Muster Drill

[chengkp75]

On 8/8/2024 at 8:58 AM, exeter_acres said:

So.... interesting point of history....  Did you know that a large number of people that were lost off of the Lusitania were lost because they didn't know how to put on a life jacket and either didn't put it on or wore it incorrectly so they floated...  umm...the wrong way. 

True story..

 

Carry on.

So, interesting point, as recently as 2008, I would find at least one person each week that had put their "horseshoe" lifejacket on in a way that would have them float face down.

3 hours ago, MBP&O2/O said:

....and did you know that with the older Kapok life jackets (that had the bulk on the front and a 'pillow' on the rear) that if you had to jump into the water then you had to pull the front down as you jumped as the buoyancy impact was so great it could snap your neck? 😁  Just a thought.

Those "horseshoe" lifejackets are still in extremely wide usage.  We were also always instructed that men in particular should cross their feet when jumping into the water, so that the "family jewels" don't become the "family jowls".

[MBP&O2/O]

Having said that, they do work! We lost one overboard  trying to evacuate a lifeboat via a net that was slung down a ships side, and they popped up like a champagne cork! Getting them back out of the water wasn't as easy as I would have liked though🙄