The incidents are recorded, often published, and sometimes hundreds of containers are dropped off the
deck of a container ship, at a time, in a storm. More than half of these remain afloat! These amount to thousands per year!
I have not hit one, but a friend did. It holed his bow! He managed to blindly cut through a reef in the
Bahamas, and beach his
boat before it sank.
I have had close calls as well, with full size trees, (with a 20' rootball), and countless
boats on
autopilot, and no watch.
This is why I chose an unsinkable
trimaran. Between the three hulls & sealed wings,
collision need not be lethal... (IF the
water is warm).
In monohulls, I have seen retrofitted oval "submarine doors", with
dogs all around. If well installed at the 2/3rds to the bow point, it could help allieve "that sinking feeling"!
Something to consider...
Mark