He hurriedly ordered "One short blast", "Hard starboard" and "Stop engine" in sequence, but the order to put the helm hard over to starboard was not clearly delivered to the helmsman and his submarine continued sailing straight ahead. He subsequently ordered 'Standard astern engine' and "Full flank astern engine" and about 15:37.5 hours, he gave again the "Hard a starboard" order and the submarine started to turn to starboard. Slightly before 1538 hours he observed the "Fuji Maru No.1" turning to port and coming up, and he issued a collision warning, immediately after which when his ship headed on about 300｡?ith a remaining headway of about 3 knots at about 15:38 hours on July 23, 1988, the starboard bow of the pleasure fishing boat collided with the starboard bow of the "Nadashio" almost in parallel.
The "Fuji Maru No.1" was a single-deck steel fishing boat with a forecastle launched in March 1970. She was converted to a pleasure fishing boat for hire in November 1983, with the installation of a restaurant cum living room on the upper deck and the refurbishment of the fish hold below the upper deck to cabin spaces for passengers and crew members. For the passenger compartment, two staircases with a width of about 0.7 m were installed, one each, at its fore and aft ends. The forward staircase led to the boatswain's store in the forecastle from the port side, further leading to outside through the starboard opening on the store's aft bulkhead; and the aft staircase had an access door to outside from the starboard side through the internal passage.
As to access to outside from each compartment on the upper deck, one opening was provided each in the port aft part of the saloon, in the aft part of the internal passage and on the port side of the fishing gear store, and another one in the aft port bulkhead of the same store leading to the under deck crew spaces; on the starboard side, only one was provided in the engine room casing; all of them were fitted with steel watertight doors.
Fuji Shoji, the designated person in the marine accident, engaged in businesses, such as agency services of selling membership for leisure clubs (pleasure fishing boats for hire), and had operated and managed the "Fuji Maru No.1" since March 1987 when the company purchased her.
Carrying 39 passengers (one of whom was a child of less than 12 years of age), the "Fuji Maru No. 1", manned with the Skipper, examinee and other eight crew members, left Yokohama, the port of Keihin, for the port of Motomachi on Izu O Shima at about 14:15 hours on July 23, 1988, for the purpose of pleasure fishing.
The Skipper left the pier, without giving notice of overloading 4 persons above her carrying capacity, and engaged in her maneuvers by himself. At About 15:29 hours when she passed the Uraga Suido Traffic Route No. 5 light buoy about 91｡?o her port 950 m off, he put the engine full ahead to about 9.8knots, set her course on 148｡?nd proceeded in the automatic steering mode. Shortly after that he sighted the "Eve I" under sail heading northward slightly to port of her stem about 2 miles off and, following that, at about 15:32 hours the "Nadashio" cruising westward on her port bow about 1.7 miles off.
