SEAL Survival Guide (11 page)

PART TWO

Survival Scenarios

ABANDON SHIP

Ships sink every day. The moment you step aboard a boat or anything else designed to carry you on water, you must consider the possibility of its going down. Anything that floats, from a cruise ship to a canoe, can sink. Tens of thousands of boats go under every year, and at least four large ships sink every week.

As with most life-threatening situations, an accident at sea happens quickly, and if a ship starts to take on water, there will be no time to find out where basic survival gear is kept. Oddly enough, most ship sinkings (nearly 64 percent) take place within sight of a dock or land. However, 34 percent of sunk vessels go down because of breaches in the hull (the boat’s bottom), more often when very far out at sea. Hulls can get damaged from striking an object, for example, or from the failure of an underwater gasket or of an engine mount. But once a hole forms under the waterline, the clock of impending disaster goes into overdrive. A two-inch hole that is only three feet below the surface will allow as much as 138 gallons of water to come rushing in per minute. Even the smallest breach will usually rip open the hole further due to mounting pressure, thus allowing even more and more water in at proportionally unstoppable rates.

During the last five years, one hundred million people took vacations on cruise ships. In the U.S. alone, approximately seventy-five million people partake in recreational boating activities per year. Obviously, there is a difference between the sinking of a commercial cruise ship and a personal watercraft; however, the tools and mindset required to survive are the same. Chances of surviving at sea or in
open water if forced to abandon ship are not good, so the decision of whether to leave a vessel in distress is extremely important.

Situational Awareness:

What to Do When Boarding a Ship or Boat

When you board a boat, ferry, or cruise ship, the very first thing you must do is take a visual inventory or do a situational awareness drill.

1. First, locate safety equipment and evacuation routes.

a. On commercial vessels, signs indicating the location of life vests or life preservers are usually stamped or stenciled on walls. The devices could be under seats or stored above. On a cruise ship, they may be in your cabin. I can’t stress enough that when you are traveling internationally, particularly in poorer countries, the safety standards we have come to expect in the United States are not always adhered to.

b. Look to see where lifeboats or rafts are located. What type of survival equipment do they have? How many people are they designed to carry? Are there enough?

c. Know where all exits are located; preferably know at least two that are in opposite directions. This is especially important if you are inside the ship. Know how to find your way out, and how to find the bow (front)
of the ship and the direction of the stern (back). The stern is usually where engines are located and where most fires occur.

2. If you don’t see what you’re looking for, or want more information, walk around and do what SEALs call an
AFAM,
or
area familiarization.
This is an integral part of situational awareness. Ask the crew if there are life vests, for example, even if you have to use pantomiming sign language to communicate, or show a picture of such items you retrieved from (or preloaded onto) your smart phone.

3. Generally, you want to find a seat, cabin, or comfortable place to situate yourself as close to the waterline as possible. This will minimize the distance you have to travel if abandoning ship is necessary.

4. Rehearse evacuating from your cabin or any location on or within the ship. Remember particular features that will help you locate lifeboat stations or the bow of the ship. Keep in mind that you may be required to evacuate with little or no visibility.

5. If you go out on a recreational boat, ask where the life jackets are stored. Ensure that there is at least one for every passenger and that they are the correct size. Additionally, familiarize yourself with radio and electronic equipment. A good skipper, even a buddy operating a twenty-foot sailboat or fishing boat, knows about safety. They will appreciate having another person along who knows where survival gear is stored and how to get at it in the event that a boating accident or mishap occurs.

What to Do When a Ship Is Taking On Water

The scenario of a ship taking on water can be reduced to two questions:

1. Do we stay, reasonably believing that we can keep the vessel afloat? Follow-up questions: If there is a fire, can you extinguish it? Do you have the tools and ability to either stop the leak or remove the water faster than it’s flowing in? All of these actions are incredibly dangerous and will require a very high degree of skill.

2. Do we risk possible drowning, exposure (hypothermia or heatstroke), dehydration, and starvation on the open water?

Can the Leak Be Stopped?

As mentioned previously, water is such a powerful force that you will have limited time to determine if a breach can be plugged. On a commercial ship, it is unlikely that you will be given the opportunity to decide if the hull breach, or other cause of a leak, can be contained and the ship saved. On smaller boats, you might be able to assess the damage and employ bilge pumps and even bailing buckets that could give you a chance to keep the boat afloat. Abandoning ship is the last option, but in many situations there may not be much of a choice.

On recreational fiberglass boats, it might be good to have a packet of fiber mesh (which looks like sheets of sandpaper) and tubes of silicone or marine caulking, which can slow smaller leaks and allow bilge pumps or bucket-bailing to be effective. For boats with wooden hulls, fabric from clothing can be fashioned into a patch and applied over the breach with pitch or roofing cement, although it
is best to attempt this repair on the exterior of the vessel, if seas permit. For metal hulls, there are cold-weld products available. Depending on the boat you have, these items should be kept aboard for such emergencies.

Abandoning Ship

The call to abandon ship, which, by definition, means to intentionally and permanently give up and leave a vessel that has sustained a disaster that is beyond control, is a serious one. However, if you make that decision, or if this is the call made by the crew of a commercial vessel, there is no time for second-guessing and hesitation. Survival in this situation, as during many disasters, depends on your ability to organize your actions into an order of priorities.