From the Boathouse: An explanation of boat name prefixes

Ahoy!

In a previous column (From the Boathouse, April 1, 2016), I told you about the recommendation of using the name of RRS Boaty McBoatface for a ship and what the prefix RRS means in the nautical world. Vessels can have letters used in front of their names, and these informal, military, or national formats signify the type of the vessel’s propulsion, the vessel’s purpose or a military/national identification.

An informal prefix is the use of “MY” to signify the vessel is a motor yacht with an engine as the means of main propulsion in lieu of using the wind which would be a sailing vessel with “SV” as the prefix. “PS,” as mentioned above, means paddle steamer, and lastly, my favorite is the use of “DV” for dead vessel.

So, the prefix RRS signifies a vessel as a naval Royal Research Ship of the United Kingdom, and the queen must warrant the designation for a vessel with RSS. I expect the ship to sail with the prefix RSS, however, I think that the aortic will have to melt before the vessel is officially named Boaty McBoatface.

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Tip of the week: When you see a boat heading straight for a sea wall at an unusual high rate of speed after missing its docking, run but don’t forget to start your camera’s video. This was the case on March 31 in San Diego when the Adventure Hornblower slammed into a sea wall.

A YouTube video is floating through the boating community that shows the Adventure Hornblower skimming its dock and veering slightly to port before the allision occurred (youtube.com/watch?v=nR98hBRbA5w&sns=em).

Now, I wrote “allision” and not collision or collided as some news outlets have reported. Allision and collision have two legally separate definitions in maritime law. An “allision” is when a vessel strikes a stationary or fixed object like an island, pier or a bridge, whereas a “collision” is two or more objects in motion colliding.

Besides the legal definitions, and more important at this point, is that the skipper had nowhere to go but directly into the wharf. Luckily, no one ashore was hit by the vessel’s bow when it slammed into sidewalk. However, at least one person grabbed their phone and started recording when it was obvious that something was wrong.

You can hear five short horn blasts from the Hornblower signaling the danger signal, which is an interesting signal to give when heading for people on land. The five short blasts are used to communicate between two vessels. Since most people don’t know the meaning of this sound signal, I suspect that years of training made the skipper instinctively give five short blasts to try to warn those in the path of his approaching boat instead of just lying on the horn button.

However, very natural and a prudent decision of behalf of the skipper as he probably had his hands full trying to get the boat under control. A mechanical situation in close quarters can leave the skipper with few, if any, options.

I am pleased that no one onshore was injured and only a few people onboard had to seek further medical attention. I am reserving my initial thoughts until I have more details on this incident. Unfortunately for the skipper, he will forever be remembered by this one incident memorialized by this video.

The original boating program, “Boathouse TV & Radio Shows,” has stretched from coast to coast for more than two decades. See the details at boathousetv.com, facebook.com/boathouseradio and twitter.com/boathouseradio.

Safe Voyages!

MIKE WHITEHEAD is a boating columnist for the Daily Pilot. Send marine-related thoughts and story suggestions to mike@boathousetv.com or go to boathousetv.com.