Recently watched the Robert Redford movie “All is Lost”. Basically the story is after his yacht sinks in an accident RR is adrift all alone in an inflatable life raft.
After some time he drifts into the shipping lanes and gets passed, without being seen by at least a couple of giant container ships.
In the film one assumes no one on the container ship saw him, but I wonder, say he had been seen would one of those giant ships actually stop for someone drifting alone in the middle of the ocean?
More to the point perhaps could a big ship stop in time to make a rescue? I understand that some of these ships take more than a mile to come to a stop, then it would have to turn and slowly steam back by which time the drifting raft could be miles away from the original point.
Ships carry lifeboats so could they have used one of those to go back for the rescue once the ship had stopped, but would they take the chance of loosing their own lifeboat if it traveled too far from the mother ship?
Good movie by the way. RR only actor in the whole film and manages to keep it interesting.
Safety of life at sea (“SOLAS”, in the jargon) is a pretty high priority for professional sailors. Yes, if they saw him and appreciated that he was in distress they would attempt to rescue him, even at the expense of considerable cost in extra fuel/delay to their own voyage. The limiting factor on what they would do would be risks to their own safety.
The chance that anyone would spot a tiny raft from a container ship is pretty remote, unless they were actively looking for him. It wouldn’t show up on RADAR and since the crew numbers will be less than 30 all told, and that includes cooks, engineers and deck hands, there will only be one or two on watch. They are not hanging over the bow but sitting in the bridge from where they can see very little.
That’s why lifeboats are equipped with flares. Flares are very likely to be seen. But if you end up adrift without a flare the chances of being seen by anyone on a large cargo vessel, even quite nearby, are not good.
Would they see him? Quite doubtful. It’s hit and miss. In crowded waters the lookout and OOW are keeping their eyes peeled and will be scanning the horizon (including using binoculars) every few minutes especially in areas with fishing vessels, yachts etc. I haven’t seen the movie but I take it that this was well out into the ocean with only large vessels passing occasionally. Watchkeepers get bored and casual in those circumstances in my understanding, so he might well be missed. On the other hand my experience of being at sea (not on large vessels) is that you spend a lot of time gazing out at nothing, and anything in the slightest bit out of the ordinary grabs your attention. An orange liferaft would be within that category. Despite what bob++ says, the view from the bridge of a large container vessel is commanding. The only difficulty is that you can’t see close to your own bow, due to containers and the ship being in the way. You have a fantastic view all around of the middle and long distance.
Next question, would they try to effect a rescue? Hell yes. Seafarers have a great tradition of looking out for one another. Also, boredom. You are a workaday seafarer bored out of your mind and you see a liferaft? Interesting and exciting as hell. Something heroic and new to do.
They would stop the ship and go back in a workboat to get you. If the crew is well trained and quick thinking they will have noted down the GPS position (or hit the “save” button" if equipped) when they saw you, and they will be able to come back to that position even if it does take a couple of miles to stop.
If the castaway was spotted, I suspect the container ship would greatly reduce speed, but not stop. That requires time, considerable distance, and fuel. The rescue itself would be done from a faster and more maneuverable motor launch.
My brother claimed that while cruising at night at low speed along the N African coast, he felt a bump. No one was concerned as they often hit stuff like containers, but the officer on watch did have a look behind as best he could and saw nothing.
The following day they got a message to look out for a missing yacht in the same area. They all thought it, but no one was going to say that the yacht might have been the bump in the night.
Yes there is a 'commanding" view from the bridge, but the sea is pretty boring 99% of the time. A book/magazine/porn is much more interesting, with maybe a scan across the instruments every now and then. If anything happens an alarm will sound.
No it would stop. A container vessel does 20 knots plus. If it didn’t stop it would end up an unsafe distance from its workboat, the latter not being designed to be left alone in the middle of the ocean.
The container vessel wouldn’t use fuel to stop. It would just stop the main engine and probable throw a few turns to help wash off speed. Or if the liferaft was close to its course it may do a Williamson turn (and yes you can do one in a container vessel)
I don’t disagree except to add that a quick scan of the horizon is also commonplace, but as I said, it’s going to be hit and miss. They could very well see you. They could very well not. Both are completely plausible.
Just recently the story came out that a ship on its way to Norway from the Panama Canal recovered an recovered an empty boat at sea (the two teens in the boat were long-since lost and presumed dead, I’m afraid). If they would bother to stop and pick up an empty boat, I’m sure that they’d rescue a person if they knew they were there.
They don’t look out for adrift castaways at all. That would be like scanning the sky for falling planes; there are far too few for this to be a reasonable undertaking.
And if someone falls overboard from a container ship their only hope is that someone nearby saw them fall. Due to all the containers on deck and the high sides of the vessel, you can’t see the edges of the deck or the water adjacent to the vessel from the bridge.
The lookout kept on the bridge is to check for other vessels that may be a collision risk, and (when not mid-ocean) to look for navigational marks and land.
My mom was once on a cruise ship that diverted to pick up people in distress in the water (refugees from Cuba.) They had to miss a port of call and had a whole ship full of furious assholes; I’m sure they lost money on it.
Did you know that the ships routinely (at each port !) meet up with a launch and transfer goods and people, for the main reason of taking on borad, and letting go of, the pilot , who is provided by the port to ensure that the ship safely enters and leaves port… This is because the pilot knows the suitable speeds ( adding or subtacting for sea currents ,tides and river flows… ) and turn rates and all that.
Cargo ships very often do the rescue , with just the the ladders and liferafts they have on their ships.
All the crew know that next week or next it year , it might be there turn to be rescued …
Did you know that there are waves on the ocean (and perhaps even the Great Lakes) that can totally smash over any ship … as the cause can be wind waves, “sea”, running over the top of ocean swell, the wave heights can double… or even worse… (local, wind created, “sea” waves can double, and when they double while over a swell…)
My dad and brother were on a deep sea fishing charter boat that diverted to pick up some people from a sinking pleasure boat. The weather was not the greatest and the rescue, with travel time, took the best part of the day. Their fishing boat turned around and headed back to port immediately after picking up the people from the sinking craft. So, none of the charter people actually got to fish that day. They got no refund or voucher or anything from the charter company. The captain of that boat just kind of shrugged and mumbled about “law of the sea.”
Some ships now carry thermal imaging systems in part to see people in the water, also to avoid small boats in congested waters. The average merchant ship would be unlikely still to have such equipment though, and anyway the systems are mainly used where they already know there’s likely to be something to see, man overboard from the ship, or close to shore areas with known concentrations of small fishing or pleasure craft.
Anyway the answer to the actual question is well established. If a merchant ship sees somebody in the water, the navigating officer is bound by the most fundamental principles of seamanship to attempt a rescue if it does not unduly endanger the rescuing vessel. Time or money is no excuse not to. And as mentioned even a large ship is likely do this by maneuvering directly to the person in the water. A typical modern merchant ship nowadays has a single free fall lifeboat for its own crew, it’s not practical to use for such a purpose.
But it’s a big ‘if’ whether a bridge watch is going to see a person in the water in mid ocean when near enough for the person in the water to see the ship, especially if not alerted to the possibility. It always has been. Any reading of survival stories at sea going way back will show that.
Interesting story of a Princess Cruise ship failing to stop and render aid to a drifting boat. One of the three fishermen on the boat died later that same day of dehydration and exposure, another died a few days later, and the sole survivor was recued two weeks later. This despite the fact the passengers saw the men waving for help and alerted the crew, and one of them even sent an email to the Coast Guard asking for assistance.
Princess said it was “investigating”, but did acknowledge that they had a duty to stop and render assistance.
