Page 39 - Collision Avoidance Rules Guide

Ocean look-out
There is some justification for relaxing the degree of look-out in the
open Ocean where other vessels are infrequently seen and are unlikely
to be encountered so as to involve risk of collision. However, colli-
sions occasionally Occur in such areas, indicating the need for a
proper look-out at all times. In October 1970, two vessels, each of
approximately 10,000 tons gross, collided just before noon, in the
middle of the Atlantic Ocean (approximate position 4”N 28W). One
vessel was on a voyage from India to eastern Canada and the other
was bound for Spain from Brazil.

Duty Of look-out
The look-out should report any lights, vessels or large floating
objects which he sees, and, in low visibility, any fog signals which he
hears. However, in crowded waters, he could not be expected to
report everything he sees; he must use his discretion and report the
lights or objects which are likely to bring risk of collision, especially
small craft which may not have been observed from the bridge.

Shakkeborg- Wimbledon

You cannot report every light you see in the River Thames. You have to
watch until you see a light, which, perhaps, you have seen before, becoming
material, because if you are going to report every light in Gravesend Reach
when coming up the River Thames the confusion would be something
appalling to those in charge of the navigation; but you have to have a look-
out to report every material light as soon as it becomes material. (Mr Justice
Bargrave Dean, 191 1)
All available means appropriate

The term ‘proper look-out’ has always been interpreted by the Courts
as including the effective use of available instruments and equip-
ment, in addition to the use of both sight and hearing. This applies
particularly to radar, but the use of binoculars and of information
received by VHF from a shore radar station or from other ships would
be included among ‘all available means appropriate’.
Gorm-Santa Alicia

If the visibility was deceptive, as the pilot would have me believe, and he
had not seen the North Sturbridge Buoy light, I find it difficult to understand

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