Are the Crew Who Are Assigned To Pilot A Life Boat Certified In Any Way?

[Suesan Jean]

This very sad and tragic disaster with the Concordia has had my Husband and I talking a lot about safety on a cruise ship as I am sure that ALL of us who have cruised even once, or not even cruised at all, are talking about.

Among the MANY things I have read about this accident that has troubled me, are the accounts of how some some of the ship crew assigned to the Life Boats, did NOT know how to properly steer the boat and in one case, could NOT see above the window!! :eek:

My Husband is a certified "Skipper". I am not sure of the exactness, but, here in the US, anyone who operates a boat up to 34 or 35 feet/and or carries up to 20 people, MUST HAVE a "Skippers" liscense. Which means going to a class usually held at boat clubs. At least that is where my DH got his.

Any Owner/Operator of a boat longer then 34/35 feet and that carries more then 20 people and/or charges people to be on their boat, MUST HAVE a "Captains Liscense". More classes and certification.

So, my question is, do all the ships crew who are assigned to a specific Life Boat as the Pilot/Driver/Captain (whatever you want to call him or her), have a "Skippers Liscense" or something equivilant to that?

Because those Life Boats are HUGE and carry at least One Hundred People.

I understand that Life Boats are only ment to be used in an extreme emergency, and none of us really expect to ever have to put on our Life Vest and go to our assigned Muster Station, but, as this Concordia disaster has shown, things DO unfortunately happen and I would hope that the crew who are assigned to the Life Boats KNOW how to operate the boat properly.

Thank you for any posts.

[marinearchit]

I would think they are, most likely, required to have some sort of certification, although it may not need to be an actual license. For example, he or she may not be able to sail a pleasure craft.

 

From what I can gather with the Concordia incident is that, in all of the confusion onboard, those who took control of lifeboats just happened to be there and may not have been the individuals originally intended to assume those posts. Onboard any ship there is an emergency Station Bill which dictates the job of every crewmember in the event of an emergency. Therefore, those assigned to control the lifeboats would need to be capable of doing so. Furthermore, most crew should also be educated in the launching procedure. However, in the confusion that ensued onboard the ship it seems that much of the previous training was rendered unhelpful. Granted, a lot of the problems also arose from the fact the ship had just recently left port and many of the passengers had not yet been to a muster.

[ghstudio]

Granted, a lot of the problems also arose from the fact the ship had just recently left port and many of the passengers had not yet been to a muster.

 

How would the "muster" have helped in this case? Did people not know they should queue up for lifeboats and not just mob them? Did people not know how to put on their life vests (even those unfortunates who died had life vests on)? Was there anyone inside the ship directing folks where to go, since everyone in the crew has an assigned station?

 

I think you (and many others) are making a leap of faith that had folks orderly gone to their proper location, the situation would have been much smoother and evacuation would have been made quicker.

 

I'm not so sure have the muster would have changed very much at all....

[Suesan Jean]

I am quite sure that in the chaos of that night, assigned Muster Stations went out the window. What with half the ship being unusable.

In the end, just about every passenger and crew member was saved! That IS A GOOD THING!!

I was just asking a general question about Life Boat Crew Member Jobs.

[OneOneNiner]

How would the "muster" have helped in this case? Did people not know they should queue up for lifeboats and not just mob them? Did people not know how to put on their life vests (even those unfortunates who died had life vests on)? Was there anyone inside the ship directing folks where to go, since everyone in the crew has an assigned station?

 

I think you (and many others) are making a leap of faith that had folks orderly gone to their proper location, the situation would have been much smoother and evacuation would have been made quicker.

 

I'm not so sure have the muster would have changed very much at all....

 

You're correct. No difference!

The problem was that the bridge officers did not gave the evacuation command. The crew can't do that until ordered to do so. In the end, because of the missing coordination from the abandoned bridge the crew decided to do it without a given order.

Because they were waiting and waiting until they were fearing for their own lives there was the panic among the passengers...

Panic with 4000 people can only go wrong.

The crew than did a hell of a job in saving all those passengers in this situation, with panic, no coordination and fear for their lives.

Muster drill, even if held daily would have not changed anything here.

The officers are the ones to blame.

They made the navigational error and lots of mistakes after that.

[critterchick]

I know that on Royal Caribbean one must go through extensive training to be a lifeboat commander. Although the training may vary by line, I would like to think that some special training is required by all of them.

 

But as has already been noted, the best planning can fly right out the window in this kind of situation. If the lifeboat commanders were asleep or just in a part of the ship where they couldn't get to their assigned boat, then somebody else would (and presumably did) have to step up and do they best they could.

[marinearchit]

I'm not sure how my post elicited such dramatic responses. I was merely stating that, had passengers even known of evacuation policies they may have had more of an idea of where to go.

 

And, as for,

Was there anyone inside the ship directing folks where to go, since everyone in the crew has an assigned station?]

 

Yes, that would be one of the assigned duties in the event of emergencies.

My point was that many of the guidelines, in the chaos of situation, were probably not followed. I am not speaking negatively of the ship's crew. They were not receiving the proper guidance from their superiors.

 

I was merely answering the original question by stating that, yes, those in charge of operating lifeboats are trained in how to do so, as well as elaborating on the possibilities as to why this may have not seemed the case onboard the Concordia.

[Immebsmom]

I think what caused the most problems was the apparent, deliberate, misinformation given to passengers and crew that it was a generator problem and that everything was fine. I am sure on some level, people wanted to believe that was the problem, and the crew is trained to enforce what is being told to them, however crazy it sounds. Let's face it, if the crew was not panicking, the passengers might be concerned, but they would not panicking. It is only when the crew and passengers realize they are not being told the truth, when the problem is obvious, that panic sets in for everyone As someone pointed out, it was too late for some folks to even attempt to get to their assigned stations. I am going to give the majority of the crew credit for going where they could and doing what they could. As for not being able to see out of the lifeboats, if they are designed for 115 and you have 200 people in, then it was standing room only. If you have ever been in one of those for tendering, you know that unless everyone is sitting there is no way the driver could have seen where he was going. It was not a matter of height, it was a matter of visibility due to over crowding in the vessel. I think the majority of the crew members did the best job they could, in a terrible situation. Many of them did not abandon the passengers, which is more than we can say for captain!