Flooding and sinking of wooden potter Majestic

Location: 5 nautical miles off Yell, Shetland, Scotland.

From:
Marine Accident Investigation Branch
Published
27 July 2016
Vessel type:
Fishing vessel
Report type:
Investigation report
Date of occurrence:
21 January 2016

Accident Investigation Report 16/2016

Investigation report into marine accident including what happened and safety lessons learned:

MAIB investigation report 16-2016: Majestic

Underwater image showing sandbags against the wreck
Crew being recovered from liferaft onto another fishing vessel.

Summary

This reports the MAIB’s investigation into the sinking of fishing vessel Majestic (LK678) 5 nautical miles off Yell, Shetland on 21 January 2016.

Safety Issues

  • The flood in the engine room was not detected for up to 1 hour because the crew were working on the deck and did not hear the bilge alarm

  • No attempt was made to slow the rate of the flood through the operation of the electric bilge pump or by stopping the main engine

  • The crew did not conduct emergency drills

  • The prompt distress alert and abandonment reduced the risk to the crew’s lives

  • PFDs were not routinely worn whilst working on deck and lifejackets were not donned when abandoning the vessel

Recommendations

Recommendations have been made to the vessel’s owners (2016/135) to take steps to ensure on any vessel they own or skipper in the future that:

  • The dangers of leaving the wheelhouse unattended are fully assessed so that practical measures can be adopted to mitigate such risks;

  • Emergency drills are conducted in accordance with MSN 1770 (F) and;

  • PFDs are worn by all crew when working on the open deck at sea

A safety flyer highlighting a number of the safety issues was produced for this report.

Published 27 July 2016

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