Surviving a ship sinking?

[koyote]

After reading this thread, my first and most important preparation would be to figure out how to ride on one of those ships so I'm not stuck in a cabin. Hell, I'll sleep on deck if I have to. Why get yourself blocked below decks in a cabin if you can help it?

If the waters are anything less than bathtub warm, I'd want a dry suit with me with all the signaling trimmings. Not only will it keep you from going hypothermic, but it'll also keep you afloat. I think I can fit one in a large backpack. But you'd better be able to get into the thing in under a minute and a half (that's how long they give you on the crab boats in the Bering Sea if you want to be rated to work those boats). Make sure it's bright orange or red for visibility...

Okay, this is where it gets weird for me. I don't walk around in fulle environment suits with heavy armor, I don't have a poison taster, I don't chemically test my water every time I fill my bottle. I'm not going to live in a dry suit on the deck of a ferry for an overnight trip.

To me, there's a line where preparedness becomes paranoia, fear, and inaction. And to me, not being able to enjoy my date in a feerry cabin crosses that line

 

[ras]

You don't need a dry suit if you can get into a lifeboat. You don't need flotation gear if you get to a raft. You don't even need to get wet. Depending on how fast the ship rolls, takes on water and sinks you may have time to make all sorts of intricate preps and casually walk to a lifeboat, or you may have just enough time to get on deck and struggle to stay afloat as the ship tries to suck you down.

I'll go back to that very discreet flotation jacket or maybe the V200 Newport Vest. Put whatever kit items in the pockets to make you feel safer. The ferries I've been on have been cold and with the wind blowing a jacket is not out of place. They really aren't that expensive all things considered, cheap insurance. If a ferry sinks and you're alive and in the water floating, you may be one of the fortunate few. Now swim to a lifeboat and get in.

 

[Will Power]

Thanks for all the suggestions:thumbup:

Alright, I take back my suggestion about the spirits...I do like a drink though But I concede this may not be the place.

Ferries sink FAST and in the general panic your best chance is a torch(flaslhight) if it goes dark and ensuring you have studied the ship's safety plan and done a 'dry' walk for a possible escape.Knowing how and where to go in the dark, with listing and possibly water and fixings smashing about is essential. You must try to get to a raft or lifeboat come what may because if you are in the water you have next to no chance.

People keep posting that you are on busy shipping lanes or are near the emergency services...not always (the North Sea is a good example and even parts of the Baltic) and trying to rescue a couple of thousand in a gale is no easy task. The Herald of Free Enterprise capsized and turned turtle with sight of the harbour, and still nearly 200 souls were lost. As the captain of a freight ship said to me "Every mariner is sometimes deadly afraid, we all are as the sea is to be respected"

 

[misanthropist]

This isn't meant to be a flame at all but a lot of the replies are way way of course to the point of madness.

The original question was what emergency kit to take on a RORO ferry in case of capsize in summer. Ask yourself what is the survival situation?
The first priority is you have to get off the ship before it sinks or pulls you down after it. Period. You don't stop and change into a drysuit or wetsuit, or attempt haul such kit through a dozen stairwells filled with hundreds of panicking people. You get out. As soon as you find your cabin check the escape routes and memorise them so you can negotiate them quickly and in the dark and when up is no longer up.

A large commercial ferry goes down. They can go down real fast. But they get off a mayday which includes location, or are missed pretty quickly. They are invariably on busy lanes and every ship in the vicinity will assist. Any period in the water is unlikely to be long term. Unless you are very close to shore the second priority should be to keep alive and in the same place and await rescue. Find a life raft and stay with other survivors. In a life raft you are a) more likely to be spotted by the rescue services, b) less likely to drown and c) going to stay warmer.

Being in the water for 24 hours in this scenario is pretty much worse case. You don't need emergency food or water, compasses (if you can't see land for f's sake stay where you are), binoculars, firesteels or knives. All of this will make you less likely to get off the ship in the first place and make treading water harder.

The #1 piece of kit would be, as posted already a GPS based Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) or Personal Locator Beacon (PLB).

The #2 piece of kit I would carry would be a small emergency strobe. An orange smoke flare would be nice but consider that you are unlikely to get through customs with explosives (knives could be problematic also).

The #3 piece of kit would be a decent life jacket. But they have to be able to turn you face up and you'd have to have hefty paranoia to buy one for a short trip and carry it around the rest of your holiday. A more practical solution would be to ensure you know where the ship issued life jackets are to grab on the way out.

Practical and functional clothing goes without saying but I wouldn't pack anything else.

No no no. Shock is a sudden drop in the blood flow to vital organs. When you are cold the external capillaries close down to direct blood to the body core and maintain vital organs. That's why fingers and toes go cold first. Alcohol makes you feel better but causes peripheral capillary dilation, drawing blood away from the core and worsening the effects of shock and hypothermia. Drinking spirits could kill you.

Re. shock: your body is used to the effects of gravity on your blood, and resisting it all pooling in your legs. When you are immersed in water the hydrostatic pressure counters the effects of gravity which results in an increased core blood volume. Your body counters this by telling your kidneys to process more urine. You get a similar effect when you lay down and go to sleep and so always need to pee in the morning even though you've not been drinking. The problem is that the body will stabilize the core blood volume to account for the hydrostatic pressure, and then you will be rescued, plucked from the water, lose the hydrostatic pressure, blood flows back to the legs and BAM: that is when you do get major shock. There were a lot of rescued divers killed like this before it was figured out by the RAF, they would be fine in the water and dead by the time the winch got them to the helicopter. These days they winch rescued divers on stretchers to stop it happening but I don't know what it is like in other countries and if you are plucked out by a passing fisherman they probably won't know so expect shock and keep horizontal with legs raised.

I think that the variety of possible ferry situations is great enough that for some people your list makes no more sense than theirs might make to you.

In my case, for instance, I would not have access to a cabin. There are no cabins on the ferries I take! The shore is forested wilderness, a few hundred feet away. Occasionally people have jumped from our ferries and swum to shore if there is no ferry service to their particular island, so this should give you some idea of how difficult it would be to make land: not very! I would never bother with bringing my own lifejacket - if it's really rough, there are literally thousands on the boat itself and the odds of needing one are pretty slim anyway - certainly not enough to justify packing one around.

The issue I am facing is simply getting warmed up after a cold swim, and waiting around for the inevitable rescue. Odds of spending 24 hours in the water are probably lower than odds of getting struck by lightning. So I definitely can't justify spending the money on an EPIRB!

There are no customs for me to worry about, so knives and even explosives are not a problem. I have taken a lot of guns over on the ferries over the years, often in a guitar case if I wasn't driving. Despite this, however, I don't think I'd put the money into a smoke flare, just because finding me would be easy - I'll be sitting next to the fire!

I think your list makes loads of sense for you given the situation YOU are likely to face. It makes no sense at all for me!

Remember, there are lots of possible variations on the "your ferry sinks" scenario! Choose the one that makes sense for you.

 

[koyote]

Every time I post about anything like this I KEEP FORGETTING MY MOST IMPORTANT TOOL. well, most important for a situation like this assuming there might *not* yet be help on the way.

Get your ham license. (or, for boating, just get an inexpensive waterproof marine band vhf).

I've only extremely rarely been anywhere I couldn't get a 2m signal from someone, regardless of cell phones.

 

[1McCarty]

Survival at sea..

I know a bit about what you should have or might need. Im a naval aircrewman.

When ever I fly I have with me the following. A signal mirror, a waterproof AA flashlight(Pelican), fishing line and hooks, a couple black garbage bags, matches, magnesium firestarter, a wool watch cap, iodine tablets, OTC pain killers, 100' of 550 para cord, a Ka-Bar, whistle, compass, chemlights(IR and green), sea dye marker, a few squares of heavy tin foil, small bottle of sunscreen/lipbalm, grease pencil, an issued survival strobe, some zip ties, basic first aid stuff. All is compact and fits in my gear.

Everything has a lanyard. Would suck to watch your mirror sink to the locker as a search plane flies overhead.. The flashlight and strobe is for signaling at night., fishing gear is self explainatory, the foil can be used as a reflector and to make flashing type fishing lures., the para cord has a plethora of uses, tethering you to other survivors, to the raft, two rafts together, etc., compass and whistle are also basic, garbage bags for one, collect rain water, and can be used as a salt water still.. Matches and the rest are pretty basic. In a situation where a ferry capsizes you will undoubtedly be rescued should you stay afloat and not die of hypothermia or other injuries. Should you find yourself at sea where your circumstances are less likely to be broadcast to every nearby vessel and rescue station, things get very dire. That doesnt mean you will not survive. In fact, people have survived adrift for months on end with very basic supplies. Example, all salt water fish barring puffer fish and jelly fish are edible raw. Same with sea birds. Water can be desalinated with a desalination pump without one rain is usually the way to go and when it falls, collect all that you can. A small VHF radio is advisable to carry to call for help to over head aircraft, passing ships but electronics fail easily when dunked in salt water. A handheld GPS is useless unless you have a radio and someone to relay your position to. Staying out of the elemants is the urgent need. Hypothermia can kill you even when the water is 80 degrees. Salt water will dehydrate you just being in it, keep your raft bailed out and rinse your clothing every evening to wash away salt build up. Stay covered from the sun and wind(garbage bags help). Ration your supplies. Drink as little as possible. Do not drink your urine or the salty ocean water. Avoid eating if water is scarce as digestion requires water and can add to dehydration. Collect water at every chance. Keep your wits and be smart. There are documented cases of people surviving for 4-6 months at sea floatong on a plain old piece of wood..