Re: [Paddlewise] Foggy Crossing

I suppose this is as good a time as any for another story. Its possibly
apocryphal but I've been around boats and ships a long time and I almost
believe it. This didn't actually happen to me but I'm going to tell it in
the first person anyway because.... well.... I want to.

I was on watch on the bridge of the M.V. Oregon State enroute from San
Francisco to Prince William Sound following the rhumb line course headed
about 300 true. As Chief Mate I had the dog watch (12 to 4; both am and pm)
and it was about halfway through my watch. We were just north of the Cape
Flattery (although we could not see it since we were about 300 nm offshore).

This is what you might call an interesting area as the great circle route
from Asia intersects the rhumb line (straight) course too/from SFO and
Alaska somewhere around here. Much farther north and you don't see many
container ships... much farther south and you don't see any factory
trawlers. There are always the smaller (under 100-ft) fishing boats
though... mostly tuna trollers. At any rate, while the ocean was by no means
crowded it also paid to keep your eyes open in all directions.

I got another cup of coffee and walked over to the CAS to see what was up.
The CAS is a handy device as it uses radar to plot courses and future
positions of both one's own vessel and any other vessels in range. CAS
stands for Collision Avoidance System. I could see another vessel at the
edge of the screen but the computer in the CAS had not yet figured out a
plot so I grabbed the binocular and tried to find the other ship. No luck.

Fifteen minutes later the CAS showed a potential colllision but since I was
the "stand-on" vessel I held my course and speed and watched the situation
develop. As the other ship drew closer I could see that it was an older bulk
cargo vessel headed SE'ly apparently on the great-circle route from Asia. I
was not overly concerned as it was quite likely the officer on watch also
saw me and would soon correct his course to pass astern.

Another five minutes later and I was able to see into the windows on the
other bridge and was now somewhat concerned as there was no one there. I
could see a dog bouncing up and down and apparently making quite a ruckus
however. But the ship drew closer and closer with no sign of any human
activity on the bridge.

Just as I was about to disengage the autopilot and make a sharp turn to
starboard I saw a person appear on the bridge of the oncoming ship. I
watched through my binoculars as he took one look at my ship, went over to
disengage his autopilot, make a turn to starboard to pass astern of me,
re-engage the autopilot, pet the dog, and disappear below.

It never pays to assume that they see you in time. All you can do is hope
they have a well-trained dog on watch.


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
www.nwkayaking..net
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