1.5 Discovering an Emergency: Raising the Alarm, Flooding & Damage Control

1.5 Discovering an Emergency: Raising the Alarm, Flooding & Damage Control

Core Principle: STCW Table A-VI/1-4 requires you to know the action to take on discovering a potential emergency, including fire, collision, foundering and ingress of water. The examinable answer is almost never "deal with it yourself". It is: raise the alarm, give a position, then act within your training and your escape route.

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1. The Universal First Response

                       DISCOVERING AN EMERGENCY

   1. RAISE THE ALARM  -> Manual call point, telephone, PA, or shout + runner
   2. REPORT           -> WHAT it is, WHERE it is, HOW BIG, WHO is hurt
   3. RESTRICT         -> Close the door / stop the leak source / isolate power
   4. RESPOND          -> Only within your training, only with an escape route

The order matters, and examiners test the order. A crew member who spends two minutes fighting a galley fire alone before telling anyone has given the fire a two-minute head start on a ship where the nearest outside help may be four days away.

The Standard Fire Report

Every approved course teaches the same verbal format, because it is unambiguous over a bad radio:

"Fire, fire, fire — deck 3, port alleyway, laundry room. Tumble dryer alight, about one metre square. No casualties. I am closing the door."

The word is repeated three times so that a listener who missed the first syllable still catches it. Then location, then size and fuel, then casualties, then your intention.

Actions on Discovering a Fire

1. Raise the alarm — nearest manual call point (break-glass), then the bridge by telephone or radio.
2. Close the space down — shut the door, close portholes and dampers, stop the ventilation serving the space. Starving a compartment fire of air is the single most effective thing an untrained person can do.
3. Isolate the fuel and the ignition source — trip the local emergency stop, shut the fuel valve, de-energise the circuit if it is safe and you are authorised.
4. Attempt first-aid firefighting only if the fire is small, you are trained on the appliance, the correct agent is at hand, and the exit is behind you.
5. Report the result — whether you extinguished it, contained it or withdrew, tell the bridge. A fire believed extinguished still needs a reflash watch.

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2. Collision, Grounding and Ingress of Water

On Collision

• Sound the general emergency alarm; the Master takes the con.
• Do not go astern to pull clear. If your bow is embedded in the other hull, it is currently plugging the hole in both ships. Backing out can open a wound that immediately floods.
• Close all watertight doors and openings; account for all persons; check for injuries at the point of impact.
• Sound all bilges, tanks and void spaces on the damaged side and compare against the previous sounding record.
• Check for pollution, fire and structural cracking; prepare SOPEP gear if fuel tanks are involved.

On Grounding

• Stop engines — running them may drive the ship further on and will suck sediment into the sea chests.
• Sound around the ship (soundings of the sea bed) and sound all tanks and bilges to find the damage.
• Check draughts fore and aft, note the state of tide, check for pollution.
• Do not attempt to refloat before the extent of the damage is known: a ship supported by the ground can sink the moment it comes off.

On Ingress of Water

     INGRESS OF WATER — IMMEDIATE SEQUENCE

   RAISE ALARM -> CLOSE WATERTIGHT DOORS AND OPENINGS
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   SOUND BILGES / TANKS AROUND THE SUSPECTED DAMAGE
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   CONSULT THE DAMAGE CONTROL PLAN (SOLAS II-1/19)
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   ISOLATE THE COMPARTMENT -> START BILGE / BALLAST PUMPS
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   MONITOR LIST, TRIM, DRAUGHT AND RATE OF RISE

The damage control plan and booklet required by SOLAS Chapter II-1 Regulation 19 shows, for each deck and hold, the boundaries of the watertight compartments, the position and controls of every watertight closure, and the arrangements for correcting a list caused by flooding. It is the officers' primary reference, and every rating should know where it is kept.

Temporary Repairs

Basic Training does not make you a naval architect, but it does expect you to know the tools: soft wooden plugs and wedges for a punctured pipe or a small hull perforation, a collision mat or a cement box over a fractured plate, shoring timbers to support a bulging bulkhead, and a portable submersible or eductor to keep ahead of the inflow.

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3. Free Surface Effect — Why Ships Capsize Before They Sink

A partly filled compartment is far more dangerous to stability than a full one. As the ship rolls, the free water surface slides to the low side and moves the ship's effective centre of gravity outboard and upward, reducing the metacentric height (GM) and therefore the righting lever.

This is why a firefighting officer pumps bilges and clears scuppers while the attack is still running, and why a partially flooded hold is counter-flooded or fully filled rather than left half full.

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4. Man Overboard and Radio Priority Signals

Man Overboard — Immediate Actions

1. Shout "Man overboard, port side!" and keep pointing at the person — never take your eyes off them.
2. Throw the nearest lifebuoy with its light and smoke signal, to mark the position and give the casualty something to reach.
3. Report to the bridge so the position can be marked on the GPS/ECDIS at the MOB button.
4. Post lookouts; the bridge sounds three prolonged blasts and begins the recovery manoeuvre.

The Three Radio Priorities

Under GMDSS the alert is normally sent first as a digital selective call (DSC) — VHF channel 70 or MF 2187.5 kHz — which transmits the ship's identity and position automatically. The DSC alert is then followed by the spoken message on the associated working frequency: VHF channel 16 or MF 2182 kHz.

Exam Trap: Only the Master (or the person in command) authorises a distress alert, and only the Master can cancel one. If a distress alert is transmitted by accident, it must not simply be switched off — the ship must broadcast a cancellation on the same frequency and contact the responsible rescue coordination centre by radio or telephone.