Ferry Sinks with a Woman at the Helm
April 21, 2014
Associated Press
A 26-year-old woman was at the helm of the South Korean ferry that sank last week with 476 passengers aboard. Park Han-gyeol had been with the company that owned the Sewol for only six months when she was navigating the most difficult passageway of the trip to the island of Jeju. Aside from her inexperience, it is reasonable to ask whether the mere fact that she was a woman contributed to the loss of so many lives. Women are less adept at spatial skills than men and are by nature less suited to maneuvering large vessels. Eighty-seven people are confirmed dead and 215 are still missing. The captain of the ship, who abandoned the ferry before it sunk, faces criminal charges. [UPDATE: A reader with naval experience states in the comments below that it is unlikely her inexperience made much of a difference.]
— Comments —
Thomas F. Bertonneau writes:
Possibly it’s only the English professor compelling to write (I can’t get away from him), but it might be that I’m temporarily channeling the late Mr. Auster.
The simple past of the verb to sink is sank: “After the crew opened the petcocks, the Bismarck sank.”
The compound past of the verb to sink is sunk: “Reviewing the historical record, experts agree that the Bismarck had sunk only after the crew had opened the petcocks.” Also transitively: “The British Admiral was in error when he said, ‘I have sunk the Bismarck with a single broadside.’”
Laura writes:
Thank you.
If you’ll notice, I did use it correctly the first time, but then I slipped.
Mr. Bertonneau writes:
I have slupped up, myself, more than once!
Dr. Bertonneau adds:
I was reminded of the 1994 Estonian ferry disaster, which resulted in a loss of nearly 900 lives. The Wikipedia article includes these sentences: “At about 01:20 a weak female voice called ‘Häire, häire, laeval on häire,’ Estonian for ‘Alarm, alarm, there is alarm on the ship,’ over the public address system, which was followed immediately by an internal alarm for the crew, then one minute later by the general lifeboat alarm. The vessel’s rapid lean and the flooding prevented many people in the cabins from ascending to the boat deck.”
I spent about twenty minutes searching for information about the crew of the Estonia (as she was called), but could find none. That fixates me on the “weak female voice” in the Wikipedia article.
Laura writes:
I would think it would be extremely rare to have a woman piloting these large ferries, but I don’t know. It truly is a nightmare and outrage to have so many lives lost in what were apparently normal conditions.
Bert Perry writes:
One thing that was noted with the Costa Concordia tragedy was that apparently, modern ship design allows a fairly small leak to cause a ship to capsize. For the Concordia, thankfully it was basically aground—for the Sewol, tragically it was not. It has something to do with ships being fairly top-heavy these days (Sewol was 20 meters tall and 22 meters wide, basically a barrel) and the array of compartments below waterline. Note also that the captain was taking steps to right the ship; in other words, he was relying not on inherent stability of the vessel, but rather on a mechanical system, to keep the ship upright.
Not that there isn’t blame to be shared by the crew for this—I’m curious about how the lifeboats weren’t deployed, where the pilot was who would have been guiding the ship, why the junior staffer was at the helm, and the like—but it’s entirely possible that this ship was effectively designed to fail when the rudder was turned too sharply.
April 27, 2014
Leo Walker writes:
Better late than never, I guess. Having served four years in the US Navy and spent many a long hour on the helm I can perhaps shed a little light on the subject.
A typical bridge crew on a Destroyer is as follows: Officer of the Deck, Conning Officer, Helmsman, Lee Helmsman, Quartermaster, Bosun’s Mate of the Watch and Messenger of the Watch. A civilian vessel would typically have an Officer of the Watch, a Helmsman, a Lee Helmsman and a Quartermaster. A Pilot is one who has vast detailed knowledge of a particular body of water and is engaged to assist a vessel transit those waters. Finally, a ship is not piloted as they are seldom airborne. Two terms apply: A ship is conned, that is guided by orders from the Conning Officer; a ship is steered by the helmsman’s inputs to the rudder system.
The Officer of the Deck is responsible for the ship in the absence of the Captain. He receives all lookout, radar, sonar, radio and navigation reports and makes decisions within the latitude granted by the Captain.
The Conning Officer is responsible for all that pertains to course and speed of the vessel. To change any of these, even when anticipated well in advance, he must ask and receive permission of the Officer of the Deck.
The Quartermaster is responsible for navigational plotting and visual signals to other vessels or shore stations.
The Bosun’s Mate of the Watch is responsible for supervising the enlisted men in the performance of their duties. He is also responsible for any audible signals such as the horn or the announcing system within the ship at the Officer of the Watch’s direction.
The Lee Helmsman is responsible for communicating with the engine room via the engine order telegraph, and with all other watchstanders via sound powered phone. He repeats reports from other watchstanders to the Officer of the Deck and transmits orders or queries from him to watchstanders in other parts of the ship. When it comes to communicating speed changes, he takes orders from, and ONLY from the Conning Officer.
The helmsman is responsible for steering the ship. He maintains the assigned course and executes such steering orders as the Conning Officer and ONLY the Conning Officer may give.
I doubt if the helmsman of the doomed ferry was actually conning the ship. If she was making direction changes on her own recognizance things were terrifyingly amiss, such as the Pilot or Captain, or Officer of the Deck or Conning Officer had abandoned their posts and left her without direction. On the ferry the Captain probably served as both Officer of the Deck and Conning Officer. It may be that he gave bad commands or that the helmsman misheard or wrongly executed an order. That she was female is immaterial as the wheel was mechanically enhanced in some way, requiring no great strength to turn it. Nor is a female’s visual spacial acuity relevant, all she needed to do was keep her eye on the Compass and on the Rudder Angle Indicator. Nor was her time in service relevant. I was training helmsmen by the time I was six months aboard.
The accident may also be the result of an unexpected and exceptional sea state, unlikely in this case. The sea is a dangerous and unforgiving environment. I have seen my ship, a 400′ highly maneuverable destroyer spun by currents we could not control with 25 degrees rudder and backing one screw (propeller) while transiting the Juan de Fuca Straits.
Laura writes:
Thank you. So, based on what you say, it is unlikely the fact that the helmsman was a woman made much of a difference.
A Florida reader writes:
Dr. Bertonneau wrote:
I was reminded of the 1994 Estonian ferry disaster, which resulted in a loss of nearly 900 lives. The Wikipedia article includes these sentences: “At about 01:20 a weak female voice called ‘Häire, häire, laeval on häire,’ Estonian for ‘Alarm, alarm, there is alarm on the ship,’ over the public address system, which was followed immediately by an internal alarm for the crew, then one minute later by the general lifeboat alarm. The vessel’s rapid lean and the flooding prevented many people in the cabins from ascending to the boat deck.”
I spent about twenty minutes searching for information about the crew of the Estonia (as she was called), but could find none. That fixates me on the “weak female voice” in the Wikipedia article.
In 1994 I was already hearing synthesized female voices in elevators, announcing the floor, probably for the blind? And this might have been the same on the Estonian ferry for the emergency address system. A guess on my part.
