On August 26, 2017, Voyager struck the rock Le Bœuf, near Saint-Barthélemy, during the last crossing of the day between Oyster Pond and Gustavia. Three of the 31 passengers and three crew members were slightly injured.
HT, the captain of the ship, and former employee of the Voyager company, appeared on Thursday, October 18 before the Saint-Martin criminal court for "endangering others by manifestly deliberate violation of a regulatory obligation of safety or prudence" . The question was whether the captain had lacked vigilance.
At the helm, the 32-year-old defendant returned to the progress of the crossing and the poor navigation conditions. Although no weather report predicted bad weather, it started to rain a few minutes after departure, reducing visibility. Voyager III being repaired, the captain must make the crossing aboard Voyager 1, more dilapidated. "They repaired the main aircraft but full of accessories that were not necessarily necessary were left behind" advance HT In this case, the boat, authorized to navigate by Martinique Maritime Affairs, is not equipped with radar, but just an old GPS. “As we sail near the coast, we take visual cues. By day, it is possible to orient oneself without a GPS, but if there are complications, you need a radar, ”he continues.
The court also sought to establish whether the presence of two passengers in the cabin could have impaired the captain's vigilance. "This is a former employee and her friend who came to take refuge on the bridge when it started to rain" declares HT before ensuring that at the time of the facts, "they were not even discussing not between them and me I stayed in my thing ”. His lawyer specifies that there is no formal prohibition that people are present in the cabin and that on the contrary "courtesy" with the passengers is encouraged in the company.
The prosecution is also surprised that, given the state of the boat and the weather conditions, the captain did not refuse to make the crossing. "We cannot blame an employee for refusing to exercise his right of withdrawal" indignantly the defense lawyer.
HT has been unemployed since he signed a contractual break with his employer in December 2017. His lawyer recalls that the manager of the company said after the accident: “in my opinion there is no flagrant fault but a succession of circumstances ”. HT was not subject to disciplinary action and, moreover, his criminal record is clean.
According to the prosecution, HT did not pay enough attention to the position of the rock on the GPS. "He should have braked, made a 180 ° turn to look for the rock". He therefore criticized him for a "poor appreciation of the sailing conditions" and symbolically requested a fine of 3000 euros, of which 2000 was suspended.
“There was no question of playing with people's lives” argues the defense lawyer who asks for the release of his client. If, after the facts, rumors circulated about the possible state of intoxication of the captain, the lawyer points out that his client's breathalyser was negative. “We gave him an inoperative work tool. There was no distraction or loss of vigilance ”. The judgment was reserved for November 15.
(More details on www.soualigapost.com)
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