the cruise ship Dreamward steamed towards a tiny sailboat which capsized dead ahead of the massive liner in Hamilton Harbour.

And Pilot Warden Keith Battersbee warned trainee sailors and cruise ships will stay on a collision course -- unless yachtsmen realise the dangers involved in getting too close to major ships.

Pilot Battersbee said: "It could have been a real tragedy -- these people were very, very fortunate.'' He explained he was on the bridge of the Dreamward navigating it out to the open sea when the near-disaster happened on Thursday.

And he said if the Dreamward had not been equipped with powerful bow thrusters, avoiding running down the two crew members of the sailboat -- believed to be part of the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club's (RHADC) summer programme -- would have been impossible.

Pilot Battersbee used the thrusters, steering and ordered the engines astern to avoid an accident.

But he said: "It's not a very good scene. All we need is the wrong thing to happen -- me as a Pilot to freeze or the Captain to freeze and then we've bought it. Fortunately, that didn't happen.

"Without the bow thrusters we would not have been able to take evasive action -- it wouldn't have happened.

"Some of the young people on these programmes don't really understand the problems of getting in the way of cruise ships.'' Last night Scott Carswell, in charge of junior sail training at the RHADC, said he was unaware of the incident and declined to comment until he had spoken to instructors.

Pilot Battersbee added he was so busy taking emergency action, he could not estimate the age of the crew members, but said he thought the sailboat was a Pram dinghy.

Director of Marine and Ports Ron Ross backed his top Pilot's views -- and said he would be having sailing instructors in to his office to underline the need to follow the rules of the road.

Mr. Ross added there had been problems with near-collisions over the past few weeks, particularly in the Salt Kettle area.

He said: "There seem to be a lot of boats on the water this summer and we have had problems with them getting in the way of ships in the harbour.

Pilot Battersbee added: "We have had to blow the whistle to get the area clear.

"It's a very worrying situation -- and I don't think the sailing community understands the seriousness of coming within close proximity of ships in general. It's time to really get the message over to them.

"This has been a problem on and off for a few years. We do let people know the times the ships are moving -- at first people pay attention and then infringement starts coming in.'' Mr. Ross stressed Pilots and Marine and Ports were not out to torpedo youngsters' summer fun.

"We don't want the programmes to stop -- but we also don't want a major accident.'' Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, which also runs a sailing programme in the Harbour, admitted there had been an incident when one of its boats got too close to a Government ferry in July -- but said the youngsters had been disciplined.