MRM Case

MV Balduin, page 1

MRM CASE - MV BALDUIN

Grounding of MV Balduin 30 October 1984.
On 30 October 1984 the MV BALDUIN left Oslo for Fredikstad, a short voyage of about five
hours down the Oslo fjord.
After departure the master left the bridge leaving the pilot and the second officer to navigate. He
told the second officer to call him 20 minutes before the Videgrunnen lighthbouy.
The passage went normally apart from that the second officer and the pilot did not talk. This was
probably the result of a small personality clash when the pilot and the second officer met on the
bridge before departure.
When passing the Struten lighthouse at 19.28 the second officer made a note in the log book.
The vessel proceeded at full ahead, 17 knots. At 19.55 the second officer called the master as
instructed earlier.
The vessel was steered by autopilot; course changes were executed by the pilot himself, without
informing the officer on watch.
For some reason the pilot did not notice that the vessel was passing the Tresteinerne lighthouse
where they were due to change course to 090 degrees towards Fredrikstad. They proceeded
without any alteration of course.
At 20.05 the master arrived at the bridge. He did not speak to the second officer and did not
acquaint himself with the vessels position. He disconnected the autopilot and placed the lookout
at the helm. The Klvingarna lighthouse was now seen on the port bow.
The second officer did not involve himself in the navigation of the vessel after the master had
arrived on the bridge but concentrated totally on other duties.
Afterwards the pilot claimed that he felt insecure about the vessels position at the time, but did
not tell anybody. The master now asked the pilot about the vessels position and was told that the
Tresteinerne lighthouse was on the port bow, which in fact was the Klvingarna lighthouse.
At 20.18 the course was changed to 090 degrees as the Balduin rounded the Klvingarna
lighthouse. The helmsman, who lived in the city of Strmstad now 15nm ahead of the vessel, had
a strange feeling of familiarity, so he asked the two men in front of him, Arent the red lights far
ahead the masts in Strmstad????. Nobody replied.
At 20.23 the Balduin struck bottom with full speed ahead on the Svartskren rocks, causing
severe damage to the fore part of the vessel.
In MRM terms, what caused the grounding?

Copyright 1993-2007 The Swedish Club

MRM Case

MV Balduin, page 2

Correct route

Mistaken route
1955 2/o called master

2005 master on bridge

MV Balduin case
Balduin went aground on
the Svartskaren rocks

Copyright 1993-2007 The Swedish Club