was approaching the ferry terminal at Horseshoe Bay. Investigators are examining the possibility that a missing bolt may have caused the engines…
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28 Feb

Columbia Bar pilot dies after fall from ladder

Casualty News
Columbia River Bar Pilot Capt. Kevin Murray, 50, was lost after falling into the Pacific Ocean on Jan. 9, 2006 while attempting to transfer from a ship to a pilot boat during rough weather. Capt. Kevin Murray, the former master of a tanker, had been a bar pilot for less than a year. The bar pilots usually use a helicopter…
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28 Feb

Alaska tour boat evacuated after holing hull on a rock

Casualty News
The tour boat Star of the Northwest struck a submerged object and began taking on water in Resurrection Bay, Alaska, on July 25, 2004, forcing the evacuation of the 161 people aboard. Passengers wearing life vests line the rails of Star of the Northwest, while awaiting their transfer to Great Land. Two of the vessel's five watertight compartments flooded.  …
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27 Feb

Boston pilot becomes third to die in fall from ladder during 2006

Casualty News
A veteran Boston pilot fell to his death on Oct. 24 while climbing a pilot's ladder as he tried to board the 46,000-gt bulk carrier Baldock, moored at the Eastern Minerals Terminal at Chelsea, Mass. Robert G. Cordes, who had been a full pilot with the Boston Pilots Association since 1976, was climbing the rope ladder, with wooden steps, when…
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