Successful rescue L’Boreal footage.

[RMLincoln]

And a very useful lesson to those who want the abandon ship drill to be conducted in the warmth of the theatre or whine about having to stand during the mandatory pre-cruise roll call while the ship is tied securely to a dock. You should contemplate clambering into a tender swaying from its davits in driving cold rain, pitching seas, at night amid incipient panic. Knowing the route to the lifeboat station in the dark without elevators is the minimum every passenger should contribute to the safety of all on board.

 

I'm glad I have never had to evacuate a ship! I only have thoughts of envisioning the events in different scenarios. I prefer mustering inside where instructions can be heard above the din (therefore actually communicated), being out of the elements, with potentially better situation control by crew, and less potential for the panic push of "every man for himself".

 

I work in Fire and Rescue and our biggest challenge is keeping control of a scene. I admit that evacuating a ship is different from any scene I've worked, but communication down the chain of command and control of the scene as it unfolds are always essential to safety.

 

Emergencies are never textbook... on land or sea. Here it looks like not all the evacuation vessels were useable (photos show at least one raft hung up and not deployed). I would call this "design basis" because by design there is redundancy built into the process and it's expected that not all lifejackets will be available and not all lifeboats will be available. I think every ship is required by SOLAS to have 125% coverage for lifeboat seating.

 

So what if your assigned station has a lifeboat hang up... or due to winds or other concerns will not be deployed? I think the instinct for most of us would be to run/push our way to the closest alternative is powerful, but maybe not the best solution. If a group inside can be divided and directed to several available alternatives there will be less panic.

 

Just my thoughts. I've been on different cruiselines and followed different methods for muster drills, inside vs. outside and always think about the advantages of each. For me I think I'd rather be inside.

 

I'd like to hear from the evacuated passengers how they feel it was handled and what lessons were learned. There's always something to learn in the After Action Review.

m--

[Copper10-8]

Footage of the listing ship, being towed into Falklands Mare harbor by two Dutch tugboats, the Giessenstroom the Dintelstroom, which are commissioned by the MOD to operate on the Falklands.

 

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid3680665374001?bckey=AQ~~%2CAAACcS3ahoE~%2COSt6CCN6H-20ad_xEb3FLskS8beU2Zgi&bctid=4623316012001

 

The Dutch are everywhere! :) Nice job by those ocean-going tug boat crews to #1, being able to hook up and, #2, tow that vessel safely into harbor!

[Copper10-8]

 

Dintelstroom

Edited November 22, 2015 by Copper10-8

[chengkp75]

I'm glad I have never had to evacuate a ship! I only have thoughts of envisioning the events in different scenarios. I prefer mustering inside where instructions can be heard above the din (therefore actually communicated), being out of the elements, with potentially better situation control by crew, and less potential for the panic push of "every man for himself".

 

I work in Fire and Rescue and our biggest challenge is keeping control of a scene. I admit that evacuating a ship is different from any scene I've worked, but communication down the chain of command and control of the scene as it unfolds are always essential to safety.

 

Emergencies are never textbook... on land or sea. Here it looks like not all the evacuation vessels were useable (photos show at least one raft hung up and not deployed). I would call this "design basis" because by design there is redundancy built into the process and it's expected that not all lifejackets will be available and not all lifeboats will be available. I think every ship is required by SOLAS to have 125% coverage for lifeboat seating.

 

So what if your assigned station has a lifeboat hang up... or due to winds or other concerns will not be deployed? I think the instinct for most of us would be to run/push our way to the closest alternative is powerful, but maybe not the best solution. If a group inside can be divided and directed to several available alternatives there will be less panic.

 

Just my thoughts. I've been on different cruiselines and followed different methods for muster drills, inside vs. outside and always think about the advantages of each. For me I think I'd rather be inside.

 

I'd like to hear from the evacuated passengers how they feel it was handled and what lessons were learned. There's always something to learn in the After Action Review.

m--

 

This is why senior deck and engine officers are required by the IMO to have "crowd and crisis management" training, and junior officers are required to have crowd management training. Learning to identify those who might panic, and those who might be able to be used to assist as needed.

 

It's not so much a different "method" of mustering, as ship design which influences the location of muster stations. As ships make the promenade decks smaller to maximize interior space, the ability to have adequate muster stations there decreases. Those ships will have interior spaces that have been designed and evaluated by crowd management software paradigms that ensure that ingress, egress, and general space is sufficient for a muster location in the worst possible conditions.

 

The SOLAS requirement is 125% lifesaving capacity, not lifeboat capacity. Passenger ships must have 100% passenger capacity in lifeboats, but generally the crew are assigned to rafts, and the number of rafts makes up the 125%.

 

It's hard to say whether that raft was "hung up" or just left behind. Those are davit launched rafts, so they would be deployed at the embarkation deck, and once filled, lowered to the sea. The crew may be instructed to deploy all the rafts, but the fact that some crew remained onboard, this raft was not required, and was in fact their escape route should it prove necessary.

[voyageur9]

.... our biggest challenge is keeping control of a scene. I admit that evacuating a ship is different from any scene I've worked, but communication down the chain of command and control of the scene as it unfolds are always essential to safety. .... what if your assigned station has a lifeboat hang up... or due to winds or other concerns will not be deployed? I think the instinct for most of us would be to run/push our way to the closest alternative is powerful, but maybe not the best solution. If a group inside can be divided and directed to several available alternatives there will be less panic. -

 

Intelligent points, well made by someone with evident expertise. And I agree with your general observation that there are advantages to mustering inside (both for practice and in actual emergencies.) Still the whining about muster drills continues to irk. If the ill-prepared only put themselves in danger, it wouldn't be so bad. But inevitably their ignorance puts others at risk.

[brazilgirl]

So glad this rescue happened at a distance where it was accessible to the rescue team. Having been on an Antarctica cruise and through some terrible weather in that region , I can only imagine what would have happened had the fire occurred while sailing through major weather in Drake's Passage or while in Antarctica. Scary thought.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[digitl]

Still the whining about muster drills continues to irk. If the ill-prepared only put themselves in danger, it wouldn't be so bad. But inevitably their ignorance puts others at risk.

 

On a recent Arctic expedition cruise one group were told by their interpreters (who had a habit of interpreting to suit their clients, not the crew) that they only needed to attend the drill if they were 'interested'. We waited on a cold deck until they were found and required to attend.