ROYAL MAJESTY

F R A N C I S C O D A N I E L P É R E Z H E R N Á N D E Z

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WHAT HAPPENED?

• June 9, 1995

• A seven-days cruise

• From St. George’s, Bermuda to Boston, Massachusetts.

• 1,500 persons on board.

• Drifted 17 miles off course.

• Instead of Boston, the cruise ended up on a sandbank close to the Massachusetts shore.

WHY?

• Investigators discovered afterward that ship´s autopilot had defaulted to Dead Reckoning mode shortly after departure.

• The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the grounding of the Royal Majesty was the watch officers' overreliance on the automated features of the integrated bridge system

TIMELINE

• June 9, 1995.

• 12:00 pm.– The Royal Majesty departed Bermuda.

– Before departure the navigator checked the navigation and communication equipment, he found it in “perfect operation condition”.

• 12:52 pm

– Began to lose the satellite signal.

• 13:00 pm.– The captain commanded “ change course to 336,

take us up to Boston”.

• 13:10 pm.– There was a cutoff in the signal from GPS antenna.

– When GPS lost satellite reception, switch to dead reckoning (DR) mode and an alarm sounds and displayed two code on its tiny display: DR and SOL.

• DR means that the position is estimated.

• SOL mean that satellite positions cannot be calculated.

• Different format between GPS and navigation and command system (NACOS).

JUNE 10, 1995

• 19:20 pm

– The first officer saw the first buoy “BA” (but buoy BA was buoy AR.

• 20:00

– The second officer took over the watch from the chief officer. The chief officer must have provided the vessel's assumed position, as good watch-keeping practice.

• 20:42

– A fishing vessel called at Royal Majesty, on channel 16.

• 22:00

– The master visited the bridge.

• 22:20

– The ship stared to veer.

• 22:25

– The Royal Majesty ran aground east of Nantucket, 17 nautical miles from planned.

• On June 11, the Royal Majesty, with the aid of five tugboats, was freed from its strand.

• On June 12, the vessel arrived in Boston and disembarked its passengers.

TANKS