Carnival Legend Rams
Enchantment Of The Seas
By Mike Groves
One Carnival executive who witnessed the incident described the state of weather at the time as ‘rain thumping and crashing down against the ship and the wind was howling as though hundreds of wolves were outside baying for our blood’, writes John Heald, the line's senior cruise director. He also stated that the sky was as dark as an Ed Wood movie [not sure I have seen one but it all sounds very black?] and the sea, even within the protection of the harbor . . . was full of foreboding swells.’
According to Carnival's official ‘unnamed’ spokesperson, ‘extremely strong winds pushed the vessel (Carnival Legend) up against the side of Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas. The Royal Caribbean ship was still docked when the incident occurred. The Carnival Legend sustained broken glass and other minor damage to some open deck areas and no one was injured on either ship. Damage to both vessels was not serious and both ships are proceeding on to their next ports of call.’
In such incidents the vessel tied up alongside will not be liable for her own repairs, charging her rival company Carnival for the repairs to ‘her fender’. Although it is believed that many of the cruise companies drop vast amounts of money into a huge mutual insurance bucket and therefore, it is possible that both companies may class this as a 50-50 accident and settle it equally.
I recall being told this some years ago and found it remarkable that a vessel, tied up alongside and minding her own business would be liable for 50% of the costs. I was informed that it is all to do with protecting one another and the industry as a whole, ensuring that no singular company suffered a serious insurance loss but rather everyone effectively chipped in. I’m still not overly convinced if this is the case, and as it is often rumored that RCL and Carnival are not the best of friends we will have to see how this one plays out.
One other consideration is Health & Safety. The golden rule and one that is not foreseen or followed by many, is that whenever a ship is leaving port in such adverse weather conditions and in relatively close proximity to one another, then absolutely no life boats or rescue boats should be lowered on the seaboard side for obvious reasons. Conversely no ships crew should be on the seaward side of the vessel on gantries painting or conducting any maintenance whatsoever until the ‘potential’ danger has passed. Having 88,500 tons pressing against your head is going to seriously spoil your Christmas!
So with all that in mind, was it really a good time for the ship to sail? Could the sail-away not have been delayed for the sake of an hour or so, bearing in mind the obvious winds that would have been recorded on the ship’s own bridge systems. Wind speed indicators are often located directly above the main control console or helms wheel.
Not a criticism of the ship’s Captain at all, just a question why the vessel set sail from a notoriously fickle harbor and is this yet another incident of keeping to time scales above all else; a decision that would certainly have come in above the Captains head no doubt in my own opinion. Security & Safety over time and money – there are no arguments in my book!
Mr. Heald also added, “The captain was fighting the 50 knot winds with all his might using the thrusters and engines at full power," Heald writes of the incident. "He was calm, but at the same time you clearly see the look of concern and anguish in his eyes as he battled the elements. I think he knew that this was one battle he wasn’t going to win." As the Legend drew closer to Enchantment, the ship's cruise director warned passengers on decks nearest the Enchantment to move away from the edge, Heald says. Moments later, the ships "touched," he says, arguing that collision is too strong a word.
"The words collision or hit or crash don’t describe what happened at all," he says. "There was no bang or jolt, just a ... what’s a good word for it? ... I know ... a shudder or a shiver."
That said, the dramatic pictures Mr. Heald posted onto this own site -johnhealdsblog.com, show the evident damage to the Legend so I would tend to respectfully disagree with him. The Legend appears to have come off a lot worse than initially portrayed by the operators and her outer skin was clearly sliced open at the end of the day. As I highlighted before this is 2-3 cm’s of steal and therefore no easy feat!
Mr. Heald added, "There is lots of broken glass on deck 3 port side where the ships “met” and we also have a bent railing and one damaged life raft," he writes. "There is also broken glass in the guest relations back office but amazingly no damage at all to guest cabins or entertainment areas."
It would appear the shock waves from this ‘collision’ were significant to rattle the inner sanctums of the vessel as well, unless he is just referring to their own external window being shattered?
In conclusion the Captain appeared resigned to the fact that no matter all the engines and bow thrusters were engaged at full power, he would not conquer the winds pushing against his ship Carnival Legend from the open ocean and therefore, why oh why did she even attempt to leave port?
Are we seeing Captains being denied their say in all matters relating to good seamanship? Captains who hold a vast wealth of knowledge and countless years of experience in navigation and the woes and high’s of the sea, her tides and weather being possibly ‘overruled’ by corporate executives for the sake of always leaving on time? It makes one wonder and personally, I too feel for the Master [Captain] as his good colleague Mr. Heald muted on his blog. He is probably still feeling rather deflated by the entire incident whether ultimately at fault or not.
Thankfully no persons were injured during this Nautical Fender Bender.
Both ships will continue with their scheduled itineraries with Enchantment taking in a five-night Caribbean cruise and a 7 night for the Legend.
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