Torrey Canyon was a supertanker. In 1967 it crashed at the Seven Stones reef near the shores of England, cause an environmental disaster ( Wiki ).

The captain of the ship was aware was heading towards the Seven Stones reef, and intended to change the route. During routine navigation, the steering lever, connecting the rudder to the wheel at the helm, was in the Automatic control position. To change the route, the captain had to change it to Manual control.

Analysis of the accident reveals deficiencies in the ship design, which enabled the circumstances of the accident:

• On changing from Automatic mode to Manual mode, in order to bypass the reef, the steering lever was unintentionally set to a Control mode, disconnecting the rudder from the wheel at the helm ( Casey ).
• The captain was not aware of the exceptional situation. The hazard was latent .

  Note: the explanation in Wiki is inaccurate

  This guide proposes guidelines for preventing both sources for this kind of accidents.

Updated on 20 Apr 2016.