Man overboard

"Man overboard!" is an exclamation given aboard a vessel to indicate that someone (not necessarily a "man" but historically one of the crewmen "manning" the vessel) has fallen off of the ship into the water and is in need of immediate rescue. Whoever sees the person's fall is to shout, "Man overboard!" and the call is then to be reported once by every crewmember within earshot, even if they have not seen the victim fall, until everyone on deck has heard and given the same call. This ensures that all other crewmembers have been alerted to the situation and notifies the officers of the need to act immediately to save the victim. Pointing continuously at the victim may aid the helmsman in approaching the victim.

A person may fall overboard for any number reasons: they might have been struck by one of the ship's booms, they may have lost their footing on a slippery deck or while climbing the ship's ratlines, they may have deliberately jumped overboard in a suicide attempt, or any number of other reasons. Falling overboard is one of the most dangerous and life-threatening things that can happen at sea. This is especially so if falling from a large vessel that is slow to maneuver, or from a short-handed (i.e., undermanned, lacking sufficient crew) smaller boat. When single-handed and using self-steering gear, or when taking place at night or in stormy conditions, the situation is usually fatal.

There have been various sailing maneuvers recommended and taught to handle man-overboard situations. Three common ones follow. 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 crewmembers. This may include a horseshoe buoy or lifebuoy, a 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.

The most direct action is to stop the boat immediately, very near to the casualty. This can be done by immediately tacking the bow of the boat through the wind without handling the jib sheets, so that the boat is effectively hove to. In some circumstances, this may be enough, and the casualty can be recovered as the boat drifts back down onto them. In many cases, however, the maneuver will have left the boat too far away for that. In this case, the mainsail is sheeted in hard and the turn continued until the boat circles, the wind is jibed across the stern and the boat is sailed downwind, past the casualty again and finally brought to rest by turning upwind again. It is recommended not to adjust the sails for efficient downwind sailing, so that too much speed is not built up when approaching the casualty.

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