Trawler ran aground because deckhand fell asleep, says report

1.00pm

A fishing trawler wrecked on Banks Peninsula rocks in March ran aground because the 16-year-old junior deckhand on watch was chronically fatigued and fell asleep, the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (Taic) has found.

Skipper Archie Laird and the senior deckhand were off-duty and asleep at the time.

The Bronny G, crewed by Mr Laird and two deckhands, hit rocks at Steep Head on Banks Peninsula at 2.15am on March 26 this year as it returned to Lyttelton after a day's fishing.

The crew managed to travel the 20m to shore by liferaft, swimming the last 10m after the liferaft rolled over in a wave.

After sheltering in an overhang of the cliffs, the three were rescued by helicopter after daybreak a few hours later, cold and wet but otherwise uninjured.

The vessel was reported to be carrying 2000 litres of diesel and an unknown amount of oil.

Salvors were unable to save the trawler due to sea conditions and they, the boat's operator and the regional council, Environment Canterbury, decided to abandon it a week later.

After a five-month investigation, Taic found the 20m, 81 tonne Bronny G ran on to rocks because nobody was monitoring it.

The junior deckhand on duty had fallen asleep, chronically fatigued after his eight hours' sleep in the previous 24 hours were broken into three periods.

"The deckhand who was on watch fell asleep because he was probably impaired by the effects of fatigue," the report said.

"It is more likely that the junior deckhand fell asleep considerably earlier than he remembered."

Mr Laird and the senior deckhand were also fatigued but "would not have been chronically fatigued", the commission found.

Neither crew member was named in the commission's report.

On the voyage out, Mr Laird had discovered the vessel's autopilot was broken and it had to be manually steered for the rest of the trip, increasing the crew's workload.

The number of crew on board was, however, above the minimum required by maritime law.

The watchkeeping alarm was also not working.

"Had the watchkeeping alarm been working and in use, it is probable that the accident would have been averted," the commission found.

Before the accident, the junior deckhand had gone to make himself a hot drink and returned to the wheel to find the trawler had swung about 180 degrees.

The commission recommended fatigue management guidelines be in ship's manuals and that watchkeeping alarm systems be made independent of other systems.

Mr Laird and crew were paid, in accordance with standard practice, with a share of the value of the catch.

The commission said this led to longer working hours and minimising crew numbers, which "may have led to working arrangements that would increase the probability of the crew becoming fatigued".

Since the accident, the ship's operators, Pegasus Fishing Ltd, along with other measures, had instructed that no crew member under the age of 18 should be on watch alone when it is dark.

The commission found the junior deckhand was the least rested of the crew at the time of the crash.

"Being the most junior person on board he may have been unwilling to question his seniors on the merits of placing a relatively inexperienced young seafarer on watch at the low point of his circadian rhythm after a relatively hard day's work."

Sea swells were around 2m at the time of the accident and winds were around 20 knots.

- NZPA