Some years ago in a now defunct navy journal an article was written about what people think when they fall overboard. Several predominant factors were recognized: (1) Do they know I am overboard? (2) What are they doing? (3) How can I help my rescue? After some study and research the following was gleaned:

a. Most victims that fall overboard and are not recovered because their location is not known.

b. Some recovered bodies showed signs of exhaustion rather than drowning.

c. Recovered victims that remained afloat and conserved energy and remained in a position near the wake were recovered soonest.

It was determined that if the person falling overboard had knowledge of the search and rescue procedures it could increase the victims chances of recovery.

Therefore the following was developed:

INSTRUCTIONS IF YOU SHOULD FALL OVERBOARD.

1. Immediately upon notification that some one has fallen overboard or is missing the international signal for man overboard will be sounded on the ships whistle: three blasts (the letter O in the international Morse code) and a vertically fired flare will be launched. A radio message will also be transmitted on area and international frequencies.

2. If you are in sight, the ship will return to your position by the most expeditious means. This may mean simply turning around and coming to you, or if you are not in sight or it is dark or foggy, by using a Williamson Turn to retrace the ship’s track and then start a search for you.

3. Do not panic or try to swim to the ship. Use your shirt, coat or pants to make a flotation pillow.

4. WHEN THE SHIP ARRIVES AT THE START SEARCH POSITION IT WILL BLOW TWO VERY LONG WHISTLE

BLASTS AND LAUNCH A SMOKE FLOAT. The ship will then commence a search for you and will return to that smoke float every 15 minutes and sound a very long blast, and then resume searching.

5. You should swim towards the Start Search Point regardless of what the ship does. Do not swim after the ship.

6. Following these instruction will greatly improve your chances of recovery and can expedite the search.

7. If you need any further clarification ask questions now.

It is recommended this notice be posted on all department bulletin boards.

This article was written by Captain John Denham, a veteran of 66 years maritime experience in seamanship, ship handling, navigation, piloting, and education. he is also author of The Assistant and DD 891.

Radio Zeeland DMP Americas and Sisco Indentification Solutions bring us a promising new technology called “Man-overboard Early Detection System (MEDS)” They tell us:

When dealing with a man overboard scenario time is a critical factor in order to stop the vessel and turn the propulsion machincery away from the man overboard before a true loss of life at sea occurs. Environmental circustances serverely restrict the amount of time you may have to detect the man overboard and initiate rescue. MEDS is a complete systerms which can be fully integrated into a current existing vessel security video analytics or independent video analytics can be provided with installation. MEDS is able to be installed and set up during a refit period with little to no modification required. System runs on a standard ethernet or Fiber Optic network. MEDS is a truly plug and play solution.

What sets MEDS apart from other MOB systems on the market is its simplicity and reliability.  The system requires almost no human interaction to function onboard, instead relies on automatic sensors that detect man overboard events.  Following a possible event, the system broadcasts an audible alarm to watchstanders on the bridge, and software running the system visually indicates where the event may have occurred using a graphic representation of the vessel and a flashing red indication to draw attention.  A camera window then brings up the possible area in real time while a digital video recording loops back 15 seconds prior to the sensor going off.  This video loop will continue to play, allowing time for the user to analyze the situation to see if it is in fact a true man overboard.

Not simple enough for you?  Just check out this video…

Click here to view the embedded video.

gCaptain’s Co Founder, Tim Konrad, and Marketing Director, Mike Schuler returned this week from the International WorkBoat Show where they had a chance to speak with the guys over at Mobilarm. The good fellows at Mobilarm have developed a new man overboard system known as Crewsafe. Crewsafe provides a new level of marine employee safety and security through crew location monitoring, automatic alarm and in-water tracking in a man overboard situation. It’s a pretty slick system that has the potential to save numerous lives. Here is a brief rundown of how the system works.

Each crew member is given a personal transceiver which wirelessly connects to a router that in turn connects to a display console. If a crew member falls overboard or activates his transceiver in an emergency situation his connection with the router is broken and a alarm is sounded. All other personal transceivers begin to flash and vibrate alerting the crew of the emergency. The Crewsafe management system will then inform the personel of which transceiver is unaccounted for while simultaneously providing crucial facts and medical information. A second device, the Mobilarm V100 VPIRB (VHF Position Indicating Radio Beacon), then takes over automatically transmiting a “MAYDAY MAN OVERBOARD” alert via VHF DSC on marine channel 70. Once a GPS lock is acquired, typically in less than 30 seconds, the Mobilarm V100 transmits a “MAYDAY MAN OVERBOARD” alert again, including the latitude and longitude coordinates of the person in the water, via VHF DSC and also by a synthesised VHF voice message on channel 16. The distress signal is broadcast to all vessels in the vicinity, including the distressed mariner’s vessel and any onshore VHF receiver within range. Messages are repeated at regular intervals until the MOB is rescued. The system requires no specialist training and is quite simple to use. This brief summery is a very general overview of the products capability’s. It seem to us that Mobilarm have thought of everything, including making the product fully scalable to the size of your crew and ship. We strongly suggest you take a look at their website for a full rundown of the product details. Very cool stuff…