An Isle of Wight ferry captain has been acquitted of two maritime offences after his ship carrying 202 people was involved in a collision with a motor yacht.
CaptIan Drummond was accused of failing to keep a proper lookout before the accident involving the Red Funnel ferry as it headed to East Cowes on the island.
The 305ft (107m) ferry, named Red Falcon, had a collision with the 32ft motor cruiser Phoenix in the Thorn channel, off Southampton, as both vessels were heading across the Solent.
The ferry was carrying 20 crew and 182 passengers, and the motor cruiser was being sailed by its owner, Peter Jackson, 57, and his wife, Julie, with two others onboard, but there were no injuries.
Drummond, 63, was sitting in the “lookout’s chair” at the time of the collision and the expert witness Capt John Simpson, a master mariner, told the trial that standing up would have helped eliminate the ferry’s blindspot.
But at Southampton magistrates court, the district judge Anthony Callaway ruled that Drummond had used his experience to remain seated to maintain an overall best view around his ship including the use of CCTV monitors.
He said: “Not everything can be seen at all times, that is an impossible task. He remained in the seat because he perceived it gave him the best view available. In my judgment, to move is likely to have hampered certain aspects of the lookout.”
Callaway concluded: “I am satisfied the defendant did keep a proper lookout and was not to blame for the collision.”
He said Drummond was considered by his employer to be an “experienced and safety-conscious” captain who had made 6,000 crossings to the Isle of Wight without incident.
The judge said the skipper of the Phoenix, Jackson, had accepted a caution for his part in the incident.
He said that Jackson had “almost no knowledge” of Colregs (International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea) and added: “No proper lookout was in evidence and which endangered himself, his crew and the Phoenix, and to a lesser extent, the ferry.”
He continued: “It’s likely that Mr Jackson simply did not see the oncoming ferry, irrespective of the Colregs. As a matter of common sense, this was another huge failing on the part of this skipper.”
Drummond, of Southampton, was acquitted of failing to keep a lookout and misconduct of master likely to endanger ships, structures or individuals under the Merchant Shipping Act.
Speaking after the hearing, Drummond said he had been dismissed from his job following the incident in September last year but was seeking for this to be reversed at an employment tribunal to be held next year.
He said: “I feel very relieved, as a Christmas present I couldn’t have asked for anything nicer.”
