It has always crashed.
I dd not try the icon to open the inventory I just used the hotkey. I did even try opening the inventory away from the ship (which was fine) but as soon as I got to within a few meters of the gap in between the sailors the computer reset.
I haven't tried starting again, but I will do tomorrow to see if it still happens. I should also say that I could walk around the whole area without any issues as long as I didn't open my inventory, so I eventually failed the quest because I didn't help in time.
The trouble with your last suggestion is that I do not get a BSOD, just a hard reset
