An Update on the M/V Tacoma
It is both interesting and exciting that my post regarding the steering failure on the Washington State ferry, M/V Tacoma was picked up by the news media and broadcast as “A first hand account” and a “tell- all account” of the harrowing events aboard the ship.
This is interesting because in no way did my account of the events of the casualty paint the situation as “harrowing” and in no way was I providing a “tell-all…”
On the other hand, it is exciting that in this world of instant news and cell phone execution videos, my words about a mechanical casualty have made their way to the main stream media as fast as I can type them. Thank God for Al Gore and the internet!
All that aside, let me be perfectly clear. The mechanical casualty on the Tacoma the other day was unusual and made for an exciting afternoon for the crew as opposed to the usual “back and forth” days that we spend at work.
What needs to be stressed is that when this happened to us, the Master, Mates and crew did exactly what they were trained to do. They brought the situation back under control, assessed the damage and delivered our living cargo to port in a safe and expedient manner.
Yes, there was a gale blowing out there. Yes, this thing made a very loud noise and caused severe shuddering throughout the ship. And yes, the crew went immediately into their heightened sense of awareness and professionalism mode. However, at no time was the ship, her passengers and crew in any danger whatsoever.
There were no raised voices in the pilothouse, no scratching of heads and wringing of hands. There were no feats of heroic or extraordinary seamanship. There was nothing but consumate professionalism gleaned from years of experience and training. The backup steering system worked as designed and the ship came into port at slightly lower than normal speed that the prudent mariner chose under the circumstances. Had it not been for the initial noise and shuddering, our passengers would never had known that anything had gone amiss.
The Masters, Mates and Crew of the Washington State Ferry system are highly trained professionals. We are members of the Masters, Mates and Pilots Union and the Inland Boatman’s Union of the Pacific. We operate the largest ferry system in the world carrying tens of millions of people each year. It is a finely oiled machine (well, oiled anyway…).
An update from the director of operations last night said the Tacoma was going to be out of service for a while due to a lack of available drydock space in the Puget Sound region. The ferry system has shuffled some boats around and is back in normal operation with only a couple of hours down time and minimal inconvenience to our customers.
All in a day’s work.
Dan