Ouch. Will be an interesting read when the full accident investigation eventually gets written up.
Meanwhile here’s the Seatruck operated Riverdance beaching report:
r slicker:
Ferry and cargo vessel collide in Belfast Lough - BBC News
The other vessel - a cargo ship, the Union Moon - was accompanied by the coastguard as it was brought back to Belfast.
Sounds like a hit-and-run.
Typical, jumping to conclusions, but the skipper is Polish so possible but difficult at about ten mile an hour 
But he has been arrested
Pleased to hear that Switch, people like him give all us trainee alcoholics a bad name 
He is up in court on Friday on drink related charges, that’s four recently that I know off.
Edit… It wasn’t the coastguard that escorted the Moon it was the pilot boat no. 2.
Captain of the Moon has been remanded in custody until next monday, bloody good job ,
Shouldn’t you give way to boats on a starboard tack ■■?
Although the ferry was the ‘stand on’ vessel and the 'Moon was the give way ship the law states that if the stand on vessel thinks the give way vessel isn’t doing enough to prevent a near miss or collision situation then he must take evasive action otherwise he is partly to blame for any ensuing collision.
Only sailing boats tack btw.
raymundo:
Although the ferry was the ‘stand on’ vessel and the 'Moon was the give way ship the law states that if the stand on vessel thinks the give way vessel isn’t doing enough to prevent a near miss or collision situation then he must take evasive action otherwise he is partly to blame for any ensuing collision.
Only sailing boats tack btw.
Sounds like a case of each thought the other… etc.
Radio communication?
Would I be right in thinking there may be some similarities in driving style between cross route ferry masters and taxi drivers?
Not quite, even cross channel ferry drivers obey the rules of the road unlike taxi drivers. Voyage data recorders and radar images are recorded along with radio comms. Follow the rules of the road and voice comms between the ships are not necessary. Can’t understand them anyway, all bloody foreigners nowadays.
The master of the Moon has been arrested for being over the limit!
That was stated awhile ago, now having his first of many nights (i hope) behind bars.
Derf:
The master of the Moon has been arrested for being over the limit!
He is Polish…So that kinda goes without saying…
att:
Derf:
The master of the Moon has been arrested for being over the limit!He is Polish…So that kinda goes without saying…
No, don’t hesistate. Please, say it.
What’s with him being Polish?
orys:
att:
Derf:
The master of the Moon has been arrested for being over the limit!He is Polish…So that kinda goes without saying…
No, don’t hesistate. Please, say it.
What’s with him being Polish?
It makes him obviously a drunkard and a bounder
■■■■, I checked my passport, it seems that I am a one too!
orys:
■■■■, I checked my passport, it seems that I am a one too!
Well from your posts we’d all guessed you were…
Not saying all Poles are tarred with the same brush but it does seem odd that most marine incidents concern Polish or old eastern block nationals. Boozing to excess is obviously part of their upbringing.
raymundo:
Not saying all Poles are tarred with the same brush but it does seem odd that most marine incidents concern Polish or old eastern block nationals. Boozing to excess is obviously part of their upbringing.
You got any source to confirm that thesis of yours that allegely “most marine incident concern eastern europeans”?
I am going now into off topic as I think this is the occasion to explain something, so that in the future maybe there won’t be so (I am sorry) stupid generalisations made in similar cases. If you are not interested, just don’t read, there will be nothing on the accident itself.
I guess you can have that feeling from what you see in the media, but there is an easy explanation why, as in most cases when myth about Poles are involved, this is mostly untrue.
First, especially in British media, if the guilty person will be Polish, it will be well underlined that she or he is Polish. When he or she is not, the nationality will not be specifed, therefore you won’t take so much notification of it.
Second: there is plenty of Eastern European sailors - since our own marine business is not doing too well and we have a huge pool of experienced workers left after big fleets of the Comecon countries and, also, relatively strong Navy we had to keep due to Warsaw Pact obligation. This is why there is many oaccidents where Poles or other Eastern European nations are involved - simply because there is plenty of them in charge on the sea. That does not implifies that they have lower safety record - I have no source, but I was speaking about similar case when the Polish skipper was involved in marine accident in Scotland and I happened to be his interpreter with some friend of mine who is a ship first officer and he told me that our safety records aren’t any different from other EU nations, and that everyone on the sea drinks the same (he knows it, he works in off shore industry for some British company and there are all nationals there).
it’s like with drunk drivers - Poles have opinion of drink driving here in UK, but actually that does not mean that they are drinking and driving more than locals - it’s just every time such thing happens, media will pick up fact that the person in question was Polish. But off course vast majority of the drink drivers in UK are British and it’s not because Britons drink more, but because vast majority of drivers on British road are British.
As for the second part of your statement: “boozing to excess” is more likely to be part of British upbringing. Poles drink a lot, that’s true, but culture of drinking is part of our slavic culture. Heavy drinking is usually associated with good food, which helps to digest alcohol, there is some very sophiscitated culture of drinking and since home-parties are much more common in Poland than here, you actually learn at home from your parents how to drink responsibly. Sadly, I have to admit, it changes into worse and last generations (like people 10 years+ younger than me) seem to adopt that western culture of drinking. Still yet you rarely see things common to British pubs, drinking till someone falls under the table. Go on bus on Saturday evening about 22:00 - bus citybound will be full of Polish people going to pub, bus from the city will be full of British people already too drunk to notice what’s going on around them… This is not only mine observation - it’s also observation of my Czech friend, who works as part time bus driver on weekends - we had this discussion about differences in drinking habit yesterday in the pub after we had to go around two pukes to get into the pub at about 7:30 pm…
I am off course aware that there used to be some drinking culture here as well, when you look at some old movies, ie Whisky Galore etc you see it - people dancing, singing and doing other things in the pub… But from my observations of British pubs lot of this culture is long gone. We are still keeping better than you, but only because when it comes to adopt “modern culture” we are some time behind you. But as I mentioned, sadly we follow your steps, and binge drinking of young people becomes problem in Poland as well (altough still not to such extend as here).
Well, at least we have something in common.
Off course I am not going to defend the drunken idiot who caused accident and then tried to run away - I just think that this is a good occasion to clarify some things. as popular opinion on Poles here is unjust. So sorry for this off-topic again, but I think every place is good to learn something and if I can help you to overcome your prejudice, I will try my best