The Queen of the North Disaster by Colin Henthorne

Author:Colin Henthorne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Queen of the North, BC Ferries, Shipwrecks, British Columbia, Inside Passage, Ferries, Accidents
ISBN: 9781550177244
Publisher: Harbour Publishing
Published: 2016-11-05T04:00:00+00:00

There are two conflicting schools of thought concerning watertight doors. One view holds that every watertight door must be kept closed when the ship is at sea except for occasional and momentary openings when it is necessary for someone to pass through for the “safe working of the ship.” I don’t know what other kind of “working of the ship” there would be, and this imprecise wording only clouds the issue. Those who believe the doors should be kept closed argue that, in the event of flooding, it might not be possible to close a door that is open at the time of a collision or grounding. They speculate that the door or its mechanism could be damaged, or a loose item could fall or float into the opening and prevent the door from closing.

The opposing view points out that the doors are there for a reason: people, especially engineers, must pass through them regularly in the course of their duties. Engineers are moving through the doors all the time, often carrying tools or parts, and doing so in every kind of sea condition from smooth to very rough. Many, if not most, of the people on board hold the view that the overall safety of the ship and its crew and passengers would favour leaving the doors in the open position. The Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention supports this view: “Certain watertight doors may be permitted to remain open during navigation only if considered absolutely necessary; that is, being open is determined to be essential to the safe and effective operation of the ship’s machinery or to permit passengers normally unrestricted access throughout the passenger area. Such determination shall be made by the Administration [respective government] only after careful consideration of the impact on ship operations and survivability” (SOLAS Chapter II-1, Regulation 15, Article 9.3).

By leaving the determination up to the respective governments, SOLAS recognizes the fact that the designs of some ships are simply not suited to a policy of keeping the doors closed. The Queen of the North, with its complex machinery spaces and below-deck accommodations for both passengers and crew, fell into just such a classification. And uppermost in the minds of those who crewed the ship was the memory of the Second Engineer in the Queen of Prince Rupert, who was crushed to death when attempting to pass through a watertight door.

The opposing factions did not belong to any one body. Some people in BC Ferries, Transport Canada, and the nautical profession generally, believed watertight doors should be kept open; others believed they should be kept closed. Transport Canada had ruled that it would be acceptable for the Queen of the North to run with the doors open, and this was reflected in company policy. However, the dissenters would not be silenced. Eventually, a compromise was reached. The Queen of the North and the Queen of Prince Rupert would sail with all but two watertight doors closed, an important fact to remember. The

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.