Pilot wanted to show Cape, Court told

Press, 17 May 1989, Page 8

Pilot wanted to show Cape, Court told

PA Sydney The Marlborough Harbour Board’s chief pilot, Captain Don Jamison, told passengers over the public address system of the ill-fated Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov: “I would like to show you Cape Jackson,” the New South Wales Supreme Court was told yesterday.

A short time later on February 16, 1986, the 20,000-tonne ship with 408 passengers and 331 crew slammed into the rocks of Cape Jackson and sank in Port Gore five hours later. One of the ship’s second mates, Mr Sergey Gusev, told the hearing to determine liability for the sinking that Captain Jamison assured officers on the bridge he had taken ships between Cape Jackson and the Cape Beacon before. Captain Jamison had earlier been giving a commentary on the scenery to passengers as the ship sailed up Queen Charlotte Sound to Cook Strait. Four minutes before grounding the chief navigator questioned Captain

Jamison about his helm order “Port 10” to steer the ship between the Cape and the Beacon. Mr Gusev said he recalled Captain Jamison saying, "I am going to take the ship between the Cape and the lighthouse. I know this passage; there, is enough water there.” There was no confusion about Captain Jamison’s order because it was repeated by the chief navigator to the helmsman who then repeated the order in both English and Russian, Mr Gusev said. According to Mr Gusev, Captain Jamison said: “I have taken ships through this area several times before.” Captain Jamison’s intentions were not clear to the Soviet officers, but Mr Gusev assumed he wanted

to give passengers a close look at Cape Jackson.

Mr Gusev noted from the chart that the area was marked as foul ground, but he did not consider calling the ship’s master, Captain Vladislav Vorobyev, from his cabin. When the ship was about 2km from the cape, Mr Gusev checked the way ahead through binoculars and noted the water was “a little bit troubled.” “It wouldn’t have been my personal preference to go through that passage, but when a pilot gives an order we follow it,” Mr Gusev said. Captain Jamison earlier skilfully handled the ship in the confines of Ship Cove — a manoeuvre which appeared more difficult than taking it between the Cape and the

beacon. “We only disagree with the pilot’s decisions when it’s obvious they are dangerous,” Mr Gusev said. As a junior officer on the bridge, he had no right to countermand a pilot’s order. When the ship struck the rocks at 5.38 p.m., Mr Gusev felt a shudder at the bow. “After the first shudder there was a further series of shudders which appeared to come from the bow and travel aft to the bridge. I can best liken the sensation to a vehicle travelling over an uneven road surface.” The door to the wheelhouse flew open and Captain Vorobyev appeared on the bridge. “How is it that the vessel finds itself in this

place?” Captain Vorobyev asked. The chief navigator told him Captain Jamison “pursuaded him to allow the vessel to go through the passage.” Captain Jamison said nothing, but was pale and shaking. Five hours later and 10 minutes after the last passengers and crew to abandon ship had scrambled into a lifeboat, Mr Gusev recalled seeing the Mikhail Lermontov sink. “I saw the aft end rise higher into the air. Though it was dark, the hull of the vessel was white and so I was able to see the outline as it started to go down. There was no sound as it started to sink,” he said. The hearing continues today.