Fred Dyson – Dyson's Starboard View – Messing About in Boats
The nautical rules of the road make very clear provisions for avoiding collisions at sea. The rules are reasonable, and prudent mariners pay strict attention. The problems arise when sloth, booze, or glands are at the helm instead of common sense.
The Proceedings of the Naval Institute published an example of glands in charge some years ago. It seems that fleet maneuvers were underway when fog came down. The captain of a battleship was on the bridge when the lookout called out:
''Lights bearing on the port (left) bow, sir."
The captain asked, ''Is the bearing steady?"
This is a pertinent question because a steady bearing or angle on the bow for an approaching ship means you are on a collision course.
"Aye-aye, sir. Bearing steady."
The captain immediately flashed the signal, "Ship on my port bow, alter course to starboard twenty degrees."
The signal came back, ''You alter course twenty degrees starboard."
The furious captain flashed back, ''I am a captain; you alter course twenty degrees to starboard."
The signal came back, ''I am a seaman second class; you come starboard twenty degrees."
The captain flashed, ''I am a battleship." Out of the night came this cryptic reply, "Come starboard twenty degrees, I am a lighthouse." The captain's response is not recorded in the Proceedings.
The Brits have a tragic counterpart. It seems that the warship "HMS Camperdown" rammed and sunk ''HMS Victoria." The fleet commander Sir George Tryon, was on the ''Victoria'' and gave the order to turn the ''Victoria'' into the path of the "Camperdown." He and 360 British sailors died because he refused to change the order. One of the survivors was J.R. Jellicoe, later the Commander in Chief for the Brits during WWI.
As I understand it, he was never involved in another collision at sea. Collisions are too embarrassing.
