Rule 5 Lookout: Distraction, Phones, and Why Boats Collide

Rule 5 of the navigation rules is one sentence long, and it may be the most important sentence in them:

"Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision."

Every word carries weight. At all times means there is no slack period. Sight and hearing means someone is actually looking and listening, not just watching a screen. All available means brings in radar, AIS, and radio. Prevailing circumstances means the right lookout on a clear night in open water is not the right lookout in a crowded harbor in fog.

Who can be the lookout

The question comes up constantly on smaller vessels. Can the person steering also be the lookout?

Sometimes. International training standards allow the officer of the watch to act as sole lookout in daylight, but only after the situation has been carefully assessed and only when visibility, traffic, weather, and the vessel's position allow it, with help immediately available if things change. Many company procedures set their own limits. On some small passenger vessels and towboats, one person in the wheelhouse is normal practice.

The real question is never simply whether one person was allowed to do both jobs. It is whether that one person could do both jobs properly at that moment. Steering through a channel with traffic, monitoring radar, answering the radio, and watching the water ahead is a lot for one person. Add anything else and something gives.

The phone

Distraction on the bridge is not new. What has changed is that nearly everyone now carries a device built to hold attention. A text, a call, a quick look at email or the news. It takes only seconds, and seconds are what lookout cases are made of.

Many companies now have written policies on personal electronic devices on the bridge. Some ban them on watch, and others limit them. Whether the company had a policy, whether the crew knew it, and whether anyone enforced it are fair questions in any casualty case.

How phone use gets proven

People rarely admit to looking at their phone just before an accident. They usually do not have to. The evidence is often available:

• Carrier records showing calls and texts with time stamps
• Data usage records showing when the phone was active
• Forensic examination of the device itself, where a court allows it
• Voyage data recorder audio, which can capture typing, ringtones, and conversations
• Bridge video, increasingly common on passenger vessels
• Witness accounts from other crew members or passengers

The key is matching the clocks. A text sent at a certain minute means little until it is lined up against the AIS track and the vessel's position at that same minute. When the timeline shows the operator's attention was elsewhere while the vessel closed on another boat or a fixed object, the lookout question mostly answers itself.

Those records need to be preserved early. Phone data can be deleted, devices get replaced, and carriers keep some records only for limited periods.

The defense view

Not every phone in the wheelhouse means a distracted operator. Phones are used for legitimate vessel business. Navigation apps, company communications, and calls to dispatch or the dock are part of many operators' working day. A fair analysis asks what the phone was being used for, for how long, and whether the timing actually overlaps with the moments that mattered.

The standard is not complicated

Keep watching. Use every tool you have. Match the lookout to the conditions. When one person cannot do it all safely, get help or slow down. Most lookout failures I review break one of those simple rules, and the records usually show which one.

About the author

Captain Mitchell S. Stoller is a Master Mariner Unlimited, former Exxon tanker master, and former Los Angeles Harbor pilot. About Captain Stoller