97010 A Fouled Anchor

A Fouled Anchor
South West Pacific
Report No. 97010

A moderate sized motorised sailing vessel anchored about half a mile offshorein a partially protected harbour about a quarter of a mile from a markedsubmarine cable. She later commenced weighing anchor in very squally conditionsand with a wind direction which put her on the weather side of the cable. Shortly before the anchor was off the bottom, in a particularly heavy squall,she dragged down on to the power cable and fouled it.

Attempts to free her anchor from the power cable were made but, in thesqually conditions, this proved to be difficult and resulted in the partingof the power cable, fortunately without any injury to those involved.

The result was that a nearby island was deprived of electricity and thevessel's owners received a bill of about £10,000 for repairs to thecable. Although the vessel's underwriters met the greater part of thiscost, the owners still had to meet the policy excess.

An inquiry into the incident asked a number of embarrassing questionsand when the insurance renewal came around the underwriters also took intoaccount a previous casualty which had occurred within the last year andincreased the premium by about four times.

There are clear lessons to be learnt from this incident:

• It is essential that a Master monitors his vessels position while weighing anchor and maintains that position throughout the operation. In this case transit bearings on the beam were readily available.
• It is safer, and often a lot cheaper, to slip the anchor and cable for later recovery rather than risking damage to an underwater power or telephone cable.
• The appropriate authorities must be notified of incidents as soon as possible.
• Sailing vessels are very susceptible to drifting due to the considerable amount of windage on the sails.

In this instance, the crew were fortunate that nobody was injured andthe owners were fortunate that they were faced with insurance and repaircosts only. They could have faced a very heavy fine which could have beenimposed under the country's legislation applying to the protection of submarinecables.

Mariners are warned of the importance of checkingcharts, Notices to Mariners and other sources of information and not toanchor or fish in prohibited areas or too close to underwater cables orpipelines.