Talk:Lifeboat (shipboard)

The history prior to December 14, 2007 of this content can be found at lifeboat. Ravenna1961 (talk) 09:02, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

Directions for article?
I'm at something of a loss, here. Is the Discussion on the disambiguation page what's meant by "history prior to December 14, 2007"? I have sources to add material, but I'm not sure what people's views are currently.

I'm perplexed, too, how to proceed...The first paragraph of the article is fine...then the second immediately gets into details of lifeboat design. That's good and interesting information, too, but it seems to set the tone for the article to string together unconnected facts. (Rather than, say, development history, or historical use, or classification by type.)

"Life-boat" is first used in the historical Oxford English Dictionary in 1801. Unfortunately, there's no history for the phrase "life-raft", it's included along with many other words as an augmentation of "life". Moreover, there must have been purpose-built devices before 1801 -- what were they? The OED mentions a patent in 1785 for an "insubmergable" boat: from that one can guess -- unsurprisingly -- that people were concerned about surviving sinking ships for some years.

This article should mention of the relationship of "lifeboat" to "raft", "life saver", "life buoy", "life preserver", and "life line", particularly since their function is -- at least in small part -- interchangeable. A person in distress uses what is available. In awkward sense, some are "better" than others. That is, one might chose a lifeboat over a raft and over a life preserver, but it would depend on the situation. Underlying themes are being saved from immediate drowning, but also maximizing the chances for ultimate escape.

Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (talk) 21:58, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Solar water still
in the article it states: require a specific list of emergency equipment to be carried on each lifeboat and liferaft used on international voyages.

Does this include food rations and water ? If so mention this after this line + mention that a solar water still is also required or useful to include to a lifeboat (to extend survival possibility as water is essential and if not provided, kills within 3 days; with water one can even peddle to shore as starvation only sets in after day 30-60 (depending on spent calories peddling and fat layer of the person with inset)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.182.185.211 (talk) 07:02, 7 August 2009 (UTC) A broader and more difficult subject which is alluded to in the article is that these life-saving measures are affected by safety rules. And these, in turn are affected by risk assessment, and willingness to spend money for safety. For some reason, there is abundant information on railways almost from the beginning (perhaps because train accidents could affect anyone, and might be clearly observed?), but I haven't run across similarly comprehensive information for ships.

91.182.185.211 (talk) 07:03, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Article focus and related survival systems
After reviewing material in "Janes", it appears there's a different, but related class of vessels which are no longer identified just as "lifeboats", but as lifeboats which are "survival sytems". I'm not quite convinced they need their own page, but they differ considerably in that they are to get away from hostile environments, and also in their launching method (usually by winch).

Regardless, the focus of the craft described in the article to this point are for water escape. The International Space Station getaway vehicle is more confusing than helpful in this article, especially since it's just another Soyez, not a purpose-build vehicle. (NASA had considered such, but they were not built.) Also the para is incorrect and unreferenced. The capacity on the ISS has been limited, up until 2007, by lack of power, not ability to abandon or rescue. So I'm removing that para.

Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (talk) 01:38, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Women and children first?
What is the protocol on the loading of lifeboats? SOLAS doesn't seem to say anything on the matter. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.90.61.88 (talk) 01:11, 18 January 2009 (UTC)


 * See HMS Birkenhead and Women and children first (saying). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.40.248.218 (talk) 11:50, 11 September 2009 (UTC)


 * One pragmatic approach would be, "Those who are the lightest, first". Another is "women and children, first", because they are the ones who carry on the next generation, etc. Another would be the special case where there were injuries: a doctor might triage who was likely to survive.


 * Another type of question is: How do you stop someone who is large, angry and armed from bullying their way on the boat? In an apparent matter of life and death, some people are going to be utterly ruthless. Is there any practical way to thwart them? Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (talk) 04:54, 19 September 2009 (UTC)


 * The only practical solution is to let everybody on board, more or less in the order they arrive. Then you need only one queue (much easier to organize) and people will be much calmer. You should have enough rafts - if many of them are dysfunctional, then you probably have quite some chaos for the same reasons, with little chances to organize triage and priority level queues, and some of the top priority people missing anyway.


 * You can direct those late in the queue to the other rafts. By doing that when your rafts indeed are getting full, you might get enough time to depart before too many ruthless types try getting on board by force. Having them stand in a second queue knowing they are going to be left behind will make nasty surprises very likely.


 * --LPfi (talk) 08:42, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Proactive lifeboats?
"Proactive lifeboats" are mentioned here and there in the text. What are they? I suspect it is only a marketing term, which should be removed. If not, it should be explained. --LPfi (talk) 08:45, 10 September 2012 (UTC)


 * I agree, that sounds like some BS. GMRE (talk) 21:33, 12 December 2015 (UTC)

When were there inflatable boats invented?
I mean specifically those that are stored in barrels. GMRE (talk) 21:33, 12 December 2015 (UTC)

titanic 3 crew loaded life boat
titanic 3 crew loaded life boat 182.224.89.144 (talk) 07:35, 21 October 2023 (UTC)