"OMG-----Man Overboard!!!!"

Never been on a ship when it has happened. Thanks for the post Kennicott sounds like the drills they perform work.

Great information, I knew to shout man over board but didn't think about throwing something overboard where I saw the person go over board. This should be covered in the drill.

I was on a cruise in Mexico , a lady jumped off the ship , it was in the day time ,they shot up a flair and turned the ship around in about a hour they found her , she had passed . When we got back to San Diego the FBI came on board to find out what happened.

Really good info ... never thought about "keeping an eye" on the person and/or throwing a life jacket ...

I agree, they don't do a very good job of this. Once in a while during muster drills a crew man will tell us that if we see someone go overboard, shout "Man overboard and throw a life ring."

This eventuality is a little more complicated than that so I believe they just avoid the subject, which is bad. My own personal procedure would be to: Scream, "man overboard" and keep screaming. Try to keep an eye on the person in the water. I find that life buoys are few and far between. If I'm on my balcony and witness this, (with so many balconies on ships any more I would say the odds are that someone on a balcony will see the person go overboard first) so if I ran off trying to find a life ring I would have to take my eyes off the person in the water for a considerable period of time while running around the ship in search of such.

Instead, I would pinpoint in my mind the location of the person, run to my cabinet, grab a life jacket, throw it. Purpose of getting something in the water immediately is not that the person in the water is going to use it but it will be an immediate marker in the water of the location. The ship may be rolling along at 20 MPH so this is very important. If no one hears me, then I am going to have to use the cabin phone, which takes my concentration off the victim. But, the life jacket is a marker and easy to see. Here is an official version:

"Whoever sees the accident is to shout, "Man overboard!" loudly and clearly to alert the rest of the crew. At least one person should do nothing other than stand and point at the casualty maintaining continuous visual contact. Whatever marker and flotation equipment is to hand should be thrown as near the casualty as possible by other crew members. This may include a horseshoe buoy or lifebuoy, danbuoy or man overboard pole, and even a floating smoke signal. If the equipment exists, man overboard alerts are to be triggered on whatever electronic gear is available including GPS receivers and DSC radio transmitters."

Good information, and glad it wasn't really a person.

I cannot remember if this topic has ever be covered in the life drill needed at the start of every cruise. Maybe it should be covered. I have no idea what to do but shout "Man Overboard".

Yes, I'd like to know the rest of the story too. These sorts of things must happen a lot I expect.

So happy it was a false alarm. I t is also great to know how quickly the ship responded. mjh237, glad she only had a broken arm, sounds like there is more to the story than just an overboard.

My cousin recently returned from a Princess Line cruise - she said a lady jumped overboard & was rescued with just a broken arm... they put her off at the next port, fined her $10,000 and banned her from travelling with them again.