Question 1

Your vessel is transiting an area you know to be a common anchorage, in fog reducing visibility to well under 1nm, maintaining a speed of around 16 knots. Under COLREGS Rule 19, what should govern your speed decision?

Accepted Answer

A safe speed that allows you to take proper and effective action to avoid collision, and to stop within a distance appropriate to the prevailing circumstances and conditions — which in near-zero visibility near a known anchorage is a real constraint on speed, not a formality Solong maintained roughly 16 knots through visibility as low as 0.25nm, approaching an area with nine vessels anchored, including Stena Immaculate. COLREGS Rule 19 requires every vessel to proceed at a safe speed adapted to restricted visibility — a speed that gives genuine time and distance to detect and respond to traffic, not a speed set by the passage plan alone.

Question 2

Rule 5 (Look-out) requires every vessel at all times to maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing, as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions — and this duty applies even when the vessel is at anchor in a busy anchorage.

Accepted Answer

True True. Rule 5 applies 'at all times' and to 'every vessel'. A vessel at anchor in a busy anchorage still needs an effective look-out to detect drifting vessels, dragging anchors, or approaching traffic that may pose a risk of collision or contact.

Question 3

Under Rule 6 (Safe Speed), a vessel fitted with a fully operational radar and ARPA never needs to reduce speed in restricted visibility, because the equipment guarantees early detection of other vessels.

Accepted Answer

False False. Rule 6 explicitly lists radar capability as one factor to consider, but also requires accounting for the state of visibility, traffic density, manoeuvrability, and the limitations of radar (range scale, sea/rain clutter, blind sectors). Even a vessel with excellent radar must proceed at a speed that allows proper and effective action to avoid collision and to be stopped within a distance appropriate to the prevailing circumstances.