“Watchman Take The Wheel!” – How To Have A Collision In Open Ocean

By John Konrad

May 23rd 2011 
  We often fault Hollywood for their unrealistic story lines in movies about ships…. but they are movie makers not maritime experts, right? So I was happy to see that a maritime organization, SMSC training center in Norway, decided to take matters into their own hands and create a true-to-life ship collision scenario. That is until I watch it.
I have always wondered how two ships in open ocean could collide and, until now, I’ve always assumed these rare incidents occurred because the watch standers either fell asleep or abandoned their post. But there is a third possibility… they completed their training at SMSC. Here’s the video:

Ok, so I’m fairly certain no watchstander is as useless as the guy in this video but, in case you are new to shipping, here’s a recap: If you are ever in a collision course with a ship in open ocean don’t rely on the VHF, don’t wait until it’s too late to call the captain, don’t order your “watchman” to take the wheel but give him no orders, and be sure not to rely solely on the radar… it’s far better to LOOK OUT THE WINDOW and act accordingly.