The importance of visual lookout 

Let me copy the conversation of both deceased lookout and OOW on M. V. Sanchi in the sad date on 6 January 2018

At about 1935LT C-15(15 minutes before collision), SANCHI's COG 358° and SOG 10.4 kts. The cursor of X-band radar was shifted to CF CRYSTAL. On the X-band radar, the echo of CF CRYSTAL was not acquired and the AIS target was not activated either. Lookout mentioned a vessel at a bearing of 023° on radar screen and showing red & green. (Figure 17) 

Jobs done by lookout: lookout had sighted target vessel and report with bearing 023°, also the vessel is head-on to ownship. 

Situational Awareness: Judged by the trail of echo, this vessel marked with cursor is largest and fastest target at sea, distance is 5.4 nm.  

At about 1936LT C-14 figure 18: SANCHI's COG and SOG unchanged. CF CRYSTAL at a range of 5.3 nm. The watchkeeper of ZHEDAIYU 03187 started calling SANCHI on VHF channel 16. At this time, the cursor of X-band radar was shifted to ZHEDAIYU 03187 and shortly afterwards visual AIS warning signals of CF CRYSTAL and ZHEDAIYU 03187 were displayed on SANCHI's X band radar. The triangle symbols of both targets turned red and the message "AIS COLLISION" appeared in the right lower corner of radar display. (Figure 18)

Jobs done by lookout: lookout did not report this vessel with bearing 039°, also the vessel is portside to ownship star board side which have to verify her bearing change by any means available by COLREG to check collision risk. 

Situational Awareness: Judged by AIS alert and her trail length, this vessel marked with cursor is in close-range but slower speed, distance is 5.4 nm.  Can we tell these two vessel’s distances by her lights augment or her lights under the horizon?

At about 1939LT C-11 three minutes later, SANCHI's COG 358° and SOG 10.4 kts remained unchanged. ZHEDAIYU 03187 kept calling SANCHI on VHF radio. (Figure 19) 

3/O said: Oh, he's talking to another one. You know, never answer these calls. Because if you don't answer, it is not ok to action. But if you answer, he seems ... he confirms with you about his action. So he takes action, whatever he said in the radio and you don't understand. But if you don’t answer, he shall be forced to take action to make himself clear, understand?

AB: And this is not complying to the rules that I must oblige...... Because we don’t understand their language.

Jobs done by lookout: AB knew the rules to give way but cannot take any action, collision alert by AIS data is on radar screen. 

Situational Awareness: 3/O don’t want to answer these calls in hope this vessel will be forced to take actions to make himself clear. No ARPA target acquire of this vessel. Judged by radar speed vector of 9 minutes long. Ownship speed vector did not engage with this vessel. Collision time is about 10 minutes later. After 9 minutes ownship may pass another bearing 023° vessel’s bow.   

At about 1941LT C-9, ZHEDAIYU 03187 was around 1.8 nm away. The 3/O asked lookout to give ALDIS signal to ZHEDAIYU 03187. The OOW noticed that the fishing boat started altering its course to port side.

Jobs done by lookout: AB give ALDIS signal to ZHEDAIYU 03187 by 3/O order. 

Situational Awareness: Fishing boat started altering its course to port side to pass ownship’s stern for she is on our starboard side. Continue monitoring her bearing change for safe distance may not be enough. Can we tell the fishing vessel’s distance by her lights reflection on water or her lights glare on glass window?     

At about 1944LT C-6 6 minutes before collision, SANCHI's COG 358° and SOG 10.5 kts. The 3/O commented that it was a hard situation.

Situational Awareness: Fishing boat is starboard side to pass ownship’s starboard side. We will be OK with her. Another vessel at bearing 023° still port side to ownship need monitoring her bearing change for safety. AIS collision alert is on radar screen. The echo of this vessel is getting smaller in close-range which cause the illusion to 3/O as a small vessel. Big mistake. Can we tell how big is this vessel by visual clues? (for us to see her accommodation or stairway or deck lights or their glares beside her COLREG navigational lights in somewhere)

At about 1945LT 5 minutes before collision, SANCHI's COG was 358° and SOG 10.5 kts unchanged. ZHEDAIYU 03187 was almost abeam SANCHI's starboard. The OOW of SANCHI asked AB to give ALDIS signal to CF CRYSTAL.(Figure 21) 

Well done by lookout: AB give ALDIS signal to CF CRYSTAL by 3/O order. Not argue with 3/O for what actions should take.

Situational Awareness: Fishing is almost abeam our starboard. The echo of fishing vessel in radar is invisible now and no indication of where this fishing boat is heading. If we did not have visual contact with fishing boat we will be blind by RADAR lookout only. The echo of fishing boat disappeared on radar give 3/O mental pressure for don’t know where to turn. AB cannot give any help to him by radar.  

For this big vessel 1.8 miles away now, her radar echo is no bigger than a fishing vessel far away. This is not acceptable and a very big mistake. Even worse the AIS alert of collision is complete gone? No red triangle and red speed vector.  Wrong radar echo size may cause illusion. No collision alert and speed vector are serious mistakes which should be sued at court for human lives lost. That’s why we need visual contact all the time without fail. “Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight”. We cannot rely on radar or ARPA as sole lookout means. Their accommodation and alleyway lights should be visible from this range. Its bearing should be memorized now for later checking.    

3/O spoke to the lookout: ...we have this one on our starboard side. We should take action. But what action can I take in this situation? Starboard side is full. 

Why starboard side is full? From standing order: Final CPA with a TCPA of 15 minutes should be: - Ocean Passage: Minimum CPA 2 nm or - Coastal Waters (12 nm from land): Minimum CPA 1 nm. It is full of CAP requirement by standing order. Not in the real world, actually as we can see from above discussion, if we can create a port to port situation by turning our bow to her stern that will be enough for now. Alter course 25 degrees to starboard side (remember you told him target bearing is 025 degrees on our starboard side few minutes before) will change two vessel’s passing side. 

Once again from standing order: Reduce speed to avoid close-quarter situations if alteration of course alone cannot provide the required CPA. Every OOW must be aware and confident of reducing the speed to avoid collision. For rating on board in this situation, you may need to shout out loud “crash astern”if you can judge the distance of this vessel and verify her size and type by binocular already.   

At about 1946LT: 4 minutes before collision, SANCHI's COG 358° and SOG 10.4 kts unchanged. Fishing vessel cleared from SANCHI's stern. Signals to CF Crystal (5 short flashes by ALDIS Lamp) to attract attention. (Figure 22)

Well done by lookout: AB give ALDIS signal again to CF CRYSTAL by 3/O order. Ask 3/O to take avoidance action.

AB: Charlie is passed, right? A little to starboard? 

3/O: Starboard? Why?

AB: What's the CPA? CPA is ... zero, zero.

3/O: ...It's a small vessel, right?

Lookout: No, big vessel.

3/O: So why is she intending to take action like this?

Jobs done by lookout: CF CRYSTAL ‘s radar echo is like a small fishing vessel with no red speed vector although red AIS alert is on again. This echo gives a wrong information to OOW who said “It's a small vessel, right?” AB waited till “Charlie is passed, right?” and advised “A little to starboard?” AB knew “What's the CPA? CPA is ... zero, zero.” Lookout confirmed to 3/O “No, big vessel.”

Situational Awareness: Target vessel is 1.5 nm distance away. Their accommodation and alleyway lights should be visible from this range. Navigational lights may have reflection on water at 1.5 nm. 3/O did not take any action when he knew every information he needed. The course change needed for avoidance is not “A little to starboard?” . Ownship have to alter course to 023° (target’s bearing at radar). Should AB remind 3/O again for this critical situation? What lookout should say to warn 3/O again? 

It's a big vessel. 3/O, you should alter course or reduce engine right now. Just Do It. I will call Master now.

At about 1948LT C-2 two minutes before collision, SANCHI's GPS position was 30°50′.7N / 124°57′.6E, COG was 358°and SOG 10.5 kts. (Figure 23) Two minutes later without any course change and speed reducing, the 3/O called the Master and said: ... We get a target on starboard side and CPA is zero. Distance is very short. It's a big vessel.

Jobs done by lookout: CF CRYSTAL ‘s radar echo is like a small fishing vessel has red speed vector and triangle mark although red AIS alert is missing again. This echo gives a very very wrong information to OOW with all these three: speed vector, triangle danger mark and AIS alert come and go as they like.  Lookout did not ask 3/O to take further action or evaluate the situation. Just wait. 

Situational Awareness: 3/O had given all information captain need for decision making. 3/O did not give enough time for Captain to evaluate and response. 4 minutes before collision may not enough for captain to solve this risk. 3/O had further waste 2 minutes. 3/O did call for help from Captain and wait other vessel to give way.  

At about 1949LT one minute before collision, SANCHI's, COG was 358° and SOG 10.5 kts unchanged. (Figure 24)

3/O: Oh, why is she not doing anything? Oh man, he's touching 

3/O: Go to port side, full port side. Oh, man! Full starboard side, full starboard side. Full, full, please.

Captain comes to bridge at 19:49:28LT

3/O: Captain, she did not take any action.

Cap: Hard to starboard, hard to starboard.

XXXXX

At about 1950LT, CF CRYSTAL's bow hit SANCHI's starboard side between No.2 and No.3 starboard ballast tanks and breached her cargo tanks, resulting in the leakage of condensate oil and a consequent fire and explosion. The captain requested to switch on all deck lights and ordered helmsman to steer “hard to port". Then he asked to send distress message.

At about 1951LT, Captain instructed fire pumps to be started and GMDSS activated.

At about 1952LT, explosion and fire engulfed bridge & 60

accommodation, followed by suffocation sounds. At about 1953LT, GMDSS signaling stopped.

P.1 Travel vector created by macrovector - www.freepik.com>

Line of sight created by our eyes and target now fixed on our eyes and reference point on board. Now we're ready to lookout the target direction. Fixed line of sight by standing original position on bridge and look out from reference point on board. Does target still locate at the extension of this line of sight ? If it does the approaching direction does not change. If target is not at extension of original line of sight the target is moving forward or backward. Where the target will go depends on it movement along own ship. Those target moving forward or backward are likely to continue this trend unless it change course or speed while we are at lookout. We need some common sense to predict target tendency to change course or speed. 1. At turning point of coastal areas near land cape or islands. 2. Give way to fishing boat. 3. Approaching harbor areas. 4. Rough seas are among those scenarios target vessels will change course and speed. If target number are few we can establish different line of sight to check target movement to 

make sure our safety. If targets are plenty we should concentrate in close distance target first.

P.1 Travel vector created by macrovector - www.freepik.com>

Line of sight created by our eyes and target now fixed on our eyes and reference point on board. Now we're ready to lookout the target direction. Fixed line of sight by standing original position on bridge and look out from reference point on board. Does target still locate at the extension of this line of sight ? If it does the approaching direction does not change. If target is not at extension of original line of sight the target is moving forward or backward. Where the target will go depends on it movement along own ship. Those target moving forward or backward are likely to continue this trend unless it change course or speed while we are at lookout. We need some common sense to predict target tendency to change course or speed. 1. At turning point of coastal areas near land cape or islands. 2. Give way to fishing boat. 3. Approaching harbor areas. 4. Rough seas are among those scenarios target vessels will change course and speed. If target number are few we can establish different line of sight to check target movement to 

make sure our safety. If targets are plenty we should concentrate in close distance target first.