Mayday - How To Stand Out In The Crowd

Watchkeepers at NCI Gosport very recently heard a mayday call on Channel 16.  A vessel somewhere in the locality had smoke coming from their engine compartment.  Solent Coastguard of course answered very quickly, got some details, and dispatched Gafirs to assist.  A pilot boat that was returning to Portsmouth also responded.

The watchkeepers used their binoculars and high power telescopes to try to locate the mayday vessel but were unable to do so; there were a handful of vessels that might be the one in trouble, but they could not see smoke coming from any of them, and none were behaving in a way that suggested the boat had a problem.  This meant that they were unable to provide extra details to Solent Coastguard, nor keep track of the crew if they had to abandon ship and enter the water.

As it happened both Gafirs and the pilot boat found the mayday vessel quickly and were able to render the necessary assistance.  No-one was harmed.  But the event raises issues for both NCI Watchkeepers and also for sailors.

Us NCI Watchkeepers are trained to recognise and describe different vessel types and sail rigs.  We have a multiplicity of different codes to use when logging sailing and motor vessels in our logbooks.  We have to memorise the names of the buoys and channel markers, and also the names of major on-shore landmarks.  And we are annually tested to ensure we are retain this knowledge.  One important thing for us to remember for the future is that a crew issuing a mayday may not know or use these names.   And unfortunately the crew of this particular mayday vessel described their position in such a way as to leave the watchkeepers uncertain as to the vessel’s location.

Also unfortunately the mayday boat was described as a ‘sailing vessel’, causing the Watchkeepers to focus their attention on sailing yachts in the area, whereas the mayday vessel was actually a motor dayboat.  So again, Watchkeepers need to understand that any vessel descriptions given by a mayday vessel may not match their training.

These were in reality minor problems and, as stated before, rescue vessels were on scene quickly.

Sailors may want to ask themselves this question though…  if I have to call a mayday, how can I make my vessel unambiguously stand out, so that both rescue boats and on-shore observers can see me and find me easily.  To be frank, there doesn’t seem to be a simple one-size-fits-all answer.

A position fix from your GPS navigation screen is a very good start…  unless you are on the move, in which case it’s not too practical to continually keep broadcasting your new position on Channel 16.

A working AIS system is a far better answer, as it does the continual broadcast for you.  NCI Watchkeepers, and rescue craft, can use that to know how far away you are, and exactly what direction to look in.  A GPS-based SART (Search and Rescue Transponder) is good for the same reason.

However, there may still be a problem if there are a number of boats in your immediate vicinity.  How can you bring observers and rescuers attention direct to you ?  Well, a sailing yacht can leave a sail unfurled and flapping to draw attention to itself; a hooter or noise of some sort might help; a pyrotechnic fired into the air may help but only if the would-be rescuers can see what vessel it was fired from; flashing a torch or light may do it if the day is fairly dull.  Hoisting flags is impractical for most leisure sailors, but waving some bright or high-vis material is pretty unambiguous and easily done.  So is using a hand-held smoke flare (except that you might need two on board… one for the on-shore observers to locate you, one for the rescue vessel).

As we said, no easy answer to the question of how to stand out from the crowd.  But please, do ask yourself the question and consider what would work for your vessel.

The Wonders Of AIS

 

I and my watchkeeping partner were on the Morning Watch on an overcast, and otherwise pleasant morning, but with only moderate visibility, and with not much in the way of traffic movements and I, as is frequently my choice, was standing on the West side of the Watch Tower thus enabling me to keep an all round lookout whilst also monitoring the AIS traffic movements as shown on the Ship Plotter. On one of my routine assessments of what AIS traffic was showing up on the screen I spotted the AIS data of a yacht on the Swashway apparently entering Portsmouth Harbour. Nothing unusual in that except that I could not make out any yacht in that given position even with the aid of my high power binoculars

However, on my next and subsequent checks of this AIS target of a yacht on the Ship Plotter I observed that the AIS target had apparently altered course to the North. This gave me no cause for concern as I just assumed that the Skipper had decided to change his approach track from the Swashway to the Inner Swashway and that she was doing a fair six knots on the incoming spring tide but that she was safe as she was well to the westward of the Hamilton Bank. Nonetheless I decided to keep a watchful eye on this target, especially as I had still not, as yet, seen her visually.

As this, still unseen, AIS target yacht approached the South side of the Inner Swashway channel without showing any intention of altering course to the Northeast to proceed along that channel, I attempted to sight her with the aid of the optic on the Southwest wall, on failing that I called Solent Coastguard on the telephone to advise them as to what I was observing on my Ship Plotter making clear my concern that if the target did not alter course very soon she would ground on The Fort Blockhouse Seawall at about six knots. They reported that they could see no such AIS target on their screens, but would I keep them advised.

Well the AIS target of the yacht, still with no visual sighting, continued on its Northerly course, making no attempt to reduce speed, until it arrived at the Fort Blockhouse Seawall in the vicinity of the Radar Tower where it continued OVER the wall and the road until it arrived in Haslar Marina and was, apparently, safely moored alongside its berth with the AIS continuing to transmit.

I recontacted the Solent Coastguard to whom I recounted all that I had seen on our Ship Plotter, with additional advice to them that my only explanation was that this had been a spurious AIS target all along and that they should stand down with my apologies for having called them in the first place. They requested that I try to contact the owners of the yacht so that they could confirm that all was well with those on board.

This I eventually achieved only, perhaps by now not surprisingly, apart from apologising to having left their AIS switched on overnight, they were all fine and safely moored at their berth where they had been for the previous 24 hours. This fact I passed on to a querulous Coastguard Officer.

The Moral of this story for Watchkeeps is to only trust their own eyes aided by binoculars and optics and NEVER believe solely what the AIS data on the Ship Plotter shows, no matter how strongly it may appear.

[Editors note:- this article was sent in by a Watchkeeper at NCI Gosport.  It looks as if the vessels GPS had lost contact with satellites somehow, and it’s eventual position fix was progressively becoming more accurate.  And of course, anyone looking at an AIS display should verify what they see by using the old Mk 1 eyeball].