200229 Pilot Boat Damaged

Pilot Boat Damaged
Report No. 200229

A general cargo ship was sailing from a small Southern European port with Pilot on board. She was steaming at slow ahead and proceeding towards the last pair of buoys that mark the river channel where the Pilot would disembark. The night was dark and there was a 25 knots wind blowing in the opposite direction to the tidal current, causing some disturbance on the river. The Pilot instructed the Master to let go the ship's rope being used by the forward tug, advising the tug's skipper accordingly. The tug's skipper advised the Pilot that the rope was clear and proceeded back into port. The Pilot advised the pilot boat that he would disembark in a few moments and the boat prepared to come alongside.

Just as the Pilot was preparing to leave the bridge he heard the boat's coxswain shouting on the VHF to stop the vessel. The crew on the fo'c'sle had not picked up the towing rope and nobody saw it being dragged alongside the vessel until it got caught in the boat's propeller. The boat immediately swung 180 degrees and was pulled astern by the ship, almost capsizing, until the Pilot asked the Master of the vessel to let go the entire rope and let it fall to the water. All this happened while passing between breakwaters, making it all much more dangerous not only to the boat's crew but for the vessel itself.

The boat got assistance from a tug and managed to get free by cutting the towing rope. The Pilot had to sail to the anchorage outside the port and wait for a tug before he could disembark. The pilot boat sustained some damage to the propeller