Seaways – August 2019

14   | Seaways | August 2019 Read Seaways online at http://www.nautinst.org/seaways

Feature: Book of the Month – Driving lifeboats and rescue boats

The Nautical Institute’s latest book, Driving lifeboats and rescue boats, looks at a topic which is hard to

teach, rarely used – and absolutely vital to safety

Between training and reality

T

here is no easy way to abandon ship,’ writes Dag Pike,

author of Driving lifeboats and rescue boats. He speaks from

experience, having been shipwrecked twice in the Atlantic.

Formerly a shipmaster with Trinity House, he worked

for many years as an Inspector of Lifeboats with the UK’s maritime

lifesaving charity the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

Taking to the boats, getting away from a stricken vessel and safely

negotiating the open sea until rescued is likely to be one of the most

demanding tasks a seafarer will ever have to face. No amount of

training in sheltered waters can properly replicate the sense of urgency

and panic of an emergency abandon ship. Here, Dag explains how he

has approached the issue of preparing a book that aims to fill the gap

between training and reality.

Why we need this book

The focus of most lifeboat operations is on their launch and recovery,

and little consideration appears to be given to what happens after the

boat is in the water. When lifeboats are launched for a routine test this

is almost always done either in harbour or in similarly calm conditions.

There is no real challenge involved in driving a lifeboat around a

harbour and back alongside.

Compare this with the conditions likely to be met when a lifeboat

is used in order to abandon ship in an emergency. This is sure to be

a very different scenario. Not only is the lifeboat full of people who

may be in a state of panic and will definitely be outside their comfort

zone, but also the boat has to be driven away from the ship, perhaps

in adverse sea conditions. This is likely to be a long way outside the

average seafarer’s normal experience. Neither the training courses that

seafarers have to undertake for their lifeboat certificates nor routine

practice launches are sufficient preparation for an emergency abandon

ship.

Seamanship

The need to abandon ship in an emergency is rare these days, so few

seafarers will actually have used a lifeboat for the purpose for which

it is intended. In more than 60 years of being at sea the only time I

have had to use lifeboats to abandon a ship was when we hit rocks off

the west coast of Scotland. We used the lifeboats as a means of getting

down the side of the listing vessel so that we could transfer into the

RNLI lifeboat that had come to our rescue. That was an inventive use

of lifeboats that was some way removed from their primary purpose.

My aim here is to look at the best ways of handling lifeboats once

they have been launched in order to ensure they are an effective tool

for abandoning ship. If ships are required to carry lifeboats then they

should be made as effective as possible. In the past, little attention

was paid to what happens to the lifeboat and how the boat is operated

once it is in the water, yet this can be a critical part of the evacuation

process. At this stage in the abandon ship process, ‘seamanship’ is

meant to take over and it is assumed that the crew of the ship will know

what to do. Unfortunately, traditional seamanship skills are no longer

widely available. Training centres that run courses for seafarers required

to have a lifeboat certificate do the best they can within the limitations

imposed on them. Their ‘safety first’ approach is understandable,

but it makes it difficult to create sufficient realism to give a sense

of what might happen in an emergency. No risks can be taken that

might endanger the participants in a training operation, so launch

and recovery training has to take place under controlled conditions in

harbour. The lifeboats themselves are unlikely to be taken out into the

open sea to show trainees what it is like to be in a small craft in rough

conditions. Launching a lifeboat from a stable shore-based set of davits

and operating it in the sheltered waters of a harbour is very different

from the challenging conditions that may be encountered during

an emergency. The lifeboat might be moving violently in adverse

sea conditions, putting the occupants at a high risk of injury. Almost

certainly they will have to contend with the debilitating effects of

seasickness. This will be at a time when they fear for the future and are

probably finding it hard to make rational decisions because there is so

little information on which to base those decisions.

Simulators and reality

Modern simulators represent a major step forward in training, given

that it is not practical to train in a real boat in adverse conditions, at

night or under conditions where there might be a risk to life and limb.

However, simulator training can never replicate the fear, apprehension

and even panic that arise in an abandon ship situation. This is probably

the worst part of the operation and the greatest single contributor to

mistakes being made. I have been rescued at sea and, believe me, when

disaster strikes you find yourself well outside your normal experience.

Trying to explain this situation to students in training is hard when

the course follows a tried and tested pattern of pre-arranged events

and content. Training can only ever prepare one for a small part of

the lifeboat experience and there is minimal chance of widening this

experience in normal shipboard operations. The aim of this book is

therefore to provide an insight into this alien world of abandoning ship,

so as to give crews an idea of what to expect. It explains what it’s like

to spend time in a lifeboat and details the techniques of driving the

lifeboat in difficult situations such as getting away from the ship’s side.

The book also covers being rescued from the lifeboat, as this is an area

not considered in the design and specifications of these craft.

Rescue boats

Abandoning ship can never be less than challenging. The risks can

be high – which is exactly why it is not included in training courses.

This book also covers the use and operation of rescue boats, and these

fall into two categories. The man overboard boat (MOB) is a relatively

low-powered craft designed primarily for recovery of crew or passengers

who have fallen overboard. It can also be employed to help others who

are in the water for whatever reason and can assist in the marshalling

of liferafts. The latter role is associated with passenger ships that have

liferafts as their primary means of abandoning ship. The MOB can be

used to tow the liferafts away from the ship and to manage them until

rescue arrives.

The fast rescue boat (FRB) was initially introduced as part of the

safety equipment for the offshore oil and gas industry. Today this type is

employed on a wide variety of ships both as a work boat and for safety

and boarding roles. Handling techniques for FRBs are different because

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