Incident No. 10 - Dangers of rotating machinery

12:36 AM Mon 7 Sep 2009 GMT

'Engine and propshaft coupling arrangements' .

The best mistakes to learn by are other people's. This is especially so with sailing.
In this anecdote, the tenth of a series, we present a real sailing situation which was investigated by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), and THREE lessons deduced. Can you identify the lessons? (Find the answers at the end of the story)

A substantial 10 metre yacht had recently been recommissioned after her winter lay up. The engine had been run and the owner had nipped up the stern gland during one short trip.

On a later occasion, the owner was on board with his son, and was motoring the boat a few cables from her mooring to a marina to take on stores for a weekend's sailing. The weather was excellent, with negligible wind and a flat calm sea.
During this relatively short run, the owner decided to again check the stern gland. After checking the cuffs of his jacket were properly secured, he lifted the hatch to the stern gland/propshaft space. To gain the best indication of the rate of water ingress through the stern gland, he decided to remove a small amount of water that had collected in the bilge space beneath. To do this, he used a sponge, wringing it out once saturated.

He did this a couple of times without problems. Unfortunately, on the next occasion, the left sleeve of his jacket became entangled with a coupling on the rotating propeller shaft (see photograph).

His arm was dragged around the shaft and, before he could free it, was very seriously injured.

The owner's shouts were heard by his son on the helm, who promptly stopped the engine and immediately used his mobile telephone to dial 999 and ask for coastguard assistance. He then used the boat's first-aid kit to dress his father's arm, using a wooden spatula from the galley as a splint and cottonwool pads to stem the flow of blood.

The injury was serious, with a length of broken bone exposed. Emergency services were very quickly on scene,
with helicopter and lifeboat both available to evacuate the casualty. It was decided to use the lifeboat to transfer the owner to an ambulance and then hospital. Because of the benign weather conditions, the owner was able to climb, unaided, from his boat onto the lifeboat.

Click here for the THREE lessons that the MAIB deduced.

Sail-World Cruising is grateful to MAIB for its permission to use these incidents

To try your hand at the previously published incidents, along with the lessons, click the following links:

Incident No. 1

Incident No. 2

Incident No. 3

Incident No. 4

Incident No. 5

Incident No. 6

Incident No. 7

Incident No. 8

Incident No. 9

by MAIB/Sail-World Cruising

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Incident No. 10 - Dangers of rotating machinery

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