Failure to Utilize Sounding Data for Oil Record Book Entries. The routine practice on the Caribbean Princess, and other Princess vessels, was to use the overboard counter in the White Box to reverse engineer the Oil Record Book entries. The White Box recorded the volume, dates, and times of discharges and was intended to be used for the purposes of validating entries made in the Oil Record Book. Instead, that White Box data was used to fill out the Oil Record Book rather than using gauges or tank volumetric measurements (“soundings”) taken by the crew. Some engineers may have believed that the White Box flow meter was more accurate. However, various bypass practices were not accounted for, or disclosed. There is no indication that any Princess’ engineer used the actual volumetric soundings taken by the Caribbean Princess crew to fill out the Oil Record Book. By back-calculating the Oil Record Book using the White Box data, Princess’ engineers knew that the Oil Record Book would match the white box data, and thus appear accurate. For years, and across its entire fleet, Princess Environmental Officers compared the Oil Record Book entries to the White Box data that was used to create the Oil Record Book entries in the first place instead of serving as a verification system. Accordingly, these comparisons turned up nothing unusual except occasional mathematical errors, and provided no useful insight into the actual operation of the pollution prevention equipment aboard the vessel. Most Environmental Officers did not review the sounding logs or necessarily even know they existed. The Caribbean Princess and other Princess vessels maintained a spreadsheet on the engine room computer with sounding data, also known as a “smooth” log. The spreadsheet, in turn, was compiled from actual volumetric measurements (“soundings”), taken by crew on individual hand-written sounding sheets, which were compiled each day and placed in the engine control room. As a result of the investigation, Princess has provided its engineers with new guidance that includes using the sounding log data to compile the Oil Record Book so that it will be a more accurate reflection of actual engineering practices aboard its vessels.
