Lifeboats

[j.sabourn]

There were 2 buckets as well Bob, as part of boat equipment, strange how some things stick in the mind. Still cant get over how nobody to my mind at the time ever questioned the use of the orange heaving lines. I suppose thinking also in retrospect it would have been advisable to take the canvas boat cover as well for protection and collection of rain water, dont think this was ever mentioned in any safety courses I took over the years. Suppose we all get wiser as we get older and take the time to think about things. Regards John Sabourn

[Trader]

I took my L/Boat Ticket Aug,'57. Salthouse Dock,Liverpool

Got mine in the same dock Peter in May 1954.

Alec.

[Lou Barron]

Rowing a lifeboat around the docks is a lot different to when you have to do it in the real emergency believe me but it is good to know that there is capable seamen who know how to do the job properly

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Lou.
I can well imagine it would be so very different, notwith standing enemy guns but the seas. I did many lifeboat drills, once off Benias in Lebanon, fair old swell came up, hard to keep the oars in the water, had blisters after that short trip.
The only bad lifeboat drill was on the old Waipori in Sydney when one of the davits collapsed from metal fatigue, left the boat hanging by one davit one bloke clinging on the other in the drink. Though it could have turned out serious we all doubled over laughing at the bloke in the drink.
Cheers Des

[Keith Tindell]

I am sure on the modern cruise ship, which on drills appear to be the entertainment guys in charge, they are able to quote all the items and there uses in the boats!!. The thought of being dumped in the oggin with these guys in charge puts the eebie jeebies up me. KT

[happy daze john in oz]

A number of lifeboats on cruise ships are used as tenders to take bloods ashore where there is no jetty. I have had a good look around them and various areas are marked with signs such as water, spare life jackets etc. Normaly one of the officers is in charge of the lifeboat on these occasions with a deck hand at the helm. Have never seen any of the 'entertainment' brigade doing any form of life boat duty, only ever seen deck hands and officers in charge.

[happy daze john in oz]

[QUOTE=happy daze john in oz;116331]A number of lifeboats on cruise ships are used as tenders to take bloods ashore where there is no jetty. I have had a good look around them and various areas are marked with signs such as water, spare life jackets etc. Normaly one of the officers is in charge of the lifeboat on these occasions with a deck hand at the helm. Have never seen any of the 'entertainment' brigade doing any form of life boat duty, only ever seen deck hands and officers in charge.
Many of thr 'entertainment' crew are put in normal passenger accomodation as it is not unusual for them to change at various ports along the way.
The whole matter depends on the quality of the senior crew members, skipper, staff captain etc. Thankfully there are a large number of British captains around, many of them ex Royal navy.

[Calvin Kent]

It must have changed a little since my day. I coxed a lifeboat running passengers ashore in Trinidad on the Oriana and I was a lowly sos. I got a few hundred yards from the ship when a squall came out of nowhere and went on for seemingly forever. When it finally passed I was several miles down the coast and about the same off the shore. By the time we got back to the ship with my now bitching passengers it was too late for them to get ashore. I can only assume I didn't give the engine enough welly so was pushed downwind at roughly the same speed as the squall was travelling as I found out later there were several bits of rain up to a mile across.

Regards
Calvin

[leratty]

All this lifeboat talk make me think again of the lifeboat certificate we had to obtain & the knowledge of the complete stock of everything on board as that was apparently a 'for sure' question. I knew it backwards & forwards now can only remember the biscuits which were beyond disgusting, condensed milk of course water, barley sugar & omni pom which was the morpheme, the former as I had not heard of that word & really liked it. Not sure if it is one word or two? Does anyone without cheating recall in Toto the list? Richard

[Tony Morcom]

I have just come across my workbook from 1974 where the following minimum requirements were listed:

Single banked complement of oars, 2 spare oars and a steering oar.

A set and a half of crutches on lanyards.

A boat hook.

2 plugs for each hole attached to chains or lanyards.

1 bailer + 2 buckets

A rudder and a tiller.

A lifeline becketed around the boat; bilge keels or keel rails.

Grab lines from gunwale to gunwale under the boat.

A locker for small items.

1 hatchet at either end of the boat.

a lamp with oil for 12 hours burning.

A watertight box containing matches not easily extinguished by wind.

A mast or masts with galvanised rigging, orange sails marked with the 1st and last letters of the ships name.

A compass in a binnacle.

A sea anchor with a warp 3x longer than the boat with a tripping line 4 metres longer than the warp.

2 painters of sufficient size and length; one secured to the stern and the other fitted with a strop and toggle for easy slipping.

4.5 litres of fish, animal or vegetable oil plus oil bag capable of being fitted to sea anchor.

4 parachute distress rockets plus 6 red hand flares.

2 buoyant orange smoke signals.

A first aid kit.

An electric torch suitable for morse signalling complete with 1 spare set of cells plus spare bulb.

A heliograph.

A jack knife fitted with a tin opener and secured to the boat with a lanyard.

2 light buoyant heaving lines.

A manual pump.

A fishing line and 6 hooks.

A whistle.

A highly visible cover capable of protecting the occupants from exposure.

A means to enable persons in the water to climb into the boat.

A list of rescue signals as used by coastguards.

nb: No motor boat or mechanically propelled boat need carry a mast or sails nor more than half the complement of oars. These boats shall carry 2 boat hooks. A motor boat shall carry 2 portable fire extinguishers, a receptacle containing sand and a scoop.

RATIONS:

There shall be AT LEAST:
450g of biscuits per person.

450g of barley sugar per person.

450g of sweetened condensed milk per person.

3 litres of fresh water for every person to boat is certified to carry.

1 water dipper plus 3 rust proof drinking vessels, 1 of which must be graduated.

All water and food must be secured in watertight containers and must be frequently changed.

Interestingly it appears that contents for liferafts varied:

A bouyant resue quoit on 30 metres of line.

I bailer plus one safety safety knife for up to 12 persons. For over 12 persons 2 of each to be carried.

2 sponges and 2 paddles.

2 sea anchors one of which is to be permanently attached to the raft.

1 puncture repair kit and one topping up pump or bellows.

3 safety tin openers and 1 graduated rust proofed drinking vessel.

2 parachute distress rockets plus 6 red hand flares.

340g of non thirst provoking food per person.

170g of barley sugar or other suitable sweet per person.

1.5 litres of fresh water per person.

6 anti sea sickness tablets per person.

English instructions on how to survive in a raft.

A first aid kit.

An electric torch as before.

A heliograph plus a whistle.

A fishing line plus 6 hooks.

A list of rescue signals as used by the coastguard.