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How to Escape a Sinking Ship

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51–60 of 189 posts

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#51

For a more generalisable solution: - Pick a ship with robust safety measures, procedures, and equipment, sailing in favourable conditions, if at all possible. - Rehearse evacuation. Drilling and mentally noting escape routes and pitfalls makes successful performance during an actual emergency the more likely. - Maintain situational awareness. Things can go pear-shaped remarkably quickly. Numerours modern shipping dis…

"avoid both panicky and oblivious people"

That piece of advice can be generalized to any survival situation.

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#52
Too bad the author didn't discuss how to make a raft from deck chairs. Always bring 50' of para cord and a compliant knife. Perhaps a discussion of what sort of non-obvious cutting instrument would be good to bring. Nail clippers? A plastic knife with a ceramic edge? Like one of these: https://www.osograndeknives.com/catalog/fixed-blade-non-dete...

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actual feminists don't want to be given preferential treatment. They just want a level playing field.

I wish I'd see more of those actual feminists call out against the misandrists that usurp their name. It's not fair on them, but they need to if they want to stop the growing trend of equaling feminism with misandry. I'm just a random guy in the internet, living in a country where I don't see much of either, but because of the internet I thought for a long time that modern feminism was indeed hatred of men rather tha…

I mean let’s be honest, the name is kind of saying something else too. When I first heard of feminism as a teenager, I was opposed to it simply because it sounded like sexism. I was quickly told off by the adults in the room, with zero discussion of the subject. You _should_ be a feminist, basically.

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ooooh yes, the female privilege that feminists never talk about.

Actual feminists don't want to be given preferential treatment. They just want a level playing field.

In practice feminism seems (to me) to advocate for women, not for equality, which is fine by me, women needed advocating for. I just don't buy this equality argument.

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#55

Somewhat tongue in cheek, but still some good advice here: -- Know your surroundings, specifically where your exits are. The nearest exit may be behind you. -- Break the rules. Officials may try to deter you from using passages, ladders or stairwells. Ignore them. If you need to kick open a door or pick a lock, do it. -- Be where the well-connected people are, and look/act the part. Try to blend into the tribe, be a…

Around 2015 or so I audiobook'd the book "The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why" by Amanda Ripley [2009].

This book covers similar topics that you do in your comment. One is from a chief security employee in the Twin Towers, along the lines of "Never run to the roof". Which he did to try to save more people, which IIRC he didn't//couldn't.

In other related stories, taking note of emergency exists whilst boarding an airplane [and similar for other folks in similar situations] noted out better survival over others. "Triangle crowding" at exits is also mentioned, which is partly why folks in charge scream "single file! walk do not run" at you as everyone rushes for the door to escape.

The distinction is also made between "flight" and "fight" and the often left-out "freeze" response to in-time disaster.

I found it a worth-while read.

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#56
post #34
post #6

"Up and out." Nothing to do with Titanic, but based on reading disaster articles on Wikipedia, my advice is, if a ship you are on takes on a noticeable list, get to the high side immediately. If the list worsens, get outside on the deck. Beyond a certain point, a list has a way of accelerating, and interior corridors become canyons and floors become walls, dooming everyone on the low side.

Benji Smith, who used to hang out on Joel's software forum, was on the Costa Concordia with his new wife when it ran aground and sank. Being on the high-side of the ship helped them survive, using a rope they found to climb down the hull. Getting to the deck before the corridors became impassible because of the list was critical. > Then, an empty wine bottle started to move, creeping inch by inch toward the edge of t…

Not to diminish the tragedy, but only 27 of the over 3,000 passengers died, so the odds were pretty strongly in their favor.

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#57

This reads like a walkthrough for a game. Should be made into one, perhaps having Easter eggs with Leonardo (punching him would be so satisfactory) while you escape to safety.

It actually was one. I remember playing as a young kid on a Windows 95 PC. I never got the grasp of the game mechanics or shuffled the right items to the right places. I always ended up either drowning or getting murdered. There were two guys who would kill you: a Russian named Vlad who would find you in the ship if you stole the diamond necklace, and a guy whose name escapes me, who would kill you with a pipe in the boiler room (can't remember why). I think it had suffered death by incompatibility by the time I tried to revisit in ~Windows 7 days.

Edited to add wiki link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic:_Adventure_Out_of_Ti...

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#59

For a more generalisable solution: - Pick a ship with robust safety measures, procedures, and equipment, sailing in favourable conditions, if at all possible. - Rehearse evacuation. Drilling and mentally noting escape routes and pitfalls makes successful performance during an actual emergency the more likely. - Maintain situational awareness. Things can go pear-shaped remarkably quickly. Numerours modern shipping dis…

Speaking of generalisable solutions – military strategy has a concept called the OODA loop, invented to give a roadmap to survive combat: you observe a situation, orient yourself in it based on past experience and knowledge of what's happening, decide on a plan, and act. All the while, you process what's happening and use that feedback to possibly change your decisions.

It strikes me as a generic but useful way to think about surviving unexpected situations. I've thankfully not been in a position to implement it, but since learning about it I have found myself doing a bit more practice (both mentally and in real life) and trying to be a bit more prepared for dangerous situations.

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#60

For a more generalisable solution: - Pick a ship with robust safety measures, procedures, and equipment, sailing in favourable conditions, if at all possible. - Rehearse evacuation. Drilling and mentally noting escape routes and pitfalls makes successful performance during an actual emergency the more likely. - Maintain situational awareness. Things can go pear-shaped remarkably quickly. Numerours modern shipping dis…

"avoid both panicky and oblivious people" That piece of advice can be generalized to any survival situation.

Much of the advice can be.

Those around you contribute directly to your own survival, both positively and negatively. The case of the Sewol involved both poor response by crew and possibly excess complaisance by passengers (as reported in media).

Footage from onboard. Those shown and recording would be among the 304 souls lost.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=MkyFbcnIQV4

https://youtube.com/watch?v=3Qq4jVt-U0U

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Sewol

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