**Documentation from the accident investigation can be found at http://tiny.cc/nataliejean — also, it's really annoying that if I were to put a period at the end of that sentence, YouTube would include it as part of the URL. There is no way to tell YouTube to exclude characters.**
About 0938 local time on March 12, 2018, the towboat Natalie Jean was pushing an empty fuel tank barge upriver on the Lower Mississippi River near New Orleans, Louisiana, when the towboat became caught on the port anchor chain of the anchored bulk carrier Atlantic Fairy. The towboat capsized and [very] quickly sank; the barge broke free and collided with the bulk carrier.
Two of the three crew members on board the towboat died in the accident, and damage estimates exceeded $500,000.
The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the capsizing and sinking of the Natalie Jean was the company’s decision to place an inadequately vetted pilot on board the vessel who did not have previous experience operating the vessel.
The pilot was the sole survivor of the accident. The transcript of an NTSB interview of the pilot, as well as an interview of the ship's owner... who had hired the pilot after meeting him earlier that week at a radar school... is among the documents linked above.
The ship's owner failed to comply with several of his company's own requirements including preemployment hiring procedures that include verifying the captain’s training and credentialing as well as ensuring the pilot was thoroughly familiarized with the vessel prior to operating it unsupervised. The owner placed the pilot on board the Natalie Jean even though he had no direct experience with the pilot’s ability. While the pilot had years of towing vessel experience on the Mississippi River, he had not worked for eight months.
At the time of the accident the Lower Mississippi River gauge at mile 102 measured 16.5 feet and the current was estimated at 5 mph. Winds were from the North at 1015 knots, with gusts of 2026 knots. The Natalie Jean was pushing an empty fuel tank barge upriver when the towboat became caught on the port anchor chain of the anchored bulk carrier Atlantic Fairy. The towboat capsized and quickly sank. The barge broke free and collided with the Atlantic Fairy. The Natalie Jean’s captain and deckhand died in the accident.
The NTSB further found that the pilot’s decision to transit upriver in the general anchorage, given his unfamiliarity with the vessel and close proximity to anchored and underway vessels in highwater conditions and strong winds, increased the navigational challenges leading up to the accident. Their report states that the pilot’s lack of vessel knowledge and experience, coupled with high water, strong beam winds and a vessel that was only making 1 to 2 mph in a strong 5 mph current, while pushing a barge upriver through a busy anchorage, placed him in an extremely challenging situation.
Although the owner had met with the pilot the day before the accident and had provided a prevoyage orientation, the pilot told investigators that he was not familiar with the vessel’s steering system and that it took some time for him to get used to it. The Natalie Jean was equipped with a doubleflanking rudder system and the primary steering control consisted of a short “stick” with a wooden rod taped to the end in order to extend it. The pilot told investigators that he “had to kind of work with that a bit,” but he did not elaborate.
Additional details regarding the pretrip orientation, the voyage plan, the impact of severe weather on its execution, and more are found in the document "Marine Accident Brief" in the Google Drive folder linked above.
The following selections are from that document:
"After arriving about 1830–1900 and securing the barge, the captain offered to let the pilot sleep while he and the deckhand discharged the load of fuel...
When the captain and pilot completed their watch turnover, they did not discuss the flood warning in effect nor the current and wind...
To the pilot’s knowledge, the captain went down to the galley to start breakfast after helping the deckhand, and he was then going to sleep. Soon thereafter, the deckhand also went down below.
The pilot was found in the water between the barge and the Atlantic Fairy, but the captain and the deckhand could not be located.
Postsalvage, the general alarm switch’s guard was found in the downposition and its toggle switch was in the offposition. The pilot stated that he activated the general alarm after he heard the anchor chain contact the towboat but said he did not hear it sound. The owner said he tested the system the day before and it worked, and that he always tested it before a voyage."
The owner of the vessel told investigators that the ship orientation he had provided the pilot had not included a review of any emergency procedures, nor the station bills for abandon ship, fire, or man overboard.