Virginia-Based Federal Pilot Missing after Falling into Frigid Waters off Cape Henlopen

In the fifth maritime accident involving a US-based marine pilot in just over one year, a Chesapeake Federal Pilot has reportedly fallen as he attempted to board the US-flagged “Energy Enterprise” just off Cape Henlopen, located at the mouth of the Delaware Bay. On Monday, the Coast Guard announced in a press release that the search for the pilot had been suspended. The sea water temperature at the time of the incident was reported to be just 39 degrees Fahrenheit. A US Coast Guard spokesperson told MarEx on Wednesday that “We search until the point where we believe the likelihood that anyone could survive has expired.”

Search and rescue operations were coordinated by the Coast Guard Sector Field Office in Atlantic City, where personnel directed the launch of search crews aboard an HH-65C Dolphin rescue helicopter from Air Station Atlantic City, as well as three rescue boats from Station Cape May, NJ and Station Indian River, Del. The Coast Guard Cutter “Dependable” was also directed to search the area. The pilot, identified as Lynn Deibert of Virginia Beach, VA, was said to be wearing a personal flotation device when he went into the water and witnesses to the accident deployed three life rings.

Coast Guard crews reported conducting 13 search sorties over a period of more than 14 hours in their search for Deibert. The weather off Cape Henlopen at time of accident was reported as 20-25 knot winds, 6-foot seas and clear visibility. The pilot boat, the Big Stone 5 was reportedly on the way to Lewes, Delaware for further examination at the dock and the “Energy Enterprise” continued on to Baltimore, where Coast guard investigators were to board her and conduct investigations and crew interviews.

This latest incident marks the fifth such event involving a US-based ship pilot in the last thirteen months and the second in just two weeks. In January, a pilot boat carrying two pilots back from an assignment in the US gulf resulted in the drowning deaths of one individual. The pilot boat was returning from a Gibraltar-flagged research vessel. Following a mayday call from another pilot boat in the area, the US Coast Guard responded and was able to rescue one ship pilot in rough waters just south of the Galveston jetties. The body of the other man from the pilot boat was later located and recovered by a commercial dive team, about 3 miles south of the Galveston Jetties.

In January of 2006, another veteran harbor pilot died in Hawaii after falling from a ladder after piloting a cruise ship out of the harbor. After falling in the water, he was hit by the pilot boat. Also in the same month, a Columbia River bar pilot lost his life on the job when he tried to disembark from a log carrier that he had finished guiding during a storm. As he attempted to make the leap to a smaller shuttle boat that would return him to land, he went overboard and drowned. His body was finally recovered almost two days later. Finally, in October of last year, a Boston harbor pilot lost his life in a tragic accident while to board a vessel via rope ladder. He fell to his death on a steel barge which was breasting alongside the vessel.

The most recent incidents only underscore the dangerous nature of the job of harbor pilot and also raise questions as to whether marine pilots are receiving adequate safety training about the hazards of their profession. But, pilot apprenticeship programs are generally rigorous and demanding, commensurate with the risks involved with the dangerous profession. Deibert was an experienced, veteran pilot and President of his association.

(Captain) Gregg Farmer of the Boston Pilots Association told MarEx on Wednesday that part of the problem can possibly be traced to the enforcement of IMO standards with regard to the use of proper equipment and the deployment of that equipment by the ships themselves. “Port State Control is the key. Pilot boarding ladders have to be in compliance and they have to be deployed correctly by the vessels,” he said.

Farmer went on to say that in Massachusetts, state law requires all trainee pilots to be in the company of an experienced pilot during all boardings for at least the first year of his / her training. He also said that the quality of the “standard” pilot boat can vary widely between pilot organizations and that some were better suited than others to allow for boarding and disembarkation in difficult conditions. In other words, any number of variables could have contributed to the accident.

Weather conditions during the boarding operation on Sunday were rough but certainly not uncommon and pilots routinely board vessels in this type of weather. Unknown at this time is the condition of the vessel’s pilot ladder and for how long it had been deployed before Deibert attempted to board the vessel. The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the latest accident.