When a collision or grounding takes place, the captain must take many pieces of information into consideration before a full understanding of the circumstances can be reached, says Mr. Loh.
鈥淛ust because you run aground doesn鈥檛 mean the vessel will tip over,鈥� Mr. Loh says. 鈥淗ow bad the hit was, how much water is coming aboard, 鈥s the boat listing immediately,鈥� all need to be accurately evaluated. 鈥淭hat may take some time,鈥� he says, and can lead back to the question of how many people are on duty.
鈥淚f you have a lot of look-outs on the bridge, you can send someone to see what happened, guage the level of seriousness, and respond more quickly,鈥� says Mr. Loh.
Furthermore, the captain does not gather all of the pertinent information of a collision on his own. The Chief Engineer evaluates whether or not a vessel will list, or tip over. The Chief Mate typically aids in evaluating the stability of a vessel and measuring fuel, cargo, and people. He will assist in figuring out how stable the boat is taking those numbers into consideration, says Mr. Loh. 鈥淭he Chief Mate and Engineer should have some important knowledge or understanding about what鈥檚 going on 鈥� and we haven鈥檛 heard anything about them.鈥�
Regardless, the crew "could have called Mayday earlier," says Loh.
