Vignette
It is 0340. You are anchored off Palma. Your Chief Engineer calls: a cracked fuel transfer pipe has discharged an unknown quantity of diesel into the bilge, and the oily water separator is now showing contaminated output. Before you are fully awake, you hear your Officer of the Watch report a visible sheen on the water to starboard. You are the Master. Two incidents, possibly connected, and the clock is already running.
Your immediate priorities as Master
You are not the engineer solving the mechanical problem. You are the person with legal accountability for what enters the sea, what gets recorded, and who gets told. Separate the two threads:
Source control first. Order the transfer stopped, isolate the damaged pipe, close overboard discharges. Nothing more goes over the side until you have assessed the situation.
Assess the sheen. A rainbow or silver sheen does not automatically mean an illegal discharge has occurred — it may be from the bilge incident, a passing vessel, or a natural source. Your job is to determine whether it originated from your vessel and to act on that assumption until proven otherwise.
Reporting obligations
MARPOL Annex I imposes a duty to report any discharge — actual or probable — of oil or oily mixture. The Balearic Islands are Spanish territorial waters; the competent authority is the relevant Spanish Maritime Rescue and Coordination Centre (MRCC) and port authority. Under the UK's reporting framework (and aligned to MARPOL Protocol I), a report must be made without delay if there is a harmful substance involved.
Report contents must include: vessel identity, position, date/time, type and quantity of substance if known, nature of the incident, and any action taken. Do not speculate on quantity if unknown — state it as unknown.
If operating under a flag state other than the UK, confirm local Port State reporting thresholds. As a UK-flagged or REG YC-compliant vessel, your SMS should specify the reporting chain clearly.
Oil Record Book entries
If your vessel is ≥400 GT, every discharge or escape must be entered in the ORB Part I. The entry must be made without delay, be accurate, and not be falsified — falsification of the ORB is a criminal offence under UK law. If nothing was discharged overboard, record that fact and the remedial action taken. The ORB entry is signed by the responsible officer, each page signed by the Master.
Pollution found at sea
You observe a large oil slick of unknown origin while on passage. You are not the source. Your obligations are:
- Report the observation to the nearest MRCC with position, extent, appearance, and estimated drift.
- Do not alter course into the slick unless conducting SAR.
- Record time, position, weather, sea state, and your report in the Official Log.
- Preserve any evidence if there is reason to believe a vessel was responsible.
Command responsibility
You cannot delegate the decision to discharge or the decision to report. Neither can you allow commercial pressure — an owner's anxiety about port delay — to influence whether a report is made. The penalties for unreported discharge, and the career and criminal consequences of falsifying records, are severe and fall on you personally.