But, apparently, they had enough rafts for everybody
News
Flash - B.C. Ferry sinks "Like the Titanic - PDN 3//23/06
only about
100 on board - two dead.
Harrowing experience of people who spent an hour
on a raft in the dark,
cold and rain. Two people went down with the ship.
News Flash II - Port Townsend ferry grounded by the CG 11/07
But, apparently, they had enough rafts for everybody
Now, it is, of course
highly unlikely a Puget Sound ferry would sink, since the Sound is
protected water and the ferry is maintained by
government employees. It was highly
unlikely that the world's biggest, fanciest liner
should sink on it's maiden voyage - - -
But it did!.
It is highly unlikely that a ferry would sink
so quickly there would not be time for another
ferry or large ship to get to it and pick up
the passengers. It was also highly unlikely that
when the Titanic was sinking (for several hours)
another ship did not come to their aid - - - -
But, it happened.
Suppose the two Seattle-Bainbridge ferries should
collide in the middle of the Sound and
both sink. That could create a situation
where over 2000 people wind up in the water.
How long can you survive in the water of Puget
Sound?? Not very long - for most people
maybe a half hour. How long before another
ferry could rescue? Kingston ferry takes a
half hour just to cross.
The State's policy states: In the unlikely
event that there are not enough survival craft for
total number of passengers aboard the vessel,
the crew members in charge at the
Embarkation Stations must be well trained
and prepared to maintain control to ensure
the survival craft are properly loaded with
the people most likely to succumb to hypothermia.
Translation: The crew will decide if you
are capable of surviving in the cold water or not
and put you in the boat if you aren't.
But the kicker is farther along in the policy statement:
If the total capacity is less than the number
of passengers and crew, crew members and
passenger "assistants" should still be
loaded first
Hoo Boy! Again, we have the Titanic
comparison.
They hadn't done any boat drills that
"unsinkable vessel" so, crew members could not
launch some boats and some that they
did launch were not carrying their capacity load,
so people died on account of crew panic
and/or lack of training.
But, Washington's highly competent (?) DOT employees
will direct the panicy passengers
from their seats in the rafts.
How about a policy of "crew last" rather than "crew first"?
How about a policy of restricting ferry
passengers to the available life rafts? How about
more rafts"
Ah, but then, it's all highly improbable.
I'll try not to worry about it the next time I take the
ferry - - - or maybe, - - - - - I'll just drive
around . . . . JMC
March 23, 2006 The Peninsula
Daily News printed a front page story by Vanessa Casavant
designed to reassure local readers that our ferries
are safe. Only problem with the story, it
only mentioned the two ferries that actually
dock on the peninsula -- nothing about the big
cross-sound ferries. I sent Vanessa
and John Brewer a wake-up E-mail with a link to this
page. Nothing heard from either of them yet.
. . . . . JMC
A Wake up! The Coast Guard has decided
those Port Townsend - Keystone ferries have
hulls too old, pitted to where the steel is too
thin to be safe - - So oooo No PT car ferry any
more. And it took the D.O.T. to even come
up with a passenger only ferry to partially fill the
gap. Don't we
have a great state government though? Headed by idiots . . . .
JMC