Part of the reason a ships company can't get a good crew is that for yrs they've been beating down the numbers of deck hands that they want to crew the ships. When they want to hire a skeleton to do the work of a full crew not only do they work longer hrs & extra watches, but they also become phycially exhusted as well as mentally fatigued. Don't go blaming the sailors & accusing them of being drunks & saying that that's the problem. The union's no longer have the power to enforce saftey for their members or the safety of the ships. That's now in the powers of the ship's owners & the government regs that allow ships at sea that should've been scrapped & sold off as rust. An example would be the recent sinking of the eco tour cruiser in the Antartic who's hull had over the yrs worn thin but pasted inspection. Or singled walled tankers & non water tight compartments. A drunk captain can sink a ship just as quick as
a rusted out propeller shaft.
He was the captain & in dangerous waters navigating a channel known to be a nasty waterway, that's his error, drunk or not. If he'd had the crew he would've been allowed to carry 25 yrs ago he could had a proper watch on deck instead of a greenhand, that's the fault of the powers that be for legaly allowing tankers to sail shorthanded. This doesn't come up because it now legal to sail with less crew than is actually needed so where's the fault there?

Yes, crews are understaffed and overworked but they're just as
normal & healthy as any construction crew you'd find on dry land, most are professional sailors with the exception of a few captains. These are not your sailors of yesteryear, they may be a rough lot but so are the ones that build the high rise offices buildings you work in & the towering bridges that you drive across. If there's a structural flaw don't blame the ones who built it blame the ones who designed it & instructed & recorded how it was built.

Next time you fly, think about the stewartess. Does the plane crash if they're drunk? If the captain's short handed & has to come out of the cockpit to serve you meals & drinks & the plane crashes but the law doesn't allow the captains more than 2 crew & one of them was at the controls at the time are you gonna look for a drunken passanger or stewart & blame?

Barrty


Barry