SILVER CLOUD II — The Night Trawl
SILVER CLOUD II
Prawn trawler (WK 80) · Rubha Rodha, near Lochinver, Scotland · 14 October 2025
Source: MAIB Investigation Report 17/2026
The Situation
You're the skipper. It's been three long days — a repair delay, a torn net, a diversion to land and fix it, and now, at 2130, you've decided to run a night trawl to make up the time. You've had flu-like symptoms since the trip started. At 2330 you take over the watch from the mate, set a waypoint, and put the vessel on autopilot. You're alone in the wheelhouse.
The Lesson
A watch alarm is a backstop for an alert person, not a substitute for one — the decision that actually prevents this accident happens before the watch starts, not during it.
Human Element
Nothing about this night was a single bad decision. It was three days of accumulating sleep debt, an illness worked through rather than rested off, and a watch alarm that could only ever reach the one person it was already failing to keep awake. This scenario tests whether a lone watchkeeper's fatigue gets escalated before the watch starts, or absorbed into just getting the trip finished.
Try the First Decision
You're feverish, achy, and this is the third night in a row with broken rest. The mate is available to take a longer stretch of the watch. What do you do?
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