# Would/could a container ship stop for a guy drifting in the ocean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 27, 2016, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246 "2016-04-27T08:31:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/21 "2016-04-27T18:29:26Z")
> [@Chickenwrangler](#): > > …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?.. Of course they would stop! FYI - Movies are FANTASY MAKE-BELIEVE and have nothing to do with real life! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/22 "2016-04-27T18:38:07Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > 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.” Same thing happened to us, but fortunately, we were on the way back from Catalina. My buddy and i spotted the yacht waving at us, and told the deckhand. Cost us a couple of hours. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/23 "2016-04-27T19:39:09Z")
I’m friends with a guy whose brother was on _[The Pride of Baltimore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_of_Baltimore)_ when it sank. > [@](#): > > On May 14, 1986, a microburst squall, possibly a white squall, struck the Pride while she was returning from the Caribbean, 250 nautical miles (463 km) north of Puerto Rico. Winds of 80 knots (150 km/h; 92 mph) hit the vessel, capsizing and sinking her. Her captain and three crew were lost; the remaining eight crewmembers floated in a partially inflated life-raft for four days and seven hours with little food or water until the Norwegian tanker Toro came upon them and rescued them.[1][4][6] > > A memorial on Rash Field in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor memorializes the Pride’s lost captain and crewmembers (Armin Elsaesser 42, Captain; Vincent Lazarro, 27, Engineer; Barry Duckworth, 29, Carpenter; and Nina Schack, 23, Seaman).[1] A relevant quote from a _People Magazine_ [story](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20094086,00.html): > [@](#): > > The night we were rescued we had a feeling that this was going to be it. We were just so tired of that damn raft. It was about 11 p.m. when Leslie told Sugar and Robert that she saw a boat on the horizon. I was in a sleepy daze, but I heard them say that it was too far away for us to signal. Leslie stood up, and with two flashlights she started signaling an SOS. At first the boat went right by us, but then it turned around. They hit us with their spotlight, and we saw this tanker sitting there, just a huge wall of steel. We were all excited, but we remained pretty controlled. We didn’t want to be so close to being rescued and then do something stupid like capsize. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/24 "2016-04-27T20:08:00Z")
I had the thought that this tradition is so much in contrast to mountain climbing, so much so that the slopes of Mount Everest are littered with hundreds of unrecovered corpses. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/25 "2016-04-27T20:13:12Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I had the thought that this tradition is so much in contrast to mountain climbing, so much so that the slopes of Mount Everest are littered with hundreds of unrecovered corpses. It’s a tradition anywhere in the outdoors, even Mountain Climbing. But too many guides on Everest are blinded by cash to see the right path. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/26 "2016-04-27T20:18:24Z")
Mount Everest is different. And in almost all cases people will help you if you’re still alive. But if you’re in the Death Zone on Everest nobody is going to drag your corpse down the mountain. It’s one thing to risk your life for someone in trouble. It’s another to risk your life for a corpse. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/27 "2016-04-27T20:21:03Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Mount Everest is different. And in almost all cases people will help you if you’re still alive. But if you’re in the Death Zone on Everest nobody is going to drag your corpse down the mountain. It’s one thing to risk your life for someone in trouble. It’s another to risk your life for a corpse. You’re not risking your life if it’s on the way _up._ You’re just risking your money. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/28 "2016-04-27T20:28:03Z")
There is a very long tradition of sailors helping each other in such situations, but it is now officially part of the Law of the Seas, specifically the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas, article 98. Almost all the flag-of-convenience countries (Panama, Liberia, Marshall Islands, etc) are signatories. The United States is one of the few holdouts. > [@](#): > > Article 98 > Duty to render assistance > > 1. Every State shall require the master of a ship flying its flag, in so far as he can do so without serious danger to the ship, the crew or the passengers: > > 2. Every coastal State shall promote the establishment, operation and maintenance of an adequate and effective search and rescue service regarding safety on and over the sea and, where circumstances so require, by way of mutual regional arrangements co-operate with neighbouring States for this purpose. ---
**Author:** ![dflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dflower/32/3270_2.png) [@dflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dflower)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/29 "2016-04-27T21:35:55Z")
In the film he was seen because he started a fire. This put an end to his raft of course. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/30 "2016-04-27T21:44:43Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > You’re not risking your life if it’s on the way _up._ You’re just risking your money. Bringing back 200+ lbs of dead weight is not an easy task. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/31 "2016-04-27T22:26:27Z")
sometimes you get picked up and when you get back home people thought you were dead and your girlfriend married the guy who did a root canal on you. 🙂 But she still has your Jeep so you get that back and drive to Texas. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/32 "2016-04-28T01:29:37Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@Lemur866](#): > > > > Mount Everest is different. And in almost all cases people will help you if you’re still alive. But if you’re in the Death Zone on Everest nobody is going to drag your corpse down the mountain. It’s one thing to risk your life for someone in trouble. It’s another to risk your life for a corpse. > > You’re not risking your life if it’s on the way _up._ You’re just risking your money. Not true if you are in the [death zone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_high_altitude_on_humans#Death_zone). Humans are physiologically incapable of adapting to the low oxygen pressure up there. If you go there, you are literally dying slowly for every minute you are there. Your only hope is to get out before your time runs out. A healthy human can survive for 24 hours or so, so many people can make it to the summit and back, but some don’t make it in time. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/33 "2016-04-28T01:47:57Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Not true if you are in the [death zone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_high_altitude_on_humans#Death_zone). Humans are physiologically incapable of adapting to the low oxygen pressure up there. If you go there, you are literally dying slowly for every minute you are there. Your only hope is to get out before your time runs out. A healthy human can survive for 24 hours or so, so many people can make it to the summit and back, but some don’t make it in time. Sure, so turning back early would be safer, then, yes? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/34 "2016-04-28T01:58:43Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Sure, so turning back early would be safer, then, yes? Yes, turning back unencumbered is usually safer than going on. But turning back _at the cost of picking up and carrying a 75kg deadweight_ is not necessarily going to be safer. If you’re in trouble, but can still walk, a rescue may be feasible. But if you can’t walk and have to be carried, any rescue attempt is going to put the rescuers in grave danger. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/35 "2016-04-28T02:14:27Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > You’re not risking your life if it’s on the way _up._ You’re just risking your money. Sailors are also generally guys “doing their job”, they are not voluntarily doing something insanely dangerous for thrills then expecting the rest of the world to save them when stuff goes pear shaped. Sailors may make hundreds of trips without incident, stumbling across someone in distress is extremely rare. On Everest, everyone is in some kind of distress, some just more than others. A more apt comparison: There are plenty of scenarios where firefighters are unable to execute a rescue of a living person just 10-15 feet away in a fire or structural collapse because it is too dangerous for them to do so, it happens more than you might like to think. The environment is the enemy. Even another ship is not going to attempt a rescue if it would seriously endanger their own ship in the process. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/36 "2016-04-28T02:19:42Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Sure, so turning back early would be safer, then, yes? Turning back without any additional encumberances, yes. Turning back dragging weight equal to double your current load, you exert yourself harder, go more hypoxic and collapse, now you are another problem. I was an EMT I have training in high angle rescue I took a bunch of additional training in environmental emergencies (cold, heat, immersion, exposure, etc) I would not attempt a “death zone” rescue. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/37 "2016-04-28T02:52:50Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Sure, so turning back early would be safer, then, yes? Even the USCG will suspend SAR operations if they deem them too dangerous. As **UDS** & **drachillix** pointed out, dragging another person in that O[sub]2[/sub]-poor elevation is substantially harder, especially in the more technical sections where you need to climb, not walk. The same applies at lower elevations; if you sprain your ankle in the woods, I can put your arm over my shoulder & support some of your weight but I can’t help you up/down a ladder or rock wall (w/o extra resources, like ropes) ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/38 "2016-04-28T04:12:52Z")
For the record, a life raft is NOT the same as a life boat. During routine operations on the ocean, there’s probably not more than 2 crewmen on the bridge of a container ship except when the watch is changing. It’s unlikely there’s a crewman scanning the horizon forward, port, and starboard with binoculars. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/39 "2016-04-28T07:07:49Z")
The standard arrangement is the OOW and a lookout. The lookout’s job is, uh, to look out. So he _should_ be scanning the horizon. But we all know how the world works of course. The OOW will typically be monitoring the vessel’s position at regular intervals, making course changes as required and doing other paperwork in between when safe to do so. Plus he is\* in theory\* supposed to back up the lookout by looking out. When he can. But again, we all know the way the world works. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246/40 "2016-05-19T19:06:20Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I had the thought that this tradition is so much in contrast to mountain climbing, so much so that the slopes of Mount Everest are littered with hundreds of unrecovered corpses. Right you are: [Death in the clouds: The problem with Everest’s 200+ bodies](http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151008-the-graveyard-in-the-clouds-everests-200-dead-bodies) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-could-a-container-ship-stop-for-a-guy-drifting-in-the-ocean/753246.md?page=3)