Text Box: Richard C. Hiscock

Text Box:  Off soundings* Soundings

Text Box: The question should be, is it worth trying to do, not can it be done.   Al Lowenstein, 1966

Text Box: The ELEMENTS of SEAMANSHIP      "When you call up the Coast Guard, or the Air National Guard, or whomever, you are asking them to risk their lives to save yours.  You are also asking them to spend a lot of money in the process.  The rescuers neither ask for nor get much in return (those who make a career out of criticizing the Coast Guard all too often forget that), and they value their lives as much as we value ours.      "It is the duty of those who go to sea to avoid getting into situations that require the aid of the rescue services – heed the season, equip your vessel properly, keep a sharp eye for weather changes, shake down a new vessel conscientiously, don't expect your ship to do something she can't, pump for your life if you're sinking, maneuver your vessel if you're not, think ahead.  Anything less and you will be asking more of others than you ask of yourself."   Peter H. Spectre "North Atlantic Shakedown: The Abandonment of the JOHN F. LEAVITT" WoodenBoat, Number 33, p. 28, March/April 1980

Text Box: * Said of a vessel  navigating beyond the 100-fathom line of soundings

Text Box: You manage things; You lead people.                                                                    Capt. Grace Hopper, USN 1983  

Text Box: The way we were…       “It is helpful to recall the approach to safety of the Commercial Vessel Safety Program: first to prevent the casualty; second to minimize the effect of the casualty, given that it has occurred; and third to maximize lives saved, given that the vessel has become uninhabitable. The theory of this approach takes on practical significance in the assigning of probabilities to alternative safety standards. For a more complete discussion of this approach see A Study of Cost, Benefits, Effectiveness of the Merchant Marine Safety Program, May 1, 1968, U.S. Coast Guard.”   The above is footnote 2 on page V-3 Vol. I B Study A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Alternative Safety Programs for U.S. Commercial Fishing Vessels An issue study conducted by (the) Planning Staff Office of Merchant Marine Safety U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters Washington, D.C. 16 April 1971

Text Box: Seaworthy ….      "While no vessel can ever be regarded as unsinkable, it should be capable of absorbing a number of errors and misfortunes before there is a danger of sinking."      "The accident rarely has a single overwhelming cause.  Usually there are a number of elements, none necessarily of outstanding significance in isolation, whose combination proves fatal."   Statements by the Royal Institution of Naval Architects following the Estonia disaster, quoted in:     "Machinery failure" (BRIEFING) Seatrade Review, December 1994, page 7 and 9 Published by The Seatrade Organization Ltd. Seatrade House, 42 North Station Road, Colchester CO1 1RB, UK.  

Text Box: Richard C. Hiscock — Fisherman F/V BENJO, Chatham, Mass. 1977-78; Assistant Harbormaster Town of Chatham, 1977-87; Executive Director U.S. Lifesaving Manufacturer’s Association 1984-86; Investigator Marine Safety Consultants, Fairhaven, Mass., 1987-91; President ERE Associates Ltd. 1991 – 2002. Instructor hypothermia, cold-water survival, emergency rescue equipment and fishing vessel safety, 1979 – 2006. Drafted bill to establish crew licensing, inspection and additional safety requirements on commercial fishing vessels, 1986.   Served as a member of the Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel (Safety) Advisory Committee, 1991-98; and as Industry Advisor to the U.S. Coast Guard Fishing Vessel Casualty Task Force, 1999. Founding board member of the Marine Safety Foundation, 1993; Vice-president 1999 – 2007.   Author of papers on the Coast Guard, the development of exposure suits, survival craft on passenger vessels, and the history of fishing vessel safety in the U.S. Co-author / editor of the Fisherman’s Digest and the Fishing Vessel Digest.   Recipient U.S.C.G. Public Service Commendation, 1984; U.S.C.G. Certificate of Merit, 1998, and the U.S.C.G. Meritorious Team Commendation 1999. Member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers; and honorary life-member of the U.S. Marine Safety Association. more

 

OFF SOUNDINGS

MARINE SAFETY

FISHING VESSEL SAFETY

FISHING VESSEL DIGEST

COMMERCIAL VESSEL SAFETY