Introduction.
Emergencies usually occur when they are least expected and usually under less than ideal conditions. This is particularly true when they occur at sea. Because of this, ships usually make provision by having standard drills and by practising them regularly. The idea is that by doing the drills often enough they become almost automatic in their execution. In this module it is intended to touch only two emergencies that could arise and only very briefly. In grade 11 this will be expanded to a much greater extent.

Man overboard.
One of the nightmares dreaded by masters of vessels is the possibility of losing a member of one’s crew overboard. It is bad enough seeing the person fall overboard but it is worse when you find a crew member missing a little while later. The procedure outlined below is that carried out when a crew member is seen to have fallen overboard:

1. The lookout or whoever sees someone fall over the ship’s side is to immediately throw a life-buoy over the side the member fell. Whilst not all life-buoys are fitted with smoke markers/automatic lights, it is preferable to launch such a life-buoy. Besides giving the member something to keep him/her afloat, it is also very visible from a distance during the day and also makes it visible at night.
2. As soon as the person has done so, the OOW on the bridge must be informed.
3. The OOW will carry out the following actions:
   • He will put the wheel hard over on the side that the person fell overboard.
   • He will instruct the lookout and anyone else on the bridge to keep the life-buoy in sight.
   • He will obtain the position of the ship from the GPS.
   • He will broadcast over the ship’s public address system the fact that a man has fallen overboard.
   • He will inform the captain.
   • He will summon the bosun and tell him to prepare to recover the man, either by rescue boat or throwing a boarding ladder over the ship’s side.
   • If in the company of other vessels he will hoist flag OSCAR during the day and sound three prolonged blasts on the ship’s siren to inform them of his predicament. At night he will switch on his not-under-command lights (two all-round red lights mounted vertically above one another on the mast)and inform them by radio.
   • He will carry out a Williamson turn and steady up when he is on the reciprocal of his initial course.
   • He will reduce speed in preparation to manoeuvering for the recovery of the man.
   • In the meantime the bosun will have either prepared the rescue boat for launching or made other appropriate arrangements to recover the man.
   • Finally he will manoeuvre the ship upwind of the man and recover him.