![]() ![]() Recovering a boat onto the ship is a secondary concern, and the reason why it is so dangerous, and the cause of the most injuries to mariners. Lifeboats are designed to do one thing: take people away from a ship. Opening the tender platforms in an open seaway is an invitation to flooding the ship, and anyone who has experienced tendering knows how difficult it can be to get from the boat to the large platform in even small waves. Even a cruise ship would find it difficult to get passengers from a boat onto the ship. Imagine the average cruise ship passenger hauling themselves up a ladder like this, while being slammed against the side of the ship, for 30-40'. Or the ship could use a Jacob's ladder (the rope ladder that pilots use to board the ship). A cargo ship has high sides, and using the accommodation ladder (the aluminum stairs that can be lowered and raised along the side of the ship) is difficult and dangerous in a seaway as the ladder can be damaged by swinging against the ship due to rolling, the boat can be damaged from hitting the ladder, or being hit by the swinging ladder, and the passengers could be hurt or lost trying to get from a pitching, rolling boat to a 2' x 2' platform. The problem is not with the ship being equipped to take on the passengers, it is how do you get the passengers from the boats to the ship. However I started thinking about TA sailings, the only other ships that might be nearby are cargo ships and they are not exactly equiped to take on hundreds of passengers. A few years I thought about this in the Caribbean not as much a concern with all of the ships doing similiar intineries. ![]() The Harmony life boats seem to have a different design where the two level seating is more apparent.Ībout it taking days for a ship capable taking you on. In regards the Oasis, it took me a bit to figure out it was two level seating. And if you get into a boat in the ocean, it can be days before a ship capable of taking you from the boat in a safe and secure manner may show up on scene. Food and water are very limited on boats as well: 2500 calories of food per person, and 3 liters of water per person. Other boats use the big blue toilet outside the boat. Yes, the Oasis boats have a toilet, but it isn't a "bathroom", it is out in the open. Realize that if you ever get into a lifeboat, it is for one reason, to save your life, so "comfort" (what a tight squeeze), and modesty (where do I go to the bathroom?) go out the window. The davit launched rafts are slower to deploy, so they are not counted towards passenger capacity. These systems meet the requirement to be able to evacuate 500 persons within 30 minutes. Some ships, notably Princess, and some NCL, use the MES systems for passengers as well. The "mega" lifeboats on Oasis class have dual level seating, where the people on the upper level drape their legs over the shoulders of those on the lower level. Lifeboat capacity is based on a 75 kg (165 lb) person, and the seating area is 17" wide (butt width) and 24" from knees to butt. The crew use davit launched 65 man life rafts or Marine Evacuation Systems (MES), which are 100-150 man rafts with an inflatable chute to get down to the raft. Again using the 8500 number, the required amount of total life saving equipment is 10,625. So, there is enough lifeboat capacity for all passengers. With 16 crew per boat, that comes out to a lifeboat capacity of 6663. Now, using your number of 8500 total souls onboard Oasis, 75% is 6375, so having a lifeboat capacity of 6600 is more than required. There must be life saving equipment (boats, rafts, MES systems) totaling 125% of all souls onboard. If you noticed the large canisters lined up along with the life boats thats where the other, hopefully crew, 1800 are put.ĭoes it have enough? Yes, per SOLAS, there only needs to be lifeboats for 75% of all souls onboard. That means that there are around 1,850 people without the lifeboats which Royal Caribbean raves about. Oasis has a total maximum population of around 8,500 when you count its capacity of around 6,300 passengers and 2,200 crew members. Not only would it be a extremely tight fit but there is not enough room for everyone.ġ8 lifeboats with a capacity of 370 equals only 6,660 people. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |