Many thanks for this, Moonfire. I will look it up. I quote the MAIB because it has a statutory duty to investigate any accident in UK waters or involving UK vessels. It does this at 2 levels. A preliminary investigation and then, if there is a major issue a full report. The incident you refer to does not seem to show in either category, so either it was not reported through the normal channels or I have missed it somewhere along the line.

There are, of course many life threatening incidents that never get anywhere near the MAIB and are usually recorded by the rescue services, particularly the RNLI which has no obligation to publish details. They do, however analyse the incidents to inform the advice they give on safety.

From my experience in observing the development of legislation and good practice in the commercial shipping field, improvements have been made, particularly in such areas as fire prevention and stability since the change in attitude that allows sharing and publication of incidents. CHIRPS is a good example of this approach.

So, although the MAIB and MCIB data may not be perfect it is much better than peoples' personal imaginations and beliefs that often underpin opinions stated in posts.

"Moral Panic" is a well known concept in mass communications exemplified by such incidents as Devil worship in the Orkneys and systemic child abuse in Lancashire, none of which had any basis in fact. Would be a pity if such phenomena spread into Yachting.