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CASE 15<br />
Cold Water Can Kill in as Little as 2 Minutes<br />
Narrative<br />
A skipper and his crewman set sail on a fine<br />
autumn day to their usual lobster fishing<br />
grounds. As usual, they were not wearing<br />
lifejackets despite there being two brand new<br />
ones on board, unused and in their original<br />
packaging. These lifejackets had been supplied<br />
to them free of charge.<br />
The two fishermen worked seven fleets of<br />
creels and were in the process of shooting the<br />
eighth fleet. Their fleets had a steel weight<br />
attached at each end of the backrope. Once all<br />
the creels had been shot, it was normal practice<br />
for the crewman to pick up the second weight<br />
from its position just aft of the wheelhouse<br />
and walk it to the aft shooting hatch. This was<br />
done to avoid the weight damaging the vessel<br />
as it was dragged along the deck. On this<br />
occasion, as the crewman stepped across the<br />
moving rope to pick up the weight, his foot<br />
became caught in a bight of the backrope.<br />
The skipper was watching his crewman and,<br />
seeing him fall to the deck he immediately<br />
put the engine to full astern. However, this<br />
was not enough to stop the crewman from<br />
being dragged overboard through the open<br />
shooting hatch (see figure) and into the sea,<br />
which was at 12°C. Being a non-swimmer the<br />
crewman struggled to stay afloat as the skipper<br />
manoeuvred the vessel to put the crewman on<br />
the starboard side. The skipper passed him a<br />
rope with a bowline loop at its end and the<br />
crewman put it around one leg. The skipper<br />
Open shooting hatch<br />
34<br />
MAIB Safety Digest 1/2017
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