Recovering Heather Anne. Stability tests ‘misleading’
Britain’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch, MAIB, has warned that roll-tests may give a misleading assessment of vessel stability in its accident investigation report on the capsize of the fishing vessel Heather Anne. It has also called for the Maritime and Coast Guard Agency to determine what behavioural changes are needed to ensure that fisherman wearing lifejackets on deck.
At about 2200 on 20 December 2011, the UK registered fishing vessel Heather Anne capsized and foundered in Gerrans Bay, Cornwall. The skipper and his crewman were soon recovered from the water by a nearby fishing vessel. Neither the skipper nor the crewman was wearing a lifejacket; the crewman had drowned. There was no significant pollution.