Fire Prevention and Fighting on Boats - Emergency Procedures

Prerequisites

The RYA Competent Crew course has no formal entry requirements and is open to complete beginners. The standard certificate is issued from age 16. This lesson builds on earlier lessons in the course, which you should complete first:

• Personal safety: wearing and adjusting a lifejacket, clipping on with a harness, and dressing to avoid hypothermia.
• Vessel safety equipment: where the fire extinguishers, fire blanket, bilge pumps, flares, EPIRB, liferaft and first aid kit are kept on your boat, and the PASS method for using an extinguisher.
• Man overboard: the immediate actions, because many of the same principles (shout, point, alert, act) apply to every emergency.
• Living aboard: safe use of the LPG gas system and galley.
• Communication: how a MAYDAY is sent on VHF Channel 16 and by DSC.

At Competent Crew level you are not expected to command an emergency. You are expected to raise the alarm, carry out the skipper's orders quickly and correctly, and act sensibly on your own if the skipper is injured or not on deck. The skipper alone decides when to abandon ship.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson you should be able to:

• Meet the RYA Competent Crew syllabus items for fire safety and use of fire extinguishers, abandon ship procedures and liferaft deployment, and distress signalling.
• Explain the fire triangle and the classes of fire, and choose the right extinguishing method for each.
• Describe how to prevent fires on board, especially in the galley and engine space.
• Carry out the correct actions for a galley fire and an engine compartment fire.
• Find likely sources of flooding, stop or slow the flow of water, and organise pumping.
• Describe the actions after a collision, grounding, dismasting or steering failure.
• Describe what goes into a grab bag and why.
• Explain when and how to abandon ship, launch and board a liferaft, and the survival priorities once aboard.

Syllabus Map

This lesson covers the "Sea Safety and Emergency Procedures" section of the RYA Competent Crew practical syllabus (RYA Sail Cruising Scheme). The table shows which syllabus item is taught where.

Examiners and instructors on a Competent Crew course do not expect you to lead. They expect you to know where every item is, to say what you would do, and to demonstrate extinguisher and liferaft drills safely and quickly.

The Golden Rules of Any Emergency

Every emergency on a yacht follows the same pattern. Learn it once and use it every time.

1. Raise the alarm. Shout clearly what and where: "Fire in the engine room!" or "Flooding in the forward cabin!" Everyone aboard must know at once.
2. Make people safe. Get crew out of danger, lifejackets on, and everyone accounted for.
3. Deal with the problem using the equipment and procedures in this lesson.
4. Call for help early. The skipper (or you, if the skipper cannot) sends a MAYDAY or PAN PAN. It is better to call and cancel than to call too late.
5. Stay with the boat for as long as it is safer than the liferaft.

Speed matters, but calm matters more. A crew that has practised knows what to do; a crew that has not will lose time to panic. This is why the skipper's safety briefing on day one shows you where everything is, and why you should touch and handle every piece of equipment.

Fire

Fire is one of the most dangerous emergencies at sea. A yacht is built of materials that burn, such as GRP resin, wood, foam and fabric. It carries diesel or petrol, cooking gas, and batteries, and there is nowhere to escape to except the water. A small fire can fill the cabin with toxic smoke in less than a minute.

The Fire Triangle

A fire needs three things: heat, fuel and oxygen. Take any one away and the fire goes out. Every firefighting method works by removing one side of the triangle.

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Classes of Fire

Fires are grouped by what is burning, because each type needs a different method. The diagram shows the four classes you are most likely to meet on a yacht.

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Two points need special attention:

• Gas fires (Class C). If you put out a gas fire without stopping the gas, the gas keeps leaking. Gas is heavier than air and collects in the bilge, where the next spark can cause an explosion. Always turn off the gas first. Often the fire then goes out by itself.
• Water on oil or fat. A cupful of water poured onto burning oil turns instantly into steam, expanding to more than 1,500 times its volume. It throws a fireball of burning oil across the cabin. Never use water on Class B or F fires.

Extinguishers on a Yacht

You learned the PASS method in the safety equipment lesson: Pull the pin, Aim at the base of the fire, Squeeze the handle, Sweep from side to side. Remember these points about each type:

• Dry powder (blue label): works on Classes A, B and C and on electrical fires. It is the most common type on yachts. A typical 1 kg extinguisher empties in about 6 to 10 seconds, so do not waste it. The powder makes a thick cloud that hides everything and damages engines and electronics.
• CO2 (black label): good for electrical fires and engine spaces. It leaves no mess, but it removes oxygen and can suffocate you in a closed cabin. The horn gets very cold, so hold the handle, not the horn.
• Foam (cream label): good for Class A and B fires. It forms a layer over burning fuel that stops it re-igniting.
• Fire blanket: for galley pan fires and for wrapping a person whose clothing is on fire.

Preventing Fire

Most fires on yachts are preventable:

• Never leave the stove unattended when it is lit.
• Turn off the gas at the cylinder after cooking and at night. Many boats also have a solenoid valve switched from the galley.
• Keep tea towels, kitchen roll and curtains away from the burners.
• Know the smell of LPG (a strong added smell). If you smell gas, turn off the cylinder, put out flames, do not use electrical switches, and ventilate.
• Keep the engine bilge clean and free of oil and fuel.
• Never refuel with the engine running or with anyone smoking.
• Do not leave phone chargers or other electrical devices charging unattended on bunks.
• Store oily rags in a sealed metal container, because they can catch fire on their own.

Galley Fire

The galley is the most common place for a fire to start. A pan of oil that catches fire is the classic case.

Procedure for a pan fire:

1. Shout "Fire in the galley!"
2. Turn off the gas at the stove and, if you can reach it safely, at the solenoid switch.
3. Pull the fire blanket from its holder by the tabs. Wrap the top edge over your hands to protect them.
4. Hold the blanket in front of you to shield your face and lay it over the pan, from the front, covering it completely. Do not throw it.
5. Leave it there for at least 30 minutes. Do not lift the blanket to look, and do not try to move the pan. Lifting the blanket lets oxygen back in, and the hot oil can re-ignite.
6. If you have no blanket, a well-fitting pan lid will smother a small pan fire.
7. If the fire has spread to the joinery or curtains, use the dry powder or foam extinguisher on the base of the flames.
8. If the fire cannot be controlled, get everyone out of the cabin, close the hatch behind you to starve the fire of oxygen, and muster on deck by the liferaft.

Engine Compartment Fire

An engine fire has fuel, oil, hot metal and electrical wiring together in a closed space. Signs include smoke from the engine space or exhaust, a burning smell, or a high temperature alarm.

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Procedure:

1. Shout "Fire in the engine!" and tell the skipper.
2. Isolate: stop the engine, close the fuel shut-off valve, and turn off the battery isolators if you can reach them safely.
3. Seal: close the engine compartment and any vents to starve the fire of oxygen. Some yachts have an automatic extinguisher in the engine space; check whether it has fired.
4. Inject: do not open the engine hatch fully. A sudden rush of air can cause a flashover, a fireball that bursts out of the hatch. Use the small fire port in the engine box, or open the hatch just a crack, discharge the extinguisher inside, then close it again.
5. Reseal and monitor: keep the compartment closed for at least 15 minutes and feel the casing for heat. Do not open it until it has cooled, because the fire can re-ignite.
6. Prepare the liferaft and grab bag. The skipper sends a MAYDAY if the fire is not quickly under control.

Smoke and Your Safety

Smoke kills more people in fires than flames do. Burning foam and plastics produce toxic gases. Keep low, where the air is cleaner, and cover your mouth and nose with a wet cloth. Get out of the cabin if you cannot see or breathe. Never go back below into a smoke-filled cabin.

Other Fire Scenarios and Boat Handling

Fires do not only start in the galley and engine space. Keep these cases in mind.

• Electrical fire. Typical signs are the smell of hot plastic, smoke from a switch panel, charger or cable, or a tripped breaker that will not stay reset. Isolate the source if you can reach it (battery master switch, shore power, charger), then use CO2 or dry powder. Never use water on live equipment. After the fire is out, leave the circuit isolated until the skipper has traced the fault.
• Cabin fire (bedding, cushions, curtains). This is a Class A fire. Water is effective, for example from a bucket or the deck wash, but a dry powder or foam extinguisher on the base of the flames is faster. Throw burning cushions overboard if they can be lifted safely, because a floating cushion is not a risk to a boat that has sailed away from it.
• Fire at a pontoon or in harbour. Alert neighbouring boats, call the fire service on 999 (or 112) and, if it can be done safely, move the burning boat away from others. A burning boat alongside others will ignite them in minutes.
• Fire on a boat under way. The skipper will manoeuvre so that the wind carries flames and smoke away from the crew and the rest of the boat: with a fire forward, put the stern to the wind; with a fire aft, put the bow to the wind. A fire fanned by wind spreads far faster, so the boat must also be slowed. Sails and engine are stopped or reduced at the skipper's command.

Gas System Safety and Carbon Monoxide

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is the most dangerous fuel aboard a small yacht. Butane and propane are heavier than air, so a leak flows to the lowest point of the boat, the bilge, where a spark from a bilge pump or switch can ignite it. A small leaking volume can fill a bilge with an explosive mixture.

If a leak is suspected: turn off the cylinder valve at once, extinguish all flames and cigarettes, do not operate electrical switches, open hatches to ventilate, and sponge the bilge dry with the manual pump (not the electric pump, which can spark).

Carbon monoxide (CO) is an odourless, colourless, poisonous gas produced by any engine, gas heater or stove that burns fuel with insufficient air. It kills quietly. Symptoms are headache, dizziness, nausea and drowsiness, and they are easily mistaken for seasickness. Never run a cooker as a cabin heater, never leave a petrol generator or outboard running near hatches or the companionway, and fit and test a marine CO alarm. A person with suspected CO poisoning needs fresh air immediately and medical advice.

Looking After Extinguishers

An extinguisher that does not work is worse than none, because the crew will rely on it. At the start of a trip the skipper or you can carry out these checks, and you should know them.

Small leisure yachts commonly carry at least one 1 kg to 2 kg dry powder extinguisher by the companionway, one in the engine space (or an automatic system) and a fire blanket in the galley. Larger boats carry more, and a fixed engine-space extinguishing system (usually a gas) is common on boats with an enclosed engine compartment. Carry-on rules for each boat are set by its insurer and certificate, so ask your skipper.

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Image: JonathanLamb, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The photograph shows a typical fire blanket holder. Pull both tapes down together to release the blanket, then wrap it over your hands as described in the galley procedure.

Flooding

Where Does the Water Come From?

A little water in the bilge is normal. Water rising steadily is not. Any yacht has dozens of holes below the waterline, and each one is a possible leak. The diagram shows the procedure and the most common sources.

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Common sources:

• Seacocks and through-hull fittings (for the heads, galley sink, engine cooling, log and depth transducers). A seacock left open, a cracked fitting or a split hose is the most common cause of flooding.
• The propeller shaft seal (stern gland) and the rudder stock.
• Hatches and portholes left open in heavy weather, or cockpit lockers taking water over the deck.
• The heads if the seacocks are left open and the bowl siphons water in when the boat heels.
• Collision or grounding damage to the hull.
• The engine cooling system: a burst hose can pump seawater straight into the boat while the engine runs.

First check: is it fresh water or salt water? Taste a drop. Fresh water means a leaking water tank or pipe, which is annoying but not dangerous. Salt water means a leak from the sea and needs action now.

Step 1: Identify the Source

Raise the alarm ("Water coming in!"), then search quickly. Lift the floorboards, follow the water upstream, and listen for running water. Check every seacock in turn. Close any seacock that is not needed, especially the heads and sink outlets. Check the engine raw water hose and stern gland.

Step 2: Stem the Flow

Stopping or slowing the water coming in is more important than pumping. A hole 5 cm across, 1 metre below the waterline, lets in roughly 400 litres a minute, far more than most yacht pumps can remove. Every litre you stop is a litre you do not have to pump.

A patch on the outside is pushed into the hole by water pressure. A patch on the inside is pushed out by it, so it needs to be wedged or braced firmly.

Step 3: Pump

Use everything at once:

• Electric bilge pump: switch it on. It runs from the batteries, so it will stop if the water reaches them.
• Manual bilge pumps: one usually in the cockpit and one below. A fit adult can move about 1 litre per stroke, roughly 40 to 60 litres a minute. Take turns, because pumping is tiring.
• The engine: on some boats the engine cooling water intake can be switched to draw from the bilge. Only the skipper should do this.
• Buckets: "the best bilge pump is a frightened sailor with a bucket." A chain of crew with buckets can move a lot of water.

Step 4: Monitor

Mark the water level, for example against a step on the companionway ladder, and check it every few minutes. Is it rising, steady, or falling? This tells the skipper whether the crew is winning, and it decides whether a PAN PAN or MAYDAY is needed.

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Worked Example

Scenario: Hull Breach in the Forward Cabin

The diagram shows the full sequence for this scenario.

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You are off watch in the forward cabin, sailing to windward in a Force 5, when you hear water rushing and find a cracked through-hull fitting under the bunk. Water is spraying in.

1. You shout "Flooding forward!" loudly enough for the skipper on deck to hear.
2. Try the seacock. It will not close because the fitting has cracked above it. You take the softwood bung tied to the fitting and hammer it into the hole with the winch handle. The flow drops to a trickle.
3. The skipper tacks so that the damaged side heels up, lifting the fitting nearer the surface and reducing the pressure.
4. A second crew member switches on the electric bilge pump. A third works the manual pump in the cockpit.
5. If the bung had not worked, the crew would rig the collision mat on the outside of the hull and set up a bucket chain.
6. Every few minutes someone checks the water level against the marked step. It is falling.
7. You check the area around the fitting for other damage and wedge the bung in place with a floorboard.
8. The skipper calls the Coastguard with a PAN PAN to report the situation, heads for the nearest harbour, and asks the crew to keep pumping until the boat is lifted out for a permanent repair.
9. The skipper writes the incident in the log.

Collision

A collision with another vessel or a floating object needs fast action, because it can cause flooding, injury, and a dismasting all at once.

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1. Stop: slow down or stop to avoid making the damage worse.
2. Assess: check the crew for injuries and look for damage to the hull, especially below the waterline. Lift the floorboards. Check the rig, because a collision often damages forestays and shrouds.
3. Stem the flow if there is a hole, using the methods above.
4. Signal: send a MAYDAY if there is grave and imminent danger, or a PAN PAN if the situation is urgent but not life-threatening.

Two vessels locked together may be holding each other up. If one is holed, pulling apart can make her flood faster. Only separate if it is safe to do so.

The law (and the COLREGs) requires that, after a collision, you give assistance to the other vessel as long as you can do so without danger to your own boat and crew, and that you exchange details: vessel names, home ports and the skippers' names.

Grounding

Running aground is common and usually not serious on sand or mud. On rock, or with a big swell, it can be very serious.

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1. Stop: take the engine out of gear straight away. Running the engine hard can pull sand into the cooling water intake or damage the propeller.
2. Assess: check below for leaks. Find out the state of tide: is it rising or falling, and how fast? Find out what the seabed is (sand, mud or rock) and what the weather is doing.
3. Decide: if the tide is rising and the hull is undamaged, the safest option is often to wait and float off. If the tide is falling, act fast, before the boat is stuck until the next tide.
4. Act using one or more of the methods below.

• Reduce draft by heeling the boat: the crew sit on the boom swung out to one side, or on the side deck. A fin-keeled yacht draws less when heeled.
• Reverse off the way you came in, but only after checking that the hull is not holed. A hole plugged by the seabed can flood when you come off.
• Kedge off: take an anchor out in the dinghy towards deep water, drop it, and winch the boat towards it.
• Call for help: the Coastguard or a tow.

If the boat is stuck on a falling tide, the skipper will plan for it to dry out safely, for example by laying it over on the side with cushions and fenders underneath, and keeping the crew safe until the next tide.

Dismasting and Rig Failure

When a mast breaks it often falls over the side, still attached by rigging. In a seaway the broken mast can act like a battering ram and hole the hull.

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1. Check the crew: a falling mast and boom can cause serious injuries.
2. Do not start the engine until all lines and rigging are clear of the water. A rope or shroud around the propeller will leave you with no engine at all.
3. Secure the wreckage: if it can be safely recovered, lash it alongside with padding. If it is endangering the hull, cut it free with bolt croppers or by removing clevis pins.
4. Get under way: once the propeller is clear, motor to safety, or rig a jury rig, such as the spinnaker pole lashed upright with a storm jib or small sail.
5. Call for help: PAN PAN, or MAYDAY if the hull is damaged.

Steering Failure

Losing steering in traffic or close to a lee shore turns the boat into a hazard to itself and others.

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1. Reduce sail to slow the boat and stop it rounding up out of control.
2. Alert the crew and nearby vessels. If close to danger, consider anchoring in shallow water.
3. Diagnose: is it the wheel, the cables, the hydraulics, or the rudder itself?
4. Emergency tiller: most wheel-steered yachts have an emergency tiller that fits over the top of the rudder stock. Know where it is stowed and practise fitting it.
5. If the rudder itself is lost, the boat can sometimes be steered by balancing the sails, or by towing a drogue or bucket on a line from one quarter or the other.
6. Call for a tow if needed.

Medical Emergencies

At sea you are hours from a hospital. Stabilise the casualty using your first aid training, keep them warm, and get advice. In the UK, a call to the Coastguard on VHF Channel 16 can put you in touch with a doctor. For life-threatening conditions, a MAYDAY brings a lifeboat or helicopter. Medical evacuation takes time, so care for the casualty while help is on the way. Write down symptoms, times and treatment, because the medical team will need them.

Abandon Ship

When to Abandon Ship

Abandoning ship is the last resort, and only the skipper makes that decision. History shows that many people who took to liferafts died, while their abandoned yachts were later found still afloat. The yacht is bigger, warmer, easier to see, and carries more supplies than any liferaft.

The rule is: step up into the liferaft, which means leave only when the yacht is sinking under you or burning out of control.

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Leaving too early exposes the crew to cold, seasickness and danger in the water for no good reason. Leaving too late means boarding in chaos, possibly from the water. The answer is to prepare early: as soon as the situation is serious, get the grab bag, liferaft and crew ready while the skipper keeps fighting to save the boat.

The Grab Bag

A grab bag is a waterproof, floating bag kept near the companionway, ready to take into the liferaft. The liferaft's own emergency pack is small, so the grab bag adds what it lacks.

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Typical contents:

• EPIRB and/or personal locator beacons (if not fixed in the liferaft)
• Handheld waterproof VHF radio and spare batteries
• Handheld flares (red) and orange smoke
• Drinking water in sealed containers
• High-energy food such as glucose tablets and cereal bars
• First aid kit and seasickness tablets (seasickness in a liferaft is almost certain, and vomiting causes dehydration)
• Thermal protective bags or foil blankets
• Signalling mirror, whistle and torch
• Copies of passports and ship's papers in a sealed bag
• Knife (round-ended), sunscreen, hats

Check the grab bag regularly and replace anything that is out of date, especially flares, batteries and water.

Calling for Help

Before abandoning ship the skipper sends a MAYDAY: press the red DSC distress button on the VHF, then send the voice call on Channel 16:

MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY, this is yacht Seawren Seawren Seawren, call sign and MMSI. MAYDAY Seawren, position 50 degrees 35 minutes north, 001 degree 50 minutes west. Sinking after collision. Four persons on board, abandoning to liferaft. Over.

The EPIRB is activated as well, and taken into the liferaft. Use all the means you have. A MAYDAY, an EPIRB, flares and a handheld VHF together give rescuers the best chance of finding you quickly.

Launching and Boarding the Liferaft

1. Everyone puts on warm clothing, foul-weather gear and a lifejacket. Drink some water and take seasickness tablets if there is time.
2. Check the liferaft painter (the long line from the raft) is tied to a strong point on the boat.
3. Launch the raft over the leeward side, where the boat will give some shelter from the wind and waves.
4. Pull the painter out to its full length, then give a hard tug to fire the gas cylinder. The raft inflates in about 30 seconds.
5. Pull the raft alongside. Board it directly from the boat if at all possible, to stay dry. The heaviest, fittest crew member goes first, to help others in and to weigh down the raft.
6. Pass in the grab bag, extra water and any other useful gear.
7. Count heads. When everyone is aboard, cut the painter with the safety knife kept near the raft door. The painter is the last link to the yacht.
8. Paddle clear of the yacht and the wreckage, then put out the drogue (sea anchor) to stabilise the raft and slow its drift.

If you have to enter the water, go in feet first, with arms crossed over your lifejacket, and hold your nose. Swim to the raft and use the boarding ladder and handles.

Survival Priorities in the Raft

Distress Signalling in More Detail

The RYA Competent Crew syllabus requires you to understand distress signalling basics, even though the skipper normally makes the call.

Urgency and Priority

The MAYDAY Call Step by Step

On a DSC VHF radio, lift the red cover and hold the red DISTRESS button for five seconds. The radio sends your identity and, if connected to GPS, your position. Then switch to Channel 16 and send the voice message. If you have no time for DSC, send the voice call alone.

1. MAYDAY, three times
2. THIS IS, followed by the name of your vessel three times, then your call sign and MMSI
3. MAYDAY and the vessel name once
4. Your position (latitude and longitude, or a bearing and distance from a known point)
5. The nature of the distress (for example "on fire" or "sinking")
6. The assistance you need
7. The number of persons on board
8. Other useful information (life raft, lifejackets, flares, colour of the hull)
9. OVER

Speak slowly and clearly. If nobody replies, repeat. When the Coastguard replies, answer questions, and keep the radio switched on and on Channel 16. If a MAYDAY relay is made by another ship, the vessel name still follows the standard format. When the emergency is over, the vessel that sent the call must cancel it so rescue services stand down.

Pyrotechnic Flares

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Image: Christopher Doyle, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rules for flares: read the instructions printed on the casing before the day you need them, hold handflares downwind and at arm's length over the water (they drip molten slag), point rockets slightly downwind, and never fire a flare in a liferaft or aboard where it can fall on the raft. Flares have an expiry date, usually three years from manufacture. Out-of-date flares must be disposed of correctly, not thrown overboard. A good crew sets aside a drill to read the instructions.

EPIRB and Personal Locator Beacons

An EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) transmits on 406 MHz to satellites, which relay the signal to rescue services. A GPS fix inside the beacon gives a position accurate to about 100 m, and a 121.5 MHz homing signal lets aircraft and lifeboats find you. It is registered to the vessel or person, so the Coastguard can call the contact number to check whether the alert is real. Activate it by pulling off the cover (or by the float-free release) and extending the aerial. In a liferaft it should float outside the canopy, tethered, with its aerial vertical. A PLB is a smaller personal beacon, worn on a lifejacket, that serves one person.

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Image: Marwan Mohamad.jpg), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.jpg)

The Liferaft in Detail

Types, Stowage and Servicing

The painter is permanently attached to a strong point on the yacht by a weak link, so that if the boat sinks the raft is pulled free and inflates as the boat goes down.

Righting and Boarding

• If the raft inflates upside down, find the righting strap on the underside, stand on the cylinder on the side near the cylinder bottle (the gas bottle), lean back holding the strap and let the wind catch the raft. The raft will roll over towards you, so get ready to be dropped into the water beneath it. Expect to be in the water for a moment.
• Climb in using the boarding ramp or ladder. Pull the next person in by grasping their lifejacket by the shoulder straps. If someone is too exhausted to climb, roll them over the tube like a seal rather than lifting them with straight arms.
• Cut the painter only after everyone is in and the skipper says so. Use the knife held at the entrance to the raft. Paddle clear.

Life in the Raft

1. Close the canopy and bail. Keep the entrance closed except for the lookout. Get the water out, then inflate the floor if provided, because the floor insulates against cold seawater.
2. Check the raft for damage and use the repair kit on any leak.
3. Set the drogue and keep the raft pointing correctly.
4. Take seasickness tablets. Seasickness is almost universal in a raft and the loss of fluid from vomiting is dangerous.
5. Keep a lookout and rotate it every hour.
6. Stay together: link several rafts with their painters. A group is a larger and more visible target.
7. Ration water and keep a log of the time of the abandonment, the position, and the quantity of rations.

Cold Water and Hypothermia

Many people who go overboard or abandon ship die in the first minutes, not in the long run. The RNLI describes this as the "1-10-1" idea.

A lifejacket keeps your face up and gives you time. In the water, bring your knees up to your chest (the HELP position, Heat Escape Lessening Posture) to keep heat in. Huddle with others. Once rescued, treat hypothermia gently: do not rub the limbs, remove wet clothing, wrap the casualty in dry layers and a thermal bag, give warm sweet drinks only if conscious, and handle them horizontally. Rough handling of a very cold casualty can cause cardiac arrest.

Worked Example: Engine Fire Becomes an Abandon Ship Decision

You are the crew member on watch on a 12 m yacht motoring in light winds, 8 miles off a headland, with four people aboard. At 1430 the engine temperature alarm sounds and you smell burning plastic.

1. You shout "Fire in the engine room" and call the skipper. The skipper stops the engine and closes the fuel valve at the control panel.
2. You collect the dry powder extinguisher from beside the companionway. Another crew member closes the engine bay vents.
3. Smoke is coming from the engine box. You do not lift the hatch. A fire port is fitted, so you use it and discharge the extinguisher for about six seconds. A second crew member brings the CO2 from the galley.
4. The skipper turns the yacht so the bow faces the light wind, to carry smoke aft. The smoke is thicker. The skipper decides the fire is not under control and calls a MAYDAY on DSC and Channel 16. The position is read from the GPS.
5. The skipper orders "prepare to abandon". You bring the grab bag and thermal bags on deck. Someone ties the painter to the raft's strong point and everyone puts on a lifejacket and warm layers.
6. After 12 minutes the engine box is still hot but the smoke has eased. The skipper keeps the compartment sealed, keeps the raft ready and the crew in lifejackets, and the lifeboat arrives 25 minutes after the call.
7. The skipper did not abandon, because the fire was contained and the yacht was still safe to stay on. The lifeboat crew checks the engine space with a thermal imaging camera and tows the boat in.
8. Afterwards the extinguisher is replaced and the logbook records the time of discovery, the actions and the call.

Lessons: the correct sequence (alarm, isolate, seal, inject, call early) worked, the call for help was made early even though the fire was later contained, and the raft was prepared but not launched because the yacht was still the safer place.

Worked Example: Hull Damage After Striking a Floating Object

At night in a moderate sea you hear a bang and the boat shudders. Within a minute the floorboards in the saloon are floating. You are the crew member with the best torch.

1. Shout "Flooding, water in the saloon". The skipper brings the boat head to wind and reduces sail.
2. Taste the water: it is salt. Lift the floorboards, follow the sound, and find water pouring through a split near the keel stub.
3. Estimate the size. A 1 cm gap 0.5 m below the waterline admits roughly 15 to 20 litres a minute, which one electric pump can handle. A 5 cm hole at 1 m depth admits about 400 litres a minute, which no pump can handle. You judge it to be the smaller case and stuff cushions and a sail bag into the crack, bracing them with a floorboard.
4. The electric pump starts and the manual pump is manned in turns. The water level is marked with a pencil on the companionway steps. Over 10 minutes it falls by 8 cm.
5. The skipper sends a PAN PAN, because the leak is controlled but the boat is damaged, and heads for the nearest harbour at reduced speed.
6. The crew keep watch on the level every five minutes. If it had risen despite pumping, the skipper would upgrade the call to MAYDAY and get the raft and grab bag ready.

Common Mistakes

The diagram summarises the most serious errors.

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• Opening the engine hatch fully on an engine fire. The rush of air can cause a flashover. Use the fire port or open a crack, discharge the extinguisher, and close it again.
• Putting water on burning oil or fat. It causes an explosive fireball. Smother with a blanket or lid.
• Lifting the fire blanket to check. The fire re-ignites. Leave it on for at least 30 minutes.
• Putting out a gas fire before turning off the gas. Gas keeps leaking into the bilge, leading to an explosion. Isolate the fuel first.
• Pumping instead of finding the leak. Pumps cannot keep up with a large hole. Stem the flow first, then pump.
• Not knowing where things are. Learn where the bungs, collision mat, seacocks, fire port and emergency tiller are before you sail.
• Leaving the boat too early. The yacht is the best liferaft. Step up into the raft.
• Cutting the painter too early, or launching the raft without tying the painter on first. The raft blows away.
• Inflating the raft on deck or below. It inflates with great force and can trap people. Inflate it in the water.
• A grab bag with expired flares and flat batteries. Check it every season.
• Panic. Give everyone a job, speak clearly, and keep everyone informed.

Summary

• In any emergency: raise the alarm, make people safe, deal with the problem, call for help early, and stay with the boat.
• Fire needs heat, fuel and oxygen. Remove one to put it out.
• Classes: A solids, B liquids, C gases, F cooking oils and fats. Never use water on B, C, F or electrical fires.
• Galley fire: gas off, lay the fire blanket over the pan, leave it 30 minutes.
• Engine fire: stop engine, fuel off, close up, discharge the extinguisher through the fire port, keep closed.
• Flooding: identify the source (taste it), stem the flow, pump with everything, monitor the water level.
• Collision: stop, assess, stem flow, signal, assist the other vessel and exchange details.
• Grounding: engine out of gear, check for leaks, check the tide, then wait, heel, reverse or kedge.
• Dismasting: keep lines clear of the propeller, secure or cut away the wreckage.
• Abandon ship is the skipper's decision only, when the yacht is more dangerous than the raft. Step up into the liferaft.
• Survival priorities: Protection, Location, Water, Food.

Check Your Understanding

1. Name the three sides of the fire triangle and give one example of removing each on a yacht.

Answer: Heat (cool with water on burning wood or fabric), fuel (turn off the gas or close the fuel shut-off), and oxygen (smother with a fire blanket or close the engine compartment).

1. A pan of oil catches fire on the stove. List your actions in order.

Answer: Shout "Fire in the galley!", turn off the gas, pull out the fire blanket with your hands protected behind it, lay it over the pan to cover it completely, and leave it in place for at least 30 minutes without lifting it or moving the pan. Never use water.

1. Why should you not open the engine hatch fully if there is a fire in the engine compartment?

Answer: A sudden supply of oxygen can make the fire flare up into a flashover that bursts out of the hatch. Discharge the extinguisher through the fire port or a crack, then close it again.

1. Why must you turn off the gas before putting out a gas fire?

Answer: If the flame goes out but gas keeps leaking, the gas, which is heavier than air, collects in the bilge and can explode at the next spark.

1. You find water rising in the bilge. What is the first quick test, and what does the result tell you?

Answer: Taste it. Fresh water points to a leaking water tank or pipe, which is not an emergency. Salt water means water is entering from the sea, and you must find and stop it at once.

1. Why is stopping the leak more important than pumping?

Answer: Water enters through even a modest hole faster than yacht pumps can remove it. A 5 cm hole a metre below the waterline admits about 400 litres a minute. Reducing the inflow is the only way to win.

1. Your boat runs aground on a sandbank. What are your first actions?

Answer: Put the engine out of gear, check below for leaks, and find out whether the tide is rising or falling. Then the skipper decides whether to wait to float off, heel the boat, reverse off, kedge off, or call for help.

1. What does "step up into the liferaft" mean?

Answer: Only abandon the yacht when it is sinking or burning so badly that you are stepping up into the raft from a boat going down. The yacht is safer than the raft for as long as it floats.

1. When should the liferaft painter be cut?

Answer: Last, only when every crew member is in the raft and the grab bag is aboard.

1. Put these survival priorities in order: water, location, food, protection.

Answer: Protection, Location, Water, Food.

1. What are the contents and purposes of a MAYDAY message, and how does it differ from a PAN PAN?

Answer: A MAYDAY is sent when there is grave and imminent danger and immediate help is needed. It contains MAYDAY three times, the vessel name three times with call sign and MMSI, MAYDAY and the vessel name, the position, the nature of the distress, the help needed, the number of people aboard and other useful information, then OVER. A PAN PAN is used for urgent situations that do not immediately threaten life, such as engine failure or a controlled leak.

1. Describe the one-minute, ten-minute, one-hour idea for cold water and one action you would take in each period.

Answer: In the first minute cold shock causes gasping, so float and control breathing. For about ten minutes you still have use of your limbs, so use that time to get hold of something or get into the raft. By about one hour hypothermia sets in, so you must be out of the water, insulated and signalling.