Thanks for posting this Scott!
Found that overall it was well done however missed some of the key points I felt that Captain Henthorne brought up in his book regarding the fact that they marked every checked room with chalk on the door and that he had to actually create his somewhat his own evacuation plan for the ship.
Really liked how it went into some detail though regarding the investigation and such.
Hope you all enjoyed watching.
Anyone else have any thoughts?
All I can really say is that was an eye-opener.
As member 'pacificcat99' relates in his posting, the actions taken by Captain Henthorne prior to his own evacuation from the ship wasn't covered in the television
story. I'm wondering if members who have read the Captain's book, might also have some thoughts as to events/procedures/questions etc. that were not directly
covered in the T.V. story?
I have yet to read the book. The disaster story on T.V. did briefly mention that there was, or may have been an on-going "relationship" between the 4th officer and
the female quartermaster but never really stated whether or not there were physical actions of that "relationship" that led to the 4th officer's distraction within the time frame when he called for a course change and the reality setting in that the course change had not been made?
The numerous "passenger" counts that were conducted really intrigued me.
When a passenger vessel sails, it is the duty of the Chief Steward or the Chief Purser to have an
exact count of the number of souls on board, Period!
This information, in written form is taken to the bridge where the Captain or the 1st Officer will record that number in the log-book.
I confess I am not aware if this procedure is todays' standing practice or not but it was on the
Queen of Prince Rupert back in the late '60's because I had that task
on numerous occasions. If the count was a bit tardy in getting to the bridge, there were times when the phone would ring in the Purser's office enquiring as to the
delay.
The requirement to start a voyage with an accurate passenger count became very significant one foggy morning when the
'Rupert' ran aground on Haddington Reef
that required a full evacuation of the ship.
Back in those days, we knew how many souls should be in passenger cabins and every stateroom door was 'knocked and opened', (we didn't wait for someone to
come to the door). Verbal instructions were given to cabin occupants to get as warmly clothed as possible, take their life-jackets with them and proceed immediately
to their assigned life-boat/life-raft stations. This also meant that crew, again in pairs, had the uneasy task of scouring the Lower deck passenger cabins located in the
forward section of the 'Tween-deck' and also going aft of the engine room compartment to the rear 'Tween-deck' cabins occupied by catering, cleaning and seamen
crew-members. Also checked were the crew washrooms lest some poor soul sitting in repose reading goodness knows what, was not responding to the blood-curdling
clang of the general alarm bells!
Crew members were sent in pairs, to scour the lounges, dining areas, especially the
'Rupert's cafeteria and other nooks and crannies and return to the Purser's office
with 'numbers'! Yes. we legged it along the then Bridge deck with it's 18, 2-person cabins as well.
Returning to the Chief Purser/Steward's Office as quickly as possible, with our collected numbers, we knew how many souls should be attending at each life-boat/raft
station! We could then do a cross-check before setting those folks down into the rancid smelling bunker-fuel and seaweed aroma of the salt chuck. Four life-boats and
I have no idea of how many of those circular inflatable rafts we had, but I was one oil-soaked mutt in charge of one of them.
So, we've got everyone accounted for eh? Not so fast McGraw. In the height of the Summer season, it wasn't uncommon for the '
Rupert's car deck to be home to 2
dozen camper-type vehicles. Back in those days, passengers were allowed to stay in those vehicles for any period of time they chose, most usually meal and sleep
times. Going North or South the voyage was a 20+ hours, hence that created the necessity of canvassing EVERY vehicle as it could be occupied by someone and
those 'some-ones', could destroy our port-leaving passenger counts, well, sort-of.
We knew how many souls had come aboard on any sailing. What we didn't know, was where did we have to look for those not accommodated in passenger or crew
cabins. Hence the complete canvassing of every vehicle on the car deck. (And, there were times when, shall we say, we found occupants in all sorts of vehicles,
eh..."visiting" with folks in vehicles in which they did not originally drive from the terminal waiting lanes onto the ship) Yes, camper doors would fling open to reveal
an odd count of occupants and clouds of smoke that came not from regular cigarettes). This WAS the mid-sixties after all
Two very frequently heard questions asked of crew in those times. What's that 'F------ noise?, and can we bring our dog?
"> NO, we'll come back for Fido if we don't
actually sink! It was, at these trying moments when one would have to muster every ounce of 'diplomacy', to get the job done!
Events and procedures of yesteryear, have obviously been changed. No longer are crew having to insist that there is salt water a mere six inches under passengers'
feet with only car-deck plates keeping their flip-flops dry and Fido trying to find the source of the seaweed smell.
We B.C. Ferry crews of the day always thought it rather punitive that passengers were not allowed on the vehicle decks of vessels of the Alaska State Ferry System.
This edict has now been altered to allow periodic visits to Fido's quarters during longer sailings, however it does require that crew members are stationed on those
decks as watchmen.
Returning to the main topic of this thread, for reasons that may or may not come to light as to why numerous passenger counts had to be undertaken, one must
not lose track of the real tragedy in this story, which is of much mystery. Where could two people have gotten to when several fellow passengers and rescuers are
quite adamant that those two folks were seen at Hartley Bay? Obviously, those sightings were untrue and as such why were they missed by crew as they scoured
the
Queen of the North?
One can only hope that the two lost souls are at peace somewhere in the creator's labyrinth, leaving those of us who have not experienced such a violent passing to
appreciate our often unconscious navigation of life's treacherous sea lanes.
"> NO, we'll come back for Fido if we don't
