can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Endeavour of Cork - safety stuff and a tale of survival of the Robertsons from 1972



For a trip like this safety is terribly important. We are now 800 miles from the nearest land (5-6 days)and in case of an emergency must rely on ourselves and the boats around us if we can contact them, Helicopters dont have the range to come out this far.I know we have a number of younger followers who are very interested in the adventure so i thought i would let ye know about some of the things that can go wrong, the safety equipment-some very high-tech and some very basic and why we bring it. I think you might be surprised at the amount of preparation needed.

As we all know, even the unsinkable "Titanic" went down so our first concern is to prevent sea water from flooding the boat. There are a few ways this could happen. A collision with another ship/boat, a collision with an underwater object like a container that has fallen off a ship, a whale landing on the boat, a navigation error or equipment failure leading to the boat going on to rocks or a failure of part of the boat itself. Some of these could lead to an immediate evacuation to a liferaft, with others we might be able to save the situation. A common enough cause of a leak is the failure of a seacock. These are holes in the hull to which are attached valves that open/close. There are holes in the hull for the toilet and sink and for our speed/depth log and for the collant engine water. If any of these failed the boat over time would sink. A one and a half inch hole two feet below water will let in 70 gallons (350 litres) of water a minute. If on eof these failed we would immediately turn on our electric bilge pump, start pumping with our manual pump, get buckets to bail out but the most important thing is not to bail out but to stop the water getting in. if its a failed seacock we simply stick a wooden plug in the hole. The wood swells and will stop the leak. So beside every seacock we have tied a woodne plug big enough to plug these holes. In an emergency a bigger hole could be plugged with mattresses or cushions and shored up with furniture. if the leak is just below the waterline tacking the boat so it heels the other way might buy time. Another solution would be to wrap a strong sail around the outside of the hull where the hole is - fortunately none of these I've had to try.
Liferaft- some of us have done sea survival training and this helps us understand how to board aliferaft and improve your survival chances. They do a great one in The Maritime college in Cork where they produce waves and simulate heavy rain and thunder and lightening in the pool. One of the things you learn is that you should only leave your boat for the liferaft if you absolutely have to. You should be stepping upto the liferaft from a sinking boat rather than stepping down into it. So let me tell you about our liferaft. We carry it on the deck of the boat where it is tied down. There is a hysrostatic release on it so that if it is immersed in 3-4 metres of water the rope will cut automatically and the liferaft will pop-up to the surface. This could be a lifesaver in a sudden collision but the problem is that the liferaft would be quickly carried away by he wind. The liferaft takes 6 people and has a pack designed for > 24 hours. You wouldnt believe all the stuff thats prepacked inside the liferaft - a bailer, pump,paddles,repair kit, 2 sponges,survival instructions, leak stoppers,a 30m throw line, a safety knife, a sea anchor, a first aid kit, a whistle, 2 torches with spare batteries and bulb, a signalling mirror, 6 sea sickness tablets for each person, a sick bag, 2 foil bags, 6 red hand flares, 2 red parachute flares, 9 litres of water and food rations. We hope it they are never needed! If we have time, we will grab our "grab-bag" which has our passports, more flares, lots of water and a VHF radio. We would of course activate and bring our EPIRB (emergency position indicator radio beacon). Once activated , this will indicate an emergency via satellite to a ground monitoring station that I think is located in Scotland. This is only some of the safety equipment- we also have fire extinguishers and fire blanket, lifejackets with harnesses and lifelines, radar reflectors, man overboard recovery equipment, a sea anchor drogue to trail behind the boat in a severe storm and a comprehensive medical kit and medical emergency book, search lights, lifebuoys, emergency steering, buckets, hacksaw to cut away rigging if the mast comes down, bolt croppers for the same purpose, VHF, DSC and SSB radio. The list seems endless sometimes but reassuring to have all this on board and I might talk about some of this stuff again later..although it might be a bit boring

I have been reading the Robertsons tale of survival- I know i should do this on dry land.. Their 43 foot schooner ( bigger than ours) was attacked by a whale and sunk 200 miles West of the Galapagos islands in 1972. The boat sank in less than 4 minutes!! So you never know but I suppose you could be hit by a bus or even a meteor going down the road. They managed to launch their lifraft and dinghy and grab 10 oranges and 2 lemons. There deckhand and 3 children (one aged 18 and two 12 year old twins were with them) The raft survival pack had 10 litres of water and food for 10 people for 2 days. By rationing and collecting rain water they managed to survive even though they had to abandon their liferaft as it was in very poor condition after 17 days. They boarded the tender and used one of the compartments of the liferaft to store water. This extra water, as well as some turtle blood kept them alive until rescued by a Japanese trawler on day 38! An EPIRB would have been handy back then! It helped also that Mrs. Robertson was a nurse so when some of the rainwater was collected in containers already contaminated presumably by poo she was able to administer the water by way of an enema....an interesting story

If you have any questions about anything at all just email us on [email protected]

--




Previous | Next