Completed PE Summary

Nautica/ Flourish

Category Merchant
Vessel name Nautica
Manager: Baltnautic Shipping Ltd, Lithuania
Port of Registry: Kingston
Flag: St Vincent & The Grenadines
Classification Society: Lloyd's Register
Type: General Cargo
Built: 1992
Construction: Steel
Length overall: 87.95 m
Gross tonnage: 1587
Date & Time 11 October 2007 at 1403 Hrs LT (GMT +1)
Location of incident: Lat 53 51N Long 000 35E - 21 miles offshore
Incident Type: Collision
Persons onboard: 6
Injuries/fatalities: Nil
Damage/pollution: Minor cosmetic only / Nil

Category Fishing
Vessel name Flourish
Manager/Registered Owner: Bartizan Fishing Company, Ltd
Operator: John Collinson
Port of Registry: Ballantrae
Flag: British
Classification Society: N/A
Type: Fishing Vessel
Built: 1970
Construction: Wood
Length overall: 16.13 m
Gross tonnage: 40.11
Date & Time 11 October 2007 at 1403 Hrs LT (GMT +1)
Location of incident: Lat 53 51N Long 000 35E - 21 miles offshore
Incident Type: Collision
Persons onboard: 4
Injuries/fatalities: One fatality
Damage/pollution: Loss of the fishing vessel/ minor pollution

Synopsis

At 1303 UTC the fishing vessel Flourish was involved in a collision with the coastal general cargo vessel Nautica. The collision took place about twenty one miles off the Humber near the Rough gas field, neither of the vessels were found to be keeping a proper lookout.

The weather at the time was good with fair to good visibility.

As a result of the collision, the fishing vessel, which was of wooden construction, suffered major structural damage and sank within seconds. Of the four crew on board three managed to get into a liferaft and abandon the vessel, sadly the fourth member of crew has still not been recovered.

There was paint damage only to the hull of the coaster.

Action taken:

The Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents has written to :-

The owners of the general cargo vessel, strongly advising that they should take appropriate action to strengthen bridge team procedures to, as far as possible, ensure that:

  • Company and master’s standing orders are stringently adhered to with reference to passage planning and position fixing;

  • Bridge watchkeepers use all available means to detect potentially dangerous situations at an early stage, with due regard for the additional visibility problems caused by the hatch gantry crane.

Sadly the owner of the fishing vessel did not survive the collision and sinking of his vessel. Under these circumstances, a Chief Inspector’s letter will not be written.

Published: December 2007