Navigation Rules: “In Extremis"
The following incident is a good example of an “in extremis” situation. The event took place on the Elbe River in Germany on 08 June 2019. It involved the collision between an 121’ sailing schooner and an 492’ containership.
From the video, we can see that it was daylight and the weather was clear; both vessels were clearly visible to one another. The schooner appears to be close-hauled on starboard tack, on a course intended to have taken it across the bow of the containership; that’s not a wise maneuver—even if they would have had more room! We watch in horrer as the classic collision course, "steady bearing-decreasing range”. unfolds. The schooner sounds the “danger-doubt” signal and stands on until the collision is imminent, and then attempts to come about (tack.) The end of the video shows the crew putting the rudder over.
You can read more about the outcome here.
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