BOSCO: A Foot, a Line, and Ten Minutes That Weren't Enough

Off Chemoulin, 10 December 2012 — 09:30

BOSCO, a small wooden potting boat working out of Pornichet, had two crew and a friend of the skipper aboard as a passenger, hauling and resetting fifteen strings of crevette pots — 30 pots to a string. It was routine, familiar work: the skipper at the hauler and helm, his deckhand working a cramped space of barely a square metre at the stern, taking each pot as it came aboard, emptying it, and stacking it ready to reset. Neither man was wearing a lifejacket — not unusual for this kind of close-in pot work, and not something the crew treated as an active decision each time.

What Happened

As one string was being paid back out, the deckhand's left foot became caught in the line connecting the pots to the ground rope — BEAmer's investigation couldn't determine exactly how. He went into the water, calling out. The passenger alerted the skipper immediately; the skipper stopped the boat, put her astern, and brought her close alongside his crewman, who was swimming while held fast by the foot. He threw a ring buoy first, then cut the line free, then pulled the deckhand up until he could get an arm and his head through the buoy. What followed was a genuine, sustained fight: for roughly ten minutes, the skipper tried to haul his crewman aboard against the current, the drag of the gear still trailing, and the deadweight of sodden oilskins and flooded boots — and couldn't. Exhausted, he had to let go, tried a second approach, and finally succeeded in lifting him aboard using a rope passed under his arms and the boat's own pot hauler. His crewman was unconscious by the time he reached the deck. CPR began immediately; a doctor was brought out by lifeboat within the hour. He didn't survive.

What the Investigation Found

BEAmer's own conclusion doesn't look for blame in the individual actions that day — it looks at the work itself. Pot fishing from a boat this size, on a stern working area this cramped, with lines and strops stored loose on deck rather than in bins or racks because there simply isn't room, is inherently difficult to make safe by layout alone. The deckhand had joined the boat only weeks earlier, trained by the man he replaced after 15 years aboard — an experienced handover, not a novice crew.

The Lessons BEAmer Drew

Three findings, stated plainly: a lifejacket is a legal requirement during fishing operations under French regulation, not an optional precaution for calmer-looking work; a knife should be kept genuinely within reach on deck, not just aboard somewhere; and any passenger carried aboard a working fishing vessel needs to be formally declared to the maritime authority. None of these would have guaranteed a different outcome by themselves — but each one is a real, addressable gap this investigation found, and each is worth taking seriously on any vessel where gear pays out fast, on deck, near where crew are standing.

Check Your Vessel

• All crew working pot, creel, or line gear: Is a lifejacket actually worn during hauling and shooting, every time, or treated as unnecessary for work that usually looks routine?
• Deckhands: Do you know exactly where loose lines, strops, and warps lie around your feet as gear pays out, and could you step clear instantly if one came tight?
• Skippers: Is a sharp, accessible knife actually within arm's reach of anyone working near paying-out line, not just stowed somewhere aboard?

Source: BEAmer (Bureau d'Enquêtes sur les Événements de Mer, France) — Rapport d'enquête simplifié, Homme à la mer à bord du caseyeur BOSCO, 10 December 2012, published July 2013.