At the time you visit Antarctica you will have an experience like none you’ve ever had before, regardless of how many places you’ve been. You shall not experience fine dining and exciting night life. You won�t be enjoying weather that may be milder than wherever you originate from. What you will really get is astonishing and breathtaking views, a way to see wildlife included in the natural habitat and also an opportunity to observe how you choose to do in extreme climate conditions on the ends of the earth!

I read the Explorer report a few days back. The day after it was released, actually.
As you can imagine, in our circles, this spreads like wildfire and the downloads must have beaten all records.
It does indeed make for interesting reading (for various reasons, maybe also related to grammar) and there are of course some lessons to be learned from this sad event.

What does strike me though is how hard people are intent on pointing fingers where some evidence is so completely unsubstantiated and/or clearly related by persons that were in a state of shock at the time and/or incompetent in the field.
That the Captain was responsible is neither for me to decide nor comment on, but I can only say that one can never know what one’s reactions would be unless one has been in a similar situation.

I sank on a sailboat once a long time ago. Everybody pointed the finger at me and questioned my actions. It took me a while to analyse my decisions. Why? Just simply because at that particular moment in time, you are trying to make the right decisions – lots of them – whilst your brain is dealing with lots of information. You are dealing with what seems most important in your good judgement at that precise moment. This may differ somewhat from the thoughts of anybody else, even other Officers on board.

An example: The Captain forgot the VDR. I guess some people see that as a sign of guilt… If I take my ship, the VDR is 3 decks up from the bridge and where I have no need to be (or any other crew) in a crisis situation. I have raised this issue of VDRs on hydrostatic releases several times, but I have no weight to make things move. Maybe now they will for the benefit of us all.
I will pass on commenting on the usage of radar reflectors as boathooks… big rowboats… and other wading shoeless in freezing water stories… or maybe I already have a few paragraphs above.

In the end, one should look at the outcome. Everyone is so intent on placing the blame on the Captain for the mistake he may or may not have committed (as I said previously, it is not for me to decide), that everyone forgets the comment in item 14 of the conclusions stating that his decision to evacuate the passengers as a precautionary measure had in all likelihood saved lives.

All souls were saved on that particular day, and I believe that everyone involved in achieving this should be commended.

All the best, and hoping that our paths cross again soon,

Fabien.