At 0130 while traveling the North Atlantic, on our way to the Windward Passage, cargo vessel “Palmela” showed herself on radar at 16 nautical miles. She was on a dead head on collision course with “Warbird” at a speed of 21 kts. After radio communication with her Captain, “Palmela made a 2 degree course change to her starboard and “Warbird” made a 6 degree course change to our starboard. This gave us a course separation of 1.5 nautical miles as we safely passed in the night.

The old adage that “two ships in open water are almost sure to be on a collision course” still stands.