Since the very beginning of man’s ventures upon the high seas there have been disasters at sea. Some were caused by nature but many more have been caused by man himself. The seabed around our coast is littered with wrecks dating back to the early Portuguese explorers. Besides the loss of lives and cargoes there is always the possible threat to our maritime environment and sealife. The following are examples of such disasters:

The Castillo de Bellver.
A tanker which caught fire, broke in two and sank approx 40 miles due west of Dassen Island on 16 August 1983. Fortunately the oil slick from the wreck drifted to seaward and our coastline was unmarked.

The MV Treasure
A bulk ore carrier with fractured hull plates which sank off Robben Island on 23 June 2000. The bunkers from the ship did cause damage to our sea life.

The Oceanos.
A passenger liner which suffered an explosion in the engine room and sank off Coffee Bay near East London.

The Costa Concordia.
This was a luxury liner which hit a reef off Giglio, an island off the Italian coast on 13 June 2012. Twenty four people died in the incident. The salvage of the vessel was undertaken by a South African salvor, Captain Nic Sloane. He faced many difficulties and restrictions imposed by local maritime safety authorities, yet he managed to raise her and take her to a port for further processing.

SS Titanic.
There are many more maritime disasters which have occurred throughout the world but there is one which captured the attention of the world and even had a motion picture made of the event. The ship involved was the SS TITANIC, the largest liner built at the time and claimed to be “unsinkable”. Unfortunately she sank on her maiden voyage, bringing to light a number of inadequacies at the time.
As a matter of interest the following picture gives one an idea of the relative sizes of Titanic and the Costa Concordia. As can be seen the design of passenger vessels has advanced tremendously.


The Titanic disaster occurred during the northern hemisphere’s spring/summer (14 April 1912). The ship was built by Harland and Wolff and at the time was the largest liner ever built. The owners were so confident of the abilities of the vessel that they claimed that the vessel was unsinkable. During her maiden voyage she was to transport passengers from Europe to New York. Her route across the north Atlantic took her through a vast area where icebergs abounded. These icebergs were enormous pieces of ice which had broken free from the arctic ice cap and drifted south with the prevailing current.

Radar had not been invented yet and the only means of detected these hazards was by eye. During the day under conditions of clear visibility, icebergs could easily be avoided, but at night extra special care had to be taken. On the night of the disaster, the sea was very calm and although very dark, the visibility was excellent. Experts said later that had the sea been rough, the watch keepers may have stood a better chance of sighting the icebergs due to the waves breaking against the sides of the ice. There were other ships in the area that night and a radio warning had been issued about the number of icebergs in the area. In fact, one ship in the area (SS CARPATHIA), had stopped completely and drifted with the ice, intending to continue her voyage at first light the following day.

Titanic unfortunately did not and instead of slowing down, proceeded at maximum speed towards her destination. It appears that the lookouts stationed in the crow’s nest on the forward mast, were not given binoculars. When the iceberg she collided with was detected, she was too close and going too fast for effective avoiding action to be taken. The officer of the watch stopped the engines immediately, put them in reverse and put the wheel hard over to starboard. At the same time he activated the automatic doors in the watertight bulkheads. Unfortunately, it was too late to avoid the iceberg and the vessel collided with it.

As the vessel scraped along the sides of the iceberg, the section underwater ripped a long gash in the hull below the waterline, rupturing a number of the watertight compartments. Although the ship had been designed to survive damage/flooding to a number of the watertight compartments, the damage was so extensive that they could not cope with the influx of water. As the ship settled in the water, the radio operator sent out a distress call. Since they also had the SS CARPATHIA in sight, the OOW also fired a number of distress rockets to draw her attention. The watch keepers aboard the CARPATHIA thought she had stopped like they had and that the rockets were part of the entertainment of passengers. The CARPATHIA only had a single radio operator and he had closed down for the night so he did not receive the distress call.

Onboard the Titanic the crew commenced launching the lifeboats. Although a number of lifeboats were launched successfully, some could not because of the angle at which the vessel was settling. A further complication was the number of lifeboats carried could not accommodate all the passengers and crew. The net result of all this was the ship sank and more than half the passengers and crew were lost. Some drowned and some were overcome by hyperthermia. The temperature of the seawater was extremely low.

Shortcomings resulting in the disaster.
What were the shortcomings that eventually resulted in the disaster and the loss of so many lives?

1. Firstly the speed at which the vessel was moving was inappropriate for the prevailing circumstances. If one looks at rule 6 of the International Regulations for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea (1972 as amended) (also referred to as the COLREGS). It states very clearly that a vessel must proceed at a safe speed appropriate to the prevailing circumstances. In this case the icebergs posed a very serious navigational hazard and a prudent shipmaster would certainly not have proceeded at the speed the Titanic was doing at the time of the collision.
2. Secondly, rule 5 of the COLREGS states that a proper watch should be kept at all times using every available means. Since the lookouts were apparently not equipped with binoculars the watch keepers did not comply fully with this rule.
3. According to annexure iv of the COLREGS the firing of rockets burning a red flare means only one thing and that is that the person firing the rockets is in distress. Today it is a punishable offence to fire a red rocket or flare at sea just for fun.
4. The fact the CARPATHIA only had one radio officer and that he was off watch at the time meant that the vessel could not receive any messages. Fortunately for today’s seafarers the international maritime organisation has laid down that a continuous watch be kept on the designated distress frequencies and with the help of modern technology has automated the distress procedure.
5. At the time of the Titanic disaster there were no mandatory regulations for the provision of lifeboats or life rafts. The owners were so confident about the “unsinkability” of their vessel that insufficient lifeboats were fitted to the vessel. The result in this instance was the unacceptable loss of life. Regulations these days require that every seagoing vessel shall provide enough lifeboats and/or rafts to accommodate double the number of crew and passengers.
6. One might argue that, had the watertight integrity of the vessel been better designed, the vessel would not have sunk. In this particular case the extent of the gash in the hull negated the buoyancy provided by the watertight compartments. The designers never envisioned such extensive damage and the design was only meant to accommodate a scenario where only one or two of the watertight compartments were holed. By the very nature and function of a merchant ship, it is almost impossible to provide totally foolproof watertight integrity, so a compromise has to be made. In the case of a warship, its very nature and function requires that the possibility of serious intentional damage is taken into account in its design. The watertight integrity is therefore far superior to that of a merchant ship.

Search and rescue in modern times.
The search and rescue organisation today is far advanced over that which existed during the Titanic disaster. This has been made possible by advancements in technology. The Global Maritime Distress and Safety System has taken much of the uncertainty that existed out of the equation and has automated much of the procedure. The system will be covered in greater detail during grade 12. Suffice to say that the chances of survival and rescue have improved tremendously.