FDNY/NYPD Marine Units Assist Norwegian Gem......Weird Captain

[x635 4,066]

I know FDNY and NYPD legitimately assisted the Norwegian Gem last week on a medical disembark for a patient that sustained a serious eye injury from a flying champagne cork.

However, if you watch this video, and listen to the audio between the Captain of the Norwegian Gem and NYPD/FDNY, it's a little...well....weird. Put aside the Ship Captain being extremely rude and downright nasty to the emergency services assisting the vessel, but this guy's accent....no way is he the Captain of the Norwegian Gem, who is from most likely Norway? Maybe a harbor pilot? Or is the audio a parody?

Video with audio transmissions between ship captain and emergency services. Listen: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=756440231041775

[Jybehofd 85]

HOLY SH@T The tanker is close and they are going strait towards land. He's In big trouble there. They should have lowered the fast rescue boat from the cruise ship with the patient on board and go to a pier or meet up with the fire fighter and do a transfer that way. Also there is no reason why the ship should stop. the pilot gets on the ship when she is doing about 5kts. In Fast rescue boat training all maritime officers are trained on how to do a high speed transfer from one boat to another..

That sounds like the Sandy Hook pilot there is some audio of the main pilot boat making agreements with another ship and pilot captain. The ship can't stop. The current he needs to keep water on the rudder so he can maneuver.

From the Mariners point of view this is really scary that the NYPD and FDNY Marine units can't do a simple personnel transfer while still underway. Its something all mariners do all the time. The PILOT did a great job in avoiding hitting the narrows and the other outbound tanker. Right move in going back out to graves end to. Just get out of dodge, too much traffic to play with. especially smaller traffic that is requesting the impossible from larger traffic.

[wraftery 1,275]

HOLY SH@T The tanker is close and they are going strait towards land. He's In big trouble there. They should have lowered the fast rescue boat from the cruise ship with the patient on board and go to a pier or meet up with the fire fighter and do a transfer that way. Also there is no reason why the ship should stop. the pilot gets on the ship when she is doing about 5kts. In Fast rescue boat training all maritime officers are trained on how to do a high speed transfer from one boat to another..

That sounds like the Sandy Hook pilot there is some audio of the main pilot boat making agreements with another ship and pilot captain. The ship can't stop. The current he needs to keep water on the rudder so he can maneuver.

From the Mariners point of view this is really scary that the NYPD and FDNY Marine units can't do a simple personnel transfer while still underway. Its something all mariners do all the time. The PILOT did a great job in avoiding hitting the narrows and the other outbound tanker. Right move in going back out to graves end to. Just get out of dodge, too much traffic to play with. especially smaller traffic that is requesting the impossible from larger traffic.

You are absolutely correct. The person communicating with FD/PD is most likely the pilot. I don't understand the confusion but it seems to be with which place on the ship the transfer will occur. It may be a problem with the ship's crew as opposed to PD/FD.

HE WAS RUDE??? He had a huge ship that was drifting towards land, shallows and other ships, and as they say in the maritime industry "A collision can ruin your entire day." His job was to regain maneuverability and get control of his ship. I thought he was being very calm in consideration of his situation. Also note that a collision could cost him his pilots license.

[Jybehofd 85]

Thats the thing i am sure they didn't have direct contact on the bridge with crew trying to off load the patient. and who knows what the language barrier is on that ship. typical cruise ships have an Italian captain, some of the other officers may be american, but the ABs (Able Body seaman) and the OS (Ordinary Seaman) maybe filipino or another country that doesn't speak English as a first language. majority of the cruise ships have this problem.

The Pilot seemed fine just want to get out of dodge and out of danger and go out and come back in. I bet he didn't know about the transfer till he got to the bridge. Its something that could have taken place out by the sea buoy

[PEMO3 523]

I think another issue here is how many vessels does it take to transfer 1 patient. FDNY, NYPD, Coast Guard, etc. Simply put, too many cooks in the kitchen. If FDNY with the EMS crew onboard was dispatched for the medical call then why was NYPD jockeying for position. Seems like the same old turf wars just this time in boats.

[M' Ave 1,466]

Wow....lotsa conclusions being made here. It seems that there was confusion about where the patient was going to be brought, not trouble with an underway transfer. The captain stated that he had to get underway an FD/PD made way for that to happen. They settled on a place to meet outside of the Narrows. Done and done....

[everybodygoes 331]

So lets endanger the lives of almost 3500 people cause one person has a non-life threatening injury!

[Jybehofd 85]

maybe a couple of more lives then you actually think that sort of looks like a chemical tanker and FYI its at anchor its not moving. nor will they be able to move anytime fast if needed too. it could take 5 to 10 mins depending on a lot of factors. and she looks loaded

[TimesUp 148]

Bottom line!.........Corks are bad news!

[Dinosaur 844]

Thats the thing i am sure they didn't have direct contact on the bridge with crew trying to off load the patient. and who knows what the language barrier is on that ship. typical cruise ships have an Italian captain, some of the other officers may be american, but the ABs (Able Body seaman) and the OS (Ordinary Seaman) maybe filipino or another country that doesn't speak English as a first language. majority of the cruise ships have this problem.

The Pilot seemed fine just want to get out of dodge and out of danger and go out and come back in. I bet he didn't know about the transfer till he got to the bridge. Its something that could have taken place out by the sea buoy

Isn't it something that could have waited to dock in a couple of hours?

The ship was coming in to dock, right? Let her wait and then have her

[Jybehofd 85]

true but you don't know how the patient is, from the bridge i would say maybe 30 to 45 mins to the time the ship was all fast alongside depending on traffic and if the tugs were ready to go.

[zinger57 4]

I was actually on board the Norwegian Gem during this incident. We were about an hour out to sea, and had to make the return trip. We snuck in between the tankers on the city side of the Verrazano Bridge. The person on the audio was not the captain. He had a foreign accent, but that was not him speaking to FDNY and NYPD. Not sure if it was an assistant or something else. Once the ship was placed, the captains from the bridge had all thrusters on trying to hold the ship in place. NYPD escorted us in and FDNY Firefighter II attempted to get alongside of our ship. With the thrusters they have on their unit, they couldn't get it against the side of the ship, and in order to get the fire personnel onto the ship, they had to hold it with a smaller FDNY unit. It did take a very long time, and NYPD ended up yanking the person and 2 FD personnel off the low platform near the rear of the ship. As we made our way back out of the harbor, FDNY came out and grabbed the remaining 2 fire personnel. I later spoke to the actual captain at a ship party, and asked him about the coordination between the ship and agencies. He said they communicate with the coast guard who coordinates with the city agencies. He also told me they couldn't make the rescue at sea because the swells were too large to be successful, we had very high winds that evening. Also, the captain stated that they were close enough to NYC that it was more feasible to return to the harbor. Also, the victims eye injury was serious enough that they needed to get her off the ship immediately. I felt the rescue went really well especially with the conditions and although it did seem to take a long time, it was very windy, and I'm sure the ship is intimidating when something that size is drifting towards someone in a small boat. And the captain ended up making the time lost up as well for the rest of the trip.

Matt Gordiski

[zinger57 4]

Additionally, we were never in any danger, and we were very far away from the tanker that was talked about. The thrusters on the ship can do some amazing things.

Edited May 5, 2014 by zinger57

[M' Ave 1,466]

Zinger, nice job on the clarifications!