Good News from Picton Castle!

[Coastie04]

After Astrid, Wyvern and Bounty's demises, it's nice to hear a story of success on the high seas. The Picton Castle rescued a stricken yacht and the work of the chief mate and engineer allowed them to continue on their voyage as planned, instead of abandoning ship. Tall ship sailors can be professionals! Of course, in my opinion, they usually are, but just don't make the news until there's a disaster and then their whole career is put under a microscope. It's great to hear the other side of the coin once in a while.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1308/S00108/tall-ship-picton-castle-responds-to-mayday-call.htm

[oderlesseye]

Awesome !

[Bright]

Calm Seas Never make skillful Sailors

The maritime duty of a mariner to assist less fortunate mariners in peril on the high seas can be traced back to medieval sea codes

Edited August 8, 2013 by Bright

[Coastie04]

The maritime duty of a mariner to assist less fortunate mariners in peril on the high seas can be traced back to medieval sea codes

True, but now that lawyers have gotten so deeply involved in maritime affairs, there is substantially more grey area than there used to be. How much do you risk your vessel? How much extra fuel do you consume (could be a big deal on longer ocean trips)? How much time do you take to divert (can cause logistical nightmare at your next scheduled port of call)? Are you actually able to help, or just stand by and watch? The Picton Castle is a training ship, so she luckily has a less rigid schedule than most vessels on the high seas, especially because she is sail driven and allowances have to be made in the schedule for slower passages. Then there's what you can actually do to help. In this case, she had some very skilled and knowledgeable crew members that were able to at least make some jury rig repairs to allow the distressed vessel to make it safely to her next port (I assume that more substantial and permanent repairs will be in order). Most vessels on the high seas would probably have only been able to take the crew on board and transport them to the ship's next port of call. Maybe they would have been able to fix the engine too, but I'm sure that a lot of them would have wanted to get on their way as fast as possible. This type of solid rendering of assistance to save the vessel and send her on her way has become rarer and rarer lately. Even the USCG sometimes has their hands tied from assisting a damaged vessel unless lives are at stake or there are significant pollution risks (thanks to lawyers and salvage companies winning law suits against them for lost revenue).

I'm just really glad to see a training vessel that teaches people the 'law of the sea' as well as good, solid seamanship (which can come in handy even if it's not you that needs it).

[Jake the SeaSnake]

she's just an awesome ship anyway if any tall ship is capable it's her