A Weeping Stuffing Box at 2200: PAN-PAN or MAYDAY?
You are the only certificated operator aboard a 38-foot sportfisherman, 17 nautical miles southwest of Point Loma at 2200, inbound at 9 knots in 4-to-6-foot seas with three crew aboard. Twenty minutes ago the bilge alarm sounded; you found a weeping stuffing box. The starboard bilge pump now cycles about every 90 seconds and the water level is holding at roughly six inches above normal - not rising, but not falling either. The engine, 12-volt system, VHF, and EPIRB are all working. A life raft sits in its canister on the hardtop. Overnight wind is forecast to build to 20 knots. Another vessel is answering on channel 16 about 8 nautical miles away, and the Coast Guard watch is manned. Your crew is calm and no one is injured.
1. Do you transmit on channel 16 now, and if so, as MAYDAY, PAN-PAN, or SECURITE? Draft the call and explain the test you applied.
Read the worked answer
The test: the three signals map to three states. MAYDAY = grave and imminent danger requiring immediate assistance. PAN-PAN = urgency: a safety concern that is not (yet) immediate danger. SECURITE = safety of navigation or weather.
Applying it: the flooding is controlled - the pump is keeping up, propulsion, electrical, and the crew are intact. So this is not yet MAYDAY. But it is not nothing either: you are one pump failure or a building sea away from an uncontrolled leak, you have two hours to run, and nobody ashore knows. Silence is the wrong answer.
So: PAN-PAN to the Coast Guard on 16, and put the nearby vessel on standby.
PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN. All stations, all stations, all stations. This is [vessel name, call sign]. Position: 17 miles southwest of Point Loma, bearing and distance from the light, my latitude/longitude is ___. We have flooding from a leaking stuffing box, water level presently held by one bilge pump, three persons aboard, no injuries. We are proceeding to San Diego at 9 knots. Request one portable pump delivered or a vessel standing by. We will guard channel 16 and report every 30 minutes. Over.
Then manage the situation, not just the call: start the second bilge pump and confirm it works, rig a backup, get the crew into PFDs, make a written note of the 2330 check-in time, and pre-brief the crew that you may upgrade the call. Every minute you spend with a stable water level is a minute to prepare for it failing.
2. At 2340 the pump breaker trips and will not reset. Water is now rising about 2 inches per minute and the aft deck is awash. What changes, and what exactly do you transmit and do?
Read the worked answer
What changed: the ability to control the flooding is gone, rate of rise is measured, and the vessel is now in grave and imminent danger. That is the definition of MAYDAY, and you upgrade immediately - you do not wait for the deck to go under.
Signal order: if you have DSC, activate the distress alert on channel 70 first (nature: flooding/sinking, position from GPS), then go to 16 and make the voice call. If someone is already standing by on 16, the voice call is what gets the response.
MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY. This is [vessel name, call sign, MMSI]. MAYDAY. This is [name, call sign]. My position is ___ . We are flooding and sinking, water rising two inches per minute, pump failed, three persons aboard, preparing to abandon to a life raft. We require immediate assistance. Over.
Actions in parallel, in this order:
- Muster the crew, PFDs on, warm layers, handheld VHF, water, and the EPIRB staged by the raft - but stay aboard while the vessel is still floating; a life raft in 20-knot wind and a sea is a worse place than a swamped deck until the water is truly over it.
- Activate the 406 EPIRB when you abandon, not before - an EPIRB activating on a vessel that is still afloat and reachable creates a second, conflicting problem.
- Keep transmitting position updates and answer the Coast Guard on 16; do not leave the radio unattended.
- Hold flares until you can see a vessel or aircraft - the helicopter that arrives will be directed by your radio, not your flares.
- Log times: alert, response, abandon decision, EPIRB activation.