If you need this, do you really have time to read a book?

I don't think CMP books are used by the Navy, but they are used by the USCG Merchant Mariner licenensing and ratings division.

That particular book (or a newer addition) and others like it form the basis of the questions on the lifeboatman's exam. If you can not pass that exam, you can not get a Z-Card (Merchant Mariners Document). A current Z-Card is rquired for all positions aboard inspected vessels.

Better save the women and children first!

Hey, I ride ferries frequently, maybe I can make use of this. Especially since the ferry service seems to have a bizarre sense of what to do in case of a real emergency.

The USCG makes them drill (always nice to stop for ten minutes if you're trying to get somewhere on time), which basically consists of the crew donning life jackets and lowering, then raisng a lifeboat. The one time I've been on a ferry here when there was a real emergency they acted like they'd lost their minds.

I take a long (65 minute or more, depending on stops) ferry ride to my satellite office. The run on the island where I live, however, is only about 15 minutes. A few summers ago I was riding when they brought the boat to a stop about 4 minutes from docking. After a few minutes, the captain announced they were fighting a fire in the galley. These are small galleys on fairly large boats, mind you. And if they ever hit something and started taking on water, they'd likely be able to just keep sailing to the dock and save cars, people, etc.

So they stop four minutes short of the dock. Where there is a fire hose, hydrant, etc. There's maybe .0000000000001% chance the fire could have spread to the point where it would reach the dock, but they stopped to fight it with hand-held extinguishers instead. This also meant that unless you wanted to jump overboard, you had no way to evacuate the boat. Duh.

Come to think of it, maybe I'll order up a case of these to leave lying around ferry cabins.

lifeboatsmans exam?

WTF, If the ship is going down, GET IN!

Seems obvious to me...

Pac, shipboard fires get out of control and real nasty really, really fast. I've been through two of them, trust me, they aren't fun and they aren't as easy to fight as you might think.

The only thing worse than a galley fire aboard a merchant ship is a bilge fire. Both of which will go completely out of control on you within seconds if you don't catch them immediately.

Fighting fires in the galley is a particular problem due to the cramped nature, loose objects, restricted access, the fact that almost eveything in there is combustible or flammable, it's close proximity to living quarters or other occupied spaces (toxic fumes and smoke), and it's higher location above the center of gravity of the vessel makes pumping a few tons of water into there something you really don't want to do.

As for fire hydrants, the ship has its own firepumps and an unlimited supply of water, so long as they can keep the generators on line. Problem is, water belongs on the outside of the boat, not the inside - if you don't pump it out as fast as your're pouring it on, you're going to have serious problems with vessel stability.

As for the Captain calling for an all-stop on the engines, while some of the unlicensed crew might be dolts, the Captain has most likely 10 to 20 years experience or more at his job and there's probably a very good reason he made the calls he did.

Pacs rides ferries!

Snicker!

RE #5-

I wish it were that simple. More people would survive it and those that do would be in better condition when then are rescued if it was.

Remember, abanoning ship is something that almost always happens under the most adverse of conditions imaginable. It never happens on a bright, sunny, calm day within flare-gun range of the coast guard stations.

"The only thing worse than a galley fire aboard a merchant ship is a bilge fire. Both of which will go completely out of control on you within seconds if you don't catch them immediately." - TG

Yeaup... which is why the galley's have the 'gaylord' extinguishing systems and the engine rooms have halon, co2 and afff bilge sprinkler systems.

#6 I assumed much of that. And yeah, I understand not wanting to dump a bunch of water INSIDE a boat. However, even with the assumption they must have a lot of firefighting equipment onboard, we were four minutes away from the dock. These are really limited galleys. Kind of t-shaped, with a large open are in front of them (you could probably fight a fire just leaning over the counter). I have to imagine that docked, however, they could get passengers off of the boat (less potential casualties) and have access to even more firefighting equipment. The galleys on these boats are such a tiny part of the craft that (guessing based on layout and materials) you'd just about either have to have a gas leak and explosion (not the case here) or spill a large amount of flammable liquid, light it and ignore it for over an hour before it would reach the deck of the boat.

^

actually you don't want to dock in these circumstances, because to do that you need to dedicate "dechand" manpower to linehandling rather than fighting the fire, the bridge crew to vessel manuvering rather than fire control, engine room machinery to manuvering thrusters rather than firepumps, etc...

I don't know how many unlicensed personel you have on those ferries, but you only have between 6 and 8 licensnsed officers. Four on the bridge, including the Captain, the rest are engineers. You can't dock the ship without these people being at their stations and you need them right now for the fire.

Plus, if you tell the passengers that there is a fire, then dock the ship, you'll have a **** stampeede down the gangway. So you'll have to dedicate more personell to safety and crowd control.

The fact that it's a small space does not make the fire any easier to fight. In fact, it's usually harder to fight small compartment fires than large space fires due to limited access and restricted space for personel to fucntion in.

#8

One of my Fraternity Brothers was a "PJ" out of Westhampton Beach. The same station the helecopter was dispatched from in "The Perfect Storm". And he rarely went for a dip on nice sunny days.

Heh heh. "Gaylord" and "Ferries".

Lol.

Actually, there are usually around 3-4 deckhands to load and unload cars. Not sure about officers, as most are up above the passenger deck. I'd say just park and unload without telling us the galley's on fire, but then again, floating for 45 minutes and starting to think if it's that bad, maybe I'll have to jump overboard and swim for it was starting to wear on me.

As for the space, plenty of room to fight it. You could almost do so just by standing in one place and turning, I'd think. I'll try that theory out next time I sail. Of course, I'll use CI matches.

^

I'm glad you're a good attorney.

Because you haven't got the first clue about ships.

RE #12-

I was stationed on Long Island at the time that storm hit, we had water 6ft over our seawalls.

Had to put all our vessels out into the sound to hold station because the piers were underwater. Every single rescue boat we had was out running assists for people who had no businuess being out in that storm on a boat.

If you ever run into your friend, tell him a Kings Pointer he's never met says thanks for the vigilance. He'll understand.

#15 I resent that! I've captained many in the bathtub. Some even had that cool baking soda tablet to dive and then rise again.

Actually I just didn't want to sit just a few feet offshore and burn to death because someone forgot to unplug the hotdog-hot light rotator machine.

LOL.

I can understand you not wanting to be aboard under those circumstances.

Unfortunately, manuvering for docking and simulaniously fighting a fire, no matter how small you believe it was, aboard that type of vessel, just isn't really an option - the resources just aren't there.

Fire fighting always takes priority, sometimes even over patching holes in the hull or flooding due to burst SW water lines.

Let us not forget the "restricted maneuvering doctrine".

When emergencies happen, ships are almost always restricted in their ability to maneuver. Not a good time to try to put into port.

I feel really bad that Pac lives next door to Bill Gates and has to ride a boat to get to the mainland..........

Good luck, bro