Monday Accident and Lessons Learned: Flooding and Sinking of Fishing Vessel, Capt. David

In February 2016, off the coast of Oregon Inlet, North Carolina, a vessel, Capt David, was disabled and flooded. The vessel was attempting to help another disabled vessel and direct contact caused serious damage. Luckily, the US Navy had a dock landing ship, USS Carter Hall, nearby that was able to provide assistance. The crew from both vessels were unharmed, but those on the unnamed vessel opted to remain on their vessel as it was towed, while the Capt David climbed aboard the USS Carter Hall. The Navy could obviously see that there was too much damage and no time for repairs to Capt David so the best they could do was rescue the crew and abandon the ship to sink.

It is noted that Capt David had not been inspected prior to setting out to sea. Investigators found that there was engine cooling water leak that was likely to have contributed to the incident.

So, what did they learn? What can we all learn form this?

(Resource: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/MAB1712.pdf)