Sorry but as a retired ships officer , i can report that this situation is due to total incompetance by the officer of the watch and deck crew , with bad weather approaching as many mooring line as you have should have been used , and tugs called to assist. ok tugs are expensive ---but safety is not about saving money. The tugs would have cost a whole lot less than the repairs it now has to do.
indeed you did , and you were right. i was on a vlcc in a repair yard in capetown (so minimum ballast, maximum freeboard) the wind came up and we had 4 tugs assisting us to stay alongside for several days.---imagine what that cost , but it was the right thing to do.@@wgowshipping
Bermuda 1987. Hurricane Emily. A cruise ship much smaller than Britannia put out extra mooring lines and ripped the bollards right out of the dock. Then the Master had the problem of controlling the ship with the added worry of getting stray lines with attached bollards fouling the screws and rudders. I did not personally witness this but due to good seamanship a disaster was averted.
🚨🚨BBC is reporting that several lifeboats were damaged and cannot be repaired. P&O is working to fly some of the passengers back to England to get the total passengers on board below the level of operable lifeboats. Britannia sailed from Palma on 28 Aug at 2100 UTC and is due in Southampton on 1 Sep.🚨🚨
This is expected, P& O illegally sacked 800 experienced and qualified Officers and hired at £ 1.70 per hour people who may not have had any seagoing experience, a type of slavery by the Arab owners of P& O
@@blueocean2510 you need to do some proper research - P&O Ferries is a totally different company owned by Dubai World Ports, Britannia is owned by P&O Cruises that is part of the Carnival Group so nothing to do with the ferry company.
when i was a Flatbed trucking instructor, this was my greatest issue: teaching new guys that "you absolutely positively have to do more than "the legal standard" as "doing the bare minimum" will cost you more than you will ever know!
An episode on Tugs might be interesting. Types of tug, the process of getting lines to vessels, pulling/pushing vessels without causing damage. Routine and emergency operations.
A fire on board a cruise ship with many passengers, the passengers forced to move to higher decks, and having to jump into the sea. That would be interesting for Sal to cover if he was aboard. The maximum height for using lifejackets is 4.5 metres, above this height injury can occur.
A friend of mine is on the Britannia and has sent me photos etc, they are having to lose many passengers because of damage to lifeboats, many flying home
That is what I expected. That hit was right on the lifeboat deck and there is no way they can repair them in time. The only issue was if they were at full capacity.
@@wgowshippingmy friend has been asked to fly home, apparently many hundred or even over thousand will be flown out, they will miss Gibraltar on way back here in Southampton
I was an Ents Officer with P&O way back in 2003 and we had Palma on our schedule but we never made it to docking. Instead, we spent the day out in the bay along with what seemed to be six other cruise vessels, rocking and rolling, and waiting out the storm. Given how high-sided the Britannia is, that single mooring line at the bow looked woefully inadequate. Also, the port wall is some out into the bay, protected sufficiently from the swell of the waves, but not from the winds. Correction: Later into the video I see that the ship was moored to the more exposed berth, but, in any event, as our host explains, the incredibly strong winds were prevailing from the north of the island, rather than from the bay. If I can add, unfortunate to see the predictable comments attributing incompetencies based on nationality and training. P&O Cruises have always had excellent crews, but an issue has been in regards to manning overall. A 144,000 tonne vessel will go to sea with the same complement as a 90,000 tonne vessel. There isn't any exponential expansion of manning requirements, especially the more these ships have gained increased manoeuvrability with bow and stern thrusters, and pod mounted propellers. It is just the law of physics that has applied here. Even doubled tied to the berth, the side of the vessel was too great a plain to cope with the wind against. The ultimate error was the failure by the Master, or the Staff Captain, to get that vessel back out into Palma Bay for the duration of the adverse conditions.
knowing the culture of these vessels do you really think there was just one line on each or either end? I have never seen a mooring plan without an adequate number of lines. Also I would think that waiting it out and never going to dock and docking, letting passengers off then moving the vessel are two totally different scenarios in terms of logistics and paperwork.
@@bryanachee7133 We don't know because we can't see an image of the whole run of the ship. Whatever the arrangement was, it was wholly inadequate for these exceptional conditions, the vessel breaking completely free.
@@t.p.mckenna I ve seen you on the telly! Unfortunately a freak storm blew up and I never got to see the credits as it blew our telly off its stand so can't put a name to your face. Yes, I know, we should have had played safe and had two plugs in the wall. I blame the wife. Please tell us whose very familiar face is that you use on your icon? Cheers
We’ve not left Europe.. such a simple thing and yet some really struggle to understanding the difference! We voted (democratically) to leave the European Union! The fact you’ve bothered to even comment makes me think it’s upset you, please don’t cry because the whole world is in a mess at the moment and that has nothing to do with the way a country voted!! Fingers crossed Trump will be back I soon 👍⚓️🦈
If you see this kind of extreme wx coming; best is to stop off one of the lines, take it off the bollard and give out more of the same mooring line toeards and over the bollard on the quayside. Now tighten it up, stop it off and put it on the bits back on board. This way you tripled the mooring line and all 3 parts always carry the same weight. Now the wx can probably burden this line till the bollards break out. Used it at times in my 42y at sea and never saw one break.
We had an accident on one of the ships I was on took the bosun clean off his feet and broke his femur He did go back to sea but took him a long time to recover they had to put rods and screws in to his leg My advice is if you can stay the F away from the lines if you can ! PS I hated taking the late night watches
Sal, ESysman reported on August 7 that the Queen Mary 2 while docked in an Italian port broke free of her mooring in high winds. Considering this is the second incident in 3 weeks, someone is not paying attention. Based on my experience with mooring analysis there appear not only to be few lines, but the arrangement of the lines seems to be in error. The head and breast lines carry the load when the wind is off the dock. Spring lines are used to prevent the ship from walking along the dock. The Spring lines as shown appear to be too short to be of much good. They also should have led closer to the middle of the ship. Based on the video the breast lines must have already parted. Based on the video it looks as if they were using a polyester or nylon tail with a hard shackle and a Dyneema or Spectra mooring line which stores less energy than the tail. Samson Ropes has a good video of recoil in ropes. One thing that I find odd is why didn't the brake on the winch yield. If the mooring system is designed, maintained, and operated correctly before parting a line the winch brake should have released the line. You don't want the line to part and you don't to pull the winch off the deck. The brake is the safety. Bob
Bob...you are correct on all points. I try not to get too wonky, but I agree on the short leads for the spring lines. I did not see any breast lines, but the videos and images are limited. I am not familiar with the winch arrangement on board Britannia, but if it was set correctly (big if) they should have paid out and not snapped.
Seems like you know a lot about this topic. Maybe they didn’t use longer spring lines due to safety concerns for passengers and also some other issues.
@Mentaculus42 My guess is because of the short time in Port, the position of gangways, and where and when they dock results in minimizing the number of lines.
I'm just happy that my time in Palma was a lot more pleasant than this. The weather looks absolutely frightful. It's a lovely port, we walk off the ship straight into the city, like in Naples. I'd want off the ship, pronto lol
I agree with Sal that it looks pretty good for a modern cruise ship. Some of the larger ones, like the new Harmony of the Seas, really do look preposterous!
@@vernicethompson4825 They do everything they can to squeeze in more cabins to maximize profit margins. Some of the very newest ones are, as you note, rather ugly and give you that “clown car vibe”!
I am just an old Mama, but here I am, finding this super interesting, educational, compelling, and informative. I am liking this video and subscribing to this channel. Why my interest is so peaked, is inexplicable to me, yet here I am, soaking it all up. Thank you for explaining what went on and making sense of it on you tube. 🧡🙏🏻 jomama
Love your graphics! I had not yet heard about this incident. But I am reminded of the numerous videos about cruise ship incidents that happened before you started your channel. Thank you so much for adding all the extra context to help us understand what happened!
My friend and his wife left Norfolk Va. Sunday evening headed to Bermuda. Looks like they are headed into Hurricane Franklin. What could possibly go wrong?
Former USN sailor here, my favorite story pier-side was back in '83 when we were scheduled to moor in Saint Thomas @ noon. The winds were up and we were running late and either the harbor pilot misjudged our speed or the wind caught us but it was obvious we were going to smack into the pier at speed. The bosun sounded both the collision alarm and the flooding alarm just as we slammed sideways... hard. The impact tore a 2 meter hole above the waterline and anything not secured went flying. In the midst of all this with both alarms blaring and crew running all over the place the bosun, in his best radio announcer voice, called "shift colors, moored." First time on your channel, like what I see. Subbed.
Not sure about the how the crew handled the ship, but some passengers have reported that the announcements to passengers and handling of the passengers onboard during the situation was not great. Some passengers have reported that there was NO warning given prior to the collision, and only after were they told to report to their muster stations. This seems like a less than ideal response.
I had a similar experience onboard the USS Saipan (LHA 2) Christmas Day 1980 as duty engineer (I think I have the year correct). We were starboard side to a brand new pier in Barcelona when about 1030 a mistral wind blew down from the plateau and the winds went from near calm to over 60 MPH. Lines were doubled, but the enormous sail area was too much. We pulled a new bollard from the pier and with all other lines under strain had no choice but to cast off with families aboard and liberty party ashore. Fortunately the steam plant was online with the main engines puling the vacuum for the generators. Otherwise we probably would have been blown down on the quay wall. We went to sea, anchored out and ran boats for the remainder of the day until we were moored back in the port the next day. Mother Nature is to be respected.
I’m thinking the ship’s officers did poorly. The vessel wasn’t tied up sufficiently. The electric propulsion systems weren’t on standby and ready to answer bridge commands. The ship was probably already running two of the four main engines for hotel power. They probably had sufficient power on line to maneuver.
@@blueocean2510 the fact remains that the officers allowed the ship to drift out of control. I’m not in the industry but it seems prudent the ship should have been kept ready to sail.
@@fountainvalley100 It is possible if more incidents like this take place, they may be deliberate. P& O are not welcome in the EU or are ships or people from former EU state.
What came to my mind was the departure of the ferry. It reminded me of when the Titanic sailed and 'sucked' I think the New York off her birth snapping lines due to suction (if that is still a 'thing') by the B-effect and fluid. As always, I enjoy your content.....
@@tonykinnegen2615 In shallow water, a ship passing by will create a low pressure area next to it from the water flow dynamics and that low pressure can pull against other ships, barges, etc. Ships passing each other have a tendency to be pulled together. The timing of the ferry departure kind of looks like that, but without knowing water depth and ferry speed it’s hard to tell if it was actually a factor or not. It could have just been a timing coincidence and not the shallow water effects.
Nice work, Sal. I appreciate the use of the tracking app in conjunction with your narration. Also, it truly helps to see other vessels mentioned in order to have some perspective. Thanks 😊
Poor seamanship. No one looks at the weather forecast or keeps an eye on the anemometer. As you say these floating apartment blocks can exert enormous force on the mooring lines and it's something that they should be constantly monitoring.
I'm astounded that _"no one looks at the weather forecast or the Anemometer"_ 😮 Are you sure??? If that's true, then maybe they should employ *Gone with the Wynns* RU-vid Channel crew or *La Vagabond* RU-vid Channel crew who certainly take all precautions every watch change, as do all the other Sailor-Vloggers I've watched on RU-vid.
Excellent video. I was on Britannia and I can safely say I have never seen such a violent wind come out of nowhere. It was not forecast. If the wind had been forecast, they would not have allowed the GMV ferry to depart (look at the AIS track once it left port and and see how it's stern is swept sideways by the force of the wind, even when it was underway. I spoke to the captain a couple of days after the incident and he said the wind was 75 KNOTS (ie about 86mph) on the side. All the crew acted very professionally and handled the sitation. One lifeboat (about 242 capacity) was badly damaged plus I saw one of the liferaft had been ripped out by the collision. The appropriate number of passengers were taken off the ship, to be flown back. The day after the incident, they had divers down and various inspections to confirm seaworthy. Thankfully all OK and we left that afternoon/evening for the UK. Skipped Gibraltar and captain managed to get us back to Southampton at 06:30am on Friday 1st Sep - bang on schedule. He had to sail at max speed using all four engines. The captain said he had never experienced weather like it. There were minor injuries on the upper decks as furniture etc flew around before people could get inside. To give an idea of the wind force, when our port-side balcony window was open a notch it was IMPOSSIBLE to pull our cabin door open into the corridor. And I count myself as pretty fit....
I was on a large naval vessel, 500+ ft, in the Philippines in 1969 when a typhoon was predicted to hit us in Subic Bay. We powered up immediately and headed out to sea. We went through part of the storm, and one of my friends and I went up on the bow watching our bow plunging through the waves. That was the most fun I ever had aboard ship. 😅😂
I was actually on this ship. Have just got home. Yes this did happen, but the P And O staff were completely in control and Professional. We were asked to return to our rooms for a couple of hours and then everything returned to normal. One of the life boats was damaged which meant some people had to leave , this was due to marine law!!!!! I was drinking a hot chocolate at the time and the glass did not even spill.
Over the years the Masters authority has been slowly eroded the orders driven by the company grounded operations management . There's was a time the Captain would have departed the berth knowing his vessel capabilities to the anchorage until it safe now the Captain's role is the fall guy when the s#it hits the fan.
Spot on after the Herald of Free Enterprise Ro-Ro capsized the powers that be transferred more responsibility on Shore Management who then in turn covered their posteriors with more and more procedures and guidelines, resulting in ships crew becoming procedure followers and less reliant on skill and professionalism and like you say when something goes wrong they revert to the all powerful Captain of Old to carry the can. Personally I can't really make any judgement til all facts are out, but a few points of concern are : Having a cruise terminal that close to an oil terminal as that to me was the most worrying landing on a tanker which could have been loading petrol/ gas or the like. I wonder at what speed did the ferry pass as it was very close and relatively large (interaction could be enough to part ropes with or without the wind). Also are these terminals designed for ships of this size especially if they have balconies as the combined defect of hundreds of balconies act like a huge spinnaker. Ships getting bigger docks aren't The number and SWL of shore ballads. Finally cruise liner operators are reluctant to keep their engines or generators for thrusters on stand by in port to save on fuel same goes for having a stand by tug unless enforced by the port.
Palma and the island are beautiful. In July 1963, we took a tour around most of the island and city. We saw sites, had meals, wine tasting, etc. The only negative was a bull fight. Will never do that again.
When I was US Navy - when docking or mooring, regardless of weather, our SOP was to double up all lines making adding lines more effective if needed. Breaking lines, to me, is the mark of inexperience: rule of the sea, inland or not, there is no substitute for being prepared, being vigilant, and in readiness to act.
In defence of the cruise ship..... the things are getting taller, longer, lighter (for their size) and this will happen more and more if they keep increasing in size.... not to mention the extreme weathers we are experiencing.
In defense of lives and property, the sea does not care how many souls are on board or how tall a ship is. Weather was known and imminent: prevention and professionalism should have prevailed. Ships are wonderful but competent people must be ready to act on behalf of passengers who are mostly uneducated about things maritime. Passengers mostly just want to enjoy a cruise. When things go wrong, passengers need protection and leadership. Further, when things go wrong, why was it a surprise; why were the crew unprepared? Because they were not looking out: Rule 2 and Rule 5, Navigation Rules & Regulations Handbook. A vessel moored does not exonerate a vessel, owner, crew, master from circimstances or consequences of neglect to comply with the Rules. This Rule 2 includes non-exoneration of any precautions which may be required by ordinary practice of seaman or by special circumstances. "... due regard shall be had...to ANY (my emphasis) special circumstances (weather in this case)". Rule 5: Every vessel shall AT ALL TIMES (my emphasis) maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation AND (my emphasis) of the risk of collision. Circumstances other than risk of collision are included in this and other Rules. In other words, these rules do not cease to be in effect when vessels are moored. The Rules stand whether or not a vessel is underway. Therefore, compliance is required. Why did vessel personnel on duty not see violent weather falling upon the waters and take immediate action? The paradigm of many seem to only regard the Rules in terms of being underway, constrained or operating in a constrained fashion, or aground, or moored to a buoy. In many cases, the Rules do not specify the underway conditions that require a vessel and/or crew to comply. The Rules are in effect regardless of condition, situation, underway, or not. Very Respectfully
In any wind conditions in-port above 20 knots we rigged (in addition to the standard doubled lines) spring lines and nightriders. That was for a submarine with minimal tophamper. That the operator of this vessel didn't do any of those things is negligence.
A couple of points, hindsight is wonderful thing, things go south very quickly with often nothing you can do about it, by the time they realised it was worse than expected it is usually to bad to put people in danger putting extra lines out, we witnessed one let go would you want to stand next to the bollard putting on extra lines ? 35 years working on a marine terminal I have witnessed how the weather can easily catch you out, we have to remember weather forecasting is still not an exact science and can and will catch you out.
I was on the northwest coast when the storm hit. You could see the squall line approach and it hit like a freight train. 65 knots of wind were recorded at the peak. That's hurricane force, albeit the peak lasted only ten minutes.
In 1977 a waterspout came right through Norfolk Naval Base, old Pier 21 & Sub Pier & USS Puget Sound. Killed a few people when Fishing Pier by Oceanview collapsed, searched high & low but can’t find a trace of it Periodicals etc. Barge with crane on it broke free & it was moored by an SSN.
I was in Palma for the storm. The wind came out of nowhere, I haven't experienced anything like it! The storm caused massive delays at the airport and then on the Monday, British air traffic control went down so the airport was chaos. The people told to fly home from Britannia are going to be in a sticky situation
Thanks for upload. Working with tug lines is a very dangerous operation under this condition. They can easely snap. My experience is with cargo ships and it is of course much tougher with such a large wind trap. Respect to the crew. / Greetings from Sweden
We had a Family day onboard Forestall when the weather took a turn (that still looked a bit worse). The only dif was, we never tied up while in the Med. Getting dependents back to shore was a challenge (via crews boats)
To those saying this is poor seamanship and the crew are to blame, NO, this storm came literally out of the blue. One minute it was sunny and the next this came up and it was DIRE! Everything was flying around, flooding etc. Tugs couldn't have got to it either.
Oops..just looked. She’s 143,000 tons…yes no wonder the winds had fun with her..when I was at P & 0.. during the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria days the vessels were 1/3 Britannia’s size…
Having suffered these winds on multiple occasions, they're not uncommon anywhere in the Mediterranean, just looking at that one set of lines to the bollard gave me goose pimples.. yes, they did have more than one line but it's next to impossible to share the load exactly between 2 or 3 lines to the same bollard.. once the line with the greatest tension gives way you're on the way out... lines going to that next bollard along on the quay should have been a must.
I was stationed in La Maddalena, Sardinia, Italy, for two years. I do not remember any storms at this time of year. I recollect nary a cloud in the sky from May through September.
Another great vid. Just wait till the hurricanes hit the Southeast [right now there are 2 being tracked, one in the gulf & one off the southeast of Fla.
Compared to the grand old liners the new cruise ships are ugly tubs whose main task seems to be spreading norovirus or other forms of pestilence. I never get tired of watching cruise ship oopsident videos and thank you for this one, liked it much!
Hey Sal, there are videos of vehicles being currently removed from Fremantle Highway. Curious why Mercedes were being driven off but BMWs were not? They appear to be in similar condition, that is, remarkably well considering.
I just posted one. I will have to look as there are several videos on the offload. They may not be driving the internal combustion cars off because of the damage to the air circulation systems.
Been on Britannia twice its a really nice ship. Assuming its hull got dented will it stay that way for the rest of its life? Been on a few cruise ships with huge dents in the hull and people from other ships point and stare at it.
Depends on how deep they are and what other damage there might be. If they are severe and other structure is damaged their class society will make them replace the steel
8:04 kudos to the pilot ship immediately moving to do something, but man... trying to get a pilot on board in those conditions? You bought a ticket for the wild ride.
Cruice liners in Europe polute the same amount as all of europes traffic! That's stunning. Many start question the environmental impact of those ships... 🤔
Those huge cruise ships must be a nightmare to handle. Most are single screw, those huge, slab sides might as well be sails, and, the center of buoyancy has got to be less than ideal with all that weight so far above the waterline.
not sure where you're getting single screw from, those huge cruise ships are actually some of the best handling vessels at sea...granted, their sail area is massive, but had their engineering plant been fully powered up their dynamic positioning system would not have had any problem keeping it in place
These ships are usually twin screw. Many are fitted with azipods or with bow and stern thrusters. They have dynamic positioning systems that allow them to dock without tugs. This ship is over a thousand feet long.
British canal Narrowboats fitted with bow-thrusters handle strong winds on the wide sections of some canals reasonably well. But those without would function much like a full sized Tanker or Container ship (e.g. Ever Given) trying the negotiate the Suez Canal in strong winds. It's a wonder that British Ship's crew don't train on specially modified Narrowboats for a few weeks during their early career to get the idea about so many similar difficulties.
Spanish investigators will be asking why mooring lines were not doubled up, especially in those weather conditions. Cruise ships in general, do not impress me. They are not designed to take heavy weather. Gusts of 50-70 knots can play havoc with their large sail area, whether moored or under way.
If tugs are expensive, don't these ships have bowthrusters and 360 degrees azimuth propellers that the Master could use? Is tug costs more expensive than repairing damages suffered and lost time by the ship? I was a seafarer myself. I see this incident is due to weak seamanship skills. Taking to the sea earlier would have averted all the consequences we now see. But we took chances and learned dearly from it.
This ship is huge? I cannot believe they used 2 mooring ropes on that connection in relation to the height of the Ship and the winds hitting the starboard side of Ship.
A British Crew would not of moored a ship like that along the quay wall, just 2 springer ropes on the bow, it should have had at lest 6 to 8 ropes out on the bows and another 6 astern.
@@bryanachee7133Look at the video carefully, all that was holding the bow was 2 springers. Also, to understand what is going on, you will need to know what each rope job is.
@@southerneruk First of all, I'm 90% sure that the video of the lines is the stern. You are assuming from a very short video clip that the only lines were spring lines. The stern lines could have already broken, bollard pulled off the dock or just can't be seen because they have a long lead and visibility is horrible. Could be possible that the dock is old and the bollards are not made to handle the wind load of the newer, bigger ships. I know what each line does I have been a harbor pilot for 17 years and have seen thousands of mooring plans including cruise ships. Knowing the safety culture of the cruise lines nobody is approving a mooring plan with only spring lines.
Its 1 life boat that is damage and its a shame my and my partner’s cruise has ended this way but we are luckily not to be hurt both of us are fine as we were on the ship when it happen mother nature is a scary thing so going to try enjoy the rest on my cruise back to southampton i feel sorry for every one who was involved was not the way wanted it to end but it has so
Callum...I am glad you are okay. So sorry that your vacation was cut short. When I did the video they were still assessing the damage but I assumed that some of the lifeboats were damaged based on the two ships coming together.
