Lifeboat Drills

In a short while we'll have one of our regular muster and lifeboat drills. We have these at fairly regular intervals and as passengers our roles are fairly simple; show up at the mustering station on the A-deck with helmet, life vest and perhaps the immersion suit; after all are properly accounted for proceed the C-deck and clamber into the Free Fall Boat (FFB). In the event of an actual emergency, follow the instructions of the Chief Officer.

As you can imagine, safety is a paramount concern of all on board since assistance can be a long time coming. In most cases, the crew is dependent on themselves and they need to be prepared for a wide range of eventualities.

The Free Fall Boat is our emergency escape mechanism in the event we would have to abandon ship. It's a rather futuristic looking, fully enclosed, safety-orange colored craft mounted on an angled launch at the aft end of the ship. I've seen identical or similar craft on most of the other larger cargo vessels we've passed.

Since the rear hatch is conveniently located right outside my window I can easily see the dimensions painted on its stern: 7.4 meters in length, 2.66 in width and a height of 1.07. Into this small space there are seats for 36 persons. The majority of the seats are arrayed two abreast down both sides of the boat, facing aft towards the entry hatch. The craft is pointed nose downwards at a fairly steep angle, about 45 degrees, to facilitate its launch, so entering it is like walking down a steep stairway.

The seats are in two levels, with 31 of them on the lower level and facing essentially "up", or back towards the entry hatch, so it takes a bit of agility to swing into our assigned places. Each passenger and crew member has an assigned seat. The seats are very snug and equipped with a four-point, seatbelt-type harness that we need to secure. The idea being that in the event of a real emergency we would drop backwards into the water from the launching mechanism and the harnesses would keep us from bouncing around and injuring ourselves. A rough estimate is that it's about an eight meter drop from the nose of the craft to the waterline.

There are also five seats at the rear of the craft perched above the lower level seats with one facing forward. This is where the craft's driver, normally the Chief Officer and the officers would sit. From the outside they are in a raised cupola about a third of the length of the whole craft. The boat is equipped with a motor and outfitted with communication and signaling equipment. There are also emergency stores of food, water and first aid equipment. Each member of the crew is trained in how to launch the FFB and start its engine.

Once the officer in charge of our drill is satisfied with our performance we unhook our harnesses, being careful to leave them arranged so that they are readily accessible for the next drill or real emergency, and then we climb up and out the hatch and back onto the deck. We've also been briefed on the operation of the rescue boat, the launching of the life rafts, and the operation of the emergency generator. There is a lot of emphasis on safety and emergency preparedness on board since help can be a long time coming.

This is pretty much the end of our drill as passengers; the crew then usually continues with various firefighting and rescue drills or a procedure review.