A cargo ship captain has told a court that he was warned about a steering problem on a sister ship just days before his vessel collided with an oil tanker, resulting in the death of a crew member.
Vladimir Motin, the captain of the Solong, said he was informed by someone in the shipping company that a similar vessel had experienced a “sudden rudder blockage”. He was advised not to be “afraid” if the same issue occurred on his ship and that he could rectify the problem by restarting the steering gear.
Motin was on watch when the Solong crashed into the US tanker Stena Immaculate off the East Yorkshire coast on 10 March last year, leaving 38-year-old Mark Angelo Pernia missing, presumed dead.
Giving evidence at the Old Bailey in London, Motin said he had never experienced the steering issue on the Solong himself. He told the jury he had worked on ships since 1985 and became captain of the Solong in 2009, working six months on and six months off.
The court previously heard that Motin had tried to take manual control of the ship’s steering when it was one mile away from the Stena Immaculate, but the autopilot did not disengage. Motin, 59, from Primorsky in St Petersburg, Russia, denies a charge of gross negligence manslaughter.
Visibility on the day of the crash was around three nautical miles, and Motin said there was no need for a second person on the bridge in those conditions, as he had been on solo watch many times before in similar circumstances.
The trial continues.
