SECTION 4 - Marine Accident Investigation Branch

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When ordered, assist passengers embarking the boat. Assist Boat Crew with the
release of bowsing tackles. Standby until boat is waterborne and then proceed to
your liferaft.”
Instruction No 11 lifeboat crew – stated:
“Once lifeboats are lowered to embarkation level, enter the boat and ensure all
plugs are inserted. Attach bowsing gear in cooperation with Boat Preparation
crew. Follow orders of 1 i/c to prepare boat by; Releasing Tricing Pennants,
Ensure painter is fast to ship and boat. Prepare oars. When launching order is
received, slack bowsing tackle forward and aft evenly. Lifeboat will be lowered
by Boat Preparation team. Once waterborne release fall hooks and fend boat off
ship. Release painter.”
The first cook, who was one of the casualties, was allocated crew number 417. His
designation on the muster/emergency plan was “lifeboat crew”.
1.11 TRICING PENNANT AND PLATE LINk
The original design drawings show the fore and aft wire tricing pennants, having a
safe working load (SWL) of 5000kg (49kN) compared to a SWL of 8004kg (78.5kN)
for the falls. The pennants were connected to the davit arm and to a ring and
shackle fitted to the “on-load” release hook, plate link (the falls were also connected
to the same plate link). A 10mm round bar, painted yellow, was also welded to the
plate link. This bar was not in the original design and was not a manufacturer’s
approved modification. Although no one on board had knowledge of its origin, it is
likely to have been fitted to provide a method of manually moving the plate link when
reconnecting the boat’s “on-load” release hook.
The tricing hook was fitted with a release lever, which was secured from inadvertent
release by a drop-nosed pin that passed through both hook cheek plates. The lever
was required to be moved to its full vertical position to release the hook. To help
avoid the risk of injury as the hook released, the lever was also fitted with tail rope
so that it could be operated while standing away from the hook. The tricing hook and
plate link arrangement is shown at Figure 14.
1.12 BOwSING TACkLE EqUIPMENT
1.12.1 Bowsing tackle ropes
The original design drawing for the bowsing gyn-tackle arrangement, which includes
the tricing pennant, is shown at Figure 15. It was designed for a SWL of 5000kg
(49kN) and a mechanical advantage of five. During the investigation it was found
that the forward bowsing tackle used on No 5 tender was fitted with a 34mm
diameter manila rope instead of the designed 26mm diameter manila rope. Only 4 of
the 20 bowsing tackle ropes complied with the design dimensional criteria; all of the
others exceeded 26mm to varying degrees.
1.12.2 Blocks and securing arrangements
Each set of bowsing tackle hooks was colour coded. The red hook was connected to
the boat’s lifting plate link and the yellow hook to a pad eye welded to the underside
of the davit’s lower, fixed supporting structure.