Grounding of passenger vessel Balmoral

Location: Dagger Reef off the Gower Peninsula, Wales.

• From: Marine Accident Investigation Branch
• Published: 23 January 2015

• Vessel type: Merchant vessel 100 gross tons or over
• Report type: Investigation report
• Date of occurrence: 18 October 2004

Accident Investigation Report 14/2005

Read our marine accident investigation report, which includes what happened, actions taken and subsequent recommendations:

Balmoral.pdf (821.55 kb)

Summary

During the afternoon of 18 October 2004, in fine weather and good visibility, the passenger vessel Balmoral grounded on Dagger Reef, Gower Peninsular. The vessel was carrying 213 passengers and 19 crew on a sightseeing excursion along the South Wales coast.

Safety Issues

• the master elected to deviate from his planned route and then failed to adequately monitor his approach to Rhossilli Point

Recommendations

In light of the positive actions taken by WEL in response to these recommendations, this report only makes limited additional recommendations to the vessel’s owner, Waverley Steam Navigation Company, and to WEL to prevent a recurrence of the accident.

This report was published in July 2005.

Published 23 January 2015