no we were 38 miles offshore in the open ocean
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"Bill McKee" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Were you in the ship channel? The VTS?
"Eppefour" wrote in message
...
We were out on Saturday July 2 again at 750 Square. It is about 40 miles
off of Cape May. A container ship the Evergreen Lines Ever Refine almost
ran us down. I think sportfishermen should report these instances to the
coast guard. I am hearing too many of these stories. Even though they
can't do much about 1 instance , multiple reports will allow them to
determine if there is a pattern to these instances. Following is my
letter describing the incident that I am sending to Evergreen and the
Coast Guard
Vessel Ever Refine
Dear Sir:
My son and I were fishing on Saturday July 2nd at 73.53.00 38.55.00
approximately,
when your ship Evergreen Ever Refine almost ran us down.. We were
drifting with our
lines on the starboard side of the boat. Ever Refine approached us from
our port side. The
visibility was restricted to about 1.5 miles. At first I thought the ship
would pass slightly
in front of us, but as it got closer I realized it was going to hit us
amidships. We started
the engines and accelerated to maximum power. We were able to avoid the
ship by 100
feet.
I realize that a large ship has a hard time turning and that we are not
visible to him when he is 0.5 miles away from us. There was 1.5 miles of
visibility and he should have seen us. Rule 5 of the rules of the road
state that a proper lookout by sight and all other means available should
be maintained at all times. If Ever Refine was following rule 5, why did
they not sound a danger signal ?
Rule 6 states that a vessel shall maintain a safe speed taking into
account visibility and stopping and turning ability in the prevailing
conditions. If they were traveling too fast they violated rule 6.
I am unclear how restricted visibility must be to sound fog signals but
Ever refine was not sounding any. Rule 35 states that fog signals should
be used in or near any ares of restricted visibility. 1.5 miles was the
maximum visibility that day. Many nearby areas were restricted to ¼ mile
of less.
I am sending a copy of this letter to the US Coast Guard Group, Cape May,
NJ. I also am going to make sport fishermen in this area aware of the
incident and encourage them to report all such encounters to the Coast
Guard to build a case history. I also am going to publicize the incident
on the internet to make all aware of your disregard for human life and
safety. You should inform your captains that even though you are a big
company with big ships, you do not own the ocean.
Sincerely
Captain John W Eppehimer
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