GROUNDING OF THE SS HILLYER BROWN AT COLD BAY, ALASKA ON 7 MARCH 1973 WITHOUT LOSS OF LIFE. MARINE CASUALTY REPORT

On the evening of March 7, 1973, the SS HILLYER BROWN grounded while maneuvering toward the channel entrance for passage out of Cold Bay, Alaska. The vessel's bottom was breached in the grounding, and the resulting outflow of diesel oil and gasoline was declared a major polluting incident. The report contains the action taken by the National Transportation Safety Board in determining the probable cause of the casualty and in making recommendations to prevent its recurrence. The report also contains the Marine Board of Investigation report. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the grounding was (1) the pilot's failure to use effectively available aids to navigation; (2) the master's failure to monitor adequately the vessel's movements; and (3) the master's and pilot's lack of awareness that the radar-reflecting channel marking buoy was missing from its charted position.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Includes Marine Safety Recommendations M-75-1 thru M-75-4.
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  800 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20594

  United States Coast Guard

  2100 Second Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20593
• Publication Date: 1975-1-15

Media Info

• Pagination: 37 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Buoys; Crash investigation; Crashes; Diesel fuels; Fatalities; Gasoline; Human error; Marine transportation; Navigation processes; Navigational aids; Oil spills; Oil tankers; Pilotage; Ship groundings; Statistics; Tankers; Water pollution; Water transportation crashes
• Old TRIS Terms: Markers; Navigation procedures; Oil spill sources; Ship casualties; Ss hillyer brown
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Marine Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00090426
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: USCG-NTSB-MAR-75-1
• Files: NTIS, TRIS
• Created Date: May 29 1978 12:00AM