Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Radios mistuned, captain testifies

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2004 18:35:15 -0500

Radios mistuned, captain testifies

Appeals of the doomed vessel were not heard

Friday March 05, 2004

By James Varney
Staff writer

The captain of the ZIM Mexico III, the container ship that sent the
supply
vessel Lee III and its five-man crew to the bottom of the Mississippi
River
on Feb. 21, testified Thursday that in the half-hour before the
collision,
neither of his two bridge radios was tuned to channel 67, where the crew

of the doomed Lee was repeatedly seeking guidance.

In addition, the ZIM's Polish master, Leszck Jaworski, testified under
meticulous questioning from the Lee's lead attorney that he left his
radar
post for four minutes to sound two blasts on his foghorn and prepare the

engines for a slowdown. When he returned to his post, the radar screen,
which had been empty before, showed "a target" less than a nautical mile

away, Jaworski said.

"With my finger I point at the
pilot's radar and said, 'Do you
see this target?' and he said,
'Yes, I know, yes I see it,' "
Jaworski said. "On this
moment, a few seconds later,
we changed the course."

Pilot OK'd settings

Both the radio settings and
the course alterations were
decisions left to the pilot,
Capt. Greg Blache. Like all
foreign-flagged vessels
operating on the Mississippi,
the ZIM's bridge was
commanded by a licensed pilot who boarded the vessel at the
Mississippi's mouth. The captain and the pilot discussed the radio
settings briefly as Blache came aboard, but Jaworski said the channel
settings didn't appear to concern Blache, who had a hand-held radio set
to
an unknown channel.

"I inform the pilot we have the two, one on Channel 9 and one on Channel

16, and the pilot said, 'Yes, that's correct,' " Jaworski said. Channel
67 is
the main conduit for communications between vessels on the river.

Henry King, the attorney for the Lee's owners, Ocean Runners Inc.,
pressed the issue. He asked Jaworksi whether he thought one radio
should have been switched to 67. King also homed in on why, once
Blache was on board, the ZIM left a radio on channel 9, a channel
reserved for communication between pilots and their base at Pilottown.

King's emphasis on the radios finally prompted an objection from
attorney
Hugh Straub, who has represented both the ZIM's owners and Jaworski at
various points in the Coast Guard inquest. The ground had been plowed,
Straub argued, "and no matter how many times he asks the questions,
the channels aren't going to change."

Vessel couldn't be heard

Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. William Drelling, who is chairman of the
investigation, overruled the objection.

"He's asking a question to which I'd also like to hear the answer, which
is
why the master didn't have a radio on 67," Drelling said.

Once again, King asked if, had the channel been on 67, the ZIM would
have heard the Lee, which had been calling out steadily for traffic
information from oncoming ships since it entered the Southwest Pass.

"If I would change, of course I can," a somewhat exasperated Jaworski
replied. "But this depends on the pilot. I must follow the pilot." He
also
noted that only one of the radios was truly open to change, since
Channel
16 is usually left open as an emergency band.

While the key moments on the bridge and how the radios and radar were
used were the heart of testimony in the inquest's second day, Jaworski
also painted a clear picture of the ZIM's hours leading up to the
collision.
On Wednesday, testimony had focused on the Lee's final hours as it crept

down the river, its crew apparently flummoxed by the notoriously tricky
waters of the Mississippi as it sweeps toward the Gulf of Mexico.

The ZIM, completing a 21-day hopscotch along the Gulf coast and
Caribbean islands, arrived at the sea buoy marking the Pass's opening
with the ship humming like a top, Jaworksi said. The captain was rested
and visibility was good as Blache motored out to the ship and took
control.

Speed judged safe

After waiting for a couple of ships to exit the pass, about 4:15 a.m.
the
ZIM entered the channel at a good clip, making about 14.5 to 15 knots
through the water, Jaworski recalled. The speed of the Lee and the ZIM
has become an issue in the investigation, with attorneys for both
vessels
maintaining the other was moving too fast.

As the ZIM headed north, inching left or right to keep in the deep water

channel that courses through the Pass, the fog began to press in. While
Jaworski testified he could still see the lights on the ZIM's bow,
nothing
was visible beyond the ship. At the speed it was traveling, Jaworksi
said
he told Blache he needed a 10-minute advance warning for major
changes, but the pilot replied traffic was nonexistent and the speed,
well
below the ZIM's maximum, was nothing to worry about.

Jaworski said he concurred with Blache's judgment, and the ZIM cruised
on, with Blache seated before a radar screen on the right side of the
wheelhouse, Jaworski by the left radar screen, a chief mate bustling
about
on the bridge, and a bosun posted as a lookout on the bow.

As the fog grew thicker, Jaworski said he wanted to prime the ZIM for a
possible decrease in speed and also sound the vessel's booming foghorn.

"The pilot said at this moment there is no traffic, but if in my mind
that is
necessary to do, please do," the captain testified in sometimes halting
English.

A sudden veer

So Jaworski left his radar screen, got a flashlight and went to set up a

machine that sounds the foghorn automatically in 95-second blasts. After

doing so and hearing two blasts, Jaworski said he went to the controls
and pulled the throttle back, a computerized maneuver that, once set in
motion, takes 5 to 6 minutes to complete.

When he returned, the Lee was visible, tracking toward the ZIM at a
length
Jaworski estimated as, "7 to 8 cables." One cable, which the captain
employed repeatedly on the stand, is a measurement equivalent to 203.7
yards. At that point, the distance was not a cause for alarm, and
Jaworski
said he followed the Lee, whose speed he estimated at 15 knots over
ground, as its marker moved closer to the ZIM. Blache, standing now in
the middle of the bridge, issued two orders for the ZIM to shift left.

"At this moment all was normal that he pass starboard-to-starboard,"
Jaworski said.

Jaworski said he could not explain why the Lee did not appear earlier on

his radar, set to pick up images up to 2.5 miles off his bow, and
speculated the supply ship was hugging the east bank so closely it might

have blended with the shore.

Then, inexplicably, the Lee veered into the path of the giant ship and
the
distance closed to less than 407 yards.

Last-ditch command

"At this moment the pilot wake up -- not wake up, stand up," Jaworski
said, as the startled lawyers and audience laughed with relief. "He
stand
up and go to the middle of the bridge. I think at this moment was some
conversation with the other vessel."

But the window for safe passage had shut and Blache barked out an
order: "Hard starboard!" apparently a last-ditch attempt to kick the ZIM

around the Lee. Instead, the ZIM rammed the Lee amidships. Horror
gripping the ZIM bridge, Jaworski said he rushed to the controls,
overrode
the computer and stopped the engines. He radioed forward to the bosun,
the chief mate scrambled to the side, and all eyes searched the thick
fog
for some sign of the Lee.

"I ask the lookout if they see something and they answer to me, 'Nothing

seen,' " Jaworski said. After scrambling for a spot where he could drop
anchor, Jaworski said he got an identical, disheartening report.

The fog signal was switched off, and all hands fell silent, hoping to
hear a
cry for help, Jaworski said, but none came.

"On this moment, nothing seen, nothing heard, no voice," the captain
said.

Jaworski testified that he briefly considered lowering a rescue boat but

rejected the idea because it would have been tantamount to dropping his
crew into an abyss.

"This is river, strong current, dense fog," he said. "There is no radar,
they
cannot know where they are going. Probably I will lose also my people."

Questionable course change

After Drelling and Straub finished leading Jaworski through his version
of
events, King, representing the Lee's interests, began a
cross-examination
that will continue today.

At times, King hinted the ZIM was behind schedule, and thus roared
through the channel in an attempt to make up time, but Jaworski
pointedly
denied that, saying the container ship was not due at the Napoleon
Avenue Wharf until the following day.

Jaworski seemed somewhat confused when King took another line of
questioning that suggested the ZIM never should have altered its course
after spotting the Lee by radar. "Isn't it true if you hadn't gone to
port, isn't
it true the ZIM Mexico would not have collided with the Lee?" King
asked.

"At 3 cables, probably the collision would not have occurred," Jaworski
finally said, suggesting the Lee's last, sudden swerve sealed its fate.

Afterward, King said the ZIM's subtle course changes were "the absolute
worst thing it could have done," but Jaworski's attorneys scoffed,
arguing
that the same logic could just as easily be used against the Lee, which,

had it forged straight ahead, most likely would have slid past the ZIM.

 http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1078480638327410.xml

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 6 Mar 2004 12:14:49 -0500

What, no licensed radio operator on duty???

-Alan Dixon, N3HOE
 MROP, GROL, GMDSS O&M

--------- Original Message ----------
From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>, <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2004 18:35:15 -0500
Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Radios mistuned, captain testifies

Friday March 05, 2004

By James Varney
Staff writer

The captain of the ZIM Mexico III, the container ship that sent the
supply vessel Lee III and its five-man crew to the bottom of the
Mississippi River on Feb. 21, testified Thursday that in the half-hour
before the collision, neither of his two bridge radios was tuned to
channel 67, where the crew of the doomed Lee was repeatedly seeking
guidance.

In addition, the ZIM's Polish master, Leszck Jaworski, testified under
meticulous questioning from the Lee's lead attorney that he left his
radar post for four minutes to sound two blasts on his foghorn and
prepare the engines for a slowdown. When he returned to his post, the
radar screen, which had been empty before, showed "a target" less than a
nautical mile away, Jaworski said.

"With my finger I point at the pilot's radar and said, 'Do you see this
target?' and he said, 'Yes, I know, yes I see it,' " Jaworski said. "On
this moment, a few seconds later, we changed the course."

Pilot OK'd settings

Both the radio settings and the course alterations were decisions left to
the pilot, Capt. Greg Blache. Like all foreign-flagged vessels operating
on the Mississippi, the ZIM's bridge was commanded by a licensed pilot
who boarded the vessel at the Mississippi's mouth. The captain and the
pilot discussed the radio settings briefly as Blache came aboard, but
Jaworski said the channel settings didn't appear to concern Blache, who
had a hand-held radio set to an unknown channel.

16, and the pilot said, 'Yes, that's correct,' " Jaworski said. Channel
67 is the main conduit for communications between vessels on the river.

Henry King, the attorney for the Lee's owners, Ocean Runners Inc.,
pressed the issue. He asked Jaworksi whether he thought one radio should
have been switched to 67. King also homed in on why, once Blache was on
board, the ZIM left a radio on channel 9, a channel reserved for
communication between pilots and their base at Pilottown.

King's emphasis on the radios finally prompted an objection from attorney
Hugh Straub, who has represented both the ZIM's owners and Jaworski at
various points in the Coast Guard inquest. The ground had been plowed,
Straub argued, "and no matter how many times he asks the questions, the
channels aren't going to change."

Vessel couldn't be heard

"He's asking a question to which I'd also like to hear the answer, which
is why the master didn't have a radio on 67," Drelling said.

Once again, King asked if, had the channel been on 67, the ZIM would have
heard the Lee, which had been calling out steadily for traffic
information from oncoming ships since it entered the Southwest Pass.

"If I would change, of course I can," a somewhat exasperated Jaworski
replied. "But this depends on the pilot. I must follow the pilot." He
also 
noted that only one of the radios was truly open to change, since Channel
16 is usually left open as an emergency band.

While the key moments on the bridge and how the radios and radar were
used were the heart of testimony in the inquest's second day, Jaworski
also painted a clear picture of the ZIM's hours leading up to the
collision. On Wednesday, testimony had focused on the Lee's final hours
as it crept down the river, its crew apparently flummoxed by the
notoriously tricky waters of the Mississippi as it sweeps toward the Gulf
of Mexico.

The ZIM, completing a 21-day hopscotch along the Gulf coast and Caribbean
islands, arrived at the sea buoy marking the Pass's opening with the ship
humming like a top, Jaworksi said. The captain was rested and visibility
was good as Blache motored out to the ship and took control.

Speed judged safe

After waiting for a couple of ships to exit the pass, about 4:15 a.m. the
ZIM entered the channel at a good clip, making about 14.5 to 15 knots
through the water, Jaworski recalled. The speed of the Lee and the ZIM
has become an issue in the investigation, with attorneys for both vessels
maintaining the other was moving too fast.

As the ZIM headed north, inching left or right to keep in the deep water
channel that courses through the Pass, the fog began to press in. While
Jaworski testified he could still see the lights on the ZIM's bow,
nothing was visible beyond the ship. At the speed it was traveling,
Jaworksi said he told Blache he needed a 10-minute advance warning for
major changes, but the pilot replied traffic was nonexistent and the
speed, well below the ZIM's maximum, was nothing to worry about.

Jaworski said he concurred with Blache's judgment, and the ZIM cruised
on, with Blache seated before a radar screen on the right side of the
wheelhouse, Jaworski by the left radar screen, a chief mate bustling
about on the bridge, and a bosun posted as a lookout on the bow.

"The pilot said at this moment there is no traffic, but if in my mind
that is necessary to do, please do," the captain testified in sometimes
halting English.

A sudden veer

When he returned, the Lee was visible, tracking toward the ZIM at a
length Jaworski estimated as, "7 to 8 cables." One cable, which the
captain employed repeatedly on the stand, is a measurement equivalent to
203.7 yards. At that point, the distance was not a cause for alarm, and
Jaworski said he followed the Lee, whose speed he estimated at 15 knots
over ground, as its marker moved closer to the ZIM. Blache, standing now
in the middle of the bridge, issued two orders for the ZIM to shift left.

Then, inexplicably, the Lee veered into the path of the giant ship and
the distance closed to less than 407 yards.

Last-ditch command

"At this moment the pilot wake up -- not wake up, stand up," Jaworski
said, as the startled lawyers and audience laughed with relief. "He stand
up and go to the middle of the bridge. I think at this moment was some
conversation with the other vessel."

But the window for safe passage had shut and Blache barked out an order:
"Hard starboard!" apparently a last-ditch attempt to kick the ZIM around
the Lee. Instead, the ZIM rammed the Lee amidships. Horror gripping the
ZIM bridge, Jaworski said he rushed to the controls, overrode the
computer and stopped the engines. He radioed forward to the bosun, the
chief mate scrambled to the side, and all eyes searched the thick fog for
some sign of the Lee.

The fog signal was switched off, and all hands fell silent, hoping to
hear a cry for help, Jaworski said, but none came.

"This is river, strong current, dense fog," he said. "There is no radar,
they cannot know where they are going. Probably I will lose also my
people."

After Drelling and Straub finished leading Jaworski through his version
of events, King, representing the Lee's interests, began a
cross-examination that will continue today.

At times, King hinted the ZIM was behind schedule, and thus roared
through the channel in an attempt to make up time, but Jaworski pointedly
denied that, saying the container ship was not due at the Napoleon Avenue
Wharf until the following day.

Jaworski seemed somewhat confused when King took another line of
questioning that suggested the ZIM never should have altered its course
after spotting the Lee by radar. "Isn't it true if you hadn't gone to
port, isn't it true the ZIM Mexico would not have collided with the Lee?"
King asked.

Afterward, King said the ZIM's subtle course changes were "the absolute
worst thing it could have done," but Jaworski's attorneys scoffed,
arguing that the same logic could just as easily be used against the Lee,
which, had it forged straight ahead, most likely would have slid past the
ZIM.

 http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1078480638
327410.xml

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