But If On Your Starboard Red Should Appear 'Tis Your Duty To Keep Clear

A simple mnemonic ditty to aid in safety at sea regarding the rule of the road.

If, to your STARBOARD, RED appear
It is your duty to keep clear;
To act as judgement says is proper,
To starboard - or port - back - or stop her.
But when, upon your PORT, is seen
A steamer's starboard light of GREEN,
There's not so much for you to do,
For Green to Port keeps clear of you.

And just to fix it in your mind's eye, nothing better than a graphic, and, the reason I blog in the style that I do. And please I beg you, don't think I'm treating you like an idiot on this, there are vessels enough that have come to grief due to panic and an inexperienced helmsman not knowing his Port from his Madeira.

Port has less letters than Starboard as does Left have less letters than Right.

Right Kiddiywinks, with this in mind, what shall we have first? Stills I think.

These are screen shots by the way, the originals were simply enormous. (Link further down the page.)













Yes I know, confusing isn't it? That must be the reason the Chilcot Enquiry Maritime New Zealand's investigation had this to say about the incident.

We have considered a significant amount of information in the course of our investigation. This has included the review of more than 24 hours of video footage, witness interviews, and a huge array of technical data from both vessels.

The report finds there is no evidence either master deliberately caused the collision – but that both were responsible for contributing to, and failing to respond appropriately to, the “close quarters” situation that led to the accident. more and link to big pics.

h/t imaufo