Lifeboat Drills

(Excerpt from Ship's Librarian, June 2)
We just had another lifeboat/safety drill. By Coast Guard regulations, we have to have one a week and the Captain likes planning them for calm waters. When the alarm sounds, you have to drop everything. You have to get your gear and to go to your assigned lifeboat station wearing a jacket, hat, life vest and carrying ID, a knife and flashlight. The drills usually last ½ hour or so. Today we had an added lesson on how to use a “Gumby Suit”. This is a floatable, thermal protection outfit that helps you stay afloat and avoid hypothermia in case you have to go directly into the water if the ship’s going down and you can’t use the lifeboats. You look like “Gumby” when it is all zipped up, Also demonstrated was a mylar sleeping bag-like device to keep you warm in the lifeboat.

There are 6 lifeboats on board of 2 different kinds with more than enough capacity to hold everyone. The traditional type, like the one we all know from movies like “Titanic,” is open and holds 145 people. The second kind looks like a large orange boot. It is completely enclosed and able to stay afloat in the roughest seas. You may have seen this type recently on the news. It was the type the Somali pirates were killed in during the recent standoff. I’m assigned to the former this cruise, but I think I’d prefer to be in the latter.
It’s a bit disconcerting to think about having to abandon ship, but it is comforting to know that we are well prepared to do so if we had to.