Grounded and listing: a defective lifejacket, a man on the rail, and a suspect davit brake
Your 4,500 dwt general cargo ship has grounded and is listing 18° to starboard with a 2 m swell; wind is force 6 from the northwest. It is 23:50, visibility good, water 16 °C, air 24 °C. The port lifeboat was damaged during the grounding; the starboard lifeboat is intact but its davit brake was flagged at the last inspection for 'slight creep'. Two 20-person inflatable liferafts are mounted aft, one on each side. Of 18 crew, one has a lifejacket with a torn oral inflation tube and no spare is available; one ordinary seaman is panicking and has already climbed onto the rail; three crew have never worn an immersion suit. Master has not yet ordered abandon ship. The engine room is flooding slowly and the deck is slick with oil.
1. Before any abandon order, how do you deal with the ordinary seaman on the rail and with the defective lifejacket?
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The man on the rail: approach calmly, from the side, one person talking and one ready to assist; do not rush or grab from behind at the rail. Get him to sit on deck with his feet inboard and stay with him. A task - holding a line, calling names at muster - often settles panic better than restraint. If he jumps: throw a lifebuoy with line, keep visual, mark the position, and prepare recovery; do not jump after him.
The defective jacket: decide what type it is. A torn oral inflation tube on an inflatable jacket makes it unreliable - treat it as no lifejacket at all. A foam jacket with a torn oral tube still has inherent buoyancy but the wearer cannot top it up. Either way, with no spare: that person does not enter the water alone, is buddied, boards the raft dry, and carries a lifebuoy as secondary flotation. Record the deficiency. With an 18° list and oil on deck, a man with doubtful flotation is one slip from a recovery problem.
2. If the master orders abandon ship, which survival craft do you use and in what embarkation sequence? Justify rejecting the lifeboat if you do.
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The starboard lifeboat has a brake flagged for creep. With a 2 m swell and an 18° list, a slipping davit brake can drop the boat or leave it hanging; I would use it only if a competent person has proved the brake and the coxswain accepts the risk. Otherwise the liferafts are the means.
Launch a raft on the leeward side, aft, painter secured, and board from the lowest practical point, one at a time, lifejackets checked, headcount at the raft. Keep everyone clear of the propeller and of the ship's side as she rolls. Order: weakest and non-suited first, the man with the defective jacket buddied, then the rest.
The 18° list cuts both ways: the low side is easier to board from, but it is also the side the ship may roll onto. That is a judgement for the master and coxswain using the actual wind and swell direction, not a rule that can be settled at the rail.
3. When should lifejackets be inflated, and what do you do about the three crew who have never worn an immersion suit?
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Do not inflate inside the lifeboat or raft, and do not inflate before jumping. An inflated jacket can trap you under wreckage or in an enclosed space and makes swimming harder. Inflate by hand or let it inflate automatically once you are clear of the ship and at the surface, or when you need to float.
The three who have never worn an immersion suit must not be sent into the water 'to get used to it'. Give them the raft route, help them don the suit properly - tight fit, air expelled, hood and gloves on, buddy check - and buddy them. If someone must enter the water, the suit goes on first and the jump is feet-first, legs crossed, one hand on the jacket, the other pinching the nose.
At 16 °C the onset of hypothermia is slower than in the North Atlantic, but over hours it is still real; the list makes a slip into the water likely, which is why the suits and the buddy system matter now rather than later.