I've got a scenario for you, I hope you'll like it.

You're on a large cruiseship (400+ people) on the middle of the Atlantic-ocean with your family. (heading to Europe or US, also to meet some ETS-friends....)

In the middle of the night you wake up because of the fire alarm/smoke detector. There's a fire! It get's out of control
and the crew orders that everybody must abandon ship and get into the life-rafts.

-The weather is poor. It's dark, raining, storming, cloudy and cold.
-The crew did send out a SOS, but because of the weather, SAR-helicopters are grounded. A Coast-Guard ship is on it's way,
but it will take a very long time before it get's to you.

You're still in your cabin with your family. They wake up and aks you what do we do? You start thinking......

From this point on, you can take over the scenario, How should you proceed, how are you prepared for this emergency?
What gear did you bring with you? How would you take care of your family?

IOW: How would you survive?

Did you pay attention to the lifeboat drills, or, like most people stand there day dreaming about the crabcakes and mellon balls? Did you explore alternate routes to your assigned lifeboat station? The dangers of crowd behavior didn't stay on land. Do you have some quickly grabbed and donned clothing ? Some of the survivors of the General Belgrano made it into liferafts only to die of hypothermia. A watch cap, gloves, warm pants and easilly donned sweater or jacket should be mandatory for everyone. A whistle and mirror, LED light and bit of high energy food in a pocket wouldn't hurt. Just because there is heavy weather doesn't mean you are alone. Emergency agencies will contact merchant shipping and naval vessels in your vicinity. I'm trying to figure out what weather grounds SAR units. A C 130 will probably be circling overhead in weather a seagull would avoid.

The scenario is about what YOU would do, so that would differ from person to person. (Personally I would do it)

- Grab ditch kit
- check the wall and doors for heat.
- check for smoke
- open door slightly and check conditions in the hall way.
- If hall way is clear, time to run.
- find your self a PFD and wear it.
- go on a open dek with the life rafts/boats.
- board lifeboat.
- if no lifeboats are availible, wait for the liferafts to be deployed.
- check wich way it infaltes
- ask somebody else to help you flip it the right way, if the raft is upside down.
- check for jump clearance and time the waves.
- jump with one hand covering you month and nose, while the other is supporting your other arms elbow. With ditch kit secured.
- Flip the lifeaft the right way, if it deployed upside down.
- get in to liferaft
- help other to get in the life raft.
- Use "teabag" methode to get the heavy poeple in to the liferaft. ( do NOT use this methode with people that have been in the water for more than a few minutes)
- Order people to start removing the water inside.
- loose wet clothing (unless the insulate when wet), get dry, change in dry outfit, wear as much insulation as you can and wear PFD again.
- Toss out sea anker when you far enough from the ship, but not to late either.
- check the amount of people you have in the raft.
- check supplies
- give everybody on board as task.
- wait for help
- when help is spotted, use signal divices to attract attention.

If somebody else takes command of the liferaft, follow him if he does the right thing.

Let the others (familiy, friends, etc) follow me during the proces and give them instructions, if they did not received sea survival training.

What would you put in it? Do you own a ditch-kit, PC2K?

Are there restrictions on what can be brought on a cruise-ship? (sharps, fire-stuff,etc.)




Also: put on your smoke evac-hood if you have them and use your flashlight.

no i don't have a pre-made ditch kit. I prefer to make specialised kits for specialised situation. Besides i'm not very often on a ship.

I don't think a big ditch kit is handy in a cruise ship, to many stairs to take and too many people around you. So probably just a small waterproof bag, with a micro fiber towel, some fleece based clothing, basic waterproofs, strobe, signal mirror, some water and some food. Whistle is standaard on you PFD, if not also part of mine EDC. Flashlight is also EDC.

As an alternative, I'd pack the whole kit into a jacket with big pockets.

TRO

well carring a survival kit incase your cruise ship sinks, is a bit of a challange. I do really need spare clothing, since i certainly not planning to running around in a survival suit/wetsuit/drysuit, when on a cruise. They generally don't fit very well in a jacket pocket. Although " crazy eric " seams to do it.
Carring it as a backpack, might force you face down in the water, because of the boyancy on you back. Not sure what would happen if you wear it in front of you. I do know that jumping in the water with you PFD is bad enough. Really don't want another big thing attached to me.

Turning a PFD in a loadbearing vest for your kit, isn't to great either. Since it limits your movement and you stilll have lack of space, besides i'm not carring a PFD on a cruise all the time. So i don't think there is a perfect solution for a cruiseship...

I've only been on one steamship in my entire life. The (rigid)lifeboats were down low, right beside large openings that were only two feet or so above the water. If the old tub started going down, it looked like your would have to go DOWN inside the ship to get into the lifeboats, or jump from the rail. Getting soaking wet in a survival situation seems counter-productive to me.

So, does anyone know how lifeboats/rafts are actually deployed from a cruise-type ship? Are they loaded with people on deck and then put over the side? Are they put in the water first, and people have to get into them from there?

Do liferafts of any kind actually have sea anchors? I read somewhere that it takes about 10 minutes to get one into the water from a fishing boat.

Sue

the rigid lifeboats are filled on deck and lower with a davot (or however you spell that), they do NOT work when the ship is not straight. The old ones uses a LOT of muscle power to lower. They are great if they can deployed, because you will be dry. Now if only the ship would just stray absolute straight, when it's sinking... This huge disadvantage is one of the reason why we got infatibles ones. (also much smaller)

The inflatible onces are mounted in big canisters. They can be throw out manually or when the ship sinks a build in devices slices the cannister from it's mount and let the liferaft surface. They are deployed in the water, so only way to get to them is to jump in the water and climb in them. Getting in one is a pain in good conditions, waves makes it much easier to board, but makes the stay inside miserable. Most liferafts have 50/50 chance of getting deployed in the water upside down. The underside is black and does not provide shelter from wind and rain, so you have to manually flip them over. You have to climb up on the bottom, preverbily with 2 man. Grab the lines on the bottom, stand on the edge and lean back.

and yes, getting wet is bad, but if you can only show me a methode of getting in to a liferaft, without getting wet... Thats why you should have a pair of clothing in your ditch kit. (if you have one)

the sea ancors on liferafts are actually just a big fabric scoop like thingy with a line attach to it. Just find the thing in the raft, attach it to the raft and toss it out. It's suppose to drag water with it, to prevent you from blowing to far away from the ship. Searchers usually start there search from the wreck outwards.

PC2K,

Most sea-ancors are already deployed when the life-raft inflates.

And I've recently seen a 'next-generation' liferaft. It's called a Maritark (or something like that).
It looks like a stacked-up pile of tubes and is completely reversible. People get in it tru a large nylon tube that get's deployed
from the ship to the raft, keeping you dry and avoiding contact with the water.

Mad Eric's list is infamous, but I can't see how the guy moves. And if he really does EDC that, he's even more obsessive-compulsive than we are as a group.

Well said Chris.

Troy

Our last ETS liferaft test revealed as much variation and skill among VOLUNTEER participants, including many professionals as the various rafts themselves. Your equipment may very well be open whaleboats on manual davits, a MK 1 Kapok lifejacket and rations of canned water, compressed cornflake bars and candy in the infamous; green,red,yellow,orange along with a TRACON fishing kit, 3 icarus flares, a smoke bomb, grey anglehead flashlight and camillus utility folder. That was still issue on my old cutter in the late 1970s- and mighty glad we were to have that ( and add to it.) Then again, you could have state of the art gear and still find yourself in a FUBAR situation. On a historical note: much of the modern, post R.M.S. Titanic effort to upgrade liferafts was a rather reclusive member of the R.A.F named Aircraftman Shaw- AKA T.E. Lawrence. Fun fact to ponder while sending out the battleship in the bath tonight if Duckie gets to aggressive. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Easy!

Change the channel. I don't like that movie <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Since the only reason I'd go on another cruise ever again is if my life were threatened, I'd just stay right in my cabin along with whoever it is holding the gun to my head and tell them "see, I told you so!" How do you suppose that fire got started, anyways? Yup, I always keep firemaking stuff handy.

First, for some of you more active forum members, I apologize for ressurecting an old thread. However this was posted while I was actually out to sea, so maybe I'll get some slack.

First I just want to say that with the rustbuckets we have these days and some of the problems with our newest assets, you were right in saying that it might take a little while for the nearest Coast Guard ship to arrive, but I can assure you we'd do our damnedest.

So, I can't get enough salt, and I am taking a vaction from the sea on the sea and my cruise ship catches fire...
(I would like to make the caveat that much of my experience pertains to military vessels)
1. Heed the shipboard alarms. Folks on the Titanic went back into their staterooms after they assumed everything was ok.
2. Calmly and rationally gather the family, explain the situation. Assist them as they put on insulating clothing.
3. Gather PFDs and my personal ship survival kit (explained later)
4. Lead the family topside. In the Coast Guard the first day you report to a ship you do a drill where you must exit the berthing area blindfolded on your hands and knees. Don't know if they do that on cruises, but I would know at least two exits from my room.
5. While egressing we would observe the precautions, avoiding compartments that felt hot and staying below any smoke with bandanna's around our mouths. (Again, in the Guard we have Emergency Escape Breathing Devices - good for 10 min of air, I don't know of a cruise ship equivelent, but we would use those, checking of course prior to the beginning of the vacation that the indicator was in the green).
6. Once topside, I'd follow the directions of the crew (to avoid mass panic and conflicting orders), but I wouldn't certainly be at the total mercy of the crowds because as pointed out before, unlike many others I would have minded the previous safety briefings/drills and get my family to a lifeboat (first choice) or a liferaft (second choice).
7. Totally complete liferaft procedures too lengthy to be fully discussed here (the Coast Guard does an hour long session on sea survival for those fresh aboard), but the important things to remember are to stay as dry as possible, balance the raft, avoid puncturing the rubber, and as it is important throughout the emergency, to remain calm, collected, and positive.
8. Sea anchors - I just want to touch on that for a sec... it's important to deploy this promptly. The main purpose of the anchor is to keep the raft from capsizing. As the wind pushes the raft (and thus lifts the windward edge) the sea anchor opposes this force and keeps the wind from getting between the water and the raft on the windward side and turning the raft into a kite.
9. As I can fully assure you that a cruise ship disaster would alert all SAR personnell in the area, rescue in this modern day and age could be very quick. Someone is going to know that they are missing a cruise ship, so there WILL be people looking for you. And cruise ships posses the latest in Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) technology, which gives the search teams an accurate datum for the search pattern. Thus, IMHO, I think the two most important things to remember are the first two "Rules of Three" - 3 min w/o air and 3 hr w/o heat. Don't drown and stay warm. Keep that PFD on, and bundle up/huddle together. I seriously doubt that if you do indeed get off the ship into the liferafts that you will have to endure anything like Steven Callahan (Adrift). Again, people will be looking for you from the get go.

Someone asked what might be in a shipboard ditch kit. I constructed one for myself this past deployment, again keep in mind that I am on Coast Guard ships, I don't know the regs for cruise ships. I put together the kit because I wasn't too impressed with the quality of the gear that we used on our own lifevests and liferafts.

On my person 24/7:
RSK Mk1 (was awsome the whole deployment)
Leatherman Wave (very useful, showed some rust at the end)
Photon II Microlight (I had both red and white, red was for the chartroom/berthing area at night)
Space pen
Rite in the Rain notebook
Large red cotton bandanna
Sunglasses
Fox 40 micro whistle
Rescue Flash signal mirror

On the top shelf of my locker, ready to grab in a waterproof sack:
Firefly 2 strobe light
STORM whistle
Rescue Reflectors 3x5 signal mirror
1 oz sunscreen
roll up sunglasses
50 ft paracord
WSI fishing kit
SEE RESCUE 25 ft orange streamer
Land/Shark mylar and nylon thermal insulating bag
wool watch cap (when I wasnt wearing it)
1 qt Nalgene, filled
amk heatsheet
clear poncho
my self assembled small FAK and personal survival kit

*the only thing I wish I personally had was some sort of desalinator (and maybe a set of penflares), but that's for a later paygrade...

again - don't drown, stay warm, and protect yourself from exposure. Those are the biggest risks if there ever was a major nautical disaster in US Coastal waters - there WILL be SAR looking for you, and they will have a really good idea where to start looking for you due to advances in shipboard distress signalling/locating.

sorry that was so long, I just thought I might be able to help.

Matt

Thank you very much, Matt. That was very informative.

Sue ("There's HOW much water under this boat???!!)

We took a little cruise last year, Inland Passage, and in Ketchekan we had to anchor out and use the lifeboats to be ferried to shore. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the hard hulled, motorized, boats were fully enclosed, had lots of floatation (even tho in a real emergency we would all be wearing those really neato PFD's that they have in all the rooms). I also spotted lots of boxes labeled "Food," "Water," etc, and there was a two way radio built in. So I think that my main priority would be nice warm clothing...

The sad sinking of the General Belgrano in the Falklands War is a classic primer. Except for the initial casualties from the torpedo the crew made it into lifeboats. There is even a photograph of the Captain and a remaining officer leaping from the bow as she went down. Rescue located all but a few liferafts which succumbed to high seas. Further casualties were in lifeboats with only a few occupants. The inability to huddle and utilise body heat killed them with hypothermia.

Yet another reason to avoid sailing on those ships painted battleship grey...

That is a very good question. Anybody know the answer? I'm wondering if they have restrictions similar to the airlines. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

You could probably have some sharps, etc, in your main luggage, but every time you go on board, at least on our one cruise, you went thru a metal detector, and your carry on type stuff went thru a x-ray, just like getting onto a flight. 'Cept they don't make you take your shoes off.
I never saw them take a lighter away from anyone.

If you have a blade, or bought one ashore like we did, they take it away from you and give you a receipt. You can then pick it up the last night of the cruise (apparently they don't worry about you going postal with your blade the last night).

And, on our cruise at least, all of the security people were from Napal. They just smiled when I asked if they were former gurka...

I looked up the restrictions for the Carnival Cruise line.

Items not allowed on board:
Knives longer than 4in (dive knives can be stored with security officers)
Scissors longer than 4in
Fire Arms, spear guns
Tasers / Mace
Ham radio equipment (this one really amazed me!)

More info can be found here: http://www.carnival.com/CMS/FAQs/What_NOT_to_Pack.aspx

So, a bit less onerous than the airlines, but not by much. Thanks for the info.

I've never been on a "cruise." Where are the PFDs stored. In the individual rooms? Are there other PFDs handy in case I can't crawl back from the bar to my room when the fire starts?

A very good reason to grab warm clothing and blankets before boarding your life raft. The sinking of the General Belgrano is one of the reasons that prompted us to put 12 thermal protective aids (TPAs) in US Navy life rafts (25-person) vice the two required by USCG/SOLAS regulations.

Hypothermia is one of the greatest hazards to life raft survivors. Even in relatively warm waters

Regards,

Tom

I have one (well, 2 or 3...) point to add.
BOTTLED WATER! BOTTLED WATER! BOTTLED WATER!!
Water, water every where and nary a drop to drink.

A couple of cyalume sticks and an extra strobe light and signal mirror would not go amiss either.

In our room there were three of us, the room could handle four, and there were four PDF's in the room. Before leaving the dock on the first day they had a lifeboat drill, in which EVERYONE on board (passengers) had to put their PDF's on and go to the assigned lifeboat station for their room, get into proper formation there, then wait for the slowmo's to show up so the crew could get the head count. All of this took about 30 minutes, then it was all over, and we could head for the bar...

"...I'd follow it IMMEDIATELY!..."

Me too. I think the smile was the giveaway. Every gurka I have known (and that is only a couple), and every picture of one I have seen, always has that smile on his face, no matter what he is doing. Interesting guys...

I'd definitely take a PLB on board since I've seen some reports regarding various cruise ships having an emergency where the crew/captain didn't call for help immediately upon discovering the emergency. One report was a substantial shipboard fire and another was a grounding incident. Captain and crew were visibly panicked and not in charge of the situation. In one of the examples, the crew would not let anyone near the communication devices. Scary! In a major emergency, I wouldn't want to wait and see if the captain was going to put off calling for help in order to try and handle things himself (to save the cruise line the negative media exposure or whatever). I'd be activating the beacon, and looking for a ship to shore SATphone to try and raise the USCG! I'd want the whole world to know about our problem.

I was digging around in our Commandant's Instruction Manual (guidance for everything Coast Guard) and found the Abandon Ship Procedures. Though they apply specifically to our methods and whatnot, I'm sure it's relevant to anyone forced into a mass abandonment of a large vessel due to some sort of at sea casualty - fire, flooding, collision, explosion...

RESCUE AND SURVIVAL SYSTEMS MANUAL
United States Coast Guard
COMDTINST M10470.10E
Appendix A - Abandon Ship Procedures

Introduction
This appendix presents procedures to successfully abandon ship safely. Cutter crewmembers shall become thoroughly familiar with the information presented and be mentally and physically prepared to abandon ship if required.

Exiting The Ship
If possible, personnel should get away from the ship in a lifeboat or life raft. Personnel should lower themselves into the water using a firmly attached line or hose. When a choice is available, personnel shall leave the ship from the windward side and from whichever end of the ship is lowest to the waterline.
NOTE For optimum survival, personnel leaving the ship shall be fully clothed.

Entering The Water
If it is necessary for personnel wearing a PFD to jump into the water, they must hold their legs together and keep their body erect. Personnel wearing a survival suit should cover their face with one hand, hold the crotch of the suit in place with the other and cross their legs when entering the water. Before lowering injured personnel into the water, always adjust the leg straps properly.

Jumping Into The Water
Securely fasten inherently buoyant PFDs and keep them close to the body by folding the arms across the chest and gripping the jacket with the fingers. This procedure prevents buoyant PFDs from riding up and striking the chin or neck when the wearer hits the water. If an inflatable PFD is being worn, do not inflate it until the wearer is in the water. Use the same procedure for jumping with an inflated PFD as with the inherently buoyant PFD.

Inflation
The wearer shall inflate the PFD as soon as they are in the water and clear of flames or debris.

Swim Away
When in the water, survivors shall swim away from the ship as rapidly as possible and, if available, climb into a lifeboat or liferaft.

Underwater Explosions
If underwater explosions occur in the vicinity, survivors shall swim or float on their backs, keeping their heads and chests as far out of the water as possible. Underwater explosions are particularly threatening to lungs, abdomen, sinuses, and eardrums.

Abandonment
When the ship is entirely surrounded by burning oil and abandonment is essential, personnel shall jump feet first through the flames and swim windward under the surface of the water for as long as possible. When air in the lungs is exhausted, the swimmers should spring above the water in a vertical position, push the flames away with a circular motion of the hands, quickly take a deep breath with their backs to the wind, submerge feet first in a vertical position, and swim under the surface again.

Minimize Buoyancy
Discard any buoyant articles of clothing or shoes. Whenever possible, personnel should wear only the inflatable PFD during this procedure for abandon ship, and should inflate the preserver only after the person is clear of the flames. Inherently buoyant PFDs will not permit the wearer to swim beneath the surface. Therefore, do not wear them before leaving a ship surrounded by flames.

An Aspect of this all, would be Skills and Techniques for maneauvering yourself around, -in the rooms, halls, and decks, -of a *Listing* Ship! Perhaps in the Dark. Perhaps also at varying Degrees and Rates of *Changing* List. Which in itself can be anywhere from Slow to Sudden and Rapid! One can also add "Water Gushing Ins" and various Floodings, -into such Situations.

It would be Neat if there were Games and Simulators along these lines! A la Flight and other Vehicle Simulators. Perhaps there are, -but I considerably have my doubts. [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ScottRezaLogan[/email]

I recall hearing of a case a number of years ago, -where a Stewardess in the Cockpit of a Trans-Atlantic Airliner, -just happened to glimpse thru the window at her side, -Smoke arising from a Distressed Ship, Mid-Atlantic, thru a tiny break in the overcast! She almost Missed it!

(Reminds me of an Aircraft flying transversely a few thousand feet below mine, ouside my window seat, as I was Flying north toward Cleveland. -I wish that was spelled with a "K"!. I almost Missed that personally Neat Sight too! The Slittest of Split Seconds more!, -and I *would* have so Missed it! Not ever even knowing that it was there! I caught it in the Last Split Smidgeon of a Second beforehand! Just Before Disappearing literally beneath me, somewhere! There's just something about that kind of Experience! as otherwise mundane as it is.).

From such, -Aid and Rescue was able to be set on its way.

But for her Chance Sighting from the base of the Stratosphere, -such a Lucky and Needed Break, -would *Not* have occurred!...

Location and Rescue may well have eventually occurred. OR a Sinking may have occurred first. Either way, the outcome would have been far more Serious and Different! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ScottRezaLogan[/email]

This is bad as if the emergancy did not require an abandon ship and you activated you PBLs and all or a sudden 100 CG cutters showed up. Or maybe you just accidently poped the PLB. This is why there is a captian and the anadotial stories are most likely myths.
cheers

A myth?

"Robin Boltman has been a professional entertainer since 1984. He has worked on cruise liners that have taken him all over the world. From performances at the Super Bowl, Extravaganzas and numerous Corporate and product launches, his brand of English and Afrikaans Magic and Comedy has always been well received. From performing on cruises down the Nile, or with delegates from SFW in a Lear Jet, the exiting world of Magic has let work with some wonderful people. Ernie Els’s Golf Day at Fancort, The Million-Dollar Golf at Sun City and the Thunder in Africa with Lennox Lewis are just a few Magical memories.

In 1991 the Oceanos sank off the Wild Coast. Robin and a group of cruise staff and entertainers took over the rescue operations on board, when most of the officers and crew took to the lifeboats. Robin took over the abandoned bridge to maintain contact with the SADF, and not a single life was lost. The SA Magic Council struck a medal in his honour inscribed…”for bravery and outstanding service to magic” "

Sad to say, it does happen.