Rudder hard over toward the side the person fell, ring buoy in the water, and one lookout whose only job is to point at the person. Williamson turn in reduced visibility, Anderson or quick-stop with the person in sight, and if the person is not immediately located you notify the Coast Guard and keep searching until the Coast Guard releases you.
What the rule requires
The first thirty seconds
The hail names the side: "man overboard, port (or starboard) side." A life ring goes over immediately, with its light and smoke marker, to mark the position and to give the person something to hold, and a lookout is posted who does nothing else but point continuously at the person in the water so the bridge never loses the position. The rudder goes hard over toward the side the person went over, which swings the stern and the propeller away from them and begins the turn. The position is plotted and marked, MOB button on the GPS, so the search can be resumed if the person is lost from sight NAVEDTRA 14067 §5-2.
The regulatory statement of the same evolution — the one worth finding in the book before the exam, because questions are drawn from its wording — is the man overboard procedure in the required emergency instructions: throw a ring life buoy as close to the individual as possible; post a lookout to keep the individual in sight; launch the rescue boat and maneuver it to pick the individual up; and have a crewmember put on a lifejacket or immersion suit, attach a safety line, and stand by to jump in and assist if necessary. If the individual is not immediately located, notify the Coast Guard and other vessels in the vicinity, and continue searching until released by the Coast Guard 46 CFR §28.265.
Coming alongside and getting them aboard
The approach is made slowly from downwind and down-current, stopping with the person alongside in the lee, engines stopped as the vessel comes close so the propeller is not turning near them. Recovery is by boat, rescue swimmer, net or cradle, or lines and a ladder, and a cold or injured person may be unable to help themselves and must be lifted horizontally where possible to reduce the risk of collapse .
The gear that makes that possible is deck equipment, inspected as such. Ring buoys are stowed in brackets at the rail with a grabline around the ring; at least one is rigged with a floating line so it can be thrown and hauled back, and one carries an automatic light and a self-igniting smoke marker for night marking. For recovery: boat hook, heaving lines, a rescue sling or basket or litter for an injured or exhausted person, cargo nets or a Jacob's ladder for those who can climb, and the rescue swimmer's gear USCG Boat Crew Seamanship Manual §5-C. A horizontal lift is preferred for a hypothermic person to avoid circulatory collapse, and that is the reason the sling and litter are aboard rather than only the ladder.
Inspection points on that gear: a ring buoy in every bracket, not painted-in and not lashed down; lights and smoke markers in date and working; floating lines faked down to run clear; slings, ladders and nets sound. All of it stowed where it can be reached instantly.
A hypothermic passenger has been brought alongside in the lee and is conscious but cannot grip the ladder. What is the recovery method and why?
Lift them with a sling, basket or litter, horizontally where possible, because a horizontal lift reduces the risk of circulatory collapse in a hypothermic person. Do not have them climb, and do not hoist them upright if a horizontal lift is available .
Abandon ship drills, and what the drill must actually contain
An abandon ship drill on an inspected small passenger vessel is not a muster and a talk. It must include summoning the crew to report to assigned stations and prepare for assigned duties; summoning passengers on an overnight voyage to muster or embarkation stations and making them aware of how the order to abandon ship will be given; checking that life jackets are correctly donned; operation of any davits used for launching liferafts; and instruction on the automatic and manual deployment of survival craft. So far as practicable it is conducted as if there were an actual emergency 46 CFR §185.520.
Two intervals from that section carry most of the questions. The required rescue boat is launched with its assigned crew aboard and maneuvered in the water as if in an actual man overboard situation once each month if reasonable and practicable, and at least once within the 3 month period before the vessel gets underway with passengers. Onboard training in davit launched liferafts is at intervals of not more than 3 months. Drills and training are logged or otherwise documented for Coast Guard review, and the entry needs the date and a general description of the drill scenario and training topics.
On the commercial fishing industry side the interval is monthly for both drills and instruction, covering abandoning the vessel, fighting fire in different locations, recovering an individual from the water, minimizing the effects of unintentional flooding, launching survival craft and recovering lifeboats and rescue boats, donning immersion suits and other wearable PFDs, making a voice radio distress call, activating the general alarm, and reporting inoperative alarm and fire detection systems 46 CFR §28.270. The drill is run with participation by all individuals on board, breaking out and using emergency equipment, testing all alarm and detection systems, and donning immersion suits if the vessel is so equipped. Nobody may conduct the drills or give the instruction unless trained in the proper procedures for conducting that activity, though the person doing it need not be the master or even a member of the crew.
Posting: instructions and the muster list
Emergency instructions are posted in conspicuous locations accessible to the crew, with two relaxations that get tested. On a vessel operating with fewer than 4 individuals on board they may be kept readily available instead of posted, and the procedures for rough weather and hazardous bars, anchoring, man overboard, and fighting a fire may be kept readily available rather than posted on any vessel .
For an inspected small passenger vessel, the emergency instructions are mounted at the operating station and cover the actions to be taken for fire, heavy weather, and man overboard; if the cognizant OCMI determines there is no suitable mounting surface, they need not be posted but must be carried aboard and available to the crew 46 CFR §185.510.
Where a muster list is required it is posted in conspicuous places including the navigating bridge, the engine room and crew accommodation spaces, and it must be posted before the vessel begins its voyage 46 CFR §199.80. It specifies the emergency signals, the actions to be taken when each is sounded, how the order to abandon the vessel will be given, the crew duties by name of task, and the substitutes for key persons if they are disabled. Care of survivors appears there too, in the duty to see that a supply of blankets is taken to the survival craft, and in the duty to see that passengers are suitably dressed with lifejackets correctly donned.
Telling it apart
Which recovery turn — the criterion is whether the person is still in sight
- Williamson turn — used at night or in poor visibility, when the person is not in sight. Rudder hard over, then at about 60° past the original heading shift the rudder hard the other way and steady on the reciprocal, bringing the ship back down her own track and up-wind of the person USCG Boatswain Manual Ch. 7 §7.1.
- Anderson (single) turn — a fast turn, used in clear visibility with the person kept in sight; a quick-stop serves the same case.
- Scharnow turn — the third of the standard recovery turns. Recognise the name as a man overboard manoeuvre so it is not confused with something else NAVEDTRA 14067 §5-2.
The Williamson is the one that recovers the track when you cannot see where the person is. That is the whole basis of the choice, and a question that tells you the visibility or tells you the lookout still has the person in sight has already told you the answer.
Drill, instruction, and safety orientation — the criterion is what a videotape will satisfy
- Drill — conducted on board as if there were an actual emergency, all individuals participating, equipment broken out and used, alarms tested, immersion suits donned. A videotape does not satisfy it.
- Instruction — familiarity with duties and responses to the listed contingencies, given in conjunction with drills or at other times and places. Viewing videotapes on the contingencies, followed by a discussion led by an individual familiar with them, satisfies this requirement only.
- Safety orientation — given to each individual on board who has not received the instruction and has not participated in the drills, before the vessel may be operated. It explains the posted emergency instructions and covers the same evolutions, and a videotape does not satisfy it either 46 CFR §28.270.
Working a question
You are the mate on a 90-foot vessel making 10 knots at 0230, overcast with no moon. A deckhand working the starboard quarter goes over the side. Nobody is certain the bridge saw the splash.
- Hail the side, not just the event. "Man overboard, starboard side." The side determines the rudder order and the side the boat will be launched from.
- Ring buoy over, the one with the light and smoke marker. It marks the position and gives the deckhand something to hold USCG Boat Crew Seamanship Manual §5-C.
- Rudder hard over to starboard. Toward the side the person fell, swinging the stern and the propeller away from them NAVEDTRA 14067 §5-2.
- Mark the position. MOB button on the GPS, so the search can be resumed from a known point if visual contact is lost.
- Post the pointing lookout and give them nothing else to do. In this case the lookout has not acquired the person, which decides the next step.
- Choose the turn on visibility. Overcast, no moon, person not in sight: Williamson. Hold the rudder to about 60° past the original heading, shift hard the other way, steady on the reciprocal, and run back down your own track up-wind of the person USCG Boatswain Manual Ch. 7 §7.1.
- Notify the Coast Guard and vessels in the vicinity, because the deckhand was not immediately located. Alongside that, get a crewmember into a lifejacket or immersion suit with a safety line attached, standing by to enter the water 46 CFR §28.265.
- Approach slowly from downwind and down-current, stop with the person in the lee, engines stopped as you close, and recover by boat, swimmer, net or sling. If contact is never regained, the search continues until the Coast Guard releases you.
Same casualty, but it is 1400, clear, and the lookout has the deckhand in sight the whole time. What changes?
Steps 1 through 5 are identical. Step 6 changes: with the person in sight in clear visibility you use an Anderson (single) turn or a quick-stop rather than a Williamson . Step 7's Coast Guard notification is triggered by the person not being immediately located, so it does not arise here .
Where candidates lose the point
Ordering the rudder away from the person, on the reasoning that you want the hull clear of them. The rudder goes hard over toward the side they fell, because that is what throws the stern and the turning propeller away from them NAVEDTRA 14067 §5-2.
Answering "Williamson turn" reflexively because it is the manoeuvre with a name they remember. Read the visibility and read whether the person is in sight; in clear visibility with the person in sight the answer is the Anderson or quick-stop USCG Boatswain Manual Ch. 7 §7.1.
Choosing a distractor that secures the search after a set period, or on the master's judgement, when the person is not found. The instruction is to continue searching until released by the Coast Guard 46 CFR §28.265.
Giving the pointing lookout a second job — tending the falls, passing the word, handling a line. The lookout does nothing but point continuously so the bridge never loses the position .
Treating a video-and-discussion session as having discharged the whole monthly requirement. It satisfies the instruction requirement; the drill on board and the safety orientation both still stand 46 CFR §28.270.
Answering that emergency instructions must always be posted. On a vessel operating with fewer than 4 individuals on board they may be kept readily available, and an OCMI may accept instructions carried aboard where there is no suitable mounting surface 46 CFR §185.510.
Reaching for the annual interval on the rescue boat. It is launched and maneuvered with its crew monthly if reasonable and practicable, and in all cases at least once within the 3 month period before the vessel gets underway with passengers 46 CFR §185.520.
Check yourself
A crewmember goes over the port side. Your first rudder order is:
Hard over to port — toward the side the person fell from, which swings the stern and propeller away from them NAVEDTRA 14067 §5-2. Turning away from the casualty's side is the classic wrong answer.
You have searched for a person overboard for two hours and have not located them. The Coast Guard is on scene. When may you resume your voyage?
When the Coast Guard releases you. The procedure requires notifying the Coast Guard and other vessels in the vicinity if the individual is not immediately located, and continuing to search until released 46 CFR §28.265.
Your vessel operates with three individuals on board. Must the emergency instructions be posted in conspicuous locations?
No. On a vessel operating with fewer than 4 individuals on board, the emergency instructions may be kept readily available as an alternative to posting .
You are recovering a person who has been in cold water for 40 minutes. They are limp in the sling. How do you take them aboard?
Horizontally, so far as the gear allows, to reduce the risk of circulatory collapse. A cold or injured person may be unable to help themselves at all, which is why the sling, basket or litter is used rather than a ladder USCG Boat Crew Seamanship Manual §5-C.
Which of these is NOT required to be included in an abandon ship drill: summoning the crew to assigned stations; checking that life jackets are correctly donned; operating any davits used to launch liferafts; sounding the fog signal?
Sounding the fog signal. The drill must include summoning the crew to assigned stations and preparing for assigned duties, summoning overnight passengers to muster or embarkation stations, checking life jackets correctly donned, operating any launching davits, and instruction on automatic and manual deployment of survival craft 46 CFR §185.520.
A deckhand joins the vessel at the dock. He has not been in this month's drill and has had no instruction. What must happen before you get underway?
He must be given the safety orientation, which explains the required emergency instructions and covers the same evolutions as the monthly instruction. The vessel may not be operated until that orientation is given 46 CFR §28.270.
Where must the muster list be posted, and by when?
In conspicuous places throughout the vessel, including the navigating bridge, the engine room and crew accommodation spaces, and it must be posted before the vessel begins its voyage. If a change occurs that requires an alteration, the master revises the existing list or prepares a new one 46 CFR §199.80.
Your ring buoy brackets are full, but the buoys have been given three coats of deck paint along with the rail. Is the gear satisfactory?
No. Ring buoys must be present in every bracket and not painted-in or lashed down, with lights and smoke markers in date and working and floating lines faked down to run clear .
Check your understanding
One real exam question on Emergency duties — MOB, towing, and care of survivors, cited to source. No account.
Emergency duties — MOB, towing, and care of survivors
Under 46 CFR §28.265, when making a distress call on VHF, what is the correct initial channel to select?
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