# How hard is it to find a boat in the ocean **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 15, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-find-a-boat-in-the-ocean/666270 "2013-08-15T01:48:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-find-a-boat-in-the-ocean/666270/21 "2013-08-16T04:27:20Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > You use airborne search radar as mentioned in my previous post. That, along with FLIR, allows you to detect and track a target without them ever knowing you are there. If you are far enough away so that they will not know you are there, how do you know that you have the right target? If they have had a large head start & you do not know what kind of boat it is, overcoming all that, then you can be as sneaky as you want but until then … 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-find-a-boat-in-the-ocean/666270/22 "2013-08-16T05:16:55Z")
**GusNSpot** : think of binoculars. A person with binoculars can identify someone else from much farther than someone without can identify them back. Unless the boat has technology as good as that of their trackers, and something to match anything they see against, they won’t be able to tell who that is - they may not even see there is a “someone” looking down. And sometimes, the trackers don’t even need to be too specific. Zodiac full of people in the middle of the Med? That ain’t no tourists. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-find-a-boat-in-the-ocean/666270/23 "2013-08-16T12:21:24Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > If you are far enough away so that they will not know you are there, how do you know that you have the right target? That’s what the FLIR is for. I’ve been on a mission where the target has been located, identified, and monitored for over 24 hours without its occupants ever knowing we were there. On the other hand a single identification fly-by, when single fly-bys are the normal operating procedure in an environment where airborne surveillance is common, shouldn’t arouse suspicion. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-find-a-boat-in-the-ocean/666270/24 "2013-08-16T12:57:42Z")
> [@deebenevent@yahoo.co.nz](#): > > Slightly off topic but curious to find out: what kind of technology would one use to find a boat that didn’t want to be found? Could one lock in on their GPS system? A GPS is a receiver only. (If it’s the emergency kind that can emit a signal, it has a transmitter too, but obviously that wouldn’t be activated in this case.) ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-find-a-boat-in-the-ocean/666270/25 "2013-08-16T15:53:15Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > That’s what the FLIR is for. I’ve been on a mission where the target has been located, identified, and monitored for over 24 hours without its occupants ever knowing we were there. On the other hand a single identification fly-by, when single fly-bys are the normal operating procedure in an environment where airborne surveillance is common, shouldn’t arouse suspicion. I understand that, you know where it is. 😃 I was asking how did they find that boat and start tracking it without giving it away? I was assuming ( ass & all that aside ) 😛 that you had to find one without it knowing about. With the equipment as stated, I did not think you would be able to pick the right boat in a crowd of similar boats or one that you had to identify that was far at sea without getting close. 😕 Once you know the boat some other way, you can track from distance. Can you find it with the stated equipment? (just out of courisioty ) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-find-a-boat-in-the-ocean/666270/26 "2013-08-16T22:38:56Z")
The radar can locate a boat, the FLIR can give you an ident without you getting close, so the radar/FLIR combo is all you need. The FLIR also has a daytime TV but is referred just as a FLIR for simplicity. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-find-a-boat-in-the-ocean/666270/27 "2013-08-17T01:07:50Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > If someone is lost in the ocean in a lifeboat and has no signaling devices, how hard is it to find them? I assume you would know weather conditions, so you’ve have a rough idea where they are based on where they left, the currents, etc. Do sonar and marine radar work for this kind of issue? What about satellite imagery? Are there other tools that are effective to find the liferaft, assuming the boat has no signaling devices? > > What if you are just told ‘there is a small boat somewhere in one of the oceans on earth, go find it’. How hard is that going to be? If you are in a life boat in the middle of the ocean and the Macky set is broken you are in big trouble. The ocean is very large. Luck is your only hope. In my life time I have followed stories of several tankers and freighters where the crews took to the life boats in a storm. The storms had settled a day or two later and the ship was still afloat. With a good starting point and a massive search effort only about 1/2 of the life boats were found. I have been in a life boat in the middle of the ocean. The training ship was giving the deckies training on picking up a life boat at sea. When the lowered the life boat into the water and cast off the sea painter and then steamed away, I realized just how small a life boat is. I descided that day the ship would have to be heading to the bottom no questions ask before I got into a life boat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-is-it-to-find-a-boat-in-the-ocean/666270.md?page=1)