The problem there consists of being judged by people who weren't in that situation. Which is what I am doing here, but I'm not sending anyone to prison over it. When someone has a consistent track record of accidental incidents, it is not an accident. Everyone who sails will find themslves in predicaments from time to time, it's how they handle those incidents that separates them from being an incident or a non-incident.

We responded to a distress call in Escambia Bay 1 night after we had anchored due to zero visibility (fog). We covered 32 miles of inland waters in 3 hours with a 100ft Buoy Tender (USCGC RAMBLER), passing through bridges and chokepoints with Radar and Lookouts. We arrived at the Boeing 727 crash site without incident and went to work. If we had hit a bridge, we would have been screwed (Capt would have gone to Courts Martial) for obeying orders. We made it by following the Rules of the Road & by the Grace of God, so nothing was said.

Sometimes errors can not be seen soon enough or corrected fast enough to avoid disaster, but that doesn't happen at a somewhat steady rate as in the case of Capt. Smith.

My point of this post is that proper planning, monitoring & constant situational awareness is required @ all times, in all endeavors. A little humility can keep one from converting minor errors into a disaster. Don't be too proud to say this was a mistake and to take action to correct the situation. Like reducing speed when transiting through an area that is known to have icebergs.

I apologize if I'm coming off as condescending or another so-called "expert", for I'm one who sees a photo of a shipwreck and thinks-"there but for the grace of God, go I". None of us are perfect.