A great post by Mario Vittone over at gCaptain. I’m sure they won’t mind me spreading the word here at Navagear, too. This is really valuable information.
Imagine, if you can, the confluence of events that would have to take place to leave you with marine flares being your primary method of signaling distress. The number of devices that have to fail or become unavailable to you is amazing. Your radios, GMDSS, SARTS, ERPIRBs, any number of SATCOM devices all have to be down (or gone) for pyrotechnics to be the best option. The things are the ultimate litmus test for a bad day at sea; i.e. If you ever find yourself launching a flare and you are not practicing, you are definitely having one. If you find yourself reading the directions on the label then things are much, much worse.
Perhaps because the use of pyrotechnics in an emergency is so rare, there are a lot of misconceptions about the devices, their practicality, and how to best use these “last ditch” signals. Here are some things all mariners should consider before pulling the trigger (or pulling the lanyard, or lever, or…):
WHO IS WATCHING
Even high flying SOLAS parachute flares of the 1,000 feet variety with burn times of approximately 40 seconds have limits. Without getting into things like “apparent horizon” and “refraction” – at their peak they can be seen 36-37 miles away at the most, and then only for a brief moment. They may cast a nice red glow beyond that, but not for very long. The point is that it pays to know how far you are from other ships and what their approximate bearing was before all things went bad. If another ship was 38 miles away but steaming in your direction, waiting an hour in the lifeboat before launching the flare might be a good idea. If the nearest ship was 30 miles away and showing you their stern – you may just want to save those flare. If you ran into trouble fifteen miles off Atlantic City in the Spring I’d say signal away, their will be dozens of reports of the flare within minutes. Always think about who might be able to see your signal before launching.
