Pasha Bulker 243 - Independent investigation into the grounding of ...

No one on the bridge, at any time, discussed the emergency deployment of the
anchors. It is unlikely that anyone considered using the anchors to turn the ship’s
head into the wind and thereby arrest or reduce its progress towards the coast.
When the master decided to turn to starboard, for the first time since the ship got
underway, he gave rudder orders only because he could not order a course to steer.
As the ship turned, it also closed on the coast rapidly. At 0935½, the engine
shutdown almost certainly increased the master’s anxiety and his speech, recorded
by the VDR, started to sound distressed.
While the engine shutdown did not assist the turn, it is unlikely that it prevented the
stern passing through the wind. The shutdown probably did bring to the master’s
attention that the ship was approaching Nobbys Beach, seven cables (about 1300 m)
away, at 5.5 knots (Figure 16) because soon after he ordered the engine full astern.
Figure 16: Pasha Bulker’s radar display at 0937
At 0939, the master declined another offer of assistance from VTIC. He advised
that the ship was turning to starboard with the engine operating full astern. It is
possible that he thought going astern would assist the starboard turn. However,
neither the transverse thrust from the right-hand turning propeller nor the stern
seeking the wind under sternway could realistically, in the circumstances, be
expected to assist the manoeuvre. The ship’s headway and the extreme weather
made success very unlikely.
It was only after the ship’s heading started to oscillate between 240º and 270º that
the master realised that the starboard turn would not succeed. At 0945, the ship was
rapidly approaching Nobbys Beach, less than three cables (555 m) away, and
grounding was imminent. The master would have seen a view similar to that
photographed from the ship’s bridge on 11 June (Figure 17). The howling wind,
driving rain, sea spray and the ship uncontrollably approaching the beach, would
have made the unmanageable situation even more distressing for him. At 0946, he
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