Ferry captain disputes firing
Published 11:35 pm Monday, July 30, 2007
MUKILTEO – A collision that sent the Cathlamet ferry smashing into the Mukilteo Ferry Terminal in June was caused by human error, state officials said Monday.
Capt. Dan Tracy, 60, was fired for not following “documented policies and procedures,” a Washington State Ferries investigation found.
Tracy is a 13-year employee of Washington State Ferries, said Carol Hepburn, his Seattle attorney.
The cause of the crash was the failure of a device used to slow the ships, Hepburn said. The union that represents Tracy is expected to file an appeal of his firing within a week, she said.
“We respectfully disagree with their conclusion,” said Hepburn, who has represented employees with the ferry system for more than 20 years.
“He took the necessary action to engage the bow propeller and the propeller failed to respond,” Hepburn said.
She said the quartermaster, the only other ferry employee on the bridge when the June 1 collision occurred, confirmed Tracy’s account.
Ferry officials disagreed.
“There’s no evidence to support Captain Tracy’s version of events,” said Mark McElwaine, a port captain who led the state’s investigation.
Even if Tracy was right, and the ferry’s braking system failed, then he still did not take steps that would have allowed the ferry to turn or stop before it hit the ferry terminal, McElwaine added.
“If he had followed the procedures in the safety management system, he would have enough time to abort the landing,” he said. “That’s why those procedures are there – so if something goes wrong, you have time and distance to do something about it.”
A timeline from the state’s investigation shows that Tracy needed to take an emergency bathroom break in the middle of the 20-minute run between Clinton and Mukilteo.
He returned to the bridge four minutes before the crash. He assumed control of the vessel, but then failed to follow numerous procedures used to slow the vessel, the report stated.
Tracy was placed on leave after the accident. He was fired on July 20.
The Cathlamet was moving at about 8 mph when it crashed into the terminal, state officials said.
The collision caused $139,000 in damage to the Cathlamet and knocked it out of service for about a week. Repairs to the ferry terminal are still under way and will cost more than $1 million.
Witness reports, testimony from other crew members and GPS tracking were used to determine that Tracy was at fault, McElwaine said.
Weather and water currents were not factors in the accident, he said. The Cathlamet’s crew tested negative for drug and alcohol use, he said.
