Posted by TechDiver on April 30, 2004 at 21:24:54:
In Reply to: CG kneejerk-blames the Captain posted by Sven on April 30, 2004 at 13:31:26:
I do not mean to be disrespectful to the captain of the dive boat in any way.
I am sure he is wondering what more he himself could have done that day to prevent all this nationwide and worldwide hooplah.
My thoughts are that when the D/M gave him the original head count, the captain could have verified it for himself, before leaving port.
Later, when the D/M told him all divers had been recovered from the first dive, the captain could have asked the D/M to take a final head count, or the captain could have done the count himself.
When the D/M was performing boat chores during the dives, the captain could have been surveying the horizon with a pair of binos.
Maybe that is what the captain is thinking right now. Point being, the USCG has no choice but to lay responsibility wholly on the captain of the dive boat. So it was not knee-jerk by the USCG, is was standard procedures by the USCG.
The USCG will be having their own internal investigation as to why they ended up searching at the wrong site. They will be no less harsh upon their own search boat commanders than they were on the dive boat captain.