"You" wrote in message
...
In article om,
"mmc" wrote:

"Capt. JG" wrote in message
ons...
"cavelamb" wrote in message
...
In situations like that you do the best you can.

Just accept it and don't worry about the "what ifs".
They will drive you nuts.

Ya done good, John.

Yup... that's all you can do. Tragic outcome.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com



One guy makes a mistake that costs him his life as well as some property
damage and this is somehow more tragic than dozens lost off of Sierra
Leone?
I read the "poor poeple are perfectly happy" bull**** on the other
thread.
Apparently not if they'll go to those lengths to get a better life. Like
those "perfectly happy" Cubans that die trying to make the passage to
Florida.
What are we really crying about here? The loss of dockage?

As far as "I" am concerned, neither of these events could be classed, as
Tragic. They both seem to be just plain Human Stupidity. We, the readers
of these type stories, are so accustomed to our NEWS Reporting adding
superlatives like "Tragic", etc, to our News, that when a truly "Tragic"
Event occurs, and gets reported. There aren't any adjectives that can
describe the event left to use....

In the fire case, the original vessel owner/skipper made a bunch of
errors. The towboat skipper, also made a bunch of errors. which
compounded the situation. The Fire Department, wasn't equipped properly
to fight fire, on that dock, which was a Massive oversight, of their
operational planning. The rest of the folks did the best they could with
the cards they were dealt, and did what was needed to be done, to
terminate the event.

IN the Sierra Leone vessel sinking, it would seem the vessel skipper was
a bit over optimistic, (Being very Politically Correct here) on the
amount of overloading his vessel could handle, given the weather
conditions, and seas he encountered. The passengers, were certainly
being totally oblivious of that obvious fact, of the overloading of the
vessel. The Government Authority seems to be oblivious to the danger of
this type of transportation idiocy. So, who is to blame... All of the
above...


I haven't been in Sierra Leone but I have worked in Guinea where we rode
ferries (mix of OLD actual vehicle ferries and landing craft) that were
loaded to capacity with vehicles and then standing passengers packed like
sardines in all the open spaces. So many people you couldn't get out of the
vehicle. Was it unsafe, you betcha! Was there another way across the river?
Yeah, swim.
Deeper in the jungle the ferries became somewhat simpler, we did one that
was a trio of big dugouts with heavy planks laid accross sideways. Again, if
you need to get to the other side...
Guinea, when I was there, was heads and tails over SL in every aspect and
you might see a couple of soldiers hanging out at the landings but no
"Government Authority" in sight.
First world ideas and ideals are great but they don't fit everywhere. Not
everyone can afford them.
As for the guy that died horribly after filling his boat, have you ever made
a mistake? Should you have died screaming because of your mistake?
That's a little harsh, isn't it?

Seems like Darwin Theory in action.... Survival of the fittest......
or of the Less Stupid.... Tragic, to me would seem to cover things that
happen, that one, has NO control Over. Like Acts of God, etc.... but if
one has even a second or third degree of decision making in any part of
the event, you can't call it "Tragic"....