Lifeboat (shipboard)

Equipment to be carried on lifeboats and liferafts

The Life Saving Appliance (LSA) requires that the following be provided;

For lifeboats

1. A complement of buoyant oars, sufficient to make headway in calm seas (except for free-fall lifeboats).
2. Two boat hooks.
3. A buoyant bailer and two buckets.
4. A survival manual.
5. Illuminated compass.
6. Sea anchor.
7. Two painters.
8. Two hatchets (one at each end of the lifeboat).
9. Watertight container with 3 litres of fresh water for each person the lifeboat is designed to hold.
10. A rustproof dipper (with lanyard).
11. A rustproof graduated drinking vessel.
12. A food ration with an energy value of at least 10,000 kJ (2390 Calories) for each person the lifeboat is designed to hold, packed in airtight and waterproof packaging.
13. Four red rocket parachute flares.
14. Six red hand flares.
15. Two buoyant orange smoke signals.
16. One electric torch suitable for Morse signalling with spare batteries and bulb (in a waterproof container).
17. One daylight signalling mirror.
18. One copy of life saving signals on waterproof paper.
19. One whistle or equivalent sound signal.
20. One first aid kit in a resealable waterproof container.
21. Anti-seasickness medication sufficient for each person for 48 hours.
22. One jack knife attached by a lanyard.
23. Three tin openers.
24. Two rescue quoits with 30 meters of floating line.
25. Manual pump suitable for bailing (if lifeboat not self bailing).
26. One set of fishing tackle.
27. Tools for adjustments.
28. Fire extinguishing equipment suitable for liquid fires.
29. A searchlight.
30. A radar reflector.
31. Thermal protective aids, two or for 10% of occupants, whichever is greater.

For liferafts

1. One rescue quoit with 30 meters of floating line.
2. One buoyant rescue knife with lanyard (two if liferaft holds more than 13 persons).
3. One buoyant bailer (two if liferaft holds more than 13 persons).
4. Two sponges.
5. Two sea anchors.
6. Two buoyant paddles.
7. Three tin openers and a pair of scissors.
8. One first aid kit in a resealable waterproof container.
9. One whistle or equivalent sound signal.
10. Four red rocket parachute flares.
11. Six red hand flares.
12. Two buoyant orange smoke signals.
13. One electric torch suitable for Morse signalling with spare batteries and bulb (in a waterproof container).
14. One radar reflector
15. One daylight signalling mirror.
16. One copy of life saving signals on waterproof paper.
17. One set of fishing tackle.
18. A food ration with an energy value of at least 10,000 kJ (2,400 Cal) for each person the liferaft is designed to hold, packed in airtight and waterproof packaging.
19. Watertight container with 1.5 litres of fresh water for each person the liferaft is designed to hold. (0.5 litre per person may be replaced with desalination equipment).
20. One graduated rustproof drinking vessel.
21. Anti-seasickness medication sufficient for each person for 48 hours.
22. Survival instructions.
23. Immediate action instructions.
24. Thermal protective aids, two or for 10% of occupants, whichever is greater.

Liferaft versus lifeboat

Liferafts in general are collapsible, and stored in a heavy-duty fiberglass canister, and also contain some high-pressure gas (in commercial models, usually compressed air) to allow automatic inflation to the operations size. SOLAS and military regulations require these to be sealed, never opened by the ship's crew; they are removed at set intervals (annually on merchant vessels) and sent to a certified facility to open and inspect the liferaft and contents. In contrast, a lifeboat is open, and regulations require a crew member to inspect it periodically and ensure all required equipment is present.

Modern lifeboats have a motor; liferafts usually do not. Large lifeboats use a davit or launching system (there might be multiple lifeboats on one), that requires a human to launch. Lifeboat launching takes longer and has higher risk of failure due to human factors. However lifeboats do not suffer from inflation system failures as inflatable liferafts do.

Since 2006 smaller self-rescue lifeboats have been introduced for use by boats with fewer people aboard: these are rigid dinghies with carbon dioxide-inflated exposure canopies and other safety equipment. Like the lifeboats used before the advent of the petrol engine, these self-rescue dinghies are designed to let the passengers propel themselves to safety by sailing or rowing. In addition to their use as proactive lifeboats, these self-rescue dinghies are also designed to function as unsinkable yacht tenders. An example of a self-rescue dinghy/lifeboat is the Portland Pudgy.

The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) makes it a requirement for merchant ships to have liferafts on each side of the ship, sufficient for all the people on board (the stated capacity of the lifeboat, irrespective of the fact that there may actually be fewer people on board). However, if the lifeboats are "easily transferable" (i.e. have an open deck between port and starboard lifeboat decks), the number of liferafts may be reduced to a total sufficient for the ship's capacity.

The equipment carried in a liferaft is much less than a lifeboat. Unlike lifeboats, liferafts are not self-righting and have no motor.

Liferafts and lifeboats

Specialized lifeboats

Some ships have a freefall lifeboat stored on a downward sloping slipway normally on the stern of the vessel. These freefall lifeboats drop into the water when the holdback is released. Such lifeboats are considerably heavier as they are strongly constructed to survive the impact with water. Freefall lifeboats are used for their capability to launch nearly instantly, and high reliability in any conditions. Since 2006 they have been required on bulk carriers that are in danger of sinking too rapidly for conventional lifeboats to be released. Seagoing oil rigs are also customarily equipped with this type of lifeboat.

Tankers are required to carry fireproof lifeboats, tested to survive a flaming oil or petroleum product spill from the tanker. Fire protection of such boats is provided by insulation and a sprinkler system which has a pipe system on top, through which water is pumped and sprayed to cool the surface while the boat is driven clear of the flames. This system, while not failsafe against engine failure, allows fireproof lifeboats to be built of fiberglass.

Vessels that house saturation divers carry hyperbaric lifeboats which incorporate a hyperbaric chamber to allow the divers to escape without undergoing decompression.

United States Navy liferafts

In the United States, the United States Coast Guard ensures the proper type and number of lifeboats are in good repair on large ships.

The United States Navy (USN) uses five types of custom inflatable liferafts as well as a number of commercially available Coast Guard approved liferafts. The 25-person MK-6 and MK-7 are used on surface ships, the 50-person MK-8 on aircraft carriers and LRU-13A and LRU-12A on aircraft and submarines respectively. Smaller combatant craft often use 6, 10 or 15-person commercial liferafts. The number of liferafts carried on USN ships is determined based on the maximum number of personnel carried aboard plus 10% as a safety margin. Aircraft carriers carry either 254 MK7 liferafts or 127 MK8 life rafts. While both are similar to heavy-duty commercial liferafts, USN liferafts use breathable air as the inflation gas rather than carbon dioxide to ensure full inflation within 30 seconds in Arctic environments.

Base material used on MK7 life rafts is polyurethane coated fabric which has very high durability. Old MK6 and a few MK8 life rafts are manufactured of neoprene-coated fabric, however, the majority of MK8 liferafts are also manufactured of polyurethane fabric. The lifeboat is compact and made of separate compartments, or "tubes", as a redundancy against puncture. Two air cylinders containing dry, breathable compressed air provide initial inflation. Depending on the model liferaft, each cylinder may contain up to 5000 psi of compressed air. Each liferaft is equipped with an external, automatically actuated light beacon and internal lighting. Power is provided by lithium batteries.

USN liferafts are stowed in heavy-duty fiberglass canisters and can be launched manually or automatically should the ship begin to sink. Automatic launching and inflation is actuated by a change in pressure sensed by a hydrostatic release device should the ship begin to sink. A hand pump is provided to "top-off" pressure at night when temperatures drop and internal air pressure decreases. Relief valves are installed in each tube to prevent overpressure. Repairs to holes or rips up to six inches in length can be made using special sealing clamps. Occupants in USN liferafts are protected from wind, rain and sun by built-in canopies which automatically inflate. Hatches are sealable to prevent rain and seawater from entering the liferafts. Survival equipment includes: manual reverse osmosis desalinator (MROD), bottles of fresh water, individual food packets, fishing kit, signaling mirror, rocket and smoke flares, flashlight, spare sea anchor, first aid kit, paddles, spare batteries and bulbs, and aluminized mylar sheets ("space blankets") to aid in caring for victims of hypothermia.

USN inflatable liferafts are serviced every five years. Each liferaft is test inflated before repacking. The USN liferafts have a high reliability rate of inflation.

Transatlantic crossings

The first 19th-century shipboard lifeboat to make a transatlantic crossing was the Red, White and Blue, which made the crossing in 38 days between New York City and Margate, England, with a two-man crew in 1866. In 1870 the yawl City of Ragusa became the second small lifeboat to cross the Atlantic Ocean, from Cork to Boston with a two-man crew, John Charles Buckley and Nikola Primorac (di Costa). They upgraded it with two masts and took advantage of favorable winds on the return journey.