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Add Audio/Video to your salvage equipment.

By Douglas Gould ©2007Its not unheard of for a pure salvage claim (or even a contracted one) todeteriorate into a “he said/she said” exchange once the insurance companysees the bill. Suddenly, the on-scene shouts of “I’m on the rocks” becomes “Iwasn’t that close to the rocks”; or “We’re getting pounded by the waves”turns into “it wasn’t that rough…” Sound familiar?Technology has come a long way in the last decade, and there is no reasonthat today’s modern towboat operator and salvor shouldn’t be equipped to produce objective evidence of the conditions, statements and actions of allthose who are involved in a salvage evolution.Most marine assistance operators carry at least an inexpensive still camera,and the old adage still holds true that

a picture tells a thousand words

. Asimple snapshot of a 40’ Express Cruiser on a breakwall will certainly tell part of the story – in some cases that is all that you will need to plead your case. But sixty seconds of video showing that Express Cruiser working back and forth with the surge, the waves breaking over her transom, and thefrantic shouts of her owner will represent the reality of the situation far morethan a static, still picture ever will.The digital revolution has made adding video recording capability reallysimple and inexpensive when compared with what was available just 6 yearsago. Perhaps it’s not all so complicated and expensive as you thought?If you don’t have any video equipment yet, I suggest that you begin with aminimum investment first: a $300 ‘handycam’ will get all the video youneed. Don’t buy an expensive camera! For one thing, it probably won’t lastmore than a season or two under the stress of the marine environment, andsecondly, you don’t need broadcast quality footage, just something that can be put on a DVD disk for viewing by the insurance company.Be sure and get a camera that records in digital format. The MINI-DVformat is a great choice. You want a digital format so you can easily processthe video on your computer, and then make multiple copies on DVD disks. Asimple editing program (like Microsoft’s Digital Image Suit+, about $120)

will do all the editing and copying you’ll need. Digital will also allow you tocreate a still photo from a single frame of the footage.Look for a camera that is really easy to use; the less buttons the better. Youdon’t need image stabilization (sometimes called steadyshot), or titles or inthe camera editing. You want a big red ‘record’ button and easy lenszooming. A good resource to find a cheap camera is eBay. If you havemultiple boats, consider buying identical cameras; that way your boatoperators only need to learn the camera operation once and don’t fumble thecontrols at the critical moment.Usually, your captain will be operating alone, and therefore cannot drive both boat and camera simultaneously. The solution is to bolt a simple tripodhead directly to the dash or other surface convenient to the boat operator. Aquick release plate makes mounting and removing the camera very easy. Allthe captain has to do is press record and turn the camera towards thecasualty.

Monfrotto 3229 is a simple tripod head with a quick release plate, and can bethrough bolted to a dash or console. Available for about $35.

Another advantage that a video camera has over a still camera is the audio.The camera is also recording all the sound within range of its built-inmicrophone. Most cameras will also have a auxiliary audio imput plug, soyou can mount a small microphone inside the pilothouse and recordeverything that the captain hears and says. At times, the audio becomes thecritical evidence when people begin to alter their statements or forget what

was actually said. Everyone at your company needs to be very careful to beclear and precise with their verbal communications during these episodes.John Andrews at Safe/Sea felt that the issue of confused, conflicting or revised statements was such a problem that he has installed an 8 channeldigital voice recorder in the dispatch center. The Total Recall Voice Logger is really just a huge hard drive (manufactured by Total Recallwww.totalrecallvr.com.) This voice activated recorder is on all the time, andrecords every phone call on 3 phone lines, plus the conversations of 4different VHF radios. Searching and retrieving recorded files is very fast andeasy. This device is useful for lost comms cases, replaying garbledtransmissions as well as producing audio evidence of a verbal contract.There may be legal issues with recording phone conversations in your state,so check with some legal authorities before plugging all you phones into arecorder. Recording VHF transmissions is generally legal.After a few years of R&D (aka, trial and error), Safe/Sea has more or lessstandardized the audio/video recording package on all 5 of their jet powered boats. A small, waterproof “helmet cam” is strapped on the top of an ARCremote spotlight. This allows the captain to pan the camera through 360°,and point the camera to where the action is. A second helmet cam ismounted in a fixed position facing aft.

Weather tight helmet cam mounted on top of spotlight: as the spotlight rotates, so does the camera.(photo: Nick Leblanc)