YalsonKSA OP t1_j1opuln wrote on December 26, 2022 at 3:56 AM

Reply to comment by Jackcooper in TIL that in 2003, the chief officer of the German-owned cargo ship RMS Mülheim got into difficulties while on watch. His trousers caught in his chair mechanism and while trying to free himself he tripped and knocked himself unconscious. The ship grounded on rocks while he was out and later broke up by YalsonKSA

Not sure, to be honest. You'd think there would be some redundancy. But the article says there were only six crew on this vessel, so maybe it was short-handed or the second-in-command was briefly elsewhere on the vessel, in the mistaken belief that they could leave the captain on their own if they were just sitting in a chair without them crashing the ship into Cornwall.