Quote:
Originally Posted by sailaway21
The danger signal of five or more short, rapid blasts on the whistle is only for vessel's underway. As referenced in the above link, the Master of the vessel that allided with us got off because he claimed that, upon hearing the danger signal, he assumed we were underway. I, on the other hand, assumed he had an admiralty lawyer who knew the rules of the road pretty well! (g)
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I disagree. Rule 34(d) states:
(d) When vessels in sight of one another are approaching each other and from any cause either vessel fails to understand the intentions or actions of the other, or is in doubt whether sufficient action is being taken by the other to avoid collision, the vessel in doubt shall immediately indicate such doubt by giving at least five short and rapid blasts on the whistle. Such signal may be supplemented by at least five short and rapid flashes.
While the term "approaching each other" could be construed as both vessels underway, it still seems fair to say that 5 short would be an appropriate signal when a vessel at
anchor is at risk of being collided into by another that is underway. I think that sounding Romeo (short, long, short) would also be good (maybe better) in this situation, but 5 short would not be wrong. Lima and Uniform are not normally used in R of R situations because most folks don't understand them.
Nevertheless, I don't think the power boat was at
anchor in the situation presented by the OP. 5 sort was the correct signal except that he was the give way vessel.