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6. Advice on survival on board, maintenance and servicing of the liferaft
6.1
Advice on survival on board
6.1.1
Behavior of the survivors
You should follow the medical instructions in order to take care of yourself or the other
passengers onboard.
In any case, you should never lose your temper and always keep your mind clear
about what to do. Due to the technological progress, the possibility of a quick rescue by air
or by sea is increased hugely.
If no one of the passengers onboard the liferaft is an officer, one of the passengers
must be nominated as the master of the team, who will have the responsibility for any lifer-
aft’s emergency as well as the distribution of food and water to the survivors. The master
must always keep the survivor’s spirit up so as to never lose hope. This can be achieved by
keeping the survivor’s mind busy (playing quiz games, telling happy stories, etc), and avoid
any state of distress. In addition to these, the master should organize the routine operations
and make sure that everyone respects the given dispositions. Finally, the master must be
in control of the use of the emergency pack and must distribute the food, the water and the
medicine needed to the survivors onboard.
All the passengers should sit on the floor of the liferaft leaning their shoulders against
the tubes and cover all the possible perimeter of the liferaft in order to remain it stable. Also,
they should grasp the handle and lean against the chambers but try to avoid sitting on the
life raft’s chambers.
6.1.2
Swimming/Diving into the water
You should avoid diving into the water. However, if it is necessary, you should always
be close to the liferaft and use a rope so as to be connected to it.
6.1.3
Smoking
Smoking onboard is forbidden, because it may be either intolerable by the other survi-
vors or it may damage permanently the Liferaft and sink it.
6.1.4
Survivors’ keeping together
Every liferaft must be kept as linked to the others as possible. If so, the survivors would
be able to help each other and be more identified by a rescue team. The ropes on the life-
rafts can be used so as to link the liferafts. There must be an adjustment of the ropes’ length
so as to avoid violent tears that may be caused by extreme weather conditions. However,
you should always be ready to cut the rope with the knife of the standard equipment of the
liferaft.
6.1.5
Dry the liferaft’s floor
Use bailer and sponge to remove the accumulated water in the liferaft in order to keep
the liferaft’s floor as dry as possible. The material of the floor is thermally insulated so as to
limit the impact of the cold seawater. You should always close the canopy door in the cold
