Safety of Life at Sea, Firefighting and Emergencies
This domain tests the decisions that keep people alive: distress communications, lifesaving equipment, man-overboard and abandon-ship procedures, and firefighting afloat. Expect questions that pair an equipment fact with a procedural decision - which alert to send, what to shut off first, why you never open the engine hatch.
Distress and communications
Use VHF channel 16 for voice and channel 70 for DSC; Greek coastal stations provide Sea Area A1 coverage. MAYDAY is for grave and imminent danger, PAN PAN for urgency, SECURITE for safety. The MAYDAY carries identity and MMSI, position, nature of distress, assistance required and persons on board. An EPIRB (406 MHz, registered to the vessel) and a SART (9 GHz, responding on another vessel's radar) are the core GMDSS beacons.
Lifesaving
Lifejackets of at least 150 N with crotch straps for offshore work; liferaft serviced at the maker's interval and stowed for quick launching; a grab bag with water, flares and the EPIRB. Man overboard: shout, throw buoyancy, mark with a danbuoy, press MOB on the plotter and approach into wind and sea with the engine in neutral for recovery. Abandon ship only when the vessel is more dangerous than the sea.
Firefighting afloat
The fire triangle - fuel, oxygen, heat - dictates that you remove one. Classes: A solids (water, foam), B liquids (foam, CO2, dry powder), C gases (isolate, dry powder), electrical (CO2 or dry powder after de-energising), D metals. CO2 leaves no mess but gives no cooling and asphyxiates in a confined space; dry powder makes a mess and can ruin an engine; foam smothers liquid fires.
Worked example
A fire breaks out in the engine room 3 NM off Cape Sounion with four on board. Reasoning, in order: raise the alarm and get everyone on deck with lifejackets; stop the engine and switch off the battery isolation; close the fuel cock; shut the engine compartment vents and hatches; discharge the fixed system or CO2 through the fire port; do not reopen the hatch, because fresh air can cause flashback and disperse the CO2. Send a MAYDAY if the fire is not clearly controlled, prepare the liferaft and head for the nearest sheltered port.
Traps that cost marks
- Water on a fuel or electrical fire.
- Opening the engine hatch "just to check", which feeds the fire.
- Sending PAN PAN when the vessel is in grave and imminent danger.
- Expired flares or an unregistered EPIRB.
- Leaving the engine running while a fuel fire burns.
- Abandoning ship too early into a rough sea.