Dealing with emergencies

As a skipper, you not only have a responsibility to your vessel & your passengers, you also have a responsibility to provide assistance where possible to others who may be in distress. There’s no advantage in risking your own vessel and amplifying an existing emergency when your own capabilities don’t match the emergency at hand.

You need to evaluate your vessel and crew’s ability to safely assist prior to attempting a rescue that may be unrealistically unsafe. In some situations, it is much smarter to relay the emergency message to more appropriate personnel.

Consider your recreational vessels ability to respond by evaluating the following –

• Fire and/or smoke – assist with extinguishing fire if possible, and/or evacuate persons off the vessel in distress;
• Grounding – assist by towing other vessel if possible, and/or evacuate personnel off the vessel in distress;
• Person overboard – assist by retrieving person overboard if possible;
• Capsize – assist by towing other vessel if possible, and/or evacuate personnel off the vessel in distress;
• Swamping – assist with bilge pump out or by towing other vessel if possible, and/or evacuate personnel off the vessel in distress;
• Engine breakdown or malfunction – assist by towing other vessel if required;
• Fouled propeller – assist by towing other vessel if required;
• Anchor dragging – assist by towing other vessel if required;
• Hypothermia – assist with medical treatment if required;
• Contaminated fuel – assist by towing other vessel and/or providing clean fuel, if required.

Identifying An Appropriate Response

After evaluation and considering your own safety as the highest priority, an appropriate response to the emergency needs to be prepared. You would do this by having a briefing with your own crew to action an appropriate response prior to implementation. Some typical considerations would be –

• Any external hazards in the vicinity of the vessel needing assistance that may impact on your own craft e.g. proximity of shoals, adverse weather conditions, other vessel;
• The nature of the emergency upon the other vessel and the likelihood of the emergency spreading to your own vessel e.g. infectious disease, fire, other emergencies that could spread to your own vessel – act in a relay capacity for better equipped rescuers;
• The nature of the emergency on the other vessel and any limitations of your craft to assist e.g. a tinny may be of limited assistance if trying to evacuate passengers from a cruise liner;
• The nature of the emergency on the other vessel and the skill set of you crew in assisting with resolution of that emergency e.g. first aid skills, firefighting skills, mechanical skills;
• The nature of the emergency on the other vessel and the suitability of the equipment on your own vessel to be directly applied to resolution of that emergency e.g. medical supplies, firefighting equipment, spare parts;
• Communications equipment and expertise on your vessel;
• The area of operations in which the emergency is taking place, and the availability of other sources of assistance including rescue professionals for the vessel needing assistance;
• The nature and urgency of the emergency on the other vessel and the consequences for the vessel and its personnel if assistance is not provided.

Communicating The End Of Emergency

The other vessel may not be in a position to continue effect communication. In some situations, it may be appropriate for you to assist with communication with appropriate emergency personnel. For example, their vessels marine radio may now be underwater and no longer usable. You should assist (if safe) and communicate with appropriate emergency personnel until the emergency has ended.