No Sea too Deep: The History of Oceanographic Instruments

Abstract

are not in fact exploited operationally due to the lack of what the Committee term an 'embedding' methodology which will enable the technolpgicaJ results to be accepted and incorporated into operating systems. The basic problems facing the maritime industry are summarized as a need to disseminate information, the proper co-ordination of research, rather than the lack of it and the will to apply existing knowledge. Perhaps the most important point to be stressed in the report is that human error and failing are the principal causative factors in most marine accidents, whereas research at present tends to concentrate on hardware rather than human behaviour. The former conclusion, whilst broadly true, is not supported in the report by any pubLished data. Whilst the report has a natural preoccupation witb US waters, one could criticize the lack of any data anywhere on the nature and cause of marine accidents, extracted hom the voluminous statistics available from organizations such as Lloyds of London or Norske Veritas in orway, or similar cia sification agencies. Sea transport is one of the oldest industries with centuries of tradition based on a maximum of unregulated enterprise to condition its thinking. In contrast, the newer technologies such as aviation have been preoccupied with safety from their inception and have evolved a discipLined structure in this respect. In the time-scale of the maritime industry, the establishment of an international co-ordinating authority, in the form of the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organisation (IMCO), in 1948, is a comparatively recent initiative. (This has recently been renamed the International Maritime Organi ation or IMO.) Technological advance in industry has greatly increased the consequences of marine accidents, in human, material, and environmental terms, so that the need for positive action i now generally accepted. However, the report wisely stresses the diverse and global nature of the maritime transport industry, which serves the various sectors and needs of the world economy in different ways. Whatever measures are adopted therefore need to recognize this fact and have to be international in character and effective without unduly inhibiting the industry. This published report of US Maritime Transportation Research Board is a useful contribution to these ends and the promotion of safety. It is recommended reading for established workers in this field, for whom it may provide a useful broadening of their perspective, and also for those corning fresh to the topic. For the latter, particularly, it will provide a comprehensive but easily assimilated introduction to the field of maritime safety.