Diver left behind - Florida

[RJP]

I've never seen a Captain who is in such a hurry that he can't actually take the time to make sure everyone is on the boat. Tales a lot less time than a search.

And NEVER ends up in the newspaper.



Frankly (see what I did there?) I think the way you do it is the best, and I've adopted it myself For those who have not dove with Frank, after each dive on the Spree Frank personally takes roll by walking up to each diver, signing them back on the boat and - while looking them in the eye and checking them out - asks them "how was your dive, everything OK?" He won't take your best friend's word that you are in the head or even you calling out "here" from your bunk. He doesn't just care that you're back on the boat... but that you're actually OK. Not just that you SAY you're OK, or even THINK you're OK. He want's to make sure for himself.

 

[Akimbo]

… Frankly (see what I did there?) I think the way you do it is the best, and I've adopted it myself ...

I agree but it is much harder on a half-day boat with 20 divers. I often thought a simple app where you could snap a mug-shot of a passenger and add their name with any certs you want to document would be useful. Then the app could flash the image and name up when doing your roll-call. That can also feed into a customer database.

Heck, it takes me most of the week to learn everyone’s names on a liveaboard, but of course I have no business being in theirs.

 

[KevinNM]

IIRC, the crew on the Spree helping you back on the boat are also making their own list of who is now out of the water.

 

[Wookie]

IIRC, the crew on the Spree helping you back on the boat are also making their own list of who is now out of the water.

I've had crew miss one either coming up or going in, especially when the swim deck gets busy with cameras and divers and one who is out of air and and and, and since we never hear about DM's leaving a diver behind, only Captains doing it, I figure it's best to cover my own butt.

The answer is real easy. The captain's responsibility at the end of the day is to bring the same number of divers home that they take out. That responsibility belongs to no one but the captain. Any captain that defers that responsibility to someone else is setting themselves up for a fall. And lots of chatter on the internet.

 

[Hickdive]

If you find a captain who has anything of value in their wallet, I want to talk to them, because I'm doing it wrong.

There's the $10 that's the difference between having pizza tonight or going hungry.

 

[Akimbo]

I used to dive with identical twin brothers, Larry and Barry. Even my photo-app suggestion would have limits with these guys onboard. Fingerprint scanning maybe? Imbedded RFID tags? Ban one from the boat?

 

[bilsant]

My first instructor told me he dove regularly with identical twins....Juan and Amal. They almost left one behind on a dive because

everyone on the boat agreed that if you've seen Juan, you've seen Amal.
























Sorry. Couldn't resist.

 

[SubAquatix]

All sorts of methods, but, when you consider only one person will be held responsible in the event of a lost diver, then it stands that there is only one person to check people on the boat and off the boat. If the Captain isn't going to be the one doing it, then the person doing so acts in his interests, or fails.

 

[Akimbo]

When there is a lawsuit in the US it rarely stops with the Master of the vessel. Owners, divemasters, and anyone else with assets or insurance get dragged into it. Even if you win the suit the ordeal is enough for anyone to be very careful unless they are drunk and have no humanity.

 

[SubAquatix]

You're right, after all, anyone can be sued for anything.

When we talk about responsibility, however, Admiralty law and the USCG have held, typically, the Capt and master of the vessel as responsible parties with regard to any action taken with control of a vessel.