Question: Please take note of the following series of pictures.
In this first one - from the 1960's when she was on the Sun Lane route
crossing the Atlantic - you can see that the Independence clearly has 14
lifeboats - seven on each side.
At the
time she carried up to 1000 passengers which would mean an average of 71 per
lifeboat - more in some, less in others.
In this picture taken during her early days of cruising the Hawaiian islands,
it looks like the got rid of the 6th lifeboat on each side but since she was
typically carrying only 850 passengers, the average remains around 70 per
boat.
This later photo shows that sometime during one of her 1990's re-fits, 8 of
the lifeboats were removed leaving the ship with 6 - two small ones and four of
what could be originals. That's an average load of 141 so there is clearly not
enough lifeboat space for all passengers.
As I understand the change, since the ship was no longer doing ocean voyages
she was not required to carry the same lifesaving equipment as a ship that
travels across the Atlantic or between distant ports. Therefore the 6 lifeboats
were replaced by a number of lifeRAFTS.
My question is, how were passengers expected to board the life-rafts in the
event of emergency? Were they to be inflated on the deck, attached to a lift and
lowered to the sea? Were they inflated on the surface of the water and
passengers would board from some open door on the side of the ship?
Anybody know the answer?
(courtesy of Joe at TravelPage.com)
Answer: OK Joe....lifeboats today are superfluous and even somewhat dangerous.. Originally they were designed to be able to be sailed hundreds of miles to the nearest land and to try and keep their survivors alive in horrendous conditions.
Today the whole idea is to stay together where the ship sinks and await rescue. So, the whole idea of what to do has changed drastically. Fast evacuation is the requirement and that can be done using the chutes and slides which have been coming into use slowly for quite a few years, especially on the high-density ferries. Prior to that and when inflateable liferafts first came into use to supplement lifeboats, Davits were designed to lower the loaded raft to the water (max size 25 person) automatically release it and recover the hook to lower another raft.
With the slides & shutes, which go from the ship into the water...the slides go out at an angle whereas the chutes go straight down...the inflateable rafts can be much larger as they are inflated in the water and not on deck and I believe the largest are now up to 150 person capacity. When one is full they are towed clear of the ship by a "shepherd boat" which as the name implies keeps the ILRs together. These boats are usually semi-rigids with lots of power.
The pictures show the evolution, from the 1st with only lifeboats, to the 2nd where a couple of boats have been removed and some ILRs fitted for the remainder of the crew not needed to man the boats, to the last where the ILRs are the main equipment and the remaining lifeboats are being used as 'Shepherd boats". 2 of them are designated a "Rescue boats" which are an additional item.
Personally, having used all these types, going back to the days of rope falls and wooden boats (I was left dangling on a lifeline 50 feet above the water one time when a fall got away from the lowerer and one end of the boat was dropped) I have no hesitation in saying I much prefer the vertical chutes. They can be fitted so that one enters it from a door in the side of a lounge and the only exposure to the elements is when one goes from the bottom of it into the covered raft.
These chutes were originally developed by the Japanese to be used for evacuation from high-rise buildings. They then modified them for ships.
....peter
Joe..to answer your question she is fitted with Davit-launched ILRs...you can see them on the boat deck next to the raft containers. So no they didn't fit chutes.
(courtesy of GoHaze/Peter)
Answer: Accordingly to SOLAS, a passenger ship has to carry lifeboats for all the persons on board. Another rule says that lifeboats can be replaced by launchable liferaft, keeping a number of lifeboats with a capacity of 37.5% (of the persons the ship is certified to carry) on each side. Almost all ships are now build with lifeboats for 75% (37.5% X 2) of the persons and with the remaining 25% going into liferafts (plus an additional 25% of the capacity in liferafts, which is compulsory anyway). The main reasons why shipping companies decide to use the minimum number of lifeboats are less costs, less maintenance costs, easier maintenance on the raft, less cabins or public areas with the view obstructed, etc. Usually passengers are allocated on lifeboats and crew members on liferaft, but on ships with low crew/passenger ratio you may find some passenger liferafts.
(courtesy of Ryndam)