Grounding of general cargo vessel Fingal
Location: Sanda Island, south of the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland.
Completed PE Summary: Fingal
A short summary of the accident and action taken:
| Merchant Vessel/Accident Details | |
|---|---|
| Vessel name | Fingal |
| Registered Owner | Wilmar Shipping and Trading |
| Manager | Lee Shipping Company Ltd |
| Port of Registry | Willemstad |
| Flag | Netherlands Antilles |
| Type | General cargo vessel |
| Classification Society | Germanischer Lloyd |
| Built | 1984 |
| Construction | Steel |
| Length Overall | 79.4m |
| Gross Tonnage | 1409 |
| Date/Time | 07/09/2007, 2132 (UTC) |
| Location of Incident | Sanda Island, south of the Mull of Kintyre |
| Incident Type | Grounding |
| Persons Onboard | 6 |
| Injuries/Fatalities | None |
| Damage/Pollution | Vessel damaged/Minor pollution later caused in Troon harbour as a result of the damage |
Synopsis
The general cargo ship Fingal was carrying a cargo of timber, when she grounded on Sanda Island, south of the Mull of Kintyre, whilst on passage from Campbeltown to Londonderry. There were calm conditions and good visibility. The master had been on watch alone and had fallen asleep after making a course alteration, some 20 minutes before the grounding. The grounding occurred close to high tide and the vessel developed a list of about 14 degrees to port as the tide fell. Four of the crew were evacuated by lifeboat, as a safety precaution. There was bottom plating damage from around Fr.97 to forefoot but no injuries or pollution occurred at the time of the grounding.
The crew returned the following morning when the vessel was refloated with tug assistance and proceeded to Troon, where a diver’s examination revealed bottom damage to the forward part of the vessel. Whilst alongside in Troon, a minor overboard discharge of gas oil occurred during ballasting operations when approximately 1m³ of gas oil was released into the harbour from a ballast tank breather pipe. It was found that a split between a gas oil bunker tank and an adjacent ballast tank had been caused by the grounding.
Action taken
The Preliminary Examination revealed a number of safety issues including: manning levels; hours of work and rest; bridge lookout and audit of procedures. After reviewing the actions put in place by the vessel’s managers following the accident, the Deputy Chief Inspector considered no further recommendations were necessary.