New Guidance on Lifeboat and Rescue Boat Operations Published
“There is no easy way to abandon ship,” writes Captain Dag Pike. The author is one of the most experienced navigators in the world and speaks from experience, having been shipwrecked twice in the Atlantic.
Taking to the boats, getting away from a stricken vessel and safely negotiating the open sea until rescued is likely to be one of the most demanding tasks a seafarer will ever have to face. Training in sheltered waters can never properly prepare the mariner for hazards of an emergency abandon ship or replicate the panic that may take hold among passengers in a lifeboat.
The Nautical Institute has published a new book by Pike titled Driving Lifeboats and Rescue Boats, the sequel to his Launch and Recovery of Boats from Ships (NI, 2017). It aims to fill the gap between training and reality by providing potentially lifesaving insights into the realities of handling a lifeboat, MOB boat or fast rescue boat in all conditions. Pike explains boarding preparations, leaving the ship’s side and how to handle small craft in following seas, beam seas, head seas, fog, ice and darkness.
Even when rescue is at hand the boat’s crew will need to transfer passengers to the ship. The author highlights how the task is made harder by the unsatisfactory design of many modern lifesaving craft. Pike also discusses the different driving techniques needed for the fast boats used to rescue people in the water and to tow liferafts.
The book is illustrated with numerous photographs and clear diagrams. It contains a combined index that references topics covered in both Driving Lifeboats and Rescue Boats and Launch and Recovery of Boats from Ships.
Pike has extensive experience on the subject of handling small craft in emergencies and challenging conditions. After serving as Captain of Trinity House lighthouse tenders, he went on to become an Inspector of Lifeboats with the U.K.’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution and was responsible for some 50 lifeboat stations. His observations on lifeboat design will therefore be of particular interest to designers, manufacturers and regulators, says The Nautical Institute.
To purchase a copy of Driving Lifeboats and Rescue Boats visit… https://www.nautinst.org/shop/driving-lifeboats-and-rescue-boats.html
price: £30 (NI member price: £21); ISBN: 978 1 906915 66 7; NI publication code: 0384.
Driving Lifeboats and Rescue Boats can be bought together with Launch and Recovery of Boats from Ships for £55 (NI members £38.50), ISBN 978 1 906915 72 8, publication code 0387.