Near Collision

October 20, 2008 at 8:47 am (1)
Tags: collision, West India Dock

The lock is stuck, a hydraulic line has burst and the harbour master can’t open it up. Rainbow Warrior is approaching up the River Thames on a flood tide. We overshoot the entrance. The pilot, a short old man with snow white hair and perhaps a vague hint of whiskey on his breath, seems happy enough. “Ogh, we’ll just make a turn right here and stem the tide,” he says with confidence as he puts the wheel hard over and the engine to full ahead. We’re swinging, but I don’t feel its fast enough. I wonder if the old man is a better judge of distance than me, I give him credit for his experience. But crew are becoming restless, those on the bow are turning their heads back, casting anxious glances towards me on the bridge and… Actually this is too much for me. Pilot has registered too – we are not going to make it – we are going to collide with a hard concrete wall on the south side of the river, head on. I take control and pull the pitch lever all the way back – beyond full astern, I hear the engines screaming and the deck plates underfoot rattling. The wind and the tide push the old girl swiftly up the river, crew rush all the fenders over to the starboard side. The engines throb, but not for a moment do I believe we will actually hit – just as long as the main engine does not throw a bolt. Then she starts to draw away from the wall ever so gradually back towards the middle of the river, but rushing rapidly sideways up it. I have her under control again, and with another hard-over helm movement and full ahead on the engine the Rainbow Warrior turns to stem the tide on the River Thames, waiting for West India Docks lock gate to open.